Auto News 5

News 3 Jan, 2013

The Honda S2000 Modulo Climax will debut at the Tokyo Auto Salon

PSA has appointed Naza Euro Motors, a subsidiary of the Naza Group, as the official distributor for the Citroen brand in Malaysia.

Toyota luxury brand Lexus has decided to defer its entry into India, already home to rival luxury brands Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz which all assemble locally.

News 3 Jan, 2013

The Ford Focus is set to become the world's best-selling car for 2012

News 3 Jan, 2013

New boards will stop other motorists from slowing down to look at crashes

Automakers in India ended 2012 on a dull note with some reporting a year on year drop in sales for December.

German auto sales fell 2.9 percent in 2012 to their lowest level in two years, in line with a trend of weaker car demand in other key markets in Europe. New car registrations in Europe's biggest economy dropped 16.

News 3 Jan, 2013

Gazoo Racing will unveil a tuned Toyota GT 86 at the Tokyo Auto Salon

Subaru plans to increase capacity by 30% in the US, its only overseas production facility, according to the Nikkei.

New vehicle sales in Indonesia are expected to approach 1.1m units in 2012 - which would represent a 23% increase on the previous year's 893,164 units.

News 9 Jan, 2013

Exclusive images show how the stunning new Volkswagen Golf CC could look when it arrives in 2015

"Preliminary industry registration data shows total new vehicle sales for 2012 topped 100,000 units," said Perry Kerr, chief executive officer of New Zealand's Motor Industry Association (MIA).

There was promise in the early 1970s, even with dark clouds muddling the horizon. The

Astute readers may recall that

Opel/Vauxhall is confident it can produce its new Adam minicar in Germany and still make money.

Sales of new autos, a bright spot for the U.S. in 2012, will grow further this year as an improving economy and demand for pickups and for mid-sized cars boosts registrations 6.6 percent, according to R.L. Polk and Co. About 15.

Hyundai and smaller affiliate Kia forecast their slowest sales growth in seven years as a slowing global economy and strengthening won saps demand. The two companies plan combined sales to rise 4.1 percent to 7.

Car sales in France, Spain and Italy in 2012 fell to the lowest levels in years, with December registration data underscoring the challenges facing the broader European economy.

SAN FRANCISCO, California -- If the hoary adage that people and their pets eventually come to resemble one another rings true, then perhaps the same can be said for folks and their cars.


My elderly neighbours, quiet and frugal and eminently respectable, own a Nissan Sentra that looks exactly the way it did when they brought it home back in 2006. Beige and unassuming, it sits on the blacktop beside their nondescript yet perfectly maintained two-storey, only venturing out on Monday afternoons to get groceries and Sundays, promptly at nine, for church. As a four-wheeled appliance, it couldn't fit more seamlessly into their well-ordered lives.

In the six years since Nissan last remade their top-selling compact sedan, the segment has gone through some major changes. It's a market that's growing, with empty-nesters and young marrieds realizing that they really don't need a full-size sedan, or giant crossover. Newly overhauled offerings from all major players in this increasingly competitive segment feature more sophisticated styling and improved interiors -- on top of the requisite low fuel consumption.

The release of the 2013 Nissan model marks seven generations of Sentra since its introduction 30 years ago, a car that has sold 320,000 units in Canada alone.

According to Tim Franklin, Nissan's Sr. Manager of Product Planning, the top purchase requirements of buyers in this category are value --without being cheap -- fuel economy, worry-free quality, and durability.

"[Sentra is] a premium vehicle for the compact segment," says Franklin. "Sophisticated styling doesn't cost extra."

For 2013, the Sentra trades its nerdy-cute, jelly-bean looks for a more grown-up and polished exterior, featuring the familial trapezoidal front grille. A lower roofline, and beltline give it a more forward-moving appearance, while standard LED head and tail lamps add an upscale touch. Its new streamlined appearance is more aerodynamically slippery, too. And while the new Sentra is slightly larger overall, it's 68 kg lighter than the model it replaces due to the use of high-strength steel, and a smaller gas tank made possible by its improved fuel economy.

There's a new 130 hp/128 lb-ft 4-cylinder 1.8L engine in the 2013 Nissan Sentra that comes with either a "next-generation" continuously variable transmission (CVT) or a 6-speed manual (available on SV models only). When mated to the CVT, the smaller, lighter engine helps the Sentra achieve a combined fuel economy rating of 5.8L/100 km -- compared to the Toyota Corolla's 6.6L, Hyundai Elantra's 5.9L, Honda Civic's 6.2L and 6.0L/100 km for the Chevy Cruze Eco.

There's a new 130 hp/128 lb-ft 4-cylinder 1.8L engine in the 2013 Nissan Sentra (Photo: Lesley Wimbush)

Recently, we drove the newest 2013 Nissan Sentra over San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge and into the lush hills of Sonoma wine country. Our tester, a top-spec SL CVT worth $22,998 featured plenty of soft-touch surfaces, leather upholstery, a 5.8" touchscreen with nav, and an 8-speaker Bose premium sound system. There was a shopping list of tech gadgetry, including a rearview monitoring system, Bluetooth and "NissanConnect" which offers hands-free text and speech-to-text functions, Google POI and send-to-car, real-time fuel prices, weather on demand and speed warnings.

"Fine Vision" electroluminescent gauges in the 2013 Nissan Sentra look like they belong on a far more expensive European luxury sedan; however, the shiny wood trim (faux or not) just looks cheesy, although it's infinitely preferable to the silver-painted plastic that was once de-rigeur for this segment.

The 2013 Nissan Sentra boasts 950mm of rear legroom, more than the Corolla with 922mm, the Civic and Mazda3 with 920mm, but less than the VW Jetta with 968mm.

The suspension remains largely unchanged, up front is an independent strut set-up, behind is a simple beam axle layout with sway bars fore and aft.

Over the picturesque roads of the Napa Valley and the serpentine loops of the Sonoma Hills, the Sentra comported itself in a mannerly fashion; that is to say, it's no sports car, but it goes where you put it. The steering is light and numb as expected in this segment, but accurate throughout the tightly wound curves.

Over the picturesque roads of the Napa Valley , the Sentra comported itself in a mannerly fashion (Photo: Lesley Wimbush)

The 2013 Nissan Sentra's only real misstep is visible during highway passing where its rather modest power output coupled with the CVT causes the powertrain to moan in protest when the gas pedal is enthusiastically applied.

Overall, the 2013 Nissan Sentra is a well-behaved, utterly drama-free vehicle whose cushy leather seats were broad enough to accommodate more ample backsides than mine, and whose cabin is replete with all the available luxurious non-essentials that we tech-addicted Canadian drivers can't seem to live without.

While the new Sentra has considerably evolved from my neighbour's humble runabout, it's still impeccably understated: a nice looking, middle class compact that will no doubt become a familiar sight outside churches, PTA meetings and grocery store parking lots, wherever respectable people are found.

From GMM

Pedro de la Rosa, HRT's lead driver in 2012, has joined boss Luis Perez-Sala in admitting that the Spanish team has folded.

Spaniard de la Rosa, who was contracted to keep racing this year, has already said he is on the lookout for a new role elsewhere as test or reserve driver.

"There has been no official announcement, but we all feel that the project will end," the 41-year-old told the Spanish sports daily Marca.

"The sad thing," de la Rosa continued, "is that there was never a Spanish team before and now I think we will not see one again. It was an historic occasion. With a great champion like Fernando (Alonso), it was a good time and an excellent backdrop for the national interest."

"I think it will be very difficult to have these circumstances again," he added.

As for HRT's demise, Pedro de la Rosa admitted: "If the project failed, we're all a little responsible."

Pedro de la Rosa. (Photo: HRT F1 Team)