It is possible to make cars in Europe and to nevertheless survive quite nicely. The secret: Sell a lot of them elsewhere than in Europe. Case in point: BMW. Despite a disappointing month in its home market Germany, BMW had a best-ever global July, following record sales in the first half of the year. (Read More…)
Ford is attacking Toyota’s miserly image. The blue oval announced today that its 2013 C-Max Hybrid crossover gets better mileage than Toyota’s Prius V, Reuters says. (Read More…)
Subaru went through a lot of bewildering names for the early Leone in North America, and they’ve retained that tradition with their Legacy- and Impreza-based Outbacks in more recent years. Here in Colorado, I find astonishing quantities of 20+ year-old Subarus in wrecking yards. Most are four-wheel-drive machines, for obvious reasons, but every so often I run across an elderly front-wheel-drive Leone. Here’s a rare 2WD coupe version I spotted in Aurora a few weeks back. (Read More…)
The average Toyota Camry likely sells for somewhere in the neighborhood of $25,000.
What if you could buy a more durable version of that Camry for, say, $33k…. and get a bumper to bumper lifetime guarantee?
“There is no substance behind the rumors about Stefan Jacoby leaving Volvo Car Corporation,” a spokesman for Volvo Cars told Reuters. He had to, because Sweden’s Dagens Industri named Jacoby as a candidate for the dangerous job as Opel CEO. (Read More…)
You won’t have to wait until the Moscow reveal to see what the 2014 Mazda6 is all about. All the leg work has been done by Mazda themselves. It’s 14 minutes long and all in Japanese – something our own BS is well acquainted with – but nonetheless, the good stuff is all there.
At a briefing in Traverse City, Michigan, Ford outlined its plans for tackling the twin challenges of Asia and Europe. Despite the capacity crisis facing the industry, Ford is aiming to avoid any European factory closures, while also expanding in Asia.
Hybrids and minivehicles are still on top of Japan’s list of best-selling cars in July, only more. The Prius is ichi ban with 33,398 units sold. Last time we looked in May, it was 20,789. It is followed by its compact sister, the Aqua (better known in the U.S. as Prius C) with 26,274.
Honda’s Fit is back in #3. (Read More…)
Opel, the sick man of Europe, just can’t catch a break. Even Isuzu wants out of its current arrangements with the ailing German automaker.
Just-Auto and the Nikkei are reporting that Isuzu will halt engine building activities for Opel (including the Meriva, above), and will end a joint-venture with General Motors. It was unclear how Isuzu would get rid of its 40 percent stake in the Poland-based diesel engine operation. Isuzu denied that it would pull out of the venture, or cut its workforce in Europe.
An Automotive News article on the second anniversary of GM CEO Dan Akerson’s tenure sheds some light on the genesis of the Chevrolet Malibu Eco, and the puzzling decision to stagger the launch of the new mid-size sedan.
After three years of work, police in Germany concluded its probe into the affair surrounding the failed takeover of Volkswagen by Porsche. Former Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and his then CFO Holger Haerter have been investigated for market manipulation. According to Der Spiegel, the public prosecutor in Stuttgart, Germany, will charge the duo. Reuters heard meanwhile that the trigger is not yet being pulled, and that the two have three suspense-filled months ahead of them. (Read More…)
After nine hours of talks with the union, and under considerable pressure from the Brazilian government, GM backed off from job cuts at its São José dos Campos factory near São Paulo. The politically sensitive decision (in Brazil and at home) to eliminate as many as 1,840 jobs was delayed until November. (Read More…)
“YES!!!!!!!”
That was the first comment from the acolytes of the recently a bit depressed fansite Saabsunited, when it was announced that Victor Muller’s Spyker sued GM for $3 billion over Saab’s bankruptcy.
“It’s hard to believe. We have no comment until we see the lawsuit,” said GM spokesman James Cain to Reuters. The complaint is attached to this message. (Read More…)
GM’s U.S. sales get the headlines, GM’s volume is a Chinese import: In the first seven months of the year, GM sold 1.6 million cars in China, versus 1.5 million back home. GM’s Chinese sales data deserve more than a cursory look. Let’s look. (Read More…)
The Buick Reatta is one of the many GM cars of its era that didn’t make a lot of marketing sense; the average age of Buick buyers in the late 1980s was about 113, and that’s not a demographic whose members tend to be comfortable with low-slung two-seaters full of intimidatingly futuristic electronic devices. You still see Reattas on the street now and then, and I found an ’89 in a Los Angeles junkyard last year. Here’s one that I spotted last week in a Denver self-serve yard. (Read More…)
Recent Comments