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BMW plans to sell 400,000 cars in the U.S. in the future

BMW wants to increase its sales on the American market from 336,000 units last year to 400,000 vehicles per year in the medium term. The German car maker plans to introduce new models in order to expand its lineup. The new X6 officially unveiled at Detroit will be the first SUV coupé to be introduced in the U.S. this year.
BMW’s head of sales and marketing, Stefan Krause said to Auto Motor und Sport that “Today Europe is still our main market with a share of around 60 percent followed by North America with 24 percent and Asia with 11 percent,” but “looking at countries, the United States with 336,000 units overtook Germany as our main market already a few years ago. And is there that we see the absolutely strongest growth worldwide.”
January 28, 2008
Volkswagen to build engines and transmissions in North America

In an interview with Automobilwoche, Volkswagen of America CEO, Stefan Jacoby, said that the German car maker has plans to produce engine and transmissions in North America in order to reduce its exposure to the weak U.S. dollar.
Stefan Jacoby said that “We [Volkswagen] will not be competitive unless we [Volkswagen] produce these components locally.“
At this early stage, he didn’t reveal where the new plant would be located, in the U.S., Canada or Mexico.
January 28, 2008
Top 10 engines in the US

Ward’s Auto World has released the list of the 10 best engines of 2007. There is only one diesel engine as the magazine is published in the US. To enter the contest, the engine had to be featured in a vehicle whose price tag is less than £27,500/$54,000.
Unsurprisingly, there are five V6 units and two V8 engines among the winners.
– Audi : turbocharged FSI 2.0-litre inline-4 featured in the Audi A3.

– BMW : turbocharged 3.0-litre inline-6 from the 335I

– Mercedes : turbodiesel 3.0-litre V6 featured in the Mercedes E320 CDI

– Ford : 4.6-litre V8 from the Mustang Shelby GT/Bullitt

– General Motors: 3.6-litre V6 featured in the Cadillac CTS

– General Motors: 6.0-litre V8 Hybrid from the GMC Yukon Hybrid

– Honda : 3.5-litre V6 featured in the Accord Coupe

– Mazda : turbocharged 2.3-litre Inline-4 from the Mazdaspeed3

– Nissan : 3.7-litre V6 featured in the Infiniti G37

– Toyota : 3.5-litreV6 from the Lexus IS 350

January 16, 2008
Face-lifted Mazda MPV in Japan

Mazda has unveiled a face-lifted MPV in Japan, two years after hitting the showrooms. The main changes concern a new front fascia, a new five speed automatic gearbox and equipment upgrades.

Despite being only two year old, the current MPV seemed to belong to the old generation due to its overall design. As it’s still too soon to replace it, Mazda revamped the exterior styling by featuring the new corporate DNA: new upper and lower grilles, and bumper. At the rear end, it comes with new lights with integrated red lenses while the 18-inch alloy wheels have been redesigned with gentle curves. The freshened MPV looks more aggressive. Fve new colors have been added: Metropolitan Grey Mica, Diamond Grey Metallic, Lilac Silver Metallic, Maroon Red Mica and Sparkling Black Mica.

On the inside, the main visual change is the central console which gets a new wide silver panel. The very cool optional second row Super Relax Seats has been improved as it now provides more legroom by extending the front/back seat slide range rearward by 80 mm.

Under the bonnet, the MPV keeps the ubiquitous 2.3-litre turbocharged engine in either naturally aspirated or turbocharged versions, but hooked it up to a new five-speed automatic gearbox. Chassis has laso been refined for comfort.
January 15, 2008
The largest Russian car maker, AvtoVaz has announced that it will open a new factory in Chechnya. The company expects to employ 8,000 people.
In the meantime, the Avtovaz also announced it had recorded a strong 2007 year in its domestic market. The sales totalled 663,500 vehicles, an increase of 6.2% over the same period in 2006. The best-seller is the outdated Lada Samara. Globally, the company sold 770,000 vehicles last year.
If this year follows the December sales trend, 2008 might a very good year for the company and for Renault which recently bought 25% of it. Indeed, its December car sales in the Russian market totalled 62,800 units, up 26.4 percent year-on-year.
Source: Reuters
January 15, 2008
The Demon will be Chinese and front-wheel drive

The Dodge Delon Cocept has been given the green light and will be built in China by the local Chrysler’s partner Chery.
The production version will share its underpinnings with the Hornet model due to go on sale in 2009. Also built in China by Chery, the small car will feature a front-wheel drive layout. Unfortunately, the Demon will likely share the same layout. Chrysler missed the opportunity to offer a viable competitor to the Mazda MX-5. The company explained the move due to a higher cost generated by the rear-wheel drive layout and stricter emission regulations.

At this early stage, no information is available regarding the engine spec. The concept car was powered by a 2.4-litre petrol engine with an output of 170bhp being hooked up to a six speed manual gearbox.
January 15, 2008
Third generation G-Wiz i on sale

GoinGreen has unveiled the third generation of its ugly iconic vehicle, the G-Wiz i. This time, the little electric car comes with a new safety package and increases its top speed from 45mph to 50mph.

After the catastrophic crash test operated by Jeremy Clarkson where a G-Wiz is launched against a table, it was more than urgent for the company to upgrade the safety package of its model. With the help of Lotus Engineering,the company has introduced a new safety package to the G-Wiz i, frontal crash tested at 25mph city speed. Safety features include front and side impact protection, a strengthened space frame, a collapsible steering column, a hill rolling restraint feature and new front disc brakes that deliver a 30% improvement in braking performance.
While the exterior remains unchanged, the interior features a roomier cabin. The G-Wiz i has a colour-impregnated body whose standard colours include marine blue, lightning silver or deep black.
At £8,895 inc VAT, the G-Wiz i fails to convince despite 900 of them on London’s roads. How can a sensible person spend almost £9,000 on a car whose only merit is not to pollute if we don’t take into account the pollution generated by the power centrals?
Using public transport is likely to be less expensive and more comfortable. At least we can read a decent newspaper or discuss with friends on the bus or the tube. In a way, the G-Wiz i isn’t a vehicle to show your green credentials but to make your friends realise how stupid you are.
January 10, 2008
Chery QQ5 to feature a turbocharged engine

The Chery QQ will soon become the first Chinese first small car to be powered by a turbocharged engine. The 0.8-litre petrol engine will have an output of 59bhp.
The new engine will be featured on the new 3 door QQ5 due to appear in mid-2008 while it hasn’t been confirmed for the 5 door variant QQ3.
It is easy to laugh at the displacement and the power of the engine, but Chery is probably the most advanced car maker among the Chinese clique. The company is expected to release a 2.0-litre four cylinder unit, and to V6 2.4-litre and 3.0 litre engines. The three engines are being developed in collaboration with Fiat and will be hooked up to either a six-sppeed manual gearbox or a four-speed automatic gearbox.
January 10, 2008
New photos of the Skoda Superb

After a first picture released last November, Skoda has unveiled new details about the next-generation Superb saloon due to be unveiled at the next Geneva motor show.

The Superb shares its inner structure, powertrains and suspension layout with the Volkswagen Passat, but has unique exterior and interior styling, and chassis tuning. Its wheelbase is 70mm longer than the Passat, and the car is 50 mm longer and 40mm narrower respectively. The superb will be available with three petrol engines and two diesel units. The entry level engine will have an output of 105bhp while the topping unit will pump out 260bhp.

The Superb will feature new technologies unseen on Skoda models: adaptive “look-round-corner” headlamps, a new electronic air conditioning system and an automatic parking assistant system.
January 10, 2008
Mahindra has bought the Italian designer GRD

The Indian car maker Mahindra has been in the spotlight of the media recently. After the failed bid over Jaguar and Land Rover sale, the company has bought the Italian designer GRD.
GRD, for Grafica Ricerca Design, is certainly unknown to many of us, but the small company, founded in 1996, is used to working for Fiat, Pininfarina and Magna Steyr. It collaborated on the Fiat Bravo and the premium platform projects. The practical details of the operation remains unknown, but Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra’s automotive unit said that “this acquisition will help us [Mahindra] strengthen our existing design capabilities, help us emerge as a global auto design powerhouse (and) provide a solid European footprint.“ The acquired design company will be renamed Mahindra Graphic Research and Design.
For Mahindra, this is the first milestone of a race to acquire European technology and knowledge as Indian market promises to be tougher in the coming years. Its current models can’t compete with the Western and Japanese cars. With the Jaguar and Land Rover purchase, Mahindra wanted to access the Land Rover technology, but the failed attempt pushes the company to acquire technical skills elsewhere.
January 10, 2008