News

Industry

7: A US industry commentator has proposed a $5000 incentive for diesel car sales. EVs currently have a $7500 incentive. (Automotive News)
11: Gordon Murray Design might sign a deal to produce the T25 and T27 by the summer. Three firms are reportedly competing for the iStream manufacturing process licence. Murray will only grant once licence to produce the T25 and T25, but is planning six other projects ‘from two seats to 13′. (Autocar)

Audi

11: Audi UK marketing director Dominic Chambers says the brand will increase its marketing budget 15 per cent in 2012. It will focus on digital channels as customers used to visit seven dealers before buying, but now visit only two. Audi itself will grown in 2012 and the appeal of the cars is their design: ‘understated, beautiful and extremely well made’. (Brand Republic)
6: The new Audi R8 will go on sale in Q4 2014. Updated version’s of today’s engines will feature (to maintain a ‘highly strung’ nature) and the new car will be lighter and feature advanced aerodynamics. Audi intends it to become a technological figurehead for the brand. (Autocar)
6: The current R8 will be facelifted: changes will include the introduction of a seven-speed DCT gearbox. The revised R8 will debut at the Moscow Motor Show in August. (Autocar)
5: Audi’s signature LED lights will feature in a Super Bowl TV ad spot. LED headlights are the source closest to daylight: they illuminate immediately, whereas traditional lights require 0.2secs. (4wheelsnews)
5: Audi supplies most of the fleet for Chinese officials but this may now change as the Ministry of Industry and IT has included three homegrown models in its new vehicle product list. Chinese officials have used Audis since it was chosen by the government in 1996. 10 per cent of Audi China sales come from government purchases (the favoured car is the Audi A6L). The firm sold 309k vehicles in 2011. (Car News China)
4: Audi has bought a 40-hectacre site on an industrial park near Ingolstadt to ease capacity constraints. The Munchsmunster site will house an aluminium die-cast foundry, press shop, chassis component machining facility and production lines for form-hardened body parts. Having an in-house aluminium die-cast facility will allow Audi to improve its lightweight technology said a board member. It will open in 2013 (4wheelsnews)

BMW

11: BMW has no plans to buy the Mitsubishi NedCar plant in the Netherlands to serve growing demand for MINI. (4wheelsnews)
5: BMW will launch a 325hp 3.0-litre straight six turbo M 135i at the Geneva Motor Show in March. (Autocar)
5: Knowledge from power stations is being used to develop a heat energy recovery system. Initial designs convert exhaust heat energy into steam that powers an expansion turbine to generate electrical energy (and improve mpg by 10 per cent). (Automotive Engineer)

Chevrolet

6: The Chevrolet Sonic (Aveo) saloon is 14.1 inches longer than the hatchback. Design director Ken Parkinson says it wasn’t meant to be this long but the shorter solution ‘proportionally didn’t feel right’. That’s why the Sonic 4dr has a boot similar in size to the larger Chevrolet Cruze. (Automotive News)

FAW

6: FAW, China’s second largest car maker, plans to sell 3m vehicles in 2012. It runs two joint ventures – one with Volkswagen AG, making VW and Audi cars, and one with Toyota. (Gasgoo)

Fiat

5: The Sedici replacement will now be launched ahead of a new compact Jeep: the B-SUV was due to launch in 2013 but will now debut in Q2 2014. The Fiat verson will launch in late 2013. Both will be built at Fiat’s Miafiori plant. (Automotive News)
5: Fiat expects the EU new car market to fall from 13.6m in 2011 to 12.9m-13.4m in 2012. Italy will drop to 1.65m-1.7m: the 20-year average is 1.75m. (Automotive News)
5: The €1bn expansion of Miafiori will equip it to produce the Small Wide platform, a US-spec version of Fiat Small that has 4WD capability. Miafiori will also produce a revised Alfa Romeo MiTo from 2013. (Automotive News)

Ford

11: Ford CFO Lewis Booth and global product development chief Derrick Kuzak will both retire on April 1. Ford VP Bob Shanks (59) will replace Booth: VP of engineering for global product development Raj Nair (47) will replace Kuzak. (4wheelsnews)
11: Ford CEO Alan Mulally (67) has reportedly denied reports he plans to retire in 2013: Booth was one name mooted as a successor. (4wheelsnews)

Honda

6: Honda will bring forward changes for the much-criticised US Civic to this autumn – 18 months after launch. The mid cycle facelift will focus on improving interior quality. A dealer has said the facelift changes will be ‘more significant’ than the usual front and rear new look and revised interior. (Automotive News)

Lada

5: AutoVAZ is expected to start building a new Lada based on a Renault platform this month. Renault-Nissan owns 25 per cent of AutoVAZ and aims to raise this to 50 per cent ‘soon’. (4wheelsnews)

Maybach

9: Daimler lost €330k on every Maybach sold: the firm pumped in €1bn to sell 3000 cars over seven years. (CAR)

Mazda

11: Mazda has forecast a $1.29bn loss for the financial year ending March 31. Sales will have fallen 2 per cent to 1.25m cars: it will be Mazda’s fourth consecutive year of losses. Mazda exports a greater proportion of cars from Japan than any other maker (a plant in Mexico building Mazda2 and Mazda3 will open next year). The firm is now actively seeking alliance partners. (Automotive News)

Mercedes

11: Mercedes-Benz is introducing rear seatbelt pre-tensioners. The Active Seat-Belt Buckle device is linked to Pre-Safe and increases tension by 80mm: it also extends out by 70mm to make it easier to put the seatbelt on. (Car Advice)
5: The Mercedes A25 AMG will have more power than the 340hp Audi RS3. It will launch at the Paris Motor Show in September. Mercedes’ High Performance Engines division in Northamptonshire will develop the 2.0-litre turbo engine, from the stillborn 1.6-litre 2013 F1 engine project. (Autocar)

MINI

4: The third generation F56 MINI Hatch may get a third Clubman-style rear door. The Clubman-backed Paceman due for launch this year may feature twin ‘club’ rear doors. (Autocar)

Mitsubishi

6: Mitsubishi NedCar plant, its only factory in Europe, last year accounted for less than 5 per cent of Mitsubishi’s 1.1m production volume. Its 50k total contrasts with a 200k capacity. Employing 1100 people and building both Colt and Outlander, it will close by the end of the year. Cars for Mitsubishi’s European division, which lost $148m last year, will now come from Thailand and Japan, (4wheelsnews)

Renault

11: The Renault-Nissan Alliance has formally opened its 400k annual capacity plant in Morocco. It will become the southern Mediterranean’s biggest car plant and employ 6k workers by 2015. Production will start with the Dacia Lodgy and a small van. It is claimed to be the world’s first zero carbon plant. Renault Group has a 37 per cent market share in Morocco. (Just-Auto)
7: Renault will use a Mercedes platform to develop a new high-end car. The replacements for the Espace, Laguna and Vel Satis will launch in 2014: the Espace will arrive first. Using a Mercedes platform will help Renault sell the premium model at a profit without selling large volumes. (Auto Week)

SEAT

11: This year, SEAT will launch a new three-car Leon range (three-door, five-door, estate, all inspired by the IBE show car) will launch by the end of th year, along with a facelifted Ibiza, Mii, Toledo saloon (SEAT’s version of the Skoda MissionL co-developed by the two) and Chinese-spec Ibiza and Leon. (Autocar)

Volkswagen

5: The VW board will discuss the Porsche buy-out on 14 February. Volkswagen owns 49.9 per cent of Porsche: it may propose paying £3.2bn plus taxes for the other half. VW bought its first stake in Porsche following the attempt by the car company’s parent firm to take over VW: the credit crunch left it ‘close to collapse’. (Autocar)

Volvo

11: Volvo will deliver 6k more XC60 to the US this year, and has hired more workers at its Ghent, Belgium plant to increase production further from 2013. US sales were restricted last year due to a lack of XC60 supply. (4wheelsnews)

Youngman

6: Youngman has bid $446m to buy Saab. Its plans would see it produce the old-shape Saab 9-3 and a Lotus model for Proton while the Phoenix platform was finished (without GM content). Youngman says this will take around 18 months. Saab’s receivers are ‘cool’ as selling parts of the business would raise more money (Reuters)
5: A patent has been applied for, showing a new SUV. It is speculated to be a show car for the Beijing Motor Show in April. (Car News China)