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IDEA concept built in 30 daysItalian design and engineering consultancy IDEA Institute unveiled the Era, a concept car conceived to celebrate the company's 30 years of activity. The concept was built in just 30 days. “At a management meeting held on April 8 we decided to create a concept car for our 30th anniversary and we gave our team a week to come up with design proposals,” said IDEA Institute CEO Pietro Lardini. [REG] May 16 16:12 CET |
German minister urges state to up VW stakeGerman environment minister Sigmar Gabriel said it would be advisable for the federal state of Lower Saxony to increase its blocking minority stake in Volkswagen to 25 percent from the current 20 percent, according to his interview with Nordwest-Zeitung newspaper. Gabriel said the state should see to it "that a friendly investor buys five percent" [REG] May 15 10:06 CET |
Prius sales in Europe top 100,000Toyota Europe today said cumulative European sales of its Prius hybrid car have topped 100,000 vehicles. Since 2000, a total of 100,821 Prius models have been sold in Europe, with more than one third of this result achieved in the last 12 months, Toyota Europe said. [REG] May 15 13:23 CET |
Prius sales pass 1 million unit markCumulative sales of the Toyota Prius hybrid car just passed the 1 million unit mark. But growth is on course to be slowest in the car's biggest market, North America. Dealers there moved 66,100 of the vehicles from January through April. At that pace, Toyota will have sold some 198,300 by year end, up 7.9 percent from 2007. [REG] 10:19 am U.S. ET | May 15 |
Johnson steps down from InchcapeInchcape, one of Europe's biggest car retailers and distributors, is looking for a new chairman after Peter Johnson said he was stepping down. Johnson, 60, is leaving the UK-based group as planned after 13 years with the company, the last three as non-executive chairman. [REG] May 15 12:06 CET |
10-millionth Opel Astra produced todayThe ten-millionth Opel/Vauxhall Astra lower-medium car rolled off an assembly line in Germany today. The landmark model was a Silver Lightning Astra station wagon 1.7 CDTI. [REG] May 14 15:43 CET |
Nissan heavily contributes to Renault earningsRenault said its Nissan affiliate's fourth quarter earnings, announced yesterday will, after restatement, make a contribution of around 395 million euros to Renault's first quarter net earnings. Nissan yesterday announced a 4.7 rise in net profit to 482.26 billion yen in the year to end-March. [REG] May 14 09:49 CET |
Ferrari unveils its fourth modelFerrari today unveiled the first pictures of the California, its fourth model. Offered only as a convertible with retractable hardtop, the California will debut at the Paris auto show in early October. Sales in Europe will begin by the end of this year, at a price expected to be very close to the F430, which in Italy starts at 159,900 euros. [REG] May 13 15:40 CET |
IFIL profit up on higher Fiat contributionIFIL said its first quarter net profit rose 6.5 percent to 93.9 million euros, supported by a higher contribution from Fiat, in which it is the largest shareholder with 30 percent. Fiat contributed 128.6 million euros, from 102.3 million in first quarter 2007. [REG] May 13 13:27 CET |
Breaking the 'glass ceiling'The glass ceiling. Eight years into a new century -- and more than a century after the invention of the automobile -- the glass ceiling remains a reality for women in the auto industry. Yes, progress has been made. Women are breaking through that ceiling and slowly transforming the automotive centers around Europe. [SUB] May 12 06:01 CET |
Bosch: Watch out Japanese!
Five years ago Robert Bosch was hardly thinking about hybrids. Now the German partsmaker expects to be the world's leading supplier of the technology. “We think that the experience we have with powertrain systems and electric and battery management systems will give us the edge over Japanese suppliers in the not-too-distance future,” said Bernd Bohr, CEO of Bosch's automotive division, in an interview with Automotive News Europe. [SUB] May 12 06:01 CET
Winners? Losers? Block exemption has bothWho won and who lost as Europe's retail landscape adjusted to new EU regulations? It depends who you ask. Six years after Europe's car-retailing rules changed, sorting out the winners and the losers corresponds directly with the sales history of the brands. Simply: The new guys won. The traditional brands did not do as well. Small dealers lost. [SUB] May 12 06:01 CET |
Sources: Fiat considers building cars in MexicoFiat is considering car production in Mexico, company sources say. The sources say Fiat is looking at an existing plant in Mexico that can build 150,000 cars a year. Starting in 2011, the plant would build Alfa Romeos for North America and Fiats for South America. [SUB] May 12 06:01 CET |
Lamborghini picks L.A. for U.S. HQ
Turns out you can't spell Lamborghini without L.A. Automobili Lamborghini has created a separate sales arm for its North American operations --the first such business unit outside of Italy. It will be headquartered in the beachside Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica. [REG] 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 12
