Despite hectic news, Tesla Motors is moving ahead as it will open soon its first showroom located on the Santa Monica Boulevard.
Known for getting one of the busiest traffic in the US, the address is also close to celebrities and environmentalists. Unlike Toyota who used a PR agency to promote the Prius among the celebrities, Tesla opened its first store where they live. Much clever and less expensive. Observers agree that the Tesla roadster is sexier than the Prius, of course.
Ford expects to achieve the sale of its two British brands during the first 2008 trimester as it will close the bids today.
“First and foremost in our minds is to make sure that we sell to a buyer that looks to grow (the brands),“ said Mark Fields at a presentation at a Ford training facility. “We’re still going through the process.“ Among the three contenders, Tata Motors is the favourite bidder for unions, but the highest bidder will likely be the winner as Ford is struggling to restructure its US business.
Jaguar and Land Rover have been estimated at £750 million but according to the Indian press, bids had ranged between £750 million and £1.1 billion.
Whoever the winner is, it will inherit a troubled Jaguar which might have a better future thanks to the well-received XF model and a Land Rover which will achieve its best year ever with 200,000 delivered vehicles.
Source: Reuters
Here is a video of the production line for Nissan’s GT-R. The coupé is not a normal Nissan so a video of its production line is interesting. You will notice that it involves a lot of hand operations.
The current design strategy led by Peugeot doesn’t please everybody, especially since the car maker has released the 4007 model sporting a Hannibal Lecter grille. The discontented group might have found its most powerful ally in the PSA CEO, Christian Streiff, who wants Peugeot to make a big design change in the future.
According to company sources, Christian Streiff wants Peugeot to drop its sporty character in order to come back to the roots: robustness, trust and bourgeois elegance. One doesn’t know what sporty character means for Streiff as Peugeot cars are not very famous for being sporty. On the other hand, robustness, trust and bourgeois elegance rhymes with taxi’s requirements for a car. Does Peugeot plan to sell taxi models all around the world as it did 40 years ago with the 404 model and then the 504 model. This is an unexpected challenge for the new Peugeot CEO Jean-Philippe Collin!
The future Chevrolet Camaro has been caught under testing in Australia as the coupé is being developed by Holden. GM promised the car will be as close as possible to the concept. If it’s hard to guess the shapes of the front fascia and rear end, the B pillar remains true to the concept.
Due to be sold in mid-2009, the future Camaro shares its inner structure with the Holden ‘s VE Commodore model and will be available with a choice of various engine from a 3.6-litre V6 petrol unit to the Z28 V8 engine which might produces more than 500bhp.
Unfortunately like the Ford Mustang, the Camaro won’t cross the Atlantic Ocean but grey importers will likely be happy to import the car in Europe, especially with such a competitive US Dollar.
Suzuki will join the global car’s band when it unveils its Suzuki A-Star Concept at New Delhi Motor Show. The concept car previews a future global car Suzuki intends to build in India at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant beginning in October 2008.
Specifications of the model remains unclear, but it is said that the small car will be powered by a 1.0-litre petrol engine which will compliant with Euro 5 emissions. A four-seater, the concept-car is displayed as a five-door model but a three-door variant mustn’t be ruled out.
It’s too soon to comment on the styling, but one does not expect the production model to be so appealing as Suzuki will focus on cutting cost. However, the future Suzuki will keep the overall shape as it will likely be sold in Europe and Japan under the label Alto.
Suzuki plans to increase the Manesar’s production capacity to 1 million vehicles in order to meet the Indian demand and also export cars to Europe.
Mercedes might become the first car maker to produce a device that detects driver’s tiredness as it is undergoing its final test phase.
Dubbed Attention Assist, the system uses various sensors to analyse driving behaviour and recognises tiredness-related changes in the driver’s personal driving style. In this event the driver is prompted to take a break. Unlike other methods of detecting tiredness, the Mercedes system evaluates a series of indicators in order to assess the alertness of the driver and to recognise the gradual transition between
being awake and being tired.
During every journey Attention Assist continuously observes the driver’s typical behaviour patterns and uses these to create an individual driver profile which serves as a basis for recognising the symptoms of tiredness. Where there is a significant deviation from the saved empirical values, the system determines whether or not there are signs of encroaching tiredness. Whether and when the driver is warned also depends on the time of day, the duration of the trip and the individual’s driving style.
The system records various data such as the speed, the longitudinal and lateral acceleration, but also the angle of the steering wheel. It also takes into account the way that the indicators and pedals are used, certain driver control actions and various external influences such as a side wind or an uneven road surface. Several studies revealed that one efficient way to detect tiredness is to focus on the wheel. Indeed, tired drivers can be spotted by a series of typical steering wheel movements.
Mercedes has tested the device over 500,000 kilometres first with the help of a driving simulator located in Berlin and then in real conditions. The final tests will include trials in several climate zones, in city traffic and long distance journeys.
The Attention Assist system will be available in Mercedes cars from 2009.
After Antonio Baravalle’s resignation from its CEO position at Alfa Romeo, a rumour emerged about the departure of Sergio Marchionne. The Fiat CEO ruled it out in an interview and announced that Luca De Meo will be the new Alfa’s CEO.
Sergio Marchionne explained his decision by saying: ‘The way Luca De Meo has dealt with big challenges with commitment, passion and determination is the best guarantee for the relaunch of Alfa Romeo and for the development of marketing for all the Fiat group brands.’ The departure of Baravalle was the worst time for the Italian brand which is rumoured to be in big difficulty.
Fortunately, the newly appointed CEO Luca De Meo has shown enough talent in the 500 launch and his communication skills will be very useful to Alfa Romeo. Born in 1967 in Milan, the young manager graduated from Bocconi University with a degree Business Economics and from Insead. He held several sales and marketing positions at Fiat, Renault and Toyota before becoming Lancia Marketing Manager in 2002. De Meo was recently appointed to the newly-created marketing chief post after relaunching the Fiat brand and Fiat said he will keep this post.
Aston Martin has opened is new design center in Gaydon in a move to be more independent from the former owner Ford and reach new markets.
The new design center is part of the ambitious plan set to expand sales globally, especially in emerging markets. It will allow the car maker to design future cars quickly without depending on exterior help and will also be helpful in reducing time development at a time when testing have been lengthened since the company has left the Ford Premier Automotive Group. Likewise if Ford still owns a share in the British carmaker, it is rumoured that Aston in in talks with Mercedes-Benz to share platforms.
In an interview, CEO Dr.Ulrich Benz also said he wants to increase the Gaydon factory’s output to 7,000 vehicles in order to decrease waiting list time. The latest model, the DBS has already been sold at 1,500 units which represents 5 years of production at eh current pace of 300 cars per year. If the British brand wants to increase its sales in emerging market like China or India, it certainly needs more production capacity. It has already planned to outsource the Rapide model’s production to an European coachbuilder.
Hummer is not officially sold in Japan, but among the imported models, the brand is quite a star. For Japanese young buyers, it represents the supreme achievement of the American way of life. Despite the tiny potential market, Hummer CEO Martin Walsh has announced that the iconic brand would go to the sun rising country.
Due to be launched in next Spring, the future range remains unknown but it is likely that the H3 will be the core model. Later the H4 will follow to reinforce the lineup. Unfortunately, the success of the brand there looks hypothetical. Maybe Hummer should sign a partnership with Suzuki to produce the Suzuki MR Hummer. After all, the Japanese car maker has been selling a MR Stingray!
Japan will not be a big market for Hummer, but with only 14% of its production being exported, foreign markets will become critical to its ambition at a time when its sales are down by 22% this year because of rising gas prices and the American debt crisis.