Author: autoevolution

Avis Europe will extend its business in China, quadrupling its centers in the country, as it’s sales on European market have failed to meet expectations, as Bloomberg reports.

Avis Europe’s Chinese center network in China is comprised of 26 locations, co-owned together with a local partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. The joint-business plans to increase the number of car rental locations to 100 by 2012.

Avis has an estimated market share of 46 percent on the Chinese market, … (read more)

There’s a war going on in the US auto industry. All producers want to profit from Toyota’s downfall, while the Japanese car manufacturer struggles to keep its sales up.  After Toyota announced that it will offer a 0 percent/60-month financing program, GM adopted the same strategy.

Susan Docherty, GM vice president for U.S. marketing, said the company was not chasing Toyota. That was our plan prior to hearing about what Toyota was going to do. We locked this in about a week ago, she said on GM… (read more)

The momentum of past months continued in February 2010 for German carmaker Mercedes Benz, who posted a 13 percent increase in sales for the month, or a total of 72,100 vehicles. The achievement brings the total number of Mercedes vehicles sold to a level 18 percent up compared to the same period last year.

This sales result is the basis for strong sales in the first quarter and allows us to expand our market position for the full year. We will get a boost from our competitive range of produc… (read more)

The Chinese carmakers are expanding their worldwide businesses, as some of their cars are scheduled to be produced by a dedicated Russian plant.

The Derways production site, one of the largest facility of its kind in Russia, has introduced a new production line destined for the output of Chinese cars with an annual capacity of 100,000 units, as Inside Line reports.

Geely cars will account for the main part of the Russian production, followed by Great Wall vehicles. During the current year,… (read more)

Head of the Nissan-Renault alliance, Carlos Ghosn, revealed future plans during a press conference at the Geneva Auto Show on Wednesday, suggesting that he expects Leaf’s production capacity to reach 500,000 units globally no latter than 2012.

Nissan is already reporting 56,000 orders for the vehicle in the United States, and they plan to start taking orders soon in Japan and Europe. So far, the French government has shown interest in 100,000 units of the Leaf.

The carmaker predicts that … (read more)

Ford Focus’ Mikko Hirvonen did not make a great start in the Rally Mexico this week, as the shakedown stage of the North American event saw the leader of the overall classification lose no less than 3 seconds as compared to his rival Sebastien Loeb. Fortunately for the Finn, the time difference will not count in the weekend’s action, as this was the last test before the start of the rally.

The Thursday action was heavily influenced by watersplashes in the final kilometers of the stage, as the… (read more)

As the Volkswagen Golf is one of the best selling cars of the VW Group, it is only natural that it gets a lot of attention from tuners worldwide. This time, ABT decided to modify the Golf R and presented the final version of it at the Geneva Auto Show.

After some work has been done on the standard car, the ABT Golf R will produce 310 hp instead of 270 hp. The modification helps the car reach 261 km/h and sprint from a standstill to 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds.

The compact car is really good fu… (read more)

The Fiat Group offers its first satellite navigation map update website. The Fiat Map Update Web Store offers maps compatible with all the current range of navigation systems available on the Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo.

The web portal has been created by NAVTEQ, a global provider of digital map, traffic and location data, and is aimed at offering support for the drivers of the Fiat Group’s cars. The site will also be operated by NAVTEQ and offers users the possibility to pay in four currenci… (read more)

Following a top-20 finish in Kia Motors’ first-ever auto race in the US at Daytona, the carmaker and Kinetic Motorsports continue to hope the inaugural season will prove to be as exciting as expected and are getting ready for the start of the second race, at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

While we were pleased to reach the track and the initial result in Daytona, we know there is a lot more potential in the Kia Forte Koups and we’ve already seen significant performance improvements since the first… (read more)

Chrysler had a rough time back in 2009, when the carmaker went bankrupt. But under the Fiat guidance, American carmaker Chrysler seems to be doing a lot better, judging by the sales figures for February 2010. They show a slight increase compared to the same month of 2009 and, at the same time, a huge 48 percent leap compared to January 2010. As Chrysler is trying to improve its operations, the group announced that it has appointed two new executives.

Stephen J. Bartoli was appointed Head of … (read more)

One of the most exciting concepts presented by German carmaker Opel in recent years saw daylight these days in Geneva. Although the concept is practically an interpretation of the Volt/Ampera powertrain, the exterior of the concept shows presents the possible way in which some Opels may look in the future.

The most un-Opelish Opel we ever did see is 4.7 meters long and features a design which gets it a drag coefficient of 0.22. The concept sets itself apart through a very low and wide stance… (read more)

McLaren Mercedes seem to have no problem inviting the technical delegate of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Charlie Whiting, to inspect the rear wing of their McLaren MP4-25 challenger. According to British publication Daily Mail, the FIA official will visit the Woking factory during the course of today and check the aforementioned part.

In recent days, Red Bull’s Christian Horner insisted that both his team and Ferrari – although the Scuderia did not issue any statement relate… (read more)

Also known as Toyobaru until its first unveiling at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, the FT-86 Concept draws inspiration from sports cars of the past, Toyota says. Making its European debut these days in Geneva, the car was inspired by the Celica, MR2, Supra and Corolla AE86 models.

Although considered by some a brave move given the fact the Japanese carmaker’s image is currently seriously damaged, Toyota still has the guts to look at the future.

The FT-86 Sports Concept is said to preview a ne… (read more)

Porsche reported a slight sales increase on the U.S. market in February 2010. The company sold 1,531 cars in America last month, a figure that can be translated into a 1.5 percent increase, as compared to the figure registered in February 2009.

This is the sixth consecutive month in which Porsche’s sales continue to follow a rising trend, in spite of the fact that the winter season was expected to affect sales, especially on the U.S. East Coast – Porsche’s top-selling region.

The sales gro… (read more)

Still struggling with the aftermath of the hugest recall it has ever made, as well as with reports claiming the fix for the accelerator doesn’t work, Japanese carmaker Toyota got a breath of fresh air following the launch of the company’s most comprehensive sales program in its history.

According to Edmunds, the interest raised by Toyota’s offering made for a 40 percent increase in purchase intent. While in the beginning of the month the Japanese carmaker was found appealing by 9.7 percent … (read more)

Lewis Hamilton reckoned that the difficult situation between him and 2-time world champion Fernando Alonso during the days they were teammates in the McLaren garage was partially his fault. However, that didn’t happen because his team reportedly gave him special treatment during the 2007 season, but because he misinterpreted the goals of the team for that particular campaign.

Coming in the McLaren garage as a rookie, while partnering a double world champion, was something he coped with quite … (read more)

Peugeot reached an unbelievable sales rise in the United Kingdom. The French automaker managed to get its sales up 70.8% with the help of the extended scrappage scheme.

As everybody is downsizing and customers are migrating to smaller vehicles, the Peugeot’s bestsellers were the 107, the 207 and the 308 models. The award winning 3008 Crossover and the 5008 MPV also had excellent sales. Peugeot’s cars and light commercial vehicles claimed a year-to-date market share of 6.18% in the UK.

Jon … (read more)

After Joerg Hofmann announced he will leave the company, Audi Australia quickly found a new man for the job. Taking over the Managing Director position from Hoffman is Uwe Hagen, who previously hold the position of Head of Audi Sales for the Western German region.

Hofmann has moved to Germany, as managing director of AUDI AG’s Retail Network, based at the company’s headquarters in Ingolstadt.

Since 2004, Hagen has been responsible for sales of around 40,000 cars per year for the Audi bran… (read more)

While we are still waiting (and waiting, and waiting, and waiting…) for the 5th installment of the Gran Turismo to arrive, the producers keep on throwing at us all types of videos, showing some in-game action. Just enough to make us want more…

The most recent of the videos shows the American side of the gazzilion competitions to be featured in the game: NASCAR.

In all, the GT5 features over 800 cars (with over 4,500 color variations), 35 courses with more than 60 layouts planned. In … (read more)

Ram customers should know that from 2010, Continental Tire the Americas, LLC will supply the original equipment truck tires for Ram medium-duty Chassis Cab trucks. The Ram 4500 and 5500 Chassis Cab will be equipped with Continental’s 225/70R19.5 tires.

"Continental Tires were chosen because they give Ram 4500 and 5500 Chassis Cab trucks a competitive advantage, offering a class-exclusive N speed rating (87 mph)," said Tom Fanning, Continental’s director of original equipment sales f… (read more)