Ailing Swedish car manufacturer Saab will not be producing new vehicles for at least two more weeks until it resolves the problems with its suppliers, the company said on Monday. Read more »
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Showing posts with label Reports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reports. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2011
Saab Production on Hold for at least Two More Weeks
Ailing Swedish car manufacturer Saab will not be producing new vehicles for at least two more weeks until it resolves the problems with its suppliers, the company said on Monday. Read more »
Daimler Puts a Third Option on the Table: Turn Maybach into a Sub-Brand for Mercedes
The future of the ailing Maybach brand will be decided, according to reports, until the end of July. Up until now, the German firm’s parent company, Daimler, was faced with two options: either axe the brand entirely, or work with another carmaker, preferably Aston Martin, to share the development and manufacturing costs to the successors of to its not-so-well received uber-sedans. Read more »
Mercedes Drifter Sets New Guinness World Record for the Longest Powerslide [with Videos]
A Mercedes-Benz driver has smashed the world record for the longest car drift at a company event in Surrey, UK. Mauro Calo, who works at the Mercedes-Benz World venue providing driving experiences to guests and entertaining crowds with precision driving skills, powerslided a C63 AMG sports sedan for a distance of 2,308 metres or 1.44 miles, beating the previous record by 394 metres or a quarter of a mile. Read more »
McLaren Opens Flagship Showroom in London, 19 Countries to Follow
McLaren Automotive will inaugurate a new flagship showroom at One Hyde Park, London, on June 21. And this is just the first of a network of 35 dealerships in 19 countries: Birmingham, London and Manchester in the UK, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich in Germany, Brussels in Benelux, Monaco and Paris in France, Milan in Italy, Madrid in Spain and Zurich in Switzerland. Read more »
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Volvo to Axe S40/V50 duo from US Line-up Due to Poor Sales
Volvo will stop selling its mid-size sedan, the S40, and its station wagon “twin”, the V50, in the USA during the 2012 MY. The reason? You guessed it; poor sales. According to Volvo spokesman Dan Johnston, US deliveries of the two models were disappointingly low with the S40 down 29% in 2010, while the V50 fared even worse, with its sales dropping by more than 50%. Read more »
Friday, June 17, 2011
European Automakers Demand a Fair Deal in Emerging Auto Markets
At a recent meeting of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), industry leaders voiced their concerns over government assistance, high import tariffs and other trade barriers in newly minted auto markets such as China, India and South Korea. It’s a situation that’s made it very difficult, if not impossible, for the Euros to compete.
Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler and the President of ACEA puts it well: “We are asking for a level playing field.”
Paul Everitt, CEO of the UK’S SMMT motor industry group echoes those remarks: “Our vision is for us to design, develop and manufacture high-value vehicles to export around the world. That is difficult if we don't get access.”
Read more »Goodwood Festival of Speed: Win a Ride in the MINI WRC
One very lucky person will have the opportunity to enjoy a ride in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which takes place at the estate of Lord March on the 1st - 3rd July this year. Read more »
Honda Launches New Fit Shuttle Small MPV in Japan [ 46 Photos]
After briefly postponing the presentation of its all-new Fit Shuttle due to a variety of problems that arose from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Honda on Thursday officially launched its mini MPV.
While keeping the five-seat layout of the regular Fit (called Jazz in Europe), the Shuttle is longer and taller, with the extra space benefiting both the rear passengers and the cargo area.
Read more »Mazda and Sumitomo to Open New Plant in Mexico, Sales Company in Brazil
Mazda Motor Corporation announced today that it is opening a new production facility in Mexico, and a sales company in Brazil, both in collaboration with Sumitomo. The Japanese manufacture proceeded with these moves in order to strengthen its presence in the rapidly growing Central and South American markets. Read more »
2012 Chevrolet Sonic Priced from $14,495 as a Sedan, $15,395 as a Hatchback
GM has just released pricing information on its North American replacement for the Chevrolet Aveo, the new Sonic. When the subcompact model goes on sale in the U.S. this fall, it will be available in four-door sedan and five-door hatchback body styles with prices including destination to start from US$14,495 and US$15,395 (€10,290 - €10,930) respectively.
There are three trim levels, LS, LT and LTZ. The base models are offered with a naturally aspirated 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 135HP, coupled to a standard five-speed manual or an optional six-speed automatic transmission priced at $1,070.
Read more »Renault Sets New Nürburgring Lap Record for a Front-Wheel Drive Car with Megane RS Trophy
Renault has slashed its own longstanding lap record for a front-wheel drive production car at the Nordschleife, which the company held since June 23, 2008, with its new Megane RenaultSport (RS) Trophy special.
The 265-horsepower version of the Megane RS completed a full lap around the Nürburgring racetrack in 8 minutes and 7.97 seconds beating the time of the previous generation Mégane Renaultsport R26.R by 9 seconds. In comparison, the now obsolete 305HP Ford Focus RS posted a lap time of 8 minutes and 26 seconds in the summer of 2009.
Read more »Porsche Recalls 911s in the US Over Faulty Wheel Hubs
Porsche has announced that it is recalling 1,702 911s equipped with center locking hubs. The affected 911s were sold in the United States and are from the 2010-2011 model years manufactured from May 18, 2009 through to September 17, 2010. Read more »
Thursday, June 16, 2011
VIDEO: Top Gear Teases Season 17 with New Trailer
In a couple of weeks, BBC will begin airing the 17th season of its highly popular Top Gear TV series. To get our engines running, the media channel released the first promotional trailer of the new series teasing the new automotive adventures of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
The 30 second-long trailer kicks off with Clarkson driving the all-new McLaren MP4-12C on the wet and continues with Hammond in the passenger seat of a MINI WRC racer. Oh, and there’s also a scene with an odd looking red truck...obliterating an Alfa Romeo 156 sedan and a Renault Megane saloon. For the rest, follow the break to watch the trailer
Read more »Toyota Sees North American Production Returning to 100% in September
Toyota on Thursday revised an earlier forecast predicting that North American production would return to 100 percent towards the end of the year with the company now stating that it expects normal output levels to be achieved in September.
Following the problems that arose after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Toyota and its suppliers ramped up their efforts and as a result, eight of the company’s 12 North American-built models returned to 100 percent production on June 6.
Read more »Renault-Nissan Opens New Silicon Valley Research Center
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has announced the opening of a new research office at Mountain View, California. The new facility lies at the heart of Silicon Valley, directly across the Google campus and near some of the world’s leading software and hardware companies.
The location will allow the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which already employs more than 350,000 workers and accounts for 1 in 10 new cars sold globally in 2010, to benefit from the regional engineering talent in shaping the cars of the future.
Read more »Study Says 2020 EPA Targets can be met with Gasoline Engines
Even though hybrids and EVs are all the rage these days, a study by the Boston Consulting Group found that most automakers will be able to meet 2020 EPA emissions targets using gasoline engines that will be 40% more fuel efficient than the current powerplants.
Advances in technology concerning engine downsizing, turbocharging, direct fuel injection, more efficient cooling, electric power steering and variable valve timing will help achieve this, according to the 23-page study.
Read more »Ford’s European Sales up 10.5 % in May
Ford’s auto sales across its 51 European markets (including Russia, Turkey and certain countries from North Africa) in May rose 13 percent to 143,800 units, up by 16,600 units from a year earlier. May sales in the firm’s traditional 19 European markets rose by 10.5 percentage points to 116,500, up by 11,100. Read more »
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Europe’s 50 Most Congested Cities, according to a Study from TomTom
Navigation system specialist TomTom has compiled a list with Europe’s 50 most congested cities in 2011 based on its real travel time database, which includes more than 800 billion speed measurements sent anonymously by more than 30 million users of firm’s software.
Brussels lead the table, with the capital of Belgium showing a 1.2% increase in traffic compared to 2010. Britain is Europe’s most congested country: London, despite a 0.2% decrease in traffic, has climbed up to third place, while both Manchester and Edinburgh are in the top 10. A total of 16 UK cities are included in the top 50.
Read more »Google Goes Electric, Sets Up 70 Charging Stations at its California Headquarters
Internet-giant Google has just adopted the largest workplace charging installation for electric vehicles in the U.S. with the completion of 70 “ChargePoint” stations at its Mountain View, California headquarters.
The new charging infrastructure will support both employee-owned EVs and “GFleet” plug-in vehicles such as the Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF. And there are 250 more charging stations on the way, with the goal of making Google’s HQ parking facilities 5% EV-ready.
Read more »2012 Buick Regal GS Officially Rated at 270HP, up from 255HP
The official performance and fuel economy numbers on the 2012 Buick Regal GS are out. When GM revealed the Buick’s sports sedan in production trim at the Detroit Motor Show this past January, the company estimated that the Regal GS was good for 255HP and a 0-60mph time of less than 7 seconds.
Now GM announced that the Regal GS’ 2.0-liter direct-injected turbocharged four-cylinder engine has been SAE-certified to deliver 270 horsepower (201kW) and 295 lb.-ft. of torque (400Nm) fat 2,400 rpm or an estimated 0-60 mph performance of 6.7 seconds, or 0.9 seconds slower than the car’s European sibling, the Opel Insignia OPC that features a 325HP V6 and AWD.
Read more »
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