While all eyes are on GM’s hemorrhaging Opel, Ford is said to be even more affected by the European contagion. Ford could have to close at least one plant in Europe, analysts say, with Southampton, England, and Genk, Belgium, in the cross-hairs. (Read More…)
Ford last closed a plant in Europe a decade ago, when its Dagenham assembly plant was shuttered, but the Blue Oval may be forced to do it again.
The 2013 Ford Mondeo, aka our 2013 Fusion, was supposed to hit UK showrooms around this time, but the launch has been pushed back to September, so Ford can work out some quality-related bugs prior to its on-sale date. (Read More…)
Europe’s new car market continues on its downward spiral with sales down 2.8 percent in June. Half year sales are down 6.8 percent across the EU, data released today by the European Automobiles Manufacturers’ Association ACEA show today. Some countries and automakers do much better, some much worse. (Read More…)
If you’re shopping for a compact American crossover, Chevy’s Equinox is likely on your list. If however you’re looking to rent a small crossover, the Chevrolet Captiva Sport is probably what you’ll get for $29.95 a day from Hertz. While you’re bound to see them on the streets, you can’t buy them new unless you’re a fleet customer. That’s because the Captiva is designed to do two things: keep fleet sales of GM’s other CUVs low and continue to amortize the cost of Americanizing the Opel Antara. Yep, that’s right, under the bow tie, the Captiva Sport is none-other than the 2008-2010 Saturn VUE, aka the Opel Antata, Holden Captiva and Dawewoo Winstorm MaXX. We spent a week in a Hertz rental to find out if Chevy’s rental soft-roader should be on your used CUV shopping list.
Also suffering from the European contagion is Ford. The blue oval’s western European are down 10 percent in the first half of 2012, Reuters says. June sales are down a hefty 16.1 percent. (Read More…)
Volvo has long been the “safe choice” in more ways than one. The brand’s reputation is steeped in safety, but for the past 30 years “luxury with a hint of performance” has been a secondary focus. Even still, arriving at the country club in a Volvo won’t bring out the green-eyed-monster. Your fellow socialites will just think you were being safe and practical. Volvo may be the Birkenstock of the automotive world, but that doesn’t prevent them from creating the occasional irrational vehicle. While Volvo isn’t ready commit to build the insane 508HP S60R, they will sell you the most powerful small crossover in America: the 2012 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD R-Design with Polestar. (If you don’t count the bat-s**t-crazy (in a good way) Nissan Juke R. Michael Karesh was able to wrangle an XC60 R-Design out of a local dealer for a quick take in December, but what’s the Polestar tweaked XC like to live with for a week? Click through the jump to find out.
BMW did not buy Mitsubishi’s Nedcar plant , a Dutch busmaker did. Mitsubishi today said it signed a principal agreement on the sale of its Dutch Nedcar plant to local bus maker VDL Groep. The busmaker gets a deal: The plant with a book value of 493 million Euro ($605 million) goes for exactly one euro. (Read More…)
Bloomberg is reporting that Peugeot may expand their job cuts in France, with the potential for 10 percent of their domestic warehouse to be cut.
A report by Alix Partners, an automotive consulting firm, spells out what we at TTAC have been saying for some time; Europe’s auto industry is facing a major crisis of overcapacity, but no steps have been taken to remedy the matter.
Over the last 12 years, GM lost $16 billion in Europe, more than a billion each year. Ford is doing a bit better, but it sits on excess capacity of 300,000 units in Europe and expects a loss of $500 million to $600 million. Automotive News [sub] recommends to both: Pack up and leave. Says Luca Ciferri in AN: (Read More…)
Europe’s car market is slowly swirling down the drain. Sales in May were down by 8.7 percent. Five months into the year, the market is down 7.7 percent.
Europe’s best-selling cars are impacted disproportionately. Eight out of ten suffered double-digit percentage losses. Only one car managed a slight increase in May. (Read More…)
PSA’s owners are not happy with CEO Philippe Varin. They would already have sacked him, would a replacement be on hand, reports France’s La Tribune. Reason for the disenchantment: Catastrophic sales, and the alliance with GM. (Read More…)
An article from British rag AutoExpress may have inadvertently shed some light on the base powertrain for the next Ford Mustang.
Jeep is hoping to sell 125,000 vehicles in Europe by 2015, and in addition to new product, the brand is also undertaking a sponsorship deal with one of Italy’s most popular soccer teams.
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