2010 Volvo C70 Official Images Surface Online
BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept Revealed: Video And New Details, Photos
2010 Audi S5 Sportback To Debut At Frankfurt Motor Show
2009 FPV GS Sedan And GS Ute Released
2009 Skoda Octavia RS First Drive Review
Volkswagen Golf 77TDI Entry-Level Diesel Released In Australia
2010 Ferrari F458 Italia Further Revealed In New Images And Video
2010 Holden Commodore, Statesman And Caprice Awarded 5-Star ANCAP Rating
2010 Saab 9-5 Technical Details Released Ahead Of Launch
Skoda Octavia RS-P: Unique Australian Skoda Revealed
2009 Kia Cerato SLi Long Term Review: Part 3
2010 Hyundai ix35 Revealed Ahead Of Frankfurt Motor Show
THE AUTOMOTIVE TRADE, or more to the point, the automotive retail sales industry, is a dark business. Some people seem to put it on par with practicing necromancy.
How often do you hear a story that paints the process of buying a new car in a positive light? Not many people talk about the good experiences, [...]
You know, I am mightily impressed by the Tata Nano. It’s a strange attraction because, as a gearhead, any soulless reduction of the car down to a minimalist representation of its function makes me wince.
However, while the Nano may look boring to the desensitised Western eye, to the Indian chap who can just about afford [...]
Sergio Marchionne, Fiat’s Chief Executive Officer, famously averred that car companies need to sell 5.5 million vehicles a year, and one million units employing each platform, to keep their noses above water.
This is a bold and interesting statement because it gives a keen insight into the typical vehicle manufacturer’s calculus of long-term profit maximisation.
Where [...]
I want to talk to you about iDrive, which of course is BMW’s in-cabin computer system that provides an interface for its creature comforts – the satellite navigation, various entertainment options, the vehicle’s settings, your telephone, and so on.
I rather liked it even when it first appeared almost a decade ago on the 7 Series.
Then, [...]
With the blessing of BMW’s Customer Racing program, German outfit Schubert Motorsport is setting out to bring home victory in the Nurburgring 24-Hour Race in the BMW M3 GT4, on the 23rd and 24th of May.
Driven by experienced BMW Works WTCC rivals Andy Priaulx (UK), Jörg Müller (Germany) and Augusto Farfus (Brazil), the Schubert Motorsports [...]
The VFACTS figures for March 2009 are in and despite the overall Australian new car market having fallen by 19.2 percent compared to March sales 2008, sales of the two most popular locally-built large cars are doing okay.
Down, but definitely not out.
Compared to March 2008 sales figures, the Falcon and Commodore were down 14.3 percent and 11.1 percent [...]
Despite stories you may have seen or heard, it is not news that General Motors has stated its plans to persist with the Holden-developed Zeta platform until at least 2020.
Whether those plans survive beyond 60 days and the presentation to the Obama administration of GM’s new restructuring plan is, however, uncertain.
We reported on January 19 [...]
It is getting near the end of the penny-section for GM and Chrysler. President Barack Obama has given GM two months to prove its viability, and Chrysler one month to complete its merger with Fiat. Failure on either count will see the two giant automakers cut adrift from further Federal loan funding and left to [...]
I was waiting yesterday for a pathologically indolent friend at a suburban restaurant when I decided to divert myself by flipping through the one item of literature they had on offer – a community newspaper.
Ordinarily I’d rather closely examine the weave on the toilet paper than read one of those, but I was drawn in [...]
There is nothing new in the announcement from GM’s auditors that there is “substantial doubt” about the giant automaker’s viability as a company. Who didn’t know that?
In producing its report GM’s auditors Deloitte & Touche are only doing what auditors do: running a cold blood-less eye over the integrity and accuracy of the books, casting [...]
Right then, who’s up for an experiment in the name of scientific discovery and intellectual edification? Come on.
It really is uncomplicated - all you need is a rubber band (and you can nick one of those from just about any unsuspecting schoolgirl).
Step 1: Double up the rubber band to give it some strength and stretch [...]
The economic concept of ‘opportunity cost’ is one that was never more relevant than in these hard times.
It essentially says that the scarcity of resources necessitates a choice.
If it takes an egg to make a cake or a pie, you cannot have the cake and eat the pie as well. If you have one, you [...]
General Motors Corporation’s announced Restructuring Plan that has been presented to the US Federal Treasury contains some grim reading for GM’s global operations. GM has proposed cutting 47,000 jobs; 20,000 of these from its US operations (after having already cut tens of thousands of jobs there), the remainder from its global operations.
Certainly, Saab and Opel/Vauxhall, [...]
GM US’s restructuring plan, posted on the US Treasury website, will make unpalatable reading for the US Administration and long-suffering US tax-payers (those still in jobs and paying tax that is).
In it, GM outlines plans to cut costs and to reduce its global workforce by 47,000, including yet more cuts to its US workforce with [...]
European automotive industry research and statistics company, Jato Dynamics, today reported a 26 percent decline in European new car sales for January.
Every market is down, Iceland in free-fall with an 88.1 percent decline and Ireland not far behind, recording a 66.3 percent decline. Of the biggest markets, France has fared best with just a 7.9 [...]
Many industry analysts - including the giant brains here at TMR – may have got things wrong on the effect of the withdrawal of GE and GMAC from new car dealer floorplan financing.
Why do we think so? Well, remember the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)? It was a $2 billion pool set up by the Rudd [...]
Ford Credit Australia’s announcement that it is to withdraw from retail finance is a miserable act. Especially so because both Ford US and Ford Australia confirmed to Treasurer Swan that Ford Credit will remain in Australia and continue to provide financing to its dealer network.
The assurance was given prior to the Treasurer’s announcement in December [...]
Looking into the 2008 VFACTS Australian new vehicle sales figures is like analysing the entrails of a chicken – favoured, we’re told, by ancient Roman oracles for predicting the future.
Behind the VFACTS stats, once you start poking around in the giblets, you can discern the powerful trends that tell the real story of the state [...]
Guess… what was the top selling car in the US for 2008? Toyota Camry? Honda Accord maybe? Or that evergreen favourite, the Chevrolet Impala? Something smallish… would have to be, wouldn’t it?
Nope, no again… and no.
Top selling car in the US for 2008 was the Ford F150 with 515,513 total sales. Second place went to [...]
ADELAIDE, 22 December 2008. GM Holden today announced the production of a new locally-built four cylinder addition to the Holden line-up to be produced at its Elizabeth plant in South Australia. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, South Australian Premier Mike Rann, and Federal Industry Minister Kim Carr were on hand to underscore the importance of the [...]
The Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has released an Information Guide for Car Dealers on the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) funding facility, designed to fill the $2 billion floorplan financing ‘hole’ left by GE and GMAC’s exit from the dealer financing market.
He also appealed to GE and GMAC to “do the right thing” and continue to [...]
There’s nothing quite like the smell of an afternoon shower on a stinking hot day. But be warned: the smell of steam coming off the bitumen is a heady reminder to stay off the roads, because there’s craziness afoot.
Scientists have worked out what it is in the spring air that causes hayfever. Now I think [...]
The US Senate has stymied the USD$14 billion bail-out package for the teetering US car industry.
With hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake both in vehicle manufacture and across the sector, and thousands of smaller component suppliers reliant on the industry now facing an uncertain future, be prepared for a tumble on Wall Street tomorrow.
The [...]
So, after three days of talks between Congressional Democrats and the Bush administration (still quacking, but one of the lamest ducks in the history of the species), Reuters is reporting that it has obtained a copy of the draft bill that is going to “save” US automakers.
“Save”, in fact, might be too strong. Such is [...]
Funny thing about blood in water. Turns sharks into a frenzy. Get a sniff of blood and sharks start thrashing around and chomping on each other’s arses. Remarkably, they lose track of the difference between ‘food’ and ‘an arse’. You’d reckon taste would be a bit of a give-away.
Whatever, the whole business is not a [...]
The Federal Treasurer, Mr Wayne Swan, today announced the establishment of a special fund to provide liquidity to car dealer financiers, and to car dealers, who have encountered financing difficulties as a result of the global credit crisis.
Many in the community are aware that the announced exit of GE and GMAC finance from the dealer [...]
In the clearest sign yet that consumer confidence has taken a dive, total new car sales for November are down 22 percent on the same period last year.
In figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (VFACTS figures), sales for November totalled 71,647 vehicles, down 20,434 vehicles against sales for November last year. [...]
Here at The Motor Report we’ve been sitting on what we thought was bomb-shell news: an impeccable source had informed us that Ford Australia, on direction from Ford Motor Company headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, would announce in February next year a progressive cessation of vehicle manufacture in this country.
In other words, we thought it was [...]
Ford Australia has announced today its Geelong Engine Plant, which currently produces Ford Australia’s brilliant in-line six-cylinder engine is to continue production post-2010. In a further unexpected twist, it will now be engineered for Euro IV compatibility.
Ford Australia is to invest $21 million in plant and equipment, and additional engineering investment to bring the I6 [...]
The bad news is set to worsen for the new car dealer sector. When GE and GMAC announced their intent to withdraw from dealer ‘floorplan’ financing, they set affected dealers a December 31 deadline to find alternative financing arrangements.
That deadline is coming at them like a train.
At least 30 percent, and possibly as many as [...]
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