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Eight Year High For Chrysler Jeep(4/5/2006)

The arrival of the stunning 300C has helped lift Chrysler Jeep sales to an eight year high.

Strong sales performances across both Chrysler and Jeep brands saw 766 vehicles delivered last month, the highest combined monthly sales since October 1997.

The March result sets a new record for the most sales since DaimlerChrysler took over distribution from the former Astre Automotive.

Strong demand for the 300C drove the impressive result. With 159 300C’s delivered in March it is the best performance on record since the vehicle’s first full month on sale in November 2005.

Combined Chrysler and Jeep monthly sales were up 26 per cent over the same period last year lifting year-to-date sales to 2,050, a 12 per cent increase over 2005.

Also on the Chrysler side, the PT Cruiser continued its impressive run with 97 sales for the month, up more than 18 per cent compared to the same period last year.

For the Jeep brand the flagship Grand Cherokee posted sales of 133, up 48 per cent over March 2005.

“The 300C has been an absolute phenomenon in Australia lifting Group sales to an eight year high,” said Gerry Jenkins, managing director, Chrysler Group Australia.

“With the arrival of the high performance 300C SRT8 this month and the seven-seat Jeep Commander and Chrysler PT Cruiser Cabrio just around the corner, our sale growth trend is set to continue,” said Jenkins

Volkswagen Engine for DaimlerChrysler(4/5/2006)

Wolfsburg, Germany - Volkswagen in Salzgitter has now begun delivery of the 2.0 liter TDI engine to DaimlerChrysler in the USA.

The Chrysler Group assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois (USA) has thus started production of the new Dodge Caliber model variant equipped with the Volkswagen 2.0 liter TDI engine. The vehicle will be available in Europe from this summer.

Some two years following the conclusion of the contract between DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi Motors and Volkswagen concerning delivery of TDI engines, the first Chrysler vehicle equipped with such an engine is now being launched.

The engines are produced at the Volkswagen plant in Salzgitter and have been specially adapted to DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi Motors specifications.

Audi: Worldwide Deliveries Rise in March (4/5/2006)

German automaker Audi AG said Tuesday that worldwide deliveries of its cars rose 10 percent in March compared with the same month last year, with its A3 and A6 lines boosting demand.

The Ingolstadt, Germany-based automaker, the luxury arm of Volkswagen AG, said deliveries last month rose to more than 93,600 cars. For the first three months of the year, deliveries were 226,700 vehicles, a 16 percent rise from the first three months of 2005.

Sales of its A3 hatchback model rose 22 percent in the first quarter, with 65,400 cars sold, while its A6 line saw 59,500 cars delivered, up 49 percent from a year ago.

The A4 line accounted for 82,300 vehicle deliveries, up some 3 percent on the year.

Despite the increases, which the company said were records for both March and the quarter, shares of the company fell more than 3 percent to close at 320.50 euros ($387.51) in Frankfurt trading.

Bigger ^sportscar^ SUV from Mazda(4/5/2006)

Mazda will unveil the CX-9 seven-passenger crossover SUV at the New York International Auto Show next week. A big brother to the soon-for-Oz CX-7, the CX-9 reprises its smaller sibling^s styling and ^sportscar^ SUV theme.

The CX-9 is powered by a new 3.5-litre V6 engine driven through a conventional six-speed automatic transmission. Final drive is through either front or all-wheel drive.

The CX-9 will be produced at the Ujina No. 1 Plant, located near Mazda^s headquarters in Hiroshima, Japan, and is expected in North American showrooms in early 2007.

According to Mazda, the CX-9 "is a clean break from the traditional boxy SUVs crowding the US market. Engineered with Mazda^s ^Soul of a Sportscar^ signature, Mazda CX-9 blends a sporty driving spirit with seven-passenger SUV practicality. The CX-9 provides unique Mazda design and energetic performance as well as an up-market interior with class-leading space and unmatched versatility".

Unlike the Mazda CX-7 which goes on sale here in November, there^s no word on Australian deliveries of the CX-9. Australia will be the first market outside of North America to receive the CX-7.

BMW increases prices, launches 318d Touring(4/5/2006)


BMW 318i Touring

BMW has announced new entry-level 3-Series Touring models, as well as minor price adjustments to some models as a result of changes to the VED (Vehicle Excise Duty).

The 318d Touring is powered by a 1995cc four-cylinder turbocharged common-rail diesel, which develops 122bhp and 206lb-ft of torque from a low 1,750rpm. It^s hardly a firecracker, with 0-62mph coming up in 10.9secs, but it^ll be a tax-friendly company car with 155g/km emissions placing it in the D band. The 318d also returns a claimed 48.7mpg on the combined cycle.

The petrol-powered 318i Touring develops 129bhp and 132lb-ft of torque at 3,250rpm, which delivers slightly better performance figures than the diesel. That said, we suspect the diesel will be the better drive, with much more torque available much lower in the rev range. On the combined cycle, the petrol returns a claimed 37.2mpg, while CO2 emissions are 182g/km.

Standard equipment on both models includes 16" alloy wheels, a six-speed manual gearbox, air-conditioning, a single CD player, heated and electric door mirrors, all round electric windows, stability control and run-flat tyres.

Price increases across the range are as little as £25 on selected 1-Series models and up to £480 for larger-engined petrol powered 5-Series models such as the 540i M Sport.

Nissan Is Developing Parts to Raise Performance, Efficiency (4/5/2006)

Nissan Motor Co., Japan^s second- biggest carmaker, said it^s developing components that can draw more battery power to run motors, part of an effort to make vehicles that burn less fossil fuel and boost efficiency.

Nissan^s Super Motor, lithium ion batteries and inverters may nearly double the acceleration performance of vehicles that run on fuel cells, gasoline-electric hybrid engines or electricity, the Tokyo-based carmaker said. The system may be ready for use by 2009, said Executive Vice President Mitsuhiko Yamashita.

Nissan is aiming for a new system that ``may be more efficient, high-powered and compact than the ones in the market today,^^ said Credit Suisse^s Tokyo-based analyst Koji Endo, who rates Nissan ``outperform.^^ ``The new electric system may be used for Nissan^s future hybrid and fuel cell vehicles.^^

The surging price of gasoline has pushed Nissan to look at alternative power sources as part of its record 450 billion yen ($3.8 billion) investment in research and development last fiscal year to close its technology gap with Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.

Nissan^s Super Motor and lithium-ion batteries will be up to 35 percent smaller and lighter, and 30 percent cheaper than conventional systems. The inverter, which regulates electricity used in a car^s engine system, will be 30 percent cheaper and 20 percent smaller with double the power, Nissan said.

Nissan will introduce a hybrid version of the Altima sedan in the U.S. as a 2007 model. The carmaker will be buying 100,000 units of the hybrid system from Toyota over the next five years.

``We are looking at developing more of the components^^ before Nissan considers selling a hybrid engine system of its own, Yamashita said in an April 3 interview in Tokyo.

Price Gap

The hybrid Altima will be sold to help Nissan meet regulations, instead of selling it for business reasons because the cost of the gas-electric system is too high, Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said in January, without elaborating.

An ``appropriate price gap^^ between a hybrid vehicle and one using a conventional gasoline engine should be about 200,000 yen ($1,700) in order to popularize the gas-electric version, Yamashita said.

The hybrid Altima won^t be profitable for Nissan to produce at least in the first five years of sales, Ghosn said.

``I am not enthusiastic about hybrids,^^ Ghosn said in January at the 2006 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. ``I hate selling cars at a loss.^^

Shares of Nissan, 44.3 percent owned by Renault SA of France, fell almost 1 percent to 1,390 yen in Tokyo yesterday. The stock has risen 16.3 percent this year, outpacing the 6 percent gain in the key Topix index.

Tino Hybrid

The carmaker^s attempt six years ago at selling a hybrid car wasn^t profitable. It made 100 units of the Tino wagon, selling it for 3.15 million yen, 40 percent more than a conventional model.

The Tino wagon was run on Nissan^s Neo Hybrid system, which combines a lightweight lithium-ion battery with a gasoline engine. The system improved fuel economy by more than twofold while cutting carbon dioxide emissions by over 50 percent, Nissan said.

The hybrid^s ``cost is still higher than what customers are expecting to pay,^^ Yamashita said. ``But we can^t abandon this technology just because the cost is too high. We are working on solutions to cut costs.^^

Global sales of hybrid vehicles were 0.5 percent of the 62.2 million new cars, light trucks, vans and wagons sold last year, according to an estimate by Hirofumi Yokoi, a Tokyo-based analyst at CSM Worldwide, a consulting company in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

A hybrid vehicle combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor. At low speeds, the motor powers the vehicle and the gasoline engine kicks in as the car gains speed. The battery pack for the motor is charged by the gasoline engine and by power regenerated whenever the brake is applied.

Research Budget

The maker of the Z sports car raised its research budget by 15 percent every year since 2001, turning record profits into investments to catch up with Toyota, while U.S.-based carmakers General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are closing factories and slashing jobs to improve their earnings.

``This tendency will continue in the coming years, but this will depend on what kind of advanced engineering we are going to do and how many models we will be releasing in the market,^^ Yamashita said.

Nissan, with 17,700 researchers out of its global workforce of 163,686, has been hiring 10 percent more development staff every year since 2001. Development cost may reach 5 percent of last fiscal year^s total sales of 9 trillion yen, up from 4.6 percent from the previous year.

Mazda to Unveil CX-9 Crossover in New York(4/4/2006)

HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation has announced that it will showcase the new Mazda CX-9 seven-passenger crossover sport-utility vehicle (SUV) at the New York International Auto Show to be held from Wednesday, April 12 to Sunday, April 23, 2006. As a larger sibling to the Mazda CX-7 crossover SUV, unveiled earlier this year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the Mazda CX-9 is the second vehicle designed and engineered specifically for the North American market.

Also featured on the Mazda stand will be the new high-performance Mazda3 model, called Mazdaspeed3 (North American specifications), together with newly-upgraded versions of the highly popular Mazda3 range.

Mazda will hold its press conference at the Mazda stand from 9:10 am to 9:35 am on Thursday, 13 April 2006. Press days are April 12 and 13. The show is open to the public from April 14 to 23, 2006.

Mazda CX-9

The seven-passenger Mazda CX-9 is a clean break from the traditional boxy SUVs crowding the US market. Engineered with Mazda’s “Soul of a Sportscar” signature, Mazda CX-9 deftly blends a sporty driving spirit with seven-passenger SUV practicality. The Mazda CX-9 provides unique Mazda design and energetic performance as well as an up-market interior with class-leading space and unmatched versatility.

Mazda CX-9 is powered by a new MZI 3.5L V6 engine driven through a standard six-speed automatic transmission. Final drive is through either front- or all-wheel drive.

The Mazda CX-9 will be produced at the Ujina No. 1 Plant located near Mazda’s headquarters in Hiroshima, Japan and is expected in North American showrooms in early 2007

Auto Show Announces Faster, Easier Ticket Options(4/3/2006)

The New York International Automobile Show announces three ways for consumers to purchase tickets to the 2006 exhibition, which begins April 14. The Show^s popular e-ticket program at http://www.autoshowny.comallows visitors to buy tickets online, print them at their home or office and head straight to the Show. Consumers can also use credit and debit cards to buy tickets at walk-up kiosks (similar to movie theaters) conveniently located throughout the Javits Center during the Show^s ten day run. And, as always, dozens of regular box offices will be open and available during Show hours.

"The New York Auto Show is always looking for ways to make our visitors^ experiences more enjoyable," said show director Candida Romanelli. "And now with three ways to buy tickets, show-goers will spend less time in line and more time on the floor enjoying the nearly 1,000 new cars and trucks on display."

To help speed the entry process, show management is adding even more specially marked entrances for e-ticket holders and those who purchase tickets at the new walk-up kiosks. These special entrances will allow visitors to bypass the regular ticket entrances, avoiding possible delays.

Kicking off the springtime selling season, the 2006 New York International Auto Show will feature an impressive collection of cutting-edge design and remarkable innovation. More than four floors of displays from the world^s automakers will feature the newest vehicles and futuristic concept cars. More than 1,000 cars and trucks will be on display at the Javits Center, filling 846,000 square feet of exhibit space. In addition, dozens of World and North American vehicle debuts are expected at the Show. NYIAS is owned and produced by the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association.

GM offering two new Saturns at the New York Auto Show(4/2/2006)

General Motors will unveil a dramatically revitalized Saturn lineup with production versions of the all-new 2007 Saturn Aura midsize sedan, Saturn Sky Red Line performance roadster and Saturn Outlook crossover vehicle at the 2006 New York International Auto Show.

“Saturn’s new products demonstrate GM’s commitment to raising the bar on product execution as part of our North American turnaround plan,” said Mark LaNeve, GM North America vice president, Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. “Saturn’s dramatic new cars and crossovers, combined with an industry-leading positive retail experience, are a winning combination.”

The Saturn vehicles making their world debut in New York include:

The Saturn Aura, which goes on sale this summer, brings the new design of Saturn into a fun-to-drive sport sedan, with bold exterior styling and high levels of interior refinement.

The Saturn Sky Red Line, arriving at Saturn retailers this fall, adds extra power and performance to Saturn’s new signature roadster with a 260-horsepower 2.0L direct-injection turbo.

The Saturn Outlook is an eight-passenger crossover vehicle that strikes an ideal balance of style, size and capability. Outlook, which goes into production later this year, is built on GM’s new crossover vehicle platform.

A Saturn concept vehicle that will provide an indication of how the brand’s new design cues will continue on future vehicles.

In addition to the bold new Saturn production vehicles and concept, Saab will showcase its aviation heritage and Scandinavian design philosophy in the Saab Aero X concept, which makes its North American debut in New York. Saabs were first introduced in New York to the U.S. market 50 years ago. AutoWeek magazine named the Aero X concept “Best in Show” in February at the 2006 Geneva Auto Show.