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Category: Industry News

  • Honda to boost sales in India

    Honda to boost sales in India

    Cityzx_image07_800 Honda has announced it plans to increase its sales to 90,000 units in 2008/09 at first and 160,000 by 2010 with the help of the new expanded production facility.

    The Japanese carmaker has set the goal of selling 160,000 cars by 2010. In addition to the new expansion done in the Calcutta factory, the company pans to invest £375 million in a new plant built in Rajasthan state. The future facility will have a production capacity. Honda is very serious as Tatsuhiro Oyama, president of Honda’s Asian operations said speaking about the Indian market: “India’s the most exciting auto market in Asia and we are committed to growth in this market”.

    Honda is the fourth largest carmaker in India and sells the City ZX(pictured), Civi, Accord and CR-V models there. For the current fiscal year, the company plans to sell 68,000 vehicles.

  • Loremo to work on an electric LS

    Loremo to work on an electric LS

    Loremo Loremo is currently working on an electric version of its LS model unveiled last year at the Geneva Motor Show. The company is so busy that it won’t attend the show this year.

    Expected to hit showrooms in 2010, the electric Loremo will be powered by a 55bhp electric engine and despite such a tiny power will be able to reach a top speed of 105mph thanks to low 0.19 Cx figure.

    Loremo claims the car will offer a range between 93 and 124 miles per juicing. The Loremo is roomy enough for four people. The petrol version weighs 450kg, but expect it to gain weight due to the batteries. A first prototype will be ready in mid-2008.

    This is good news for the company and confirms the project is still active. However, we still need to see the vehicle hitting the showrooms to be certain that the Loremo LS is a real alternative to our current heavy cars.

  • Berton won’t attend Geneva

    Berton won’t attend Geneva

    Bertonecanguro The troubled Italian coachbuilder, Bertone, won’t attend the Geneva Motor Show next week and the BAT-11 might never be seen under the spotlights.

    The future looks rather blurred for the Bertone which is in the middle of a tragic family business. In last December, Lili Bertone, widow of the company’s founder Nuccio decided to sell the coachbuilder to Domenico Reviglio, founder of Gruppo Prototipo who now runs a company called Keiper. She agreed to sell both the Carrozzeria and Stile Bertone to him in early January, even though she did not control all the shares she had negotiated in the sale. Indeed, her two daughters own 40% of the company and both hold a top position in the firm.

    Disagreeing with the sale, they went to court to contest the sale. The sale was stopped by a Turin court, and Domenico Reviglio walked away from Bertone. The bankruptcy court has now appointed three commissioners to determine whether Bertone will indeed have a future.

    This is the first time, Bertone won’t attend the Geneva Motor Show in 50 years.

  • Top 10 in China in January

    Top 10 in China in January

    Wallpaper_3_1024_768 Petrol-Head reported the sales data for the month of January on the Chinese market. This time, here is the list of the top 10 sellers in China.

    Volkswagen takes the frist and the second rank thanks to the Jetta and the antediluvian Santana. The Hyundai Elantra arrives surprisingly at the third rank, followed by the successful Buick Excelle which will be renewed in April. Toyota also put the ubiquitous Corolla and Camry in the top ten.

    1. VW Jetta – 25,100 sales
    2. VW Santana – 19,800
    3. Hyundai Elantra – 18,000
    4. Buick Excelle – 16,700
    5. Tianjin Xia Li – 15,300
    6. Chery QQ – 15,100
    7. Toyota Corolla – 15,000
    8. Toyota Camry – 12,600
    9. Ford Focus – 12,300
    10. VW Sagitar – 11,600

  • Italian Fioravanti to unveil the Hidra coupé at Geneva

    Italian Fioravanti to unveil the Hidra coupé at Geneva

    Fioravanti_hidra_concept
    The Italian designer Fioravanti, famous for its roof featured on the Ferrari 575M Super America, will unveil a new concept car at the Geneva Motor Show. The concept car will be a five-door coupé called Hidra.

    After the MPV, Fioravanti opens a new potential segment, the MPC, short for Multi Purposes Coupe. The car will be roomy enough for for passenger and will be equipped with a “revolutionary patented solution for the glass surfaces.” The car will also come with a next-generation alternative energy powertrain like the Pininfarina Sintesi.

    With this concept car, Fioravanti also celebrates its twentieth anniversary. The design house was set up twenty years ago by Leonardo Fioravanti, a former Pininfarina designer. At the Italian coachbuilder, he had collaborated on the Ferrari Daytona, Ferrari Dino, Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer, the Ferrari 308 GTB, and the Ferrari 288 GTO.

  • Top 10 European best sellers

    Top 10 European best sellers

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    After the global sales result for the European market, here are the top 10 European best sellers for the month of January of this year.

    The percent figures between brackets represents the variation over the same period last year.

    1. VW Golf : 39 887 (+31.4%).
    2. Peugeot 207 : 37 506 (+9.2%).
    3. Ford Focus : 33 884 (-4.5%).
    4. Vauxhall/Opel Corsa : 32 668 (-17.7%).
    5. Fiat Grande Punto/Punto : 30 293 (-17.6%).
    6. Renault Clio : 29 859 (-17.5%).
    7. Ford Fiesta : 28 673 (-11.2%).
    8. Vauxhall/Opel Astra : 28 391 (-5.0%).
    9. VW Polo : 22 498 (+2.2%).
    10. Fiat Panda : 21 858 (-10.9%).

  • 46,126 crushed cars in the UK in 2007

    46,126 crushed cars in the UK in 2007

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    The astonishing figure of crushed vehicles has been revealed by the Financial Times: 46,126 vehicles were crushed last year, a 34% increase over 2006.

    Ten years ago, 8,000 cars were usually destroyed every year. Since the introduction of new policy in 2001 to clamp, tow away and crush after seven days vehicles with invalid road tax, the figure has exploded. In total 245,343 cars have been crushed since 2001.

    If you car is clamped it will cost you £80 to release it. Double the amount, £160, if your vehicle has been impounded. You can also face prosecution with fines of up to £1,000. Last year about 129,000 cars were clamped.

    Instead of stealing the machines of a small car makers, the offenders should try to change job and go into the booming car crushing business.

  • Chinese car luxury market boom

    Chinese car luxury market boom

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    Bentley has sold 338 cars in China and Hong Kong last year, a 93 percent increase over 2006 while Rolls Royce sold 106 vehicles on the Chinese market.

    Mainland China represents an critical market for the two carmakers. For Bentley China became its fifth market after the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. Bentley sold 2,079 vehicles in the UK and 4,196 unit in the US last year.

    Rolls Royce records a similar trend as China became its third largest market last year. The Iconic brand sold 1,100 cars in 2007.

    With the rise of India, Asia will become the largest market for the two brands in the next ten years. Soon, the two carmakers might unveil their next models not, in Detroit or in Geneva, but at Delhi, Beijing or Shanghai.

  • Saudi Arabia to build its first car factory

    Saudi Arabia to build its first car factory

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    Saudi Arabia will build its first car factory in the eastern city of Dammam. The facility is expected to have a production capacity of 300,000 vehicles.

    The new factory is the achievement of a man, Nasser Al Hajri, who had the idea in 1988 when he was an engineering student in the UK. “At that time I was thinking of manufacturing cars suitable for the people of the Gulf and other Arab countries,” he said.

    Its company, Gulf Automobile Manufacturing Company (GAMC) has signed an agreement Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technological Regions (SACTR) to invest £50 million to build the future factory. At first, the factory will have a capacity of 15,000 cars. When the plant is shifted to its new three million square metres facility in Sudair, the capacity will grow to 300,000 cars.

    This first factory is part of an ambitious plan to open more plants in Saudi Arabia in the next ten years. If GMAC employs 300 people today, the company plans to employ 50,000 workers in ten years.

    There is one question that nobody asked: which type of car the factory will build?

    Source: ArabianBusiness

  • Beijing to be stricter with pollution

    Beijing to be stricter with pollution

    Beijing_norme_iv
    Beijing which will organise the next Olympic Games this summer has announced a new emission regulation called “China IV”, inspired from the “Euro IV”.

    Pollution is a major problem in Beijing. It it’s difficult to solve such a complex matter, there is one figure to help prioritizing the actions: there are 3.1 million motor vehicles in Beijing and about 1,000to 1,200 vehicles are adding to Beijing’s roads every day.

    “All the new light petro vehicles that are on sale in the Beijing market shall have to meet the new China IV standards from the beginning of next month,” said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau.

    The new standard for Beijing cars is estimated to bring emission of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides further down by 48,000 tons, 5,300 tons, and 4,100 tons this year.

    The new emission standards equivalent to Euro IV will start from March 1 and requires that gasoline and diesel sold at all outlets in the capital city must meet the new China IV standards.