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CARMAKERS NEWS * WORLDWIDE
* Mexico - Car output to rise 38% in 3 years. Foreign manufacturers to make greater use of nation as base to export vehicles
(Photo by Susana Gonzalez / Bloomberg: Workers assemble a Volkswagen Beetle at the firm’s Puebla, Mexico, plant. Car firms announced $5.3 billion in new investments in Mexico from January through April)Mexico,DF,MEX -Bloomberg/The Detroit News, by Nacha Cattan and Brendan Case -August 30, 2012: -- Mexico will boost annual auto output by 1 million vehicles within three years, a 38 percent jump from last year, as foreign manufacturers use the country as an export base, said Carlos Guzman, head of the nation's investment promotion agency... Investments already announced by carmakers will allow Mexico, the world's fourth-largest auto exporter, to increase annual production from last year's 2.6 million units, Guzman, president of ProMexico, said in an interview... Surging car and aerospace sales will help Mexican exports climb by about 15 percent this year to a record of around $400 billion, he said, surpassing a $350 billion high last year. Mexico's economy is proving resilient as its auto industry booms, with both vehicle production and exports reaching their highest levels in the first seven months of the year for any January to July period, the nation's Automobile Industry Association said... New plants announced by companies such as Mazda Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Audi AG will help the nation close the gap with Korea, the biggest exporter after Germany and Japan, Guzman said...
* Sweden - European NCAP crowns Volvo V40 safest new car ever tested
Stockholm,Sweden -Autoblog, by Jeffrey N. Ross -Sep 2nd 2012: -- One of the safest cars ever built will not be sold in the United States. The Euro NCAP, similar to our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, put the all-new 2013 Volvo V40 through a battery of crash tests and found that it is one of the safest cars it has tested... The Euro NCAP's testing consists of cars being tested in four categories (adult occupant, child occupant, pedestrian and safety assist) for vehicle safety, and the V40 drove (or more likely was towed) away with some of the top scores the agency has ever handed out. The 98 percent adult occupant rating is the highest result recorded by the Euro NCAP, while the car's innovative pedestrian airbag helped it receive an equally impressive 88-percent rating for pedestrian safety. This safety device is actually an airbag underneath the hood, and when contact with a pedestrian is detected, the airbag inflates, raising the rear portion of the hood which helps to cushion the a person's head or body as it makes contact with the car...
* Germany - Low-cost Hyundais hurt Ford in European market. U.S. automaker loses $404M in 2nd quarter as sales decrease 9.9%
(Photo by Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg: Unlike Ford, Hyundai built modern facilities in low-cost eastern Europe, taking advantage of cheap wages and efficient infrastructure. As a result, Hyundai can offer the i30 for 15,990 euros, 960 less than the Ford Focus)
Hamburg,Germany -Bloomberg/The Detroit News, by Alex Webb -August 30, 2012: -- For Anja Schlosser, Ford Motor Co.'s Fiesta and Focus didn't stand much of a chance against the i30 from Hyundai Motor Co... Schlosser's decision against Ford isn't an isolated case... The automaker is losing market share and piling up losses in Europe with a model lineup that has failed to stand out from the competition... That's forced Ford to compete on price, even though it's hampered by labor costs in Europe that are more than double those at Hyundai's factories... Like other legacy carmakers in the region, the root of Ford's disadvantage is plants set up decades ago in western European countries like Germany where workers command high wages... By contrast, newcomer Hyundai swooped in to build modern facilities in the low-cost east, taking advantage of cheap wages and efficient infrastructure...
* Colorado / USA - Focus may dethrone Corolla as world's best-seller in 2012
(Photo from Ford: Operators at Ford’s newest global manufacturing facility in Rayong, Thailand, put the finishing touches on Ford’s 350 millionth production, an all-new Focus. The milestone is the equivalent of building one vehicle every 10 seconds for 109 years)
Englewood,COL,USA -The Detroit News, by Karl Henkel -September 1, 2012: -- Ford Motor Co.'s Focus could become the world's best-selling vehicle, topping the Toyota Corolla in what will be a two-horse race the rest of the year... The Dearborn automaker sold, through the first six months of the year, 489,616 Focus sedans and hatchbacks worldwide in the first half of 2012, according to IHS Global Insight. That was almost 27,000 more than the Corolla, the perennial best-seller... The Corolla could still top the Focus worldwide, too. Last year at this time, the Focus was ahead of the Corolla, but the Corolla pulled through in the end, outselling the Focus by around 100,000 vehicles, according to IHS. The Focus, however, had a particularly strong second quarter this year... * Russia - Taiwan's Luxgen Brand Makes Russian Debut at MIAS, Sales to Start Next Year
* Russia - Lada still the most popular in
Moscow,Russia -Fleet Europe, by Tim Harrup -31 Aug 2012: -- The focus2move website has been reporting on one of the emerging markets in the automotive world – Russia... With July sales of almost 256,000, the market was up by 13.7% compared to the same month last year, the 28th consecutive monthly rise. The country’s automobile association AEB forecasts full year sales for 2012 of 2.85 million, 7.4% up on last year... The ‘top brands and models’ list in Russia looks a little different to that in Europe. The top ten manufacturers in July are headed by local brand Lada, followed by Chevrolet, Renault, Kia, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota, Ford and Skoda... In model terms, the domination of Lada is apparent. Mercedes is the leader in the luxury segment, but with a 1.2% market share...* India - Jaguar Land Rover Mulling Assembly Plant in Saudi Arabia
Jaguar is also using the lightweight material in its XK and XJ models and plans to do so even more in future products... Combined sales of Jaguar and Land Rover have increased by 36 percent, to 110,373 units in the current fiscal year. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) business regions, sales are up by 14 percent...
Labels: carmakers news worldwide
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