News
7 May, 2019
Fresh design sketch previews the Skoda Superb’s revised styling as facelifted flagship model prepares for launch
Though April 2019 New Zealand registration figures of 10,640 vehicles were up 2% on the same month in 2018, continuing the fluctuating monthly trend for 2019 year to date, April sales set a record, albeit by five units.
Reports in India say that India's car market dropped sharply in April as elections disrupted demand.
The Volkswagen brand says its first quarter sales revenue grew by 7.1% year-on-year to EUR21.5 billion. Operating profit before special items rose by 4.8% to EUR921m.
Daimler says a joint pilot project between Premium AEROTEC, EOS and Daimler demonstrates huge potential for the production of replacement parts and series production components and has been a 'complete success'.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has reported first quarter adjusted net profit of EUR0.6bn, some 41% below the same quarter last year. Revenues were off 5% on last year's pace at EUR24.5bn for the quarter.
US sales for April surprised a lot of industry watchers this week as volume and SAAR came in below analysts' expectations. Volume dipped again in April, down 2.3% year on year to about 1.33m cars and light trucks. After four months, deliveries were 3% behind the January-April period in 2018. The seasonally adjusted annualised rate (SAAR) slumped to 16.41m units and both total volume and SAAR were well below the predictions.
We're taking a long weekend in the UK - we get Monday 6th May off as a national holiday. It's the 'May Day' holiday, which - in Britain - is taken on the Monday following the 1st (if the 1st does not fall on a Monday).
Chinese automaker Foton Motor Group has agreed to set up a new joint venture with Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group to produce vehicles in Thailand for sales across the ASEAN region.
Geely's Volvo Cars said global sales "continued to grow at a steady pace in April" with volume up 7.4% year on year to 56,535 cars with China, the US and Europe all seeing growth.
Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Toyota AI Ventures (TAIV) has announced Fund II, a new US$100M fund dedicated to investing in early-stage startups developing disruptive technologies and business models in the autonomous mobility and robotics markets.
News
3 May, 2019
New Citroen saloon draws inspiration from the Cxperience concept, and our exclusive images preview how it could look
Mazda Motor Europe (MME) announced it would restart sales of new vehicles in Greece later this year with local partner Syngelidis Group.
FCA has completed the sale of its automotive components business, Magneti Marelli to CK Holdings, the holding company of Japanese supplier, Calsonic Kansei Corporation for US$5.8bn.
Opinion
6 May, 2019
No car manufacturer seems to know whether or not the humble motor show is going to thrive to be killed off, says Mike Rutherford
French auto plastics specialist Novares said it booked full year 2018 revenue of EUR1,123.3m, an increase of 2.7% year on year while EBITDA improved to 9.1%.
Best cars & vans
2 May, 2019
After a four-wheel-drive vehicle with a bit more off-road clout than the average SUV? Our top 10 best 4x4s list is the place to go…
Royal Power Solutions, which supplies electrical power and signal distribution components for global vehicle and industrial applications, has opened a new assembly plant in the Queretaro, Mexico, automotive mega-cluster.