The Smart fortwo might be the butt of jokes Stateside, but the city car has managed to move 500,000 copies worldwide after launching in its second generation four years ago. Sales this year are up 6.6 percent, and an electric version is due to launch in the spring of 2012. While other version of the...
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Kia will unveil its first electric vehicle by the start of 2012, but did not say whether the vehicle would be sold in the United States. The EV will reportedly be based on the Hyundai i10, a vehicle considered much too small for North American tastes. A production run of just 2,000 units is expected...
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Chrysler has launched their first two re-badged Lancia product in the UK (where the Lancia brand has been defunct for a number of years), with a pair of hatchbacks based on the Lancia Delta and Ypsilon compact and subcompact cars. The Ypsilon shares a platform with the Fiat 500 and will be available with the...
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the 2009 Honda Odyssey for a possible liftgate malfunction. The Odyssey’s power liftgate is said to close unexpectedly, and NHTSA has received seven complaints so far, with two of the complaints resulting in injury after the owners were unexpectedly struck with the liftgate. An estimated 20,000 vehicles are affected....
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Kia will hold off on expanding its production facilities and sales targets in favor of improving the quality of its vehicles, CEO Lee Sam-ung told Automotive News at a launch event for its new Rio hatchback. “Quantitative growth is important, but qualitative growth is also important. We plan to focus on improving product quality and...
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While General Motors seemed desperate to sell Opel back in 2009, GM CEO Dan Akerson now says that the terms of the sale were a “bad deal” and that Opel, along with GM’s other global divisions, are now profitable. Nick Reilly, GM’s European president, said that GM Europe will be profitable – albeit not by...
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Jeep Liberty SUVs built between 2002 and 2003 for an issue regarding the premature deployment of airbags. NHTSA said that they’ve received 7 complaints regarding airbags deploying without a crash, with 5 of these incidents having caused injuries. 387,356 vehicles are said to be affected by the issue. [Source: Automotive News]
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Volkswagen is set to approve production of the Bugatti Galiber by the end of 2011, but Bugatti head Wolfgang Durheimer himself told Autocar that the concept car will bear little resemblance to what super wealthy customers will eventually be able to buy. “The design will be different, especially from the B-pillar back, the ingress and...
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Following in the footsteps of the Aston Martin Cygnet, Lotus will introduce their own City Car, apparently dubbed the Ethos, in late 2013. First unveiled at the 2010 Paris Auto Show, the Ethos will be powered by a hybrid powertrain or possibly a fully electric system like the Nissan Leaf. The concept used a 1.2L...
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U.S. private equity firm North Street Capital, has purchased Spyker, after a deal to sell the Dutch outfit to Russian investors fell through. The Financial Times reported the news after viewing a preliminary draft of the announcement. It’s unclear how the Spyker sale will impact parent company Swedish Automobile, and its attempts to restructure Saab,...
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Hyundai CEO John Krafcik will keep his company’s focus on being a fuel economy leader, and has ruled out a high-performance sports car, even as he discussed the various ways in which the new CAFE regulations can be gamed to produce low fleet fuel economy ratings. With large vehicles being held to less stringent standards...
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General Motors will idle its Fort Wayne, Indiana plant for one week in November to help bring pickup truck production in line with slowing demand. The plant will be idled for the week of November 7th, and no Chevrolet Silverado or GMC Sierra pickups will be produced at that time. GM has reported a 108...
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While Hyundai and Kia are the best known Korean automakers, Ssangyong, still exists in the rest of the world, and the automaker (who has never sold vehicles in North America) has some very ambitious goals for the near future. Ssangyong wants to sell 160,000 vehicles worldwide by 2013, and hopes to raise that number to...
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Sales targets for the Fiat 500 were set at an ambitious 6,000 units per month, and surprise surprise, the car isn’t meeting them. This might be due to the fact that it’s a subcompact, foreign branded car in a market where gasoline is (relatively) cheap and large vehicles reign supreme. Or it could be the...
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The Ferrari 458 Italia Spider will retail for a starting price of $257,000 when it goes on sale in January of 2012. The 458 Spider features a retractable aluminum hardtop rather than the soft top of previous Ferrari Spiders. The new system weighs 55 lbs less than a soft top and takes only14 seconds to...
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Even though the accuracy of Nurburgring records has been debunked ad nauseaum, the low-IQ crowd still seems to take some stock in their veracity – or maybe they just need a lot of visual stimulation. Either way, the Dodge Viper ACR has apparently set a new lap record for the Nurburgring, and there exists video...
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Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said that the Japanese government’s effort to keep the yen’s value under control had failed and that Nissan was strongly considering moving production out of Japan and into foreign countries. A weakened United States dollar has meant that the value of the greenback has shifted from 91 yen per dollar to...
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Want to win $500 towards a set of tires? You could be the lucky winner of a Discount Tire voucher for 500 big ones just be filling out a survey being put on by AutoGuide.com and J.D. Power. The AutoGuide Audience Survey will ask questions regarding how social media and other online tools help...
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A report by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants claims that by 2015, Brazil will be the world’s third largest auto market, with China and the United States occupying the first and second slots respectively. Brazil will displace Japan as the third largest market, as sales are expected to double to 6.6 million vehicles by 2020. The...
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Ford may begin building electric cars in China via joint ventures with Chinese auto makers, replicating the tactics of rivals like General Motors and Daimler AG, parent company of Mercedes-Benz. China is looking to add 1 million EVs by 2015 as part of an effort to curb emissions and the dependence on fossil fuels. Ford...
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During the U.N. General Assembly in New York City last week, a Mercedes-Benz S550 belonging to a diplomat from the United Arab Emirates was stolen after its driver went to get himself a cup of tea. Ghulan Rehmani, a resident of Queens, New York, left the vehicle running after he went to a shop to...
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Kia will launch their 2012 Rio Hatchback with a starting price of $13,600, plus a $750 destination charge (bringing the total to $14,350). The base car will come only with a manual gearbox, while an automatic transmission equipped version will cost $14,700 ($15,540 with destination included) while the top-of-the-line SX model will set you back...
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Toyota‘s new styling chief, Dezi Nagaya, wants to abandon the company’s previous conservative design language for a new direction that is “…more dynamic, more masculine, sportier, with a more obvious design theme and a face to represent the company and the brand.” Nagaya’s challenge comes with creating a unified styling language that can span everything...
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Saab‘s museum collection of historically significant vehicles was seized by Swedish authorities from the company’s museum. The Swedish Enforcement Office took possession of the museum and other contents, including 13 exhibits, 22 engines and six workshop tools. Saab is said to owe parts suppliers more than $31 million in overdue payments, and the Swedish government...
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