Renault’s plans for a plant in Algeria have stalled, amid the French auto maker’s desire for an agreement barring auto makers from setting up shop in the country for 5 years after the plant comes online – and Volkswagen is apparently what’s keeping Renault up at night.
Renault is gearing up to produce a range of cars positioned below Dacia, including a competitor for the Tata Nano.
For many of the brand’s faithful, a front-driver BMW is a revolting prospect. It’s the four-wheeled equivalent of tofu-based bacon or a cigarette without nicotine. But BMW is banking on small cars in a big way – their new front drive architecture, dubbed UKL, will underpin as many as 12 front-drive products from BMW and Mini. And frankly, not doing a front-drive range would be a display of poor judgement on the part of management.
One of the most popular cars in our TWAT talks is the Nissan Cube; the much maligned, slow-selling compact is looking like a shoo-in for our ignominious honor, but Nissan seems to think that a price hike is just the ticket.
For 2013, the Cube will start at $17,550, a $1,790 increase over the 2012 model. Of course, the Cube is built in Japan and the rising yen has a lot to do with the price hike. But it’s not going to help dealers move units any quicker.
Opel’s cutsey Adam city car will be offered as a privateer rally car for competition in the R2 class (which is fairly close to stock, albeit with some substantial changes like a sequential gearbox). The R2 will be the first tier in a multi-stage rally car program and Opel has apparently committed to rallying through 2016. Hopefully they last longer than Mini.
You wouldn’t know it from the outside, but the Honda CR-Z is getting an interesting tweak for 2013; a KERS-like overboost feature that adds an extra hit of power from the revamped hybrid system.
With the TWATs under way and awards season about to gear up, I would like to take a moment to highlight the one car I’ve found that ticks all the boxes for me personally. It’s the Fiat 500 Abarth.
Alas, no wagons among them, but Audi is launching four new diesel powered models for 2013, marking one of the biggest pushes for diesel in the North American market.
Well, it’s official; the 2014 Ford Fiesta will be the first small American car since the Geo Metro to be powered by a 3-cylinder engine.
Earlier this year, Subaru was denied approval for a new factory by the Chinese government. The rationale behind the move was that Fuji Heavy, parent company of Subaru, and Toyota, were already too cozy, and that a Subaru factory would give Toyota one too many joint ventures in China. And then the boycott happened.
While the Earth Dreams gasoline engines will underpin everything in Honda’s lineup going forward, Europe will get at least one diesel version – and we’ll probably miss out.
Japan, everyone’s favorite closed market, is about to get a couple new products from Chrysler, which will return to the market after a nearly four year absence.
Buried deep within a piece on the proliferation of car plants in Mexico is a musing from University of Michigan professor Jeff Liker, about the future of Toyota and Mazda.
The latest TWATs thread/shortlist update saw our commenters raise some valid and insightful questions about the awards process. I’ll try and tackle some of them below.
Here’s a manufactured publicity stunt that is actually pretty amusing. Autoblog reports that a Ford PR person sent these pictures of a 1.0L Ecoboost block going through airport security.
This is what’s called a manufactured event, since there’s no reason why a display item for the L.A. Auto Show would go through one’s personal baggage. Regardless, it’s good for a laugh. And a reminder that I won’t be at the show, but stuck in the frigid North.
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