Industry
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Late last week the parent company of Saab, Swedish Automobile, agreed to sell 100 percent of the struggling automaker to Chinese firms Panga Da and Youngman for approximately $142 million. Where just a few months ago those same Chinese firms were willing to pay $350 million for just 53 percent of Saab, the decision made by Swedish Automobile and its diligent CEO Victor Muller to finally sell was anything but straight-forward, but it needed to be done. Now Saab gets to live on for a little while longer, but the automaker is still a long way from exiting its reorganization process and...
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Saab To Be Sold To China’s Pang Da And Youngman: OfficialSwedish Automobile has confirmed today that it has made an 11th-hour deal with Chinese firms Pang Da and Youngman for the sale and purchase of 100 percent of the shares in struggling automaker Saab for 100 million euros (approximately $142 million). So far only a memorandum of understanding has...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Audi Celebrates Building 10 Million A4 And 80 Mid-Size CarsCoinciding with the reveal of its facelifted 2013 Audi A4 range, the automaker from Ingolstadt has announced that it’s reached a new milestone concerning its popular mid-size model. Factoring in the original four generations of the Audi 80 first launched in 1972, plus the four-generations of...
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Rolls-Royce Entering South America For The First TimeRolls-Royce has announced that it will sell its cars in Brazil and Chile, the first time it will do so in the South American market.
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Saab’s Alliance Deals With Pang Da And Youngman TerminatedSaab has taken one step closer towards what’s shaping up to be a possible bankruptcy with news coming out over the weekend that the struggling Swedish automaker has terminated its tentative alliance deals with Chinese firms Pang Da and Youngman. The decision was made by Saab’s parent...
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Mercedes-Benz to build 5th model at US plant from 2015Mercedes-Benz has announced today that it will further expand its U.S. plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama by adding production of a fifth model line in 2015. The plant is currently home to production of the M-, GL-, and R-Class SUVs, and has already been confirmed to build the next-generation C-Class in...
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Guy Lofalk, the court-appointed administrator of Saab’s reorganization process, has revealed that he’s sent a letter to the Swedish court on Thursday requesting that the whole process be terminated. The revelation comes less than 24 hours after Saab announced it would be receiving some much-needed funding from American equity firm North Street Capital in addition to last week’s cash injection from Chinese partners Youngman and Pang Da. The reason for Lofalk’s decision is due to there being not enough funding to keep the reorganization running and that the automaker has...
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Saab Receives Funding From America’s North Street CapitalSaab has announced today that it has received a commitment from American private equity firm North Street Capital for a cash payment before the October 22 deadline to pay off part of its bridge loans, once again helping the struggling automaker stave off bankruptcy. The cash will be awarded to Saab...
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Tesla Loses Major Part Of Its "Top Gear" LawsuitTesla has lost the libel half of its case against Top Gear.
Chris Weiss -
Lotus Is Not Up For Sale Says ProtonQuashing claims that British sports car company Lotus could be up for sale, current owner Proton has released a statement saying that the news was untrue and that there are no plans for the sale of Lotus or any stake in it. Recent reports suggested that investment group Genii Capital, a part owner...
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Saab Receives Cash But Chinese Deals May Still Be BlockedUpdate: Earlier this week news broke that Saab's Chinese partners would be blocked from their bid to give the Swedish automaker a much-need cash infusion. Today, Saab has responded with a statement that says the reports were misinformed, and that it has received a first payment by China's Youngman...
Nelson Ireson -
Pininfarina Ending Car Building Business, Will Focus On DesignCoachbuilding has certainly become a tough business. As sales volumes of even the most exotic cars go up, and manufacturers offer more and more custom and exotic options direct from the factory, the niche once filled by the older custom building companies is becoming increasingly shallow. But the...
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Nissan has announced a range of new safety technologies aimed at reducing fatal and serious injuries, based on the automaker’s latest "Safety Shield" concept. While it isn’t the mind-reading technology we reported on just last month, Nissan’s latest array of safety gizmos is still pretty advanced and should be coming to its production cars in the very near future. The first is a new featured called “Acceleration Suppression for Pedal Misapplication”. This essentially prevents crashes where the driver accidentally presses the accelerator when they want to go for...
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Michigan Company Develops Fuel Saving ‘Corona’ Ignition SystemAs automakers strive to achieve gas mileage gains and prolong the life of the internal combustion engine, it’s impressive to see the new areas of efficiency improvements being developed, even some you may never have considered before. The latest is from Michigan-based supplier Federal-Mogul...
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White Overtakes Silver As World’s Most Popular Color For New CarsAfter 10 long years at the top, silver has finally been dethroned by white as the world’s most popular color for new cars. The claim is the result of a study conducted by one of the world’s leading manufacturers of transportation coatings, PPG Industries. According to PPG, approximately...
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Nissan Follows Mazda And Adopts Ultra-High Tensile SteelJust a day after Mazda announced that its new 2012 Mazda CX-5 would feature ultra-high tensile steel in its construction, Nissan has followed suit with an announcement that its cars will as well but only from 2013. Additionally, Nissan’s cars will only use 1,200 megapascal (approximately...
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Mazda First Automaker To Implement Ultra-High Tensile SteelMazda will be the first automaker to implement the use of 1,800 megapascal (approximately 261,000 psi) ‘ultra-high tensile steel’ in a mainstream vehicle with the launch of its new 2012 Mazda CX-5 crossover early next year. Grouped under its range of new SKYACTIV fuel saving...
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GM And BMW To Partner On Green Tech?With auto giants Ford and Toyota recently announcing a partnership for the development of a new rear-wheel drive hybrid module that will ensure their respective SUV and pickup models have a bright spot in a world of rising oil prices, it was only a matter of time until some of their major rivals...
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Officials in the UK are currently investigating the benefits of new tire tread scanners built into the road and designed to detect illegal tread depths as vehicles pass over it. The technology, which relies on a series of high-speed cameras and leasers, was developed by German firm ProContour and costs about $67,000 a piece. The scanner can measure the tread depth of vehicles traveling at speeds of up to 75 mph, reports AutoExpress, making the results available for further tracking or potentially to warrant a fine. Generally, a tire is considered defective or ‘bald’ if 75 percent...
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GM First With Front Center AirbagGM has announced plans to launch the industry’s first front center airbag, designed to help protect drivers and front passengers in far-side impact crashes where the affected occupant is on the opposite, non-struck side of the vehicle. The tubular airbag is also designed to provide restraint...
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Spyker Sold, Nissan Reads Minds, Bentley To Le Mans: Car News HeadlinesToday's mix of news is a bit of a mish-mash, with Nissan the unlikely purveyor of nascent mind-reading technology for future cars, Bentley eyeballing a return to Le Mans LMP1 competition next year, and Spyker selling to a firm that isn't CPP. Oh, and the president of Equitorial Guinea had his...
Nelson Ireson -
Saab Sister Brand Spyker Sold To U.S. Private Equity Firm, CPP Still InterestedIt wasn't so long ago that talk of Spyker buying, and thereby saving, Saab was the hot news. Since then, the Dutch supercar company has reorganized things, keeping Saab and Spyker separate, while setting the whole thing up under the umbrella of Swedish Automobile. Things haven't gone all that well...
Nelson Ireson -
Mopar Fans: Now You Can Track The Birth Of Your Four-Wheeled BabyA new program from Chrysler will allow Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep or Ram buyers to track the production of their new vehicle from start to finish.
Kurt Ernst -
Aston Martin-Maybach Collaboration Talks Collapse: ReportPlans for a successor to the slow-selling Maybach 57 and 62 sedans appear to have hit a snag, with reports coming out of Germany claiming collaborative talks between Daimler and Aston Martin have collapsed. Aston Martin, which is planning a flagship sedan for its own Lagonda brand, was looking to...
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