For all of Hyundai’s successes in Europe, it is conspicuously absent in perhaps the lone major growth segment on the continent; small crossovers. We’re not talking “small” in the sense of the Hyundai Tucson either. Think more along the lines of the Opel Mokka (our Buick Encore), the Ford EcoSport and the Dacia Duster. Even premium brands are getting into the fold, with the BMW X1, Audi Q3 and the upcoming Mercedes-Benz GLA vying for market share.
Ever since someone at Ford decided that it would be a good way to promote their new 1 liter three cylinder EcoBoost engine by dropping a tuned version into a Formula Ford open wheel racecar set up to be street legal they’ve been making sure that the enthusiast world knows about it.
Though handicapped by continued sliding sales in the overall European market, GM announced today that global sales for the first 6 months of 2013 were up 4% over the comparable period last year.
In India for the relaunched Datsun brand’s first car, the Go, CEO of the Renault-Nissan alliance, Carlos Ghosn, announced that Renault and Nissan will jointly develop a platform for low cost and ultra low cost cars aimed at India and other emerging markets, which Ghosn believes will make up 60% of the global automotive market by 2016. To do that, the alliance will spend another $5 billion on investments in their Indian operations over the next five years. Renault-Nissan is committed to using India as its global hub for emerging markets, developing the cars there as well as assembling and exporting them. Read More >
Though Ford, VAG’s Seat brand, and Renault’s low-cost Dacia posted gains, overall car and light truck sales in June in Europe were down 6.3% compared to June of 2012, weighed down by declining sales at VW, Opel, Fiat and PSA. According to Automotive News, only 1.18 million new vehicles were registered in the EU and EFTA, the lowest they’ve been in two decades.
A proposed consumer protection class action lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District court in California over the MyFordTouch (and similar systems in Lincoln and Mercury vehicles) system.
Some buyers of Ford’s gas/electric hybrids have expressed disappointment the their 2013 Ford C-Max, Fusion and Lincoln MKZ hybrids have not returned those cars’ EPA rated fuel economy. Some have even sued.
Well, TTAC, the day has come: I’ve written a book. Not a real book, mind you, but rather an electronic one, which means it may, at any moment, run out of batteries.
My book is called Plays With Cars, which mimics the title of my website, and also my life purpose. It’s available right now on Kindle and Nook, and soon to come for Kobo. If you don’t have a Kindle or Nook, don’t worry: you can still view it using your PC, or your Mac computer, or through the free Kindle app for smartphones and iPads. In other words: you have no excuse for not buying it.
Though development versions of the Porsche 918 hybrid supercar have been spotted testing in Colorado, California and other locations, and though we’ve seen concept and track versions, until now Porsche has not given the production car its official public debut. Last weekend, with the eyes of the car enthusiast world aimed at the event, Porsche couldn’t have picked a better location or event for that debut, racing the 918 up the hillclimb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Fortunately, a British car blogger named Tim aka Shmee, who does great video work with cars, had cameras stationed along Lord March’s famous driveway to record the new debutante’s coming out party.
Tesla Roadster battery pack – Tesla Photo
One drawback to cars that run on batteries is that over time and multiple charge/discharge cycles, batteries will lose capacity. Individual cells start to fail to meet specifications and when enough cells go bad, it’s time for another battery pack. Since capacity is directly related to range and since battery packs are expensive to replace, how quickly batteries deteriorate is an important factor in the overall cost and practicality of EVs.
Normally I would have skipped right over a Lexus ES300 with two-tone paint. This time, I clicked on it, largely because the prospect of one with enough armor to stop a 7.62 round isn’t something you regularly encounter.
Though there were some critics who mocked their first go round with marketing cars through social media, Ford is apparently happy enough with the results of the 2009 Fiesta Movement that they’re bringing back the Fiesta Movement to help launch the newly refreshed 2014 Fiesta. This time they’re making the campaign even more focused (no pun intended) on using online communities, calling it the Fiesta Movement: A Social Remix.
In an exclusive story, Australia’s Herald Sun newspaper has announced that Australian rear wheel drive Ford enthusiasts will be getting something to help them get over the hurt of Ford’s recent announcement that it will be discontinuing local production of the Falcon along with the rest of Ford production facilities down under.
An eagle-eyed reader sent us pictures of this Ford Global Ranger on the streets of Detroit. Reader bball40dtw claims that this version is “set up for diagnostic testing”. Nevertheless, don’t hold your breath. This thing is apparently 90 percent of the size of an F-150 and the price points are too similar.
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