Last week, Petrol-Head reported some spyshots and an official teaser of the new-generation Nissan Teana. This week, leaked sales brochures are on the menu.
Due to be unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show, the big Nissan saloon will be more an evolution than a revolution of the current model.
Mercedes has announced the price of the Maybach Landaulet for the American market: £675,000/$1.35 million.
Launched at the Dubai Motor Show, the Maybach Landaulet will hit the American showrooms in next December. The Landaulet has been designed as a chauffeur-driven limousine with a soft partial convertible top above rear-seat passengers.
"The Landaulet is for a superrich individual who wants something that is extremely extraordinary and enjoys being driven in a car with acres of sky above them," Hans-Dieter Multhaupt, vice president of program management for Maybach said. Multhaupt also said that many of the Maybach Landaulets "will be fitted with a glass panel that separates the driver and the passenger, like the cars of the past."
Ken Livingstone has announced he will try to reduce speed limits in London to just 20mph if he’s re-elected to a third term office.
London Mayor made a step further towards car annihilation in London by announcing he would lobby for a speed reduction to just 20mph in London if he’s re-elected. He justified his decision by stating that 90% of of pedestrians die if hit at 40mph while just 2.5% die if hit at 20mph. Why doesn’t he push the logic to reduce speed limit to less than 10 miles to ensure nobody will die because there is no much difference between 10 and 20mph.
However by limiting the speed to 20mph, the mayor might also generate more pollution. Indeed cars’ pollution is optimal between 40 and 70mph. At 20mph, cars would pollute more. Perhaps another excuse for Livinsgtone to increase the Congestion Charge?
According to rumours, GM is currently working on a low budget Chevrolet Spark, set to compete with the future Nano, which would cost £1,400 and would be built in China.
If the rumour is true, GM would be the third carmaker after Tata, Hyundai and Renault to jump into the very low budget market segment. However, the path seems to be fraught with pitfalls. The Chevrolet Spark is currently sold at around £2,900 in China and GM has asked its engineers to divide the price tag by two. Cutting production cost would be the major way of achieving the target.
Ten years ago, carmaker had rushed into the new Chinese and Indian markets, but first sales results were rather disappointing due to lower income than expected. Ten days later, both countries are richer and carmakers made progress in developing low cost cars. The question is not when will they drive, but what will they drive?
Nissan has unveiled the new Livina C-Gear which will reinforce the carmaker’s lineup in China, its third largest market.
In addition to the new Teana saloon, Nissan will unveil the Livina C-Gear at the Beijing Motor Show. As predicted the new model is based on the Livina. A five-seater is sportier than the normal Livina and comes with large plastic wheelarches and a new front bumper. On the inside, the C-Gear features a black interior with silver panels. the boot has a capacity up to 383 litres.
The Livina C-Gear is powered by a 100bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine which can be hooked up to a five-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed automatic gearbox.
Produced locally at Huadu plant in Guangdong province, the Livina C-gear will be also sold in South-East Asia under the X-Gear name. In addition to the normal Livina and Livina C-Gear, Nissan will introduce a third variant later in Indonesia.
Ford Motor Company released its 2007 Annual Report which reveals valuable information at a time when the carmaker is losing money in the US. Ford Mulally earned £10.9/$21,6 million 2007.
After a massive loss of $12.5 Billion in 2006, the company recorded a news $2.7 Billion loss last year. Part of the plan to restructure the group is the deal sign with the union enabling the carmaker to recruit new employees at a lower price. But Alan Mulally doesn’t seem to be concerned by the new deal as his total compensation for last year reach £10,9 million.
Alan Mulally, Ford president and CEO, earned £1 million in salary and received incentive bonus awards of £3.5 million. In 2006, Ford had given £20 million to the CEO to convince him to quit Boeing for Ford.
Volkswagen has announced it will recall every petrol-powered 410,000 Passat sold in the US between 1999 and 2005 to fix a few defects which might cause concern for safety.
The concerned vehicles might have a faulty heat shield near the catalytic converter. Along with this problem VW will also fix a faulty fuel line on the turbocharged 1.8-litre powered models and a potential damaged fuel tank ventilation valves on all-wheel drive models.
No injuries or accidents have been linked to the recall issues and owner will be contacted by end of May.
If you know little about the Swedish carmaker’s history, take the opportunity to update your car expertise thanks to this video.
Land Rover has released more pictures of the Defender SVX, a limited edition launched to celebrate the carmaker’s 60th anniversary.
Due to be delivered to the first customers in the summer, the Defender SVX comes with metallic black paintwork and satin black graphic decals. The limited edition Defender features new, ‘diamond turned’ five-spoke alloy wheels, a reinforced aluminium front undershield and LED rear lights. On the inside, it is equipped with custom-designed Recaro front seats, distinctive alloy gear knobs, a new audio system, iPod cradle and Garmin satellite navigation.
The Defender SVX is available in both 90 soft-top and 90 station wagon versions. The soft-top models comes with a metallic silver tubular cage that supports a tailor-made, removable black fabric hood. Each SVX model for the UK will also come fitted with an individually numbered plaque, e.g. 001. A total of 200 SVX vehicles will be made available in the UK – 140 two-seat Defender 90 soft-tops and 60 four-seat 90 station wagons.
The expected facelifted 911 has been spotted by spy photographers during testing. The facelift will be evolutionary on the outside while the real changes will be hidden.
As usual, the The next 911 won’t feature heavy styling changes. The spied 911 had a slightly revised front and rear fascia while adopting new LED lights and a new exhaust system. What you can’t see is where Porsche engineers have focused their efforts. The six cylinder engine will see its displacement being increased from 3.6-litre to 3.8-litre and is rumoured to see its power being increased by 10-15%. The petrol unit will get the same direct-injection system introduced in the Cayenne last year. For the first time, the engine will be hooked up to a dual clutch gearbox, dubbed Porsche Doppel Kupplungen, or just PDK for short. The new gearbox is derived from the Volkswagen’s DSG gearbox.
The legendary sports car is expected to hit the showrooms in autumn of this year. All standard models, Carrera, Carrera S, Carrera 4, Carrera 4S will revamped as the same time. There are no information regarding the 911 Turbo which suffered from the comparison with the NIssan GT-R.
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Source: Car Magazine
