One Ford? Not in the all-important D-Segment. While America’s poncy Taurus languishes in sales, Europe’s Mondeo has been facelifted and is ready for another round of competition. And with a full compliment of Ecoboost four-cylinders and diesels, it’s likely to continue selling well there. Meanwhile, the Fiesta, Focus and more models from Ford’s European stables are headed stateside, but there’s still no word of a global unification of Ford’s D-segment offerings. Given that the Taurus has sold 60k units in the last 12 months, it might be time to consider bringing the Mondeo to America.

The 2011 Suzuki Swift has debuted in Europe, and though it looks a lot like its predecessor, Suzuki says it might, maybe, just possibly come to the US this time around. Will they wait for a plug-in version? Will they give it more power than the Euro-market 92 horsepower 1.2 liter? Will the Kia Soul know what hit it? Tell us how Suzuki should bring this car to the US (if at all), and we’ll promise not to make any 18th Century literary references… for now.

Don’t worry my fellow Americans, your supercharged Elises and Exiges are safe. In Europe, however, the introduction of the new 1.6 liter Elise means the old 1.8 supercharged cars are on their way out, victims of the new Euro 5 standard.

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“Flirtation between Nissan and GM has a rich history,” said our Dear Leader. Here we go again. This time, with the whole cabal. Renault’s Ghosn has put an entry in the Match.com of the auto trade. Reuters says that Renault could work closely with a U.S. partner if the occasion arose, but it is not crucial. Not only is Renault flirtatious, they make it sound like it’s a no strings attached kind of a thing. It never is … (Read More…)

Batten hatches! Europe is on an emergency dive. According to data just released by the ACEA, sales in May dropped by 9.3 percent compared to May 2009. Our Ford canary in the EU coal mine was right again: May numbers were worse than April numbers. In April, the EU market had been down 7.4 percent. But that’s not the worst part. (Read More…)

ACEA hasn’t released European numbers for May yet (they are expected within the next days,) but in case you have a financial, business, or other interest, be advised that the results will be grim. How do we know that? By reading a press release by Ford Europe. Ford has consistently jumped the gun on releasing European numbers, and has turned into TTAC’s canary in the EU coal mine. What TTAC’s patent-pending GM indicator is for China, Ford becomes for Europe. Executive summary: May was another blood bath for the EU. Ford underperformed the EU market nearly 2:1. (Read More…)

Europe’s Euro 5 emissions standard has already killed off Mazda’s RX-8; is it any wonder that the Impreza STI is running scared? Autocar reports that the next-gen STI, due sometime in 2012 will not offer another version of the 2.0 turbocharged gas engines that have powered the car since it got a reputation for bargain thrills. Instead, a two-liter turbodiesel is likely to be the main engine on offer, as Subaru strives to keep the STI grunty without blowing its emissions limits.

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Facing declining sales in Europe [AN [sub] says Fiat’s Italian market share just fell below 30 percent for the first time since 2005], and a US-market turnaround of its Chrysler Group brands that has won over few believers, Fiat has laid out its strategy for ongoing viability: a move to modular platforms each of which will support an increasing number of models. In 2006, Fiat says it built 32 nameplates off of 19 architectures; by the end of this year it hopes to build 38 models on 11 platforms. By 2014, Fiat plans to have switched over to an all-new modular platform system which will allow the same 38 models to be built on five basic architectures. Volume per architecture is the name of the game in the modern global car business, and Fiat aims to keep up… if not quite to the extent of Volkswagen’s plan to base 60 models on a single modular architecture.

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To be perfectly honest, we weren’t familiar with the work of Weinsberg, Germany-based Xenatec group before hearing that the custom bodywork shop would be building a Maybach Coupe. Thanks to a tip from Auto Motor und Sport, we headed over to Xenatec’s website, and found that the firm offers a wide variety of custom bodywork ranging from the absurd to the sublime. Some of Xenatec’s customs, like the stretched Audi R8 shown above, show just how pointlessly nuts things can get when money is not a factor. Others, like the four-door BMW 6-Series and the Mercedes CLS Wagon actually represent pre-emptive swipes at forthcoming niche models. A four-door Porsche 911 even gives sufficiently well-heeled buyers the option of buying a “real” Porsche four-door as an alternative to the front-engine Panamera. You know the industry is passing through strange days when OEMs and tuning houses start meeting in the middle…

Around the world, drunk driving is a deadly problem without an easy solution. After all, the link between driving under the influence and generally screwing up your life (and the lives of others) has been conclusively proven, and yet the problem continues. What to do? Volvo’s answer: buy a Volvo and spend €850  (plus up to €90 for installation) on “Alcoguard,” a dealer-installed optional breathalyzer ignition interlock. With this system in place, drivers must blow into an interlock, proving that they are beneath the legal blood-alcohol-content limit before the vehicle will start.

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Nissan made quite a stir in EV-watcher circles by announcing that its UK-produced Leaf battery packs would cost under $400/kWh, but as we noted at the time, those numbers are being supported by various government incentives. Now, with a new government taking over number 10 Downing Street, Nissan’s UK Leaf production incentive might be on its way out. With the UK’s new Conservative-led government facing profound budget challenges (try a $240b deficit on for size), The Telegraph reports that a $30.5m grant approved by the outgoing government could fall victim to an overarching review of new expenditures by the incoming government. And that’s just the beginning…

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As Americans have noted, bailouts can get costly. Europe has just decided on a trillion dollar bailout for their southern European deadbeats member states. Who’s going to pay for all that? In Germany, raising taxes is taboo (for the moment.) Lowering taxes had been one of the wedding vows of the ruling coalition. They didn’t say exactly when, but raising taxes would be politically – not very smart. So how else to raise money? Where else than from our darling piggy bank, the hapless motorist. (Read More…)

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association ACEA released sales numbers for April. As predicted on Friday, the numbers are bad. For the first time this year, and for the first time in 10 months, numbers are negative. New passenger car registrations in Europe fell by 7.4 percent in April compared to the same month last year. They will get worse. (Read More…)

I guess, a lot of people at Ford European HQ are sorry of their “Europe’s biggest brand” rararah of last  month. There will be a lot of “eat your words” in Cologne. Or “eat a broom” as they say in Germany. Much less appetizing than eating words.  Ford’s sales numbers for April are horrible. (Read More…)