Car News

The Malaysian Proton car dealers may go bust if the government fails to develop a foreign alliance for the national car maker. Currently 180 Proton dealers have had losses over 20 million ringgit in the last financial year. This is due to the market share dropping from 60% to 30% with the arrival...

French auto manufacturer PSA has released plans to cut fixed cost by 30% by 2010. This restructuring plan called “Cap 2010” includes cutting cost by 600 million Euros, as well as bringing 6 new models to bring the total to 41. Rather than cutting models like other troubled carmakers...

Germany’s largest independent carmaker and supplier, Karmann, has lost its contract to supply Audi with A4 Cabriolets. However, it will soon start building the smaller A3 drop-top. According to German publication Automobil Industrie, an Audi exec has revealed that Magna Steyr will supply...

Jeep will be displaying two new concept cars at this year’s SEMA Show, the four-door Wrangler Ultimate and the tough-as-nails JT Concept. The Wrangler Ultimate is based on the regular Wrangler Limited model but gets a 3in lift-kit and 35in BF Goodrich Mud Terrain tires wrapped around forged...

This year is definitely shaping up to be the year of cross-continental challenges. Already we’ve been touched by Ferrari’s 60th anniversary drive, an epic journey taking Ferraris from all over the world across 50 different countries, Mercedes’ Paris to Beijing challenge for its...

Now that Daimler is on its own and no longer suffering the financial setback of the loss-making Chrysler brand, the luxury German carmaker will be very tempting as a possible takeover target in the eyes of cash-rich private equity investors. Until recently, most takeovers in the auto industry were...

It’s hard to imagine that Toyota’s Prius was first released almost ten years ago. Still today, most carmakers around the world lack dedicated petrol-electric models. This makes it difficult to believe that Toyota engineers were tooling around with development of the Prius as far back as...

Porsche has produced a small production run of 26 Cayenne S Transsyberias at its Leipzig plant, two months ahead of the long-distance rally in which they'll compete. Scheduled to start the journey on August the 2nd, the drivers were given the chance to get acquainted with the 385hp SUVs during a...

Despite an updated model due soon, German tuners have released yet another performance package for the V12-powered Mercedes SL Roadster. Engineers and designers at Kicherer have upgraded the bi-turbo V12 engine to the tune of 605hp (445kW), lifting performance of the SL600 into supercar territory...

The sale of four modern formula one Ferraris contributed a further $6m to the Italian team's budget at the weekend. The famous marque held a Sotheby's auction at its Maranello headquarters on Sunday, where the more expensive of the red race cars - the last single seater raced by Michael Schumacher...

Seat has toughened up its Altea XL by giving it a more rugged look and packing it with extra features first previewed by the Freetrack prototype of the recent Geneva Auto Show. This latest variant, called the Altea Freetrack, will arrive in showrooms in September with a range of new diesel and...

After watching this, you’ll get a good understanding of why we, and most other car nuts around the world, are so in love with the Koenigsegg CCX. A potent V-8 engine, 802 horsepower, 920 Nm of torque and a chassis that weighs just 1,180 kilogram, need we say more? For more on Koenigsegg's...

After the disastrous turn of events surrounding the troubled merger between Daimler and Chrysler and the subsequent split last week, the German division won’t be attempting any more tie-ups in the future and will reportedly go-it-alone from now on. Following the strategy of BMW, which learned...

The Seat Leon Cupra is already a top contender for the car with the most bang for your buck, but to tuning house JE Design, the standard car’s 240hp (177kw) just didn’t cut it. Following from its previous Leon FR hatch, the developers turned to the Cupra to get that extra power fix...

General Motors [NYSE:GM] might sell a new model in the United States that it’s planning to launch in China by early 2009. The compact Buick sedan is designed to replace the current Excelle, a rebadged version of the Daewoo Lacetti that’s sold in China. Execs are still considering if the...

BMW will soon be adding its fuel-saving technology to its Mini brand when an updated range is released in about six months time. Some of the features will include brake regeneration technology and automatic stop-start, items shared with BMW’s 1-series hatch. Other technologies that will carry...

It’s hard to imagine that less than ten years ago Chrysler commanded a 16.1% share of the US market and was turning over billion dollar profits. In 1999 it reported a profit of $5 billion, which also happened to be the first year of its alliance with Daimler. Compare that with the $1.98...

It's been well documented that BMW’s new twin-turbo inline six from the 335i produces significantly more power than its official 302hp rating suggests. We reported earlier about a test of a brand new 335i Coupe on a dyno, which resulted in outputs from the motor ranging from 282 to 300hp at...

The Hamann Black Miracle Ferrari F430 is the tuner’s latest edition to a long line of modified Italian exotics, and once again shows that the German tuner is not one to play it on the safe side. Ditching the F430’s shiny gloss finish in favor of this velvety matt black surface, Hamann...

If Max Mosley, president of the FIA, gets his way, Formula One will switch to V6 engines in 2011. The 2.2 litre turbo-charged formula, with powerplants limited to just 10,000 rpm and running on biofuel, was set out by the FIA president in a letter to manufacturers, according to the magazine F1...