- Nissan Aims for “Fewer, Bigger, Better” Marketing Opportunities – Wards: The No.3 Japanese automaker in the U.S. is focusing most of its marketing efforts on sports, but also has a 3-year sponsorship of NBC’s “The Voice.”
- Driverless cars wait for green light – FT: Legal and technological hurdles have to be overcome before dream can become reality
- BRAZIL: JLR to decide soon on second model for new factory – Just-auto: Jaguar Land Rover has started building its manufacturing plant in Itatiaia, in the east of Rio de Janeiro state, as part of a spend of BRL750m/$300m and is considering a second model for the new plant after the previously announced Land Rover Discovery Sport.
- BELGIUM: ‘Little public life’ as huge strike rocks country – Just-auto: Belgium’s new right-of-centre government says employment is its major issue as the country’s transport system ground to a strike-hit halt today (8 December) and ahead of Ford’s imminent shuttering of its Genk plant in ten days.
- Global Automakers Riding Out Storm in Russian Market – Wards: Ford Europe President Stephen Odell says the automaker remains committed to Russia, where it plans to be producing 11 models at three plants by the end of 2015.
- VW aims to leapfrog Tesla, Nissan with new battery technology – Yahoo:
- CHINA: GM sees China critical to Cadillac global growth – Just-auto: General Motors plans to significantly strengthen its Cadillac brand in China with the introduction of nine new models over the next five years.
- CHINA: BYD-Daimler launches new Denza EV – Just-auto: BYD-Daimler New Technology Company has launched its Denza electric vehicle in China, at the inauguration ceremony at the company first dealership in Shenzen.
- Paris and Berlin seek EU emissions delay – FT: Governments push back against proposal on car pollution
- Ford announces lifetime capped-price servicing – Via Google News: ?Innovation is at the forefront of design in all of our vehicles, so we are … will also receive a 12-month membership to the relevant automobile club in…
- BMW Outsold Mercedes Benz in Korea Last Month – Via Google News: According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA), 3,481 new BMW cars were registered in Korea last month to account…
- Carmakers hit the gas as China slows down – Automotive News: Chinese bureaucrats are jittery, maybe even a bit panicky, about the country’s slumping economy. But global carmakers sound as optimistic as ever as they place big bets on the world’s biggest auto market.
- Chrysler Pentastar V-6s to get turbos and direct injection, sources say – Automotive News: Chrysler Group is improving its Pentastar family of V-6s, adding direct injection, turbocharging and other technology to enable smaller displacement engines to power its vehicles.
- Ford considers CVTs as way to improve fuel economy – Automotive News: Ford is considering giving the continuously variable transmission another spin. “We’ve had some experience with CVTs and it wasn’t all good,” said Raj Nair, Ford’s global product development chief, during a media event here. “They are getting better.
- Jeep drives 25% of U.S. sales gains – Automotive News: Jeep’s big year has helped Fiat Chrysler grow at four times the pace of the rest of the industry, gaining momentum as the U.S. market shows signs of starting to plateau.
- Lexus ponders drop-top options – Automotive News: As the only convertible in its lineup approaches the end of its life cycle, Lexus is looking ahead to another critical step in the balancing act it’s undertaking: trying to appeal to younger buyers while keeping its core customers.
- Stagnant wages are a drag on new-car sales – Automotive News: One reason auto sales in the United States still aren’t quite back to the 17 million-a-year pace seen during the boom years before the recession: Many consumers haven’t gotten much of a raise since then.
- Takata brass waits in the bunker as airbag crisis grows – Automotive News: Takata promoted Swiss-born Stefan Stocker to president last year to inject global thinking and openness into the insular, family-dominated Japanese supplier.
- Toyota’s products, factory retooling set stage for market share gains – Automotive News: For most of the last five years, Toyota has been hampered by one problem after another: recession, safety crisis, earthquake, strong yen.
- Your favorite pickup — with a woman’s touch – Automotive News: Pickup trucks are still seen as a stronghold of the industry’s testosterone-laden, good-old-boy past. But now, women do pickups, too. Next month Becky Blanchard will take over as director of Chrysler Group’s Ram brand.
- Shanghai GM Tops 10 Million Cumulative Sales – GM: Shanghai GM recently surpassed 10 million cumulative sales since its establishment in 1997. It reached the milestone in record time for a domestic passenger car manufacturer
- 2015 Tipped as a Bumper Year for Car Sales – Via Google News: The domestic automobile market will be the largest in history next year, the … Sales of Korean cars will likely remain similar level to this year’s at 1.4…
- Obsession for a quieter car finds ex-IRB man a niche – Via Google News: In 2007, The Secret Life of Cars and What They Reveal About Us study in the … With the few exceptions of women like Bertha Benz, wife of automobile…
- New Nissan Leaf battery to cost £4920 – Autocar: Prices confirmed for a replacement battery for the Nissan Leaf Owners of the Nissan Leaf can buy a replacement battery for £4,920, Nissan UK has confirmed.The scheme, including a £1,000 cashback for their old battery, is aimed to provide Leaf owners with clarity on what would happen to their battery should it fail outside Nissan’s five-year, 60,000-mile warranty against battery capacity failure.Paul O’Neill, EV manager for Nissan Motor GB, said “Nissan expects the majority of Leaf drivers will never need to replace their battery. The fact we have only replaced three batteries out of 30,0
- Jaguar’s new 2016 SUV ‘is not an SUV’ – Autocar: Jaguar Land Rover boss says the firm’s upcoming 4×4 won’t be called an SUV, though it will still be based on 2013’s C-X17 concept Jaguar’s first SUV should not be called an SUV at all because of its sporting bias, according to Jaguar Land Rover boss Ralf Speth.The car has begun testing in prototype form and will be launched in 2016. It will be based on the C-X17 concept shown last year and will have a heavy bias towards on-road dynamics, according to Speth.“A Jaguar SUV is not possible,” said Speth. “SUVs and 4x4s are for Land Rover. The Jaguar concept is far more road-orientated. Itwill
- Tesla wants to sell cars directly in Texas, campaigns for loosening regulations – Via Google News: As of now, Tesla faces sales problems in several states due to the auto sales … Robert Brazie, a lobbyist for the Texas Automobile Dealers Association…
- BMW’s Electric Car Circles Berlin in Search of an Outlet – Yahoo:
- Labour urges business chiefs to join ‘patriotic’ EU fight – Yahoo: [at Financial Times] – Labour is attempting to build bridges with business as the party urges corporate leaders to do their “patriotic duty” and join the campaign for Britain to stay in the EU. In a speech on Monday, …
- Tesla Motors Continues to Try to Sell Its Model S Into Texas – Via Google News: Why can’t cars be sold over the internet into Texas, Tesla Motors wants to … The Texas Automobile Dealers Association isn’t expressing too much…
- Tesla Motors campaigns for Texas auto sale regulations to be loosened – Via Google News: Tesla has faced many problems in selling its electric luxury cars directly to … Robert Brazie, a lobbyist for the Texas Automobile Dealers Association,…
- Electric Cars 2015: Mahindra And Mahindra To Further Look Into Developing Electric Vehicles – Via Google News: Electric cars 2015 are the next things on Mahindra and Mahindra’s bucket list. Rumor has it that the automobile major is keen to focus on the market of…
- Green panel decision anti-people, impractical, retard growth – Via Google News: The common man loses and apparently the automobile industry gains … It is known that private cars except in exceptional cases do not add much to…
- Tesla wants Texas auto sales regulations loosened – Via Google News: Proposals to allow direct car sales in Texas stalled during the 2013 legislative … Texas Automobile Dealers Association lobbyist Robert Brazie said he…
- Tesla wants Texas auto sales regulations loosened – Via Google News: But the automaker still hopes to sell its electric cars directly to Texans over the … Texas Automobile Dealers Association lobbyist Robert Brazie said he…
- Milan uses telematics to curb traffic jams – FT: Insurer and ‘black box’ maker in combined public transport push
- Norman Foster on the classic cars and architecture of Havana – Via Google News: Norman Foster on the classic cars and architecture of Havana … Cuba is a veritable museum of classic American automobiles, mostly from that golden…
- Volkswagen Jetta targets young, trendy drivers – Via Google News: According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, … with a staggering 65.5 percent market share among foreign-brand cars.
- Dealerships grapple with regulations allowing service dogs – Automotive News: Dealerships can face litigation if they don’t know the rules about how to deal with customers who require service dogs. The issue is complicated by people who claim, incorrectly, that their pets are service dogs.
- Lexus adopts bolder, racier persona in ads – Automotive News: Lexus’ advertising is increasingly taking on the personality of its newest models: racier, more daring and with a hint of fun. Lexus is applying that strategy across several channels.
- Trust in Takata to solve crisis is dissolving – Automotive News: Takata, the world’s second-largest supplier of airbag inflators and a company once considered too big to fail, is rapidly losing control of the recall crisis.
- Auto sales in S. Korea to rise 2.5 pct next year – Via Google News: 7 (Yonhap) — The sales of automobiles in South Korea are expected to rise 2.3 percent next year, aided by steady rise in demand for imported cars,…
- Tracking miles as gas tax alternative raises fairness, privacy concerns – Via Google News: Penalizing owners of hybrids and electric cars doesn’t feel right, Gutierrez said. … killed a $90-million pilot project that would have involved 10,000 cars. … government affairs manager for the Automobile Club of Southern California.
- Comeback of the Maybach – Via Google News: Daimler’s ultra luxury automobile division which had few years ago … Divisional Board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, responsible for sales, ?The history of…
- Chart Of The Day: US Auto Market Share ? November 2014 – Via Google News: Compared with the previous month, November 2014 saw smaller automakers pick up market share at the expense of America’s largest automobile…
- How I learned to stop worrying and love electric power-assisted steering – Autocar: Sports car purists insist that hydraulic steering offers the best feel, but do the EPAS systems favoured by manufacturers deserve their poor reputation? Jim Holder’s recent blog outlining Jaguar’s switch to electrically assisted power steering for next year’s F-type will inspire among keen drivers the same fears they felt when Porsche went down the same route.It’s thought that an electrically assisted system can’t offer the same level of steering feel as one with hydraulic assistance, as it smothers those important frequencies and sensations that are communicated from the tyres to the palms of
- Uber suffers second crackdown, repeated protest by taxi association in Vietnam – Via Google News: However, all four Uber cars at Tan Son Nhat airport were still booked for offering automobile transport services without registering their business in…
- Shiloh expands aluminum output for southern automakers – Automotive News: Shiloh Industries plans to open an auto parts plant in Tennessee this month to continue its expansion of North American aluminum-casting capacity.
- Will Chevrolet’s tiny Trax spark a sibling rivalry? – Automotive News: Given that GMC’s entire product lineup is shared with Chevrolet, it begs the question: Will GMC get a version of the new Chevy Trax small crossover?