PSA Peugeot Citroen will have to delay its plans to sell imported Citroen DS models in China, the Shanghai Securities News said today. According to the paper, Citroen’s existing dealers in China balk at the high cost of building new outlets, which Citroen wants to be located near other luxury brands, such as Infiniti or Jaguar and Land Rover.
Hours later, Reuters reached a PSA spokesperson that had been in hiding earlier in the day. (Read More…)
So they will build the Porsche SUVlet after all. After years of on-again, off-again, Porsche confirmed that the Cajun will be built. Except that it won’t be a Cajun. It will be a Macan.
A Macan? Says Porsche in an email: (Read More…)
From Bloomberg’s intellectual property news, February 15, 2012:
“Daimler AG (DAI)‘s Chrysler unit’s Super Bowl advertisement featuring Clint Eastwood was temporarily taken down from Google Inc. (GOOG)‘s YouTube video-sharing service Feb. 13 following an infringement claim from the National Football League, the Baltimore Sun reported. (Read More…)
Mazda’s stock jumped 6 percent today in Tokyo on news that the Mazda CX-5 crossover SUV is available at Mazda dealers in Japan. Mazda plans for 1,000 units per month to be sold in Japan, and Mazda President Takashi Yamanouchi told The Nikkei [sub] that he expects annual global sales to reach approximately 200,000 units.
Analysts predicted a down year for the European new car market, and the market complied. 968,769 cars changed hands in the EU, down 7.1 percent from January 2011. This according to data released today by the manufacturers association ACEA. (Read More…)
The new Kia Cee’d may have a stupid name, but everything else about the car looks pretty attractive. Well, maybe not the grille. They also refrained from releasing any specs at all alongside these photos, so you’ll have to wait until March’s Auto Show to get the scoop. The Forte is a little dated by now, to the point where it’s hard to justify buying one over a Rio, let alone an Elantra – how about it, Kia?
Press release and gallery below
A 4.2L V8 making 450 horsepower and 317 lb-ft of torque. A 7-speed dual clutch gearbox. 0-60 in 4.7 seconds. Want to know more about the 2013 Audi RS4 Avant? Hit the jump to get down to the nitty-gritty.
Citing New York’s leadership in banning hand-held cell phone use in cars, NTSB Vice Chairman Christopher Hart urged the Empire State to become the first to ban all use of personal electronic devices while driving. Though careful to call it a state issue, Hart did hint that state compliance with forthcoming NTSB recommendations could be tied to federal highway funds (he has separately called for a national ban).
And indeed, New York’s legislators seemed to see the issue of distraction as an issue for federal action (but then, why not make the feds pay for it?). At the same time, everyone understands that the problem is near-ubiquitous and any full ban on personal device use in cars would be near-impossible to enforce (short of Assemblyman McDonough’s suggestion that automakers equip cars with cell-phone signal blockers)… which raises huge questions about federal-level action.
(Read More…)
After seeing today’s Junkyard Find ’75 Vega, the members of the Vega Jihad are doubtless pounding out 10,000-word screeds about The Greatest Car Ever Made (never underestimate the suspension of disbelief required to be a member of the Vega Jihad), and I’m sure that the Cosworth Vega will be mentioned numerous times during said screeds. That’s why it’s fortunate that I have a bonus Junkyard Find today, a genuine, one-of-3,508-made junked Cosworth Vega, which TTAC reader and historically accurate 80s minitruck road racer Jesse Cortez found and photographed at a Northern California wrecking yard. (Read More…)
Today is a turmoil day in the auto industry. Where brands and cars came in on top of the J.D. Power 2012 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, champagne bottles were uncorked and press releases were issued. Where brands landed in the bottom rungs, panic meetings were called, fingers were pointed and resumes were polished.
Overall, it is a good day for the industry. (Read More…)
Back in the late 90’s VW was, “Getting the Bugs Out“. In more ways than one VW had found that special elixir of popularity and hipness that made it a media darling.
Before the flower vase era of VW there was the “Second Coming of Chrysler“. Cab forward designs and horsepower aplenty gave Chrysler a foundation for high profits and massive market gain. If Y2k had indeed ended the world as we knew it, these two automakers would have been memorialized success stories.
Since these Clinton era prodigies, only a few car manufacturers have really broken the ranking order for car companies in the North American market. Hyundai, Toyota, Subaru and NissanRenault. Hyundai has been the most clearcut beneficiary of modern tastes. However no success story in this business lasts. Just look at VW and Chrysler.
So who do you think will be the next success story of the first half of this decade? Will it be one of the manufacturers already mentioned? Or perhaps some other automaker that has yet to truly flex it’s muscles?
The first-gen Hyundai Excel is extremely rare junkyard find, with most Excels having been crushed before they hit ten years old. The story of the Chevy Vega is similar, though most Vegas survived a bit longer than Excels did. I hadn’t seen a Vega in a junkyard for at least a decade (not counting Pontiac-badged Vega wagons) when I found this reasonably solid example at a California self-service yard a couple weeks back. (Read More…)
Last weekend I flew into the highly opinionated world known as Long Island. Within minutes my sensitive Southern ears were exposed to the most strident of views in today’s political world. These conversations can be summarized in four words, “Yay us! Boo them!” The usual cheering sections of modern politics.
After gradually listening to the verbal pom-poms over a nice cup of tea, I realized something. I’m no different.
Perish the thought. I may very well believe in several ideas about car buying that are essentially untrue.
Heck, I may even unknowingly promote them at TTAC. So here are 10 opinions I have on car buying. No essays. No glorious soliloquies of pithy summations. Just thoughts with a brief rationale. Let me know if you agree or disagree. I’m handing out free pom-poms in honor of my trip.
The massive wave of recalls that brought some 9 million Toyotas back to the dealers, amidst a frenzied coverage by a sometimes hysteric media, did less damage to the brand than imagined. A study from North Carolina State University shows that Toyota’s safety-related recalls that began in 2009 had little to no impact on how consumers perceived the brand. (Read More…)
Beijing Auto is working on a new BJ80V4x4. The old one was based on the Beijing-Jeep Cherokee. In a legit way: The Cherokee was brought in by the joint venture with AMC and later Chrysler. After that fell apart, Chrysler left the tooling behind in Beijing. The new B80V seems to be heavily inspired by yet another 4×4 classic: (Read More…)
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