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Showing results for tags 'sales report'.
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GM Vice Chairman Stephen Grisky says that Opel is not for sale. "Opel is not for sale. GM fully stands behind Opel," said Mr Girsky in a statement recently. "Opel is a fully integrated part of GM's global footprint and vital for GM's future success in Europe. The GM-PSA alliance is fully on track." The statement comes after an Italian newspaper implied Fiat was ready to buy the loss-making brand should the alliance between GM and PSA/Peugeot Citroen fail. The publication reported that Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is already preparing a proposal to acquire the European brand in the event that GM decides to pull out of the alliance. The first time Fiat was trying to buy over Opel was in 2009 when the company was briefly in the red. Car makers are currently going through a deplorable phase as they struggle to control increasing losses in Europe after 11 consecutive months of declining sales. GM is one of the companies that were badly hit as it lost almost US$16 billion in its European operations over the last 12 years. The GM-PSA alliance allows both the manufacturers to share vehicle platforms, components and modules. In addition, the creation of a global purchasing joint venture enables both entities to enjoy greater economy of scales when sourcing for materials. I believe Opel has a future as it has plans to revamp its engine line up over the next 12 months. The new 1.6-litre SIDI (spark ignition direct injection) ECOTEC engine has been introduced recently and production will start in late 2012. Opel, hang in there!
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Bicycle sales better than car sales for the first time in Italy since WWII
SYF77 posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
In Italy, bicycle sales have surpassed that of car sales. Last year, 1.75 million bicycles were sold in the country as compared to 1.748 million vehicles sold. This is the first occurrence since the Second World War. Several factors could have contributed to this phenomenon. Firstly, the European debt crisis that resulted in job losses could have made some Italians turn to lower cost of transportation. In addition, escalating fuel prices and high costs associated with maintaining a car could have affected car sales as well. Recently, petrol prices hit -
The 2011 Japan Tsunami has caused severe economic repercussions to the Japanese car makers. Now that they have seeming recovered from the disaster, a Tsunami-sized dispute between China and Japan has caused sales of Japanese cars in China to nose dive. Japan and China are at loggerheads over claims to sovereignty of some islands in the East China Sea, known as Diaoyu in China or Senkaku in Japan. This has set off violent protests in China, and a widespread call to boycott Japanese goods. Mitsubishi reported that its China sales plunged 63% to 2,340 vehicles in September while Mazda
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[extract] Ford of Europe has an interesting method to boost sales. The dealers sold cars to each other, without having actual customer orders. Dealers eventually sell the cars as used vehicles at huge discounts. This has artificially boosted car sales by up to 30%. Even more interestingly, Ford
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[extract] Despite the challenging economic environment, the prancing horse galloped forward in terms of sales during the first half of 2012. The Italian-based supercar maker, Ferrari, has announced record sales for the first half of 2012, an increase of 11.9 percent compared to the first half of last year.
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Volkswagen lays foundation stone for new transmission plant in China
SYF77 posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
[extract] Volkswagen has laid the foundation stone for a new transmission plant in the northern city of Tianjin, China. The new plant, which will create 1,500 new jobs, is targeted to become operational at the end of 2014. The plant will have an annual capacity of 450,000 units. According to Volkswagen, the projected investment cost is -
[extract] With its dynamic good looks and handling prowess, the Ford Focus is aiming to be the international best seller for year 2012. According to Ford, the brand sold 522,821 Focus models worldwide during the first seven months of this year. This puts it ahead of the Toyota Corolla and the Volkswagen Golf in terms of global sales. According to Aaron Bragman, an automotive industry analyst for IHS Global Insight, the Focus has several advantages over the perennial best-seller, the Corolla. The offering from the Blue Oval brand is newer, features better handling and styling, has superior technology and a much nicer interior than the Corolla.
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[extract] Czech car maker Skoda Auto sold 72,600 cars in July 2012, up 6% from the same period last year, the company said in Prague.
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[extract] Mitsubishi Australia's new president and chief executive, Mutsuhiro Oshikiri, feels that the current product range offered by the Japanese brand is old and the prices are too high. In addition, he hinted that Mitsubishi did not meet the customer
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France requests the European Union to probe increased car imports from South Korea
SYF77 posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
In 2011, sales of Korean cars in the European Union grew 24% although the overall market contracted. On the other hand, French carmakers saw their sales falling with PSA Peugeot Citroen announcing plans to slash 8,000 jobs. As a result, France has officially sent a request to the EU Commission to monitor South Korean car imports, which could possibly result in tarrifs being slapped on the vehicles despite an EU-South Korean free trade agreement that was signed only a year ago. EU Trade Spokesman, John Clancy, said in a statement that the EU has received a note from the French authorities requesting surveillance measures for South Korean car imports. He added that the commission is reviewing the request carefully. If France manages to get its way, local carmakers will be able to obtain detailed information including the type and number of products scheduled for export to Europe before the cars even arrive. According to Reuters, although exports to EU grew by 40% since the free trade deal was signed on 1 July 2011, the number is far below the 640,000 units imported in 2007. This is because companies such as Kia and Hyundai have increased their production capacity in countries such as Turkey and Czech Republic. The backlash against Korean cars isn -
Perhaps a sign of worsening economic conditions in Spain, Renault is giving away a free Twizy electric car for every Laguna, Latitude or Espace model purchased. The offer from Renault is a drastic attempt to move vehicles out of the dealer lots, after new vehicle sales in Spain fell to a 19-year low in the first half of 2012. Both the Laguna and the Espace are unpopular models for the French automaker and this could be the reason why they have been removed from the UK dealership in February. Priced from 6990 euros, the Spanish-built Twizy could be a slow-selling model as well and hence the bundled deal. The Twizy measures 2,320mm long, 1,191mm wide and 1,461mm tall. It is powered by a 20bhp electric motor generating 57Nm of torque and weighs 450kg including the battery pack. It has a maximum driving range of 100km and takes three hours to charge using a 220V 10A outlet. The car has a maximum speed of 45km/h and can thus be driven in most European countries by drivers from 16 years old without a driving license. If the car is driven at maximum speed, it means that the car has to stop and get charged up after 2.2 hours. Given that a full charge takes three hours, I guess it does not sound very inviting to own one.
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Despite all the gloom and doom in Europe, French automaker, Renault, posted a respectable first-half performance that beats the forecast by analysts. Earnings before interest, taxes and one-time items dropped 23 percent to 482 million euros from 630 million euros a year ago. This figure beats the average 363 million euros estimated by seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The better-than-expected performance is supported by the increased sales in Latin America and Russia. Renault sales in Latin America rose 20 percent to 215,149 vehicles, while deliveries in Russia and other former Soviet states jumped 29 percent to 103,926. "Management has a very good focus on all the important issues," said Kristina Church, a Barclays analyst in London who awarded an 'overweight rating' on Renault
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Toyota hits a production milestone of 200 million vehicles
PetrolHead posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
[extract] Toyota has announced that in June this year it has built an amazing 200 million cars, a milestone that took 76 years and 11 months to hit. Toyota -
[extract] A stubborn sovereign debt crisis and collapsing consumer confidence has sent car sales skidding for nine consecutive months in Europe as the car market there falls to its lowest level in 17 years, according to the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers
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[extract] 15 months ago, Lamborghini showed the world the Murcielago
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If you live in Australia and are craving for the new Subaru BRZ, hope you have the patience till early 2013, as all the cars for this year are spoken for. Apparently the Aussies were allocated only 201 cars for delivery this year, so Subaru Australia decided of a new way to sell the highly anticipated car. Their solution? To sell them online, much like how we buy movie or concert tickets. Within a short span of just 3 hours, all the cars had been sold
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BMW Group Asia retains its crown as best selling automotive brand in Singapore
PetrolHead posted a blog entry in MyAutoBlog
BMW Group Asia has sustained its lead as both a premium and overall automotive brand in Singapore with a total of 2,647 vehicles registered based on LTA figures for New Registration of Cars. The BMW 5 Series continues to be the top selling model with the recently introduced ActiveHybrid 5 expected to provide a further boost. The range topping M5 has also seen success with more than 50 units already sold since its launch, while the new 3 Series and the flagship 7 Series limousine significantly contributing to sales figures. More exciting products will be arriving on the coming months as BMW gets on with its second phase of EfficientDynamics strategy by introducing ActiveHybrid 3 and 7 models after the successful introduction of the ActiveHybrid 5. Moreover BMW will also introduce the M Performance Automobiles with exclusive engine variants, enhanced agility and precision for a greater performance without compromising on everyday use. MINI has also performed well with a total of 150 vehicles registered. The MINI Clubvan, a premium model in the small car-based van segment, will also arrive later this year and targets the trend-conscious commercial vehicle users. -
[extract] If you speak to management at Bentley, you may think that the global economy is booming. The ultra-luxury sub-brand of German giant Volkswagen AG said its worldwide sales for the first half of 2012 rose 32% to 3,929 cars, driven in part by a nearly 26% increase in US sales to 1,140 cars. This allows US to re-emerge as Bentley
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[extract] The Eurozone debt crisis seemed to have taken its toll on the sales of PSA Peugeot-Citroen. The Group
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According to Bernhard Maier, Porsche's head of sales and marketing, the brand has no plans to sell a car costing less than the Boxster although it has set sights on reaching an annual sales target of 200,000 units by 2018. "To build a Porsche for 30,000 euros currently doesn't fit our brand," Bernhard Maier told the Automotive News Europe Congress in Monaco. The extraordinary purchase experience is not for free and the entry price is currently covered with the Boxster and in the future by the Macan." The Macan is Porsche's second SUV, positioned below the Cayenne. Last year, the company sold 117,000 units, representing an increase of 18% over 2010 sales figures. Surprisingly, the bulky Cayenne SUV is now Porsche's best seller, accounting for half of the firm's sales in the first quarter of 2012. Despite the increase in sales, exclusivity is still achievable, according to Mr Maier. "If the experts are right and the world markets grow to 100 million units in 2018 and Porsche would sell 200,000 units, we would have a world market share of 0.2 percent. I don't believe this would be a drastic change in exclusiveness." he added. Porsche has my respects for not blindly chasing after figures and diluting the brand's image in the process.
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[extract] Fiat joins Hyundai, PSA Peugeot Citro
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[extract] The Nikkei reports that Honda Motor Co. plans to assemble the hybrid version of its Fit (or Jazz) subcompact in Thailand starting this summer. This is the company
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BMW has overtaken Toyota as the world's most valuable automotive brand, according to market research company, Millward Brown. "As one of the great brands in the world, BMW has been absolutely consistent in the long-term regarding what is meaningfully different about their brand, in highly competitive market places," said Peter Walshe, Brown's global brand director. BMW was also the most valuable auto brand in 2010, while Toyota held the top spot from 2006 until 2009 as well as 2011. Unfortunately for Toyota, the company lost its top place in the ranking in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that affected all Japanese carmakers last year. As expected, the brand-value rankings of Honda, Nissan and Lexus were also affected, but the consolation is that all three remained in the top 10. For German car makers, namely Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, their ranking improved as a result of expanding presence in Asia, especially in China. With the economic uncertainty in Europe, it would be wise for these premium automakers to look towards Asia for future growth. Perhaps, Ferrari
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[extract] Chief designer-group interior of VW
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[extract] The Spanish member of the Volkswagen Group is planning to expand its dealership network in China to offset the poor European sales figures. The Spaniards are introducing the Leon Cupra first but other models are expected to follow rapidly.