Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Already on sale in Europe and soon to be launched in USA, Hyundai Motor has released a wagon variant of the i30 hatchback in South Korea. The i30 CW will join the five-door model, which went on sale in Korean market earlier this year and has sold above expectations.
Initially, Hyundai expected to sell about 10,000 units on its home market annually, but so far, more than 2,000 units of the i30 hatch have been sold each month, meaning its yearly sales target will be surpassed by a large margin. To further increase these numbers, Hyundai is adding a wagon variant of the i30 to its Korean car line-up.
Named i30 CW, the car will be available with two different gasoline four-cylinder powerplants, generating between 126 and 142 horsepower and a diesel engine packing 128hp. Five speed manual or four speed automatic transmissions will be availab
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Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
While the proposed GM-Chrysler merger is still being speculated about, another player - Nissan - now seems to have jumped into the fray. The Japanese carmaker is said to be looking at picking up a 20% stake in Chrysler, bringing the troubled American car manufacturer into the Renault-Nissan alliance.
Nissan is said to have already made an offer to Cerberus Capital Management, which holds about 80% percent of Chrysler, though according to various sources, Stephen Feinberg (Cerberus founder and CEO) would rather do a deal with GM.
With slowing sales worldwide, Nissan is also looking at cutting production at some of its factories, and is asking its workers in some locations to take leave without pay. In the US alone, Nissan’s sales have dropped by 37% this year. In such a grim economic scenario, it seems incomprehensible for Nissan to pick up a 20% stake in Chrysler.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
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Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
2009 Mercedes E-Class spy photos…..
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Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
Toyota Motor Corp. has recently expanded the production of the Corolla compact passenger car at two of its North American plants, company officials told Jiji Press on Tuesday. In North America, Toyota manufactures the Corolla in California and Canada, with annual production volumes reaching some 200,000 units and 160,000 units, respectively.
The two plants will increase their Corolla production for three months through December. As a result, their combined output should be 15,000-20,000 units more than earlier planned, the sources said. Toyota has suspended the production of large-sized vehicles at three of its U.S. plants due to a growing inventory of unsold vehicles resulting from weak U.S. demand.
Toyota is now focusing on smaller vehicles with greater fuel efficiency that sell better in the U.S. market. To shore up sales, the automaker has launched zero interest campaigns on new auto loans.
[Via: autoincar]
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Friday, October 10th, 2008
Toyota Technical Center (TTC) celebrated the grand opening of its new engineering and safety testing facilities here today with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Congressman John Dingell, as well as several hundred government officials, community leaders, suppliers and Toyota team members.
TTC, a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America (TEMA), already has a site in Ann Arbor. With the expansion in York Township, TTC is adding 400 new jobs and will boost its employment to 1,100 by 2010. “Toyota’s investment of $187 million to advance research and development demonstrates our commitment to the North American automotive industry,” said Shigeki Terashi, TTC president. “TTC has been conducting R&D activity in Michigan for over 30 years and recognizes Southeast Michigan as the center for automotive R&D in North America.”
“Continued commitment and investments by Toyota are important as we maintain our efforts to diversify our economy and create jobs here in Michigan,” Governor Granholm said. “The Toyota Technical Center is a huge win for Michigan and our workers - our reputation as the automotive capital of the world brought Toyota here, and we will continue to attract R&D and advanced manufacturing jobs because of our global leadership in automotive research and development.”
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Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Alfa Romeo is back in US, well partially. After exiting the US market in 1995 due to slumping sales and discontent customers, the brand is making a come back by launching the Alfa 8C Competizione , the $200,000 high performance coupe that has captured the fancy of automobile lovers across Europe.
The Alfa 8C Competizione is now officially available across USA through designated Maserati dealers selected to sell the car. But it doesnt matter as of now beacuse all the 8C’s earmarked for the US market for the year have already been spoken for.
The spyder version will come in later, by 2010. After the full operations are started in the USA, the whole Alfa range will be available throughout the dealerships, from Brera coupe to the 159 sedan or their replacements MiTo and the 149. The company is also looking at a large rear wheel drive car which will be based on a Jaguar platform.
[Via: indianautoblog]
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Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
Struggling General Motors Corp. is talking to Isuzu Motors about selling its truck business, in what would mark the first Japanese takeover of a business from the US Big Three, a report said Friday. Isuzu, Japan’s second biggest truck maker, is “positive” about the deal, which would be worth tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars), the Nikkei business newspaper said in its evening edition.
But an Isuzu spokesman denied the report. “The company has not been approached by General Motors,” he said. The US Big Three automakers have been suffering major losses as soaring oil costs and a slowing US economy sap sales.
GM is widely expected to lose its nearly eight-decade-old crown as the top world automaker this year to Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. Needing cash, GM decided in 2006 to sell its minority stake in Isuzu - most of which was bought by Toyota.
The Nikkei, which is usually well-informed, said GM approached Isuzu this month about buying its business in mid-sized trucks, most of which are sold in North America.
The newspaper, which did not identify its sources, said it was not yet clear whether GM would sell its truck-making plant in the economically ailing US state of Michigan to the Japanese company. If the deal were to go through, Isuzu - whose main business is small trucks - would surpass Toyota affiliate Hino Motors as Japan’s top truckmaker, the report said.
GM is also believed to be considering selling part of stake in DMAX Ltd., an existing joint venture with Isuzu making diesel engines, so that the Japanese company’s share would rise from 40 to 50 percent, the report said. GM posted a massive 15.5-billion-dollar net loss in the second quarter.
[Via: autoblog]
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Saturday, September 20th, 2008
Hyundai is looking to bring more small cars to the U.S., but said that it won’t bring the much-anticipated i10 to the stateside anytime soon. Why? Because they feel the car is too small for the American market. Are they calling us fat?
Instead, the Korean automaker is looking at the larger i20 and i30 , however Brandon Yea, senior vice president of product planning, says there is no firm decision as of yet. He said that the next Hyundai small car has to be strong enough to rival the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris.
The Hyundai i20 will debut next month at the Paris Motor Show. The 5-door hatchback will fit between the i10 and i30 and will be built in India. Sales will begin in Europe in December.
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Saturday, September 20th, 2008
Mahindra and Mahindra is looking at strengthening its utility vehicles and tractor businesses worldwide, and is preparing to scale up its exports to African and Latin American markets. ‘We are looking at Africa and Latin American markets to enhance our exports. The utility vehicles segment will be given focus in Latin America and tractors in Africa,’ says Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, M&M.
[Via: cartradeindia]
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Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
Hyundai is currently studying its options to export its latest 54-mpeg car from India to the United States. i10 is the premium hatchback model in the Hyundai portfolio that has been extremely successful in India. It already crossed 1 lakh benchmark for exports in less than 7 months of its launch.
“We are studying the feasibility of beginning our exports to the US,” said Mr H.S. Lheem, Managing Director and CEO, Hyundai Motor India Ltd on the occasion of the company’s 10th anniversary celebration.
Hyundai i10 is only 140 inches long and 21 inches shorter than Honda Fit and is capable of up to 56 mpg. Escalating fuel prices has led to rise in demand for compact cars in the US. Hyundai needs to add the safety features which will increase its weight by 400 pounds and the new Hyundai i10 shall be ready to be exported to the US.
Hyundai currently exports its premium compact car model, i10, to nearly 96 countries but has stayed away from the US market owing to the poor demand in compact car segment and intense competition.
It is also planning to export its upcoming model Hyundai i20, to overseas market which shall be launched by the year end in India. All exports shall be done from its Chennai facility in South India. It plans to stop exporting Getz once i20 starts getting exported to international market.
[Via: Cartradeindia]
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