An Alfa built in Japan is not such a bad thing

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 29

Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's chief correspondent

Fiat has said Alfa Romeo's new roadster based on the next Mazda MX-5/Miata will be produced by the Japanese automaker.
Last weekend, at a Concorso d'Eleganza classic cars event at Lake Como, Italy, the question on the lips of everyone I met was: "Wouldn't Marchionne be crazy to build an Alfa Spider in Japan?"
M ...
     Continue reading "An Alfa built in Japan is not such a bad thing" » May 29, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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With Mazda, Alfa may have the right partner for a Spider revival

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 23

Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's chief correspondent

With Mazda, Alfa Romeo may finally have found the right partner to help it replace its front-wheel-drive Spider roadster, which ended production in 2010.
Fiat and Mazda plan to jointly develop a new roadster for Alfa and Mazda based on the Miata/MX5 platform. The move should help Fiat Group's sports-car brand lift flagging sales. Alfa has the thinn ...
     Continue reading "With Mazda, Alfa may have the right partner for a Spider revival" » May 23, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Will the Chevy Trax add to Opel's woes?

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 15

Paul McVeigh is managing editor at Automotive News Europe.

On the day that Opel workers demonstrated against potential plant closures and job losses, Chevrolet's announcement that it will launch a new subcompact SUV called the Trax might be seen as adding insult to injury.
Managers and workers at General Motors' money-losing European unit complain bitterly that GM restricts the brand's ability to boost its ...
     Continue reading "Will the Chevy Trax add to Opel's woes?" » May 15, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Will buyers like the name Adam for Opel's new Fiat 500 rival?

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 9

Nick Gibbs is UK correspondent for Automotive News Europe.

Opel/Vauxhall's decision to name its new minicar Adam has not been well received.
"Straight out of the drawer marked 'silly names,' " was one of the harsher comments on Twitter. "First Renault Zoe. Now Vauxhall Adam. Did someone give car companies a baby names book for Christmas?" was another.
Opel is positioni ...
     Continue reading "Will buyers like the name Adam for Opel's new Fiat 500 rival?" » May 9, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Flying Lady 1, flying object 0

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 7

Douglas A. Bolduc is managing editor at Automotive News Europe.

Rolls-Royce – the automaker known for its Flying Lady on the hood – forever proved to me and two others that the new Phantom is much more than just a luxury lounge on wheels. When asked to dart around an unidentified flying object on a highway in southern France last Saturday, the Phantom performed perfectly, saving me and the two other people in the car from potentially se ...
     Continue reading "Flying Lady 1, flying object 0 " » May 7, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Can Renault succeed in China?

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, May 1

Bruce Gain is an Automotive News Europe correspondent in France.

Renault's push into China may be a case of better late than never. The automaker launched a big effort to succeed in the world's biggest auto market at the Beijing auto show last week when the company unveiled the Talisman sedan.
Renault has a lot of catching up to do. Its vehicle sales in China were just 24,000 last year, up 60 percent on the year ...
     Continue reading "Can Renault succeed in China?" » May 1, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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VW keeps cool in Beijing by planning ahead

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 25

Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's chief correspondent

Regardless of the weather, the temperatures inside most halls at the Beijing auto show are either uncomfortably hot or absolutely oppressive. One exception during this year’s show was Volkswagen Group’s new pavilion, where the well-prepared Germans avoided broiling visitors by making an excellent decision.
Warned by local officials that ...
     Continue reading "VW keeps cool in Beijing by planning ahead" » Apr 25, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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How I beat Sergio Marchionne to the Beijing auto show

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 23

Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's chief correspondent

I am pretty quick to complain so I thought that I gained a lot of new material this morning because of the rough trip from my hotel to the opening of the Beijing auto show. It turns out I got to the show with fewer delays than Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's police-escorted motorcade.
My journey did not start well. Two taxi drivers refused to ...
     Continue reading "How I beat Sergio Marchionne to the Beijing auto show" » Apr 23, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Fiat 500 gains fans and sales in the U.S.

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 20

Douglas A. Bolduc is managing editor at Automotive News Europe.

The Fiat 500 is winning fans and increasing sales fast in the United States.
Maybe it's because of fun ads starring bad boy actor Charlie Sheen and striking Romanian model Catrinel Menghia; or maybe it's because the design and size of the minicar set it apart in the land of beefy pickups, sedans and SUVs. Whatever the reason, the 500 is generating ...
     Continue reading "Fiat 500 gains fans and sales in the U.S." » Apr 20, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Lada is set to lose its No. 1 spot in Russia to a foreign brand

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 13

Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's chief correspondent

Lada-branded cars have ruled the Russian car market since their creation under AvtoVAZ over 40 years ago, so it may be a bitter pill to swallow for some Russians to learn that a model from a foreign automaker could soon become the country's best-selling car, for the first time.
First-quarter sales published this week by the Association for Europea ...
     Continue reading "Lada is set to lose its No. 1 spot in Russia to a foreign brand" » Apr 13, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Italy's slump will drag down European sales

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, April 4

Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's chief correspondent

Italy has become Europe's weakest major car market and the country is set to drag down sales across the region as a whole in 2011.
Car sales in France fell 23.5 percent in March and by 21.7 percent in the first quarter. Italy declined by 26.7 percent last month and by 20.9 percent in the quarter.
But the pain i ...
     Continue reading "Italy's slump will drag down European sales" » Apr 4, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Volvo pressures Germans in their home market

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 30

Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's chief correspondent

Volvo is giving its much bigger German rivals a tough fight in their home market in a key area: average transaction price for new cars. Volvo’s improvement shows that CEO Stefan Jacoby’s ambitious plan for the Swedish automaker is gaining traction.
Volvo ranked fourth in 2011 with an average transaction price in Germany of 35,039 euros, ...
     Continue reading "Volvo pressures Germans in their home market" » Mar 30, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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In EVs, practicality be damned

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 29

James B. Treece is industry editor at Automotive News.

Azure Dynamics has followed Bright Automotive into bankruptcy. Yet Tesla Motors' stock trades near its record high on Wall Street.
The stock market is supposedly rational. Keep telling yourself that.
Azure, which has been active in the UK, Norway, Sweden and Belgium, and Bright both handled electric delivery va ...
     Continue reading "In EVs, practicality be damned" » Mar 29, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Ferrari and Audi were Geneva Web winners

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 23

Douglas A. Bolduc is managing editor at Automotive News Europe.

Ferrari's new supercar and Audi's next-generation entry-premium model were the big Web winners from the Geneva auto show this month, according to a study.
The Audi A3 was the media darling of the show as it was mentioned in 9 percent of all the online stories from journalists covering the event, according to UK-based Kantar Media.
Continue reading "Ferrari and Audi were Geneva Web winners" » Mar 23, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Despite economic woes, Europe isn't yet a cheap car market

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 20

Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's chief correspondent

New-car sales in Europe are expected to decline about 5 percent to 7 percent this year, but they are off to an even worse start in the first two months.
In February, sales fell 9.2 percent to 923,381 in the EU plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland compared with the same month in 2011, according to industry association ACEA.
...
     Continue reading "Despite economic woes, Europe isn't yet a cheap car market" » Mar 20, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Finally, a Chinese company forges a real partnership with a foreign brand

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 19
Yang Jian is managing editor of Automotive News China
YANG JIAN:  SHANGHAI -- For a long time, the word "partner" has been abused by automakers operating in China.
When foreign automakers refer to their Chinese joint-venture "partners," we know they are not using the word in its real sense.
But when Volvo Car Corp. and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. announ ...
     Continue reading "Finally, a Chinese company forges a real partnership with a foreign brand" » Mar 19, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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The (r)evolution at BMW

Posted 5:00 am U.S. ET, March 16

Harald Hamprecht is Editor-in-Chief at Automotive News Europe.

BMW Group CEO Norbert Reithofer finally officially revealed that the automaker wants to sell 2 million cars a year in 2016 instead of 2020. Hitting the target four years ahead of schedule would mean that the milestone would coincide with BMW's 100th birthday.
German weekly Manager Magazin reported last summer that BMW would push forward th ...
     Continue reading "The (r)evolution at BMW" » Mar 16, 2012 5:00 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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GM should follow Ford, not tie up with PSA, to fix Europe problems

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 15

Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's chief correspondent

General Motors' main weakness in Europe is its money-losing Opel/Vauxhall unit, which needs a quick and radical restructuring. To make the fix, GM CEO Daniel Akerson should borrow from Ford boss Alan Mulally's One Ford strategy rather than join forces in a loose tie-up with a struggling PSA/Peugeot-Citroen.
By doing this, GM would use its massive s ...
     Continue reading "GM should follow Ford, not tie up with PSA, to fix Europe problems" » Mar 15, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Why Audi will get Ducati

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 13

Harald Hamprecht is Editor-in-Chief at Automotive News Europe.

Last October, Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn told me: "Motorcycles are without question beautiful objects. But there are no plans to enter this line of business."
That will change if VW Group subsidiary Audi buys Italian motorcycle maker Ducati, as suggested in media reports. Here are five reasons this deal seems likely to happen.
...
     Continue reading "Why Audi will get Ducati" » Mar 13, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Who are the crown princes at BMW?

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 9

Harald Hamprecht is Editor-in-Chief at Automotive News Europe.

BMW's latest management board shuffle hints at who will succeed current CEO Norbert Reithofer. So who are the winners and losers?
Well, at first glance it doesn't look good for sales and marketing chief Ian Robertson, who loses oversight of the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands. The Englishman is now responsible for sales and marketing for the BMW brand ...
     Continue reading "Who are the crown princes at BMW?" » Mar 9, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Clever Volvo blends sleek with safety in V40

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 8

Douglas A. Bolduc is managing editor at Automotive News Europe.

The Volvo V40 is a striking example of how Europe's much-maligned pedestrian safety standards actually made a car sleeker rather than doing the opposite.
V40 designer Chris Benjamin says the new entry-premium car is 29mm lower to the ground than the car it replaces, the C30, because Volvo was able to hide the world's first pedestrian airbag under t ...
     Continue reading "Clever Volvo blends sleek with safety in V40" » Mar 8, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Nissan now wants to be No. 1 Asian brand in Europe

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 7

Paul McVeigh is managing editor at Automotive News Europe.

Nissan said it aimed to become the top-selling Japanese brand in Europe at last year's Geneva auto show, which would mean passing the current No. 1 Toyota. This year, Nissan changed its goal, saying it wants to be the region's No. 1 Asian brand.
Why the change? Well, it's no longer about beating Japanese rival Toyota, whose European sales are tumbl ...
     Continue reading "Nissan now wants to be No. 1 Asian brand in Europe" » Mar 7, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Horbury wants to add Chinese flair to Geely's cars

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 7

Douglas A. Bolduc is managing editor at Automotive News Europe.

Former Volvo design boss Peter Horbury is thinking hard about the future look of cars from China's Geely Group -- and he has a few ideas already.
The Englishman was named Geely Group senior vice president of design last October. When asked about his styling plans for future Geely models, Horbury said he would like to bring in elements that are uniq ...
     Continue reading "Horbury wants to add Chinese flair to Geely's cars" » Mar 7, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Bentley's SUV is fit for a queen

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, March 6

Paul McVeigh is managing editor at Automotive News Europe.

Like many in the automotive world, I thought a Bentley SUV would surely be big, brash and ugly and not something the Queen of England's favorite car brand should consider building. But do you know what? I think it looks good.
When Bentley CEO Wolfgang Duerheimer unveiled a concept for the SUV on Monday in Geneva, he said the car embodied "British u ...
     Continue reading "Bentley's SUV is fit for a queen" » Mar 6, 2012 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Ford B-Max is innovative but fate of the Peugeot 1007 is a warning

Posted 6:26 am U.S. ET, March 5

Nick Gibbs is UK correspondent for Automotive News Europe.

Any manufacturer competing in Europe's healthy small minivan market will be inspecting the Ford stand closely at this year's Geneva auto show.
Debuting is Ford's innovative B-Max, which does away with a B-pillar to allow passengers wide access into the small minivan.
A combination of rear sliding doors and conv ...
     Continue reading "Ford B-Max is innovative but fate of the Peugeot 1007 is a warning" » Mar 5, 2012 6:26 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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