Blog

10,000 orders for the Jaguar XF

Due to be on sale on March 10, the XF has already recorded 10,000 orders worldwide with 3,000 only from the US, a critical market for the British carmaker.
The car will go on sale in the UK, of course, in Europe and in North America at the same time with an average entry price tag of £25,000. For this amount the XF will be powered by a 4.2-litre V8 unit which has an output of 300bhp.
Jaguar hasn’t revealed any number for the forecasted sales, but it is estimated at 20,000 units per year. If demand was bigger than planned the company has the opportunity to use the Land Rover factory.
This comes as a good news for the British carmaker, especially as no campaign has been launched. Jaguar can’t afford a worldwide campaign and promoted the car in typical British way. No money but a the good idea to send a team with 21 cars driving between the dealership in the US to allow selected customer test-driving.
February 19, 2008
Fiat unveils the 500 Abarth

Yesterday, Petrol-Head released an official picture of the long-awaited 500 Abarth. In the meantime, Fiat unveiled the first technical details of one of the hottest small cars of the year.

The 500 will be the second model to receive the Abarth treatment in an attempt to revive the famous brand. Compared to the normal version, the Abarth evolution features a bodykit which transforms the girly 500 into a macho car ready to race in the Alps. The visual kit comes with larger air intakes, side skirts, a rear diffuser, pumped fenders, Abarth decals and new alloys plus the famed scorpion logo on the grille. At the rear end, there are a diffuser and two exhaust pipes. On the inside, the car will feature two bucket seats, alloy pedals and leather.

The most anticipated bit is the engine range. As said yesterday, the power will come from the 1.4-litre turbocharged which will have an output of 135bhp at 5,500 rpm and a torque of 153 lb ft at 3,000rpm; however in ‘Normal’ mode, torque is reduced to 180 Nm at 2,500 rpm. There are no information regarding the Esse Esse version.

In order to transmit efficiently the power to the wheels, the 500 Abarth features a new traction control system called TTC, for Torque Control Transfer which shares the power between the front wheels.
February 19, 2008
Next-generation Phaeton to be less expensive

In an interview given to Automotive News, Volkswagen Group of America CEO Stefan Jacoby talked straight about the Phaeton model: “We did a lot of things wrong with the car.” He also gave some hints bout its replacement.
As reported previously, the next-generation Phaeton will be smaller and will be based on the Audi A6 saloon in order not to compete with the Audi A8 model. This will help keep the price low as Stfan Jacoby said the current Phaeton “was too high-priced.” Instead of a entry price tag of £35,000, the car would cost about £27,000 for the entry model.
Expected to be launched in 2010, the future Phaeton might put the emphasis on diesel engines, especially on the American market in an attempt to fight on green credentials with the Lexus brand. Jacoby also confirmed that the model will keep its current name. “The Phaeton is the name of Volkswagen’s luxury. We are proud of this name, and this name fits this car,” he told the newspaper.
The future Phaeton won’t be critical to Volkswagen ambition of achieving its sales goal but it will likely be considered as the symbol of the company’s success on the American market. Volkswagen wants to send the major flop of the current Phaeton to the forgotten pages of history books.
February 19, 2008
Porsche to recall 18,856 Cayenne

Porsche has announced it will recall 18,856 Cayenne in the world due to a fuel line problem. There is a possibility that during driving, slight engine movement may cause a fuel line to come in contact with engine compartment cladding. This may lead to a knocking noise and possible wearing of the fuel line.
The affected vehicles were built between November 30, 2006 and January 18, 2008.Porsche will change the layout of the fuel line in the recalled SUVs. There have been five complaints worldwide until now.
The procedure will take 40 minutes of workshop.
February 19, 2008
China January sales

Despite the worst winter storms in half a century increasing the number of car accidents, China passenger vehicle sales soared to 639,000 vehicles in January, a 32 percent increase over the same period last year.
Saloons accounted for three-quarters of the January figure, while sport utility vehicles (SUV) sales jumped 60.5 percent year on year to 32,000 units, nearly twice as fast as the industry average.
Passenger vehicle production was up 14.5 percent year on year to 566,000 units. This included 423,000 sedans, 35,000 SUVs and 14,500 mini-vans.
With domestic oil prices rather low and a growing rank of nouveau riche, consumers tastes change and the demand for small cars weakened while demand for imported high-end cars remained strong. 81 percent of imported SUVs and 70 percent of imported saloons had engines larger than 2.5-litres, both up 20 percentage points from a year earlier.
Source picture: NYTimes
February 19, 2008
Rendering of the five-door Fiesta

Ford has unveiled the pictures of the new Fiesta under its three-door body, but the five-door is yet to be revealed. MotorAuthority has released a rendering of what the five-door Fiesta would look like.
It is not a secret that the five-door will keep the exterior styling of the three-door; however one question remains answered. How will the designers integrate the two rear doors. The interpretation realized by Schulte Design looks convincing and the Fiesta five-door would be appealing enough to take on the French stars of the segment in Europe, Peugeot 207 and Renault Clio.
Will Ford expand its lineup like French carmakers did. Indeed, the Peugeot 207 comes with several variants: three-door and five-door hatchbacks, folding roof CC, estate SW and a crossover. There was the Fusion model, but it was rather a failure in Europe. The car suffered from a tame design and unconvincing off-road manners. Mazda plans to release other variants in the future and as the 2 and the Fiesta models share the same platform, the Blue Oval brand might make the jump.
Click here to see all the pictures
February 19, 2008
Second teaser of the Saab 9-1

Saab has released the second teaser of the 9-1 concept due to be unveiled at Geneva in a few weeks.
The second teaser gives some clues about the overall shape of the compact model. The car features a long nose and small windows. Despite being based on the Vauxhall/Opel Astra, the concept car comes under a three-door form. Likewise the long wheelbase promises a roomy interior but the windshield seems to be very low. With this model, it seems that Saab plans to take on the German clique by offering a bold design to the detriment of practicality.
At this stage, information is scarce. The engine range remains unknown although some observers think the compact Saab might be powered by a downsized engine, a turbocharged 1.4-litre unit.
February 19, 2008
Beijing to be stricter with pollution

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.
February 19, 2008
Renault may revive Alpine

The French carmaker might relaunch the Alpine brand and it is rumoured that the company might unveil a small roadster to spearhead a revival of the French marque.
In an interview with AM-Online, Renault’s product executive vice president, plan, product planning and programs Patrick Pelata said that “we[Renault] are working on a sports car project and you will see this within the next few years. We still have the Alpine name which we would like to use again and ideally we would like to have an affordable sports car on a RWD platform that is great fun to drive.”
He described the affordabel sports car as future rival for the Mazda MX-5. “Think Mazda MX-5 or even Smart Roadster and you are on the right lines,” he explained to AM-Online. This roadster would be the first model of an ambitious plan to launch several models under the Alpine badge.
The planned roadster would likely get its own platform as there is no rear-wheel drive platform in the current lineup. Unless Renault decides to reuse the Twingo 2 CC base to curt cost. The future Twingo 2 CC will likely be powered by the 99bhp 1.2-litre petrol engine and will be sold at the competitive price of around £10,000.
Renault recently displayed a few Alpine models at his restaurant in Paris.
February 19, 2008
Tesla to raise £125 million

Tesla chairman Elon Musk, who has just been delivered the first car, said in an interview with the Financial Times that the start up plans to raise £125 million to build the upcoming WhiteStar electric saloon model.
With the Whitestar, Tesla wants to go maintsream and is the company’s serious attempt to take on established rivals such as BMW 3-Series or Mercedes C-Class models. The saloon is expected to be sold at a price tag of £25,000, about half the price of the roadster.
With such an attractive price, the company expects to sell 20,000 unites per year. wants to build a factory in the US to produce the saloon and is applying for a loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy for debt finance. The roadster is currently being built by Lotus in the UK. The most likely location for the future facility would be either New Mexico or California.
Tesla Motors was launched in 2003 and has raised £72 million in venture capital financing, including a £20 million round completed last week. It has taken deposits from more than 900 customers for its roadster and plans to sell 1,000 to 2,000 next year.
February 19, 2008