BMW is considering new production sites around the world, including eastern Europe, according to media reports on Friday. But a BMW spokesman told Automotive News Europe today that the company has no plans add a new factory in Europe.
BMW tends to do things in style and with just a month or two before this year's Tour de France, they turned on a bit of that glamour with the press drive yesterday (17 May) of its 640d SE Gran Coupé west of Strasbourg in the Vosges mountains.
General Motors has reshuffled its US sales team "in preparation for numerous product launches in the coming months".
Many a spring vacation starts and ends with a pile of overstuffed suitcases and backpacks crammed along with their respective owners into the family minivan, sedan or sport-utility vehicle.
UK car production rose 9.3% year on year to 94,352 units in April. Of those, 80,936 were exported, up 9.9%.
Toyota has axed the slow-selling Lexus HS 250h after fewer than three years on the market. The car was sold mostly in Japan, the US and Canada.
Data released by JATO Dynamics points to continued weakness in the European car market in April as the region continues to experience economic instability and slowdown.
Ford has begun taking orders for the C-Max hybrid in the US, claiming it is America's most affordable, fuel-efficient hybrid utility vehicle.
Russia's largest carmaker, AvtoVAZ, said on Friday its net profit more than doubled in 2011 to 6.7 billion rubles (about $215.8 million). The maker of Russia's best-selling Lada cars said that its revenue grew 27 percent to 175.
Chery has applied for government permission to establish a joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover in China after the two companies signed an agreement in March to cooperate on production.
Chinese car dealers are struggling with a rising number of unsold cars that threaten to deepen price cuts, according to the nation's biggest automobile dealers' association.
Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's plan to improve slow sales of the Fiat and Lancia brands in Europe through rebadged Chrysler models is getting mixed results.
Strong demand for premium and near-premium cars helped BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Citroen buck the downward trend in European new-car sales in April.
The city of Worthersee, Austria has been hosting the world's largest Volkswagen gathering for more than three decades. And this year, fans coming from all over Europe get to see some pretty exciting models.
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| Photo: Volkswagen |
The German automaker's Motorsport division introduced the new Polo R WRC that will take part in the World Rally Championship in 2013. Sprinting from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.1 seconds thanks to a 300-hp 1.6L TSI engine, this machine is a real head-turner. A street version with a 220-hp 2.0L TSI is also on display.
Of course, two of the main attractions are by far the new Volkswagen GTI Concept White, distinguished by its special Oryx White matte paintwork and black/red interior, and the GTI Black Dynamic Concept, which features a Deep Black metallic exterior with matte anthracite accents as well as a mega-powerful 1,800W sound system that occupies most of the trunk.
From HRT
The small HRT Formula 1 Team has officially open its doors to the new headquarters at the Caja Mágica in Madrid, Spain.
Team Principal, Luis Pérez-Sala, and drivers Pedro de la Rosa, Dani Clos and Ma Qing Hua acted as the hosts of this meeting with the press, sponsors, suppliers and friends of the team.
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| Photo: HRT F1 Team |
The Mayoress of Madrid, Honourable Madam Ana Botella and the President of the Spanish Motorsport Federation and Vice-President of the FIA, Mr.Carlos Gracia, wanted to accompany the team on this special day.
They toured the new facilities alongside the maximum representatives of the team, through the management, administration, operations and engineering areas up until the workshop where the mechanics were working on the F112 for the Monaco Grand Prix.
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| Photo: HRT F1 Team |
"We're extremely proud to have finally opened our doors to everyone and have shown what, since a few months ago, is HRT's home. It's been a lot of hard work but it's a dream that has finally come true and an exciting project. This is the present but we continue to work looking ahead to the future to make this a top level sporting and technological centre and surely, with the help of everyone, we will achieve this,” said Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal HRT Formula 1 Team.
In order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the
Mille Miglia Storica, inspired by what Enzo Ferrari once called ''the most beautiful race in the world,'' Fiat designed the new Abarth 695 Edizione Maserati as a tribute to two automotive legends: Karl Abarth and Alfieri Maserati.
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| Photo: Fiat |
Following a collaborative project that resulted in the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari three years ago, this new Fiat convertible boasts a 1.4L Turbo T-Jet engine tuned to 180 horsepower, 17" Maserati "Neptune" alloy wheels, and a unique three-layer paintwork in Pontevecchio Bordeaux (dark red) that reflects light and enhances the car's lines.
The exclusive interior features sand beige leather seats with containment strips and stylish details such as the number "695" heat-printed on the headrests. Also worth mentioning is a premium 9-speaker JBL audio system with 8-channel amplifier and 400 watts of total power.
Only 499 units will be produced (each one with a serialized plate). Pricing and market availability have yet to be announced.
As it turns out, we hadn't seen it all yet. Hot on the heels of the mightily impressive 544-horsepower G 63 AMG, Mercedes-Benz is launching the new 612-horsepower G 65 AMG that produces a class-leading 738 pounds-feet of torque.
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| Photo: Mercedes-Benz |
Equipped with a 6.0L V12 engine (a first in G-Class history) and a 7-speed automatic transmission, the 2013 Mercedes-Benz G 65 AMG rides on 275/50R20 tires and 5-spoke black alloy wheels. It rockets to 100 km/h in 5.3 seconds, which is a tenth of a second faster than the G 63, while burning 17.0 litres of gas per 100 kilometres.
Pricing is set at 264,180 Euros (about $343,200). The G 65 AMG will hit the European market next month, but North American availability remains unknown.
According to J.Crew CEO and Apple board member Mickey Drexler, Steve Jobs had dreamed of one day developing his own automobile since he believed American automakers paid no real attention to styling.
Sadly, we'll never know what an ''iCar'' would look like - or if the inspiration came from Circuit ICAR in Mirabel, Quebec. Jobs never ended up designing his dream vehicle.
But the good news for fans and consumers is that Drexler also made a statement that gives credibility to all those rumours about Apple televisions. Stay tuned!
Source: Wired
The first-ever Porsche owned by Bill Gates, a 1979 911 Turbo that he purchased a few years after founding Microsoft with Paul Allen, is now up for bid in Austria.
Sources say that Gates liked to go on high-speed excursions with his Porsche on the desert roads surrounding Albuquerque, NM before he and Allen moved Microsoft to the Seattle area.
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| Photo: Dorotheum |
Allen even had to bail him out of jail after one midnight escapade where Gates received three speeding tickets, including two from the same cop who was trailing him.
Registration slips still with the Porsche indicate that Gates held on to it at least through 1990. The car eventually wound up in Austria where its current owner repainted it in its original metallic turquoise.
Consigned with Dorotheum, the prized 911 Turbo carries a pre-auction estimate of about $55,500 to $71,000. We'll know its exact value on June 6
th.
Source: Hemmings
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