Industry

BMW currently builds the X3, X5 and X6 models at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina but in the future we could see even more of the German luxury autos built in the U.S. According to a report coming out of Germany, BMW is considering building its staple 3- and 5-Series models in the U.S. as...

Daimler's distress over the dismal Maybach brand is apparently growing, with Dieter Zetsche saying all options are on the table, including getting rid of Maybach altogether. The news isn't surprising, especially on the heels of news late last month that Aston Martin might be tapped to design and...

The first of the three conditions necessary for Fiat to increase its stake in Chrysler by up to 15 percent (from the intial 20 percent buy-in) has been met: the supply of the 1.4-liter FIRE engine in the new Fiat 500, allowing the company to raise increase its holding to 25 percent. The FIRE, or...

In the lead up to 2010’s year end, sales of the major luxury marques in the U.S. were for the first time in years nearly neck and neck. As recently as October 2010, in fact, Mercedes-Benz was the overall sales leader in the luxury vehicle market, thanks mostly to a surge in sales of its...

Now that 2010 is well and truly over, we can look back at the year and see who came out on top in the sales race. While the clear leader was the Ford F-Series, which came away with 528,349 in total sales for 2010, it was interesting to see that the Chevrolet Camaro, which for 2010 was only...

Daimler's ultra-luxury Maybach brand has been a study in how not to sell cars for nearly its entire revived existence. Exclusivity is one thing; odd-man-out is another. To help fix the brand, Daimler may be turning to an unlikely partner: Aston Martin. Aston, now independently owned after being...

Volkswagen’s attempts to crack into the Malaysian market date back all the way to 2006, with the automaker on several occasions trying to ink a deal with state-owned Proton. Now, finally, Volkswagen has signed an agreement to produce its vehicles in Malaysia, starting with the new Passat at...

Neither the Nurburgring nor one of its master drivers Sabine Schmitz needs any introduction on this site, but what needs to be addressed is the issue that the famous German racing circuit is in financial distress. With debts nearing the $650 million mark, the German government has been called in to...

Audi broke its annual vehicle sales record in the U.S. earlier this week when it recorded its 93,507th transaction of 2010. The sale eclipsed the old U.S. record of 93,506 vehicles sold in 2007 and Audi execs are now confident that the 100,000 mark can be reached before the year is out. However...

What many may not know, Nissan and Mitsubishi have been working together for the past several years, mostly overseas, sharing components and whole vehicle platforms. The two currently have several OEM agreements for vehicles in the Japanese market, including for tiny kei cars and commercial...

As we predicted last year 2010 has seen Rolls-Royce sales more than double on the back of sales of its second model, the higher volume Ghost, as well as strong demand in new markets such as China. In the first 10 months of the year Rolls-Royce managed to move over 2,000 units, with the new Ghost...

It’s been a sad week in automotive world, with two of its legends, from very different fields, have passed away. Charles M. “Chuck” Jordan, one of GM’s most influential designers, died late on Thursday at the age of 83. Tom Walkinshaw, the founder of the TWR motorsports and...

Last week it was revealed that Porsche will head the development of new modular sports car and luxury sedan platforms for the entire Volkswagen Group, with the guys from Stuttgart destined to be responsible for a range of new models including a possible entry-level sedan from Bentley and a...

Volkswagen has announced that it has joined forces with a legend in the audio industry, Fender, with which it plans to launch a premium audio system for select 2012 models. The first model to be equipped with the Fender audio system will be the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta in GLI trim, and will be...

Last April Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, and Renault-Nissan formerly signed an agreement to purchase shares in each other’s company and cooperate on future products. The deal would guarantee access to Renault’s range of compact gasoline and turbodiesel engines for...

There’s no doubt Hyundai has what it takes to build cars that can compete with top brands in the luxury segment, with current high-end models like the Genesis and Equus sedans proving that the South Korean automaker can build truly world class luxury cars. Unfortunately, Hyundai has one major...

In the past couple of months Lotus has unveiled a total of six new concept cars, all of which the automaker claims are production-intent designs. Not only that but the automaker has also previewed a range of downsized engines and advanced hybrid technology so it’s safe to say things must be...

MINI has one of the most iconic designs on the planet and the man credited with bringing the classic shape into the modern era is a man by the name of Gert Volker Hildebrand. But now, after 10 successful years at MINI, Hildebrand is handing over the running of the MINI Design studio in Munich...

Perhaps as a sign of the times, China is expected to overtake the U.S. as the biggest market for Rolls-Royce as early as next year. That’s an impressive feat considering that in China Rolls-Royce models cost more than double what they do here in the U.S. The Rolls-Royce Phantom, for example...

The winner of the 2011 European Car of the Year awards has been announced, with the 2011 Nissan Leaf taking top honors, the same car our sister site, GreenCarReports, picked as the best green car to buy. This means that original candidates like the new Jaguar XJ, Mercedes-Benz CLS and BMW 5-Series...