The U.S. government’s Cars Allowance Rebate System (Cash for Clunkers program) has drained inventory levels for U.S. dealers. According to Automotive News, preliminary inventory reports for Aug. 1 indicate unsold vehicles fell below 2 million units, the lowest figure since at least 1992. Chrysler Group LLC sold 58,600 units last month, leaving its days supply [...]
Fiat SpA’s bid for Carrozzeria Bertone was approved Thursday by the Italian government. Fiat won against other bidders including entrepreneurs Gianmario Rossignolo and Domenico Reviglio, Chinese automaker FAW Group Corp. and an unnamed Spanish group. The Italian automaker will now invest $215.9 million (150 million euros) over three years in the coach-builder that has produced models ranging [...]
Honda of UK announced today that its popular 3-door Civic Type R hatchback will be shipped to Japan and will go on sale in 2010. The model, which will be called Type R EURO, will built at Honda’s plant in Swindon and will be exported to Japan. Japan is the third country outside Europe to [...]
We recently heard that Lexus will be unveiling a new compact hatchback concept at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show next month. The 5-door hatchback concept hints at a future production Lexus that will compete with the likes of the BMW 1-Series and Audi’s A3. The folks over at Inside Line have come up with this [...]
Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno has revealed some tidbits about his new primetime show scheduled to debut later this fall. Taking a page for Top Gear, the show will features a segment called “Green Car Challenge” that will put celebrities against each other in alternative fuel cars. You can see who is faster, Shaquille O’Neal [...]
Detroit is going to be seeing electric vehicle development in a big way. Over $1.3 billion of the $2.4 billion in federal grants available to support the next generation of batteries and electric vehicles, will be going to the Big Three automakers. GM is to receive the lion’s share of the money; approximately $241 million, [...]
FoMoCo’s chief financial officer Lewis Booth said today that the Dearborn automaker plans to refresh 70 to 90 percent of its vehicle lineups by volume in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa by 2012. Giving an analogy of doughnuts, Booth said that Ford is “going to have fresh products.” “I don’t know — what’s [...]
Nissan announced today that it is committed to an early launch of 5,000 units of its new Nissan Leaf electric-car in the Unite States late next year. The plan will require Nissan North America to gear up to sell the Leaf two years ahead of its mass-market launch, said Nissan. According to Nissan’s director of product [...]
White House officials said late Wednesday that sales under the government’s Cars Allowance Rebate System (Cash for Clunkers) topped 180,000. The Department of Transportation said 184,304 deals have been submitted, totaling $775.2 million. That leaves about $175 million in the fund after administrative costs. Toyota’s Corolla overtook the Ford Focus as the best-selling vehicle traded in [...]
While GM’s new CEO Fritz Henderson has made a point that he’s not a fan of rebadging models, it seems like the Saturn Vue crossover will live on as a Buick. The yet-to-be-named Buick crossover will be launched in late 2010 with a range of fuel-efficient direct-injected gasoline engines with a plug-in hybrid model planned [...]
