When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will come to Germany on April 23, he will open the Hannover Fair and will visit old friends at nearby Volkswagen. Volkswagen will have a present for China’s outgoing leader: Volkswagen will build another factory in China. What is strange are the factory’s size and location. (Read More…)
European car sales are getting it on the chin. Sale in the EU were down the sixth consecutive month, with a decline of 7.0 percent compared to March last year, ACEA says. March is prime selling season in Europe, and customers refuse to buy. March registrations have not been at this level since 1998. January to March, car sales in Europe are down 7.7 percent. (Read More…)
Out of my private collection: A winged pink Nissan 350Z, entering the expressway in an interesting neighborhood of Dongguan, Guangdong province, China.
Don’t mess with this Texan pinko. Writes reader Red5: (Read More…)
Nostalgia is so last Millennium says Ford. The new Mustang will ditch retro in an attempt to appeal to Generation Y, the folks that do not want to driver their forebears’ cars or dreams. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new Mustang will retain the shark-nosed grille and round headlights, but will “look more like the new Ford Fusion than the current Mustang.”
Welcome to Shoot The Pink, where TTACers bag pink cars. The rules can’t be simpler: (Read More…)
An executive of a large carmaker that is very proud of its alternative energy offerings lately sighed into his drink: “If my customers would be anywhere near as interested in green cars as journalists, we would have long ditched the ICE.” I am reminded of that sigh when I read the news today.
“Americans are buying record numbers of hybrid and electric cars as gas prices climb and new models arrive in showrooms, giving the vehicles their greatest share yet of the U.S. auto market.” This according to the Associated Press, and papers from the Washington Post to The Bellingham Herald that reprint it. Really? Let’s have a look. (Read More…)
JAC is the Chinese company that caused worldwide, well, at least American indignation with a fake F 150. JAC will premiere something at the Beijing Auto Show that is not prima facie fake: A sports car. According to Carnewschina, JAC will show the JAC Heyue SC coupe, or what Carnewschina calls “the biggest surprise for the Beijing Auto Show.” (Read More…)
The Nikkei [sub] comes with the good news that “Japan’s automakers have finally resolved the inventory shortages that have hindered their sales in the U.S. market.” According to the Tokyo wire, Japan’s automakers “are in a better position to compete with their Western and Korean rivals,” now that lots are stocked again.
Well, not quite. Japanese inventories are still fashionably slim compared to some Detroit chubbos. Pop some Tums and have a look. (Read More…)
If you value your life, don’t get on the road on Tuesday. Your chances of getting killed in an accident will be six percent higher than on any other days. Why? Tuesday, April 17th is tax day. (Read More…)
A huge explosion in an industrial park in Marl, Germany, killed two. It also could bring the world’s auto industry to its knees “in the next few weeks,” writes Bloomberg. (Read More…)
That Lexus will come out with a new ES Hybrid, dubbed the ES300h, is no secret. Being an entry level Lexus, it has to watch its price point. It also has to contend with the high yen, most of the Lexi are exported. The Nikkei [sub] thinks it know how Toyota will solve this dilemma, at least partially. Toyota will make the ES300h on the Japanese island of Kyushu, “taking advantage of the site’s proximity to Asian suppliers of low-cost parts,” The Nikkei says. (Read More…)
The collapse of the house of cards built with subprime mortgages was a central reason for the 2008 crash. GM’s GMAC was brought down by subprime loans. The economy has not quite recovered, and the deck of cards is again being used as building material. Back in the high-risk game: General Motors.
The Nikkei [sub] must have been having intimate chats with sources high up in Nissan’s tower at the Yokohama waterfront again.
Prematurely perturbing press people at Nissan, the Tokyo wire reports that a new factory will be constructed in China, and that Infiniti cars will be built at yet another factory in China. In the meantime, Reuters cultivated sources at Renault and says that Renault will finally finalize a deal to produce cars in China. (Read More…)
Recent Comments