Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance tops VW in global sales race

The Renault-Nissan alliance emerged as the world’s biggest seller of light vehicles in 2017, bumping Volkswagen off the top spot, after the inclusion of Mitsubishi‘s numbers boosted its final tally. The group sold vehicles in nearly 200 countries under 10 brands, led by China, the U.S., France and Japan.

Nissan sales hit a record high of 5.82 million, while French carmaker Renault has reported sales of 3.76 million. Mitsubishi’s sales came in at 1.03 million, bringing total 2017 sales for the group to around 10.61 million light vehicles. Together, the three carmakers beat record sales of around 10.53 million light vehicles at Volkswagen, 2016’s top seller which also includes the Audi, Skoda, Seat and Porsche brands. Read more

8 vehicles to prove that Ford has the finest performance cars

Over the years, Ford has put out no shortage of impressive performance cars. It seems that its performance lineup has a vehicle for everyone, whether you want a pickup truck, a hot hatch or even a supercar.

Ford managed to get together eight of its high-performance cars at the Motorland race circuit in Aragon, Spain, along with eight drivers from the Chip Ganassi Racing crew that competes in the World Endurance Championship, NASCAR, and more. The eight cars are the outgoing Ford Fiesta ST, the F-150 Raptor, the Ford Mustang GT, the new Ford Fiesta ST, the Ford Focus RS, the Shelby GT350, the Ford GT and the GT LM GTE-Pro race car. Read more

Hotel valet gives Ferrari 458 Spider keys to the wrong man

Florida attorney James Fowler, 73, filed a lawsuit against Marriott International for negligence because he alleges a hotel valet gave the keys to his $300,000 yellow 2014 Ferrari 458 Italia Spider to a couple later found in possession of marijuana and cocaine.

The valet attendant told police things got very busy. At some point, a man, identified as Levi Miles, 28, asked for keys to the Ferrari. Then he got in the car with Chloe Rimmer, 24, a woman he met at the hotel that night. The police report says the man “seemed to be impatient”. The pair sat in the car for “quite a while.” The valet told police he stopped paying attention when he “figured he was not getting a tip,” and eventually the Ferrari drove off. About 12:30 a.m., the couple’s joyride came to an abrupt end when a police officer noticed the Ferrari‘s taillights were out and pulled the vehicle over. Read more

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The 3 hottest-selling new vehicles of 2017

If we take a look at the list of 2017’s hottest U.S. vehicles, we’ll see that none of them are passenger cars. Americans are fleeing passenger cars in droves. Instead, they’re embracing roomy crossovers,sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks with vastly improved fuel economy over days gone by. Here were 2017’s three hottest-selling vehicles.

Ford F-series: The Blue Oval automaker’s marquee nameplate easily maintained its title as the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. Sales were up 9.3% for the year. With sales of 896,764 units for the year, the vehicle accounted for more than 5% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2017. Read more

Range Rover teases the interior photo of its limited edition SV Coupe

The original Range Rover debuted back in 1970 as a two-door SUV, lasting 26 years before it was finally replaced. In fact, the four-door Range Rover didn’t debut until the early ’80s, though it quickly became the most popular model.

To celebrate both Land Rover‘s 70th anniversary and the two-door design of the original Range Rover, the British automaker is bringing back a two-door full-size SUV called the Range Rover SV Coupe for a limited run of 999 units. The new car will be manufactured by Land Rover‘s SVO – Special Vehicle Operations – department in Warwickshire. Read more

Ford Focus RS finally gets a recall

Ford is recalling 2016-2017 Focus RS hatchbacks with potentially faulty head gaskets. The automaker claims they will be replaced free of charge. While the fix is estimated to take less than two days for each vehicle, Ford is offering to pay the cost of a rental vehicle for up to four days if needed.

The affected vehicles may emit noticeable white smoke from the exhaust or show low coolant levels with no sign of external leaks due to the failing head gaskets. Model years 2016 and 2017 Focus RS models built from Aug. 3, 2015 to July 6, 2017 are involved in this recall. Ford plans on sending the owners of the affected vehicles a letter this week. Ford dealers will pressure-test the cooling system and inspect the combustion chamber for coolant to determine if a fix is needed. Read more

The “Dog Tested. Dog Approved” ad campaign is back

The Barkleys are back in Subaru‘s “Dog Tested. Dog Approved” ad campaign. The Japanese automaker aired four TV spots featuring the family of Labrador and golden retrievers Sunday night during the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Two spots showcased the 2019 Subaru Ascent three-row crossover.

The 30-second commercials, titled “Driving Lesson,” “Drop Off,” “Car Wash” and “Drive Away,” feature the Barkleys providing humorous spins on situations in which families find themselves. In “Driving Lesson,” one of the puppies gets distracted by noisy geese and ends up backing into a mailbox post and knocking it over. In “Drop Off,” the parents part ways with their child on the puppy’s first day of school. After a quick pep talk, the nervous puppy walks away and looks back at its parents melodramatically, as one of the parents whines and whimpers in despair. Read more

The EV3 Junior is a charming, expensive, utterly unique toy

The Morgan EV3 is set to begin production later this year. The three-wheeled car/motorcycle is the first electric vehicle from Morgan. While adults are sure to enjoy the EV3’s 1,100 lb curb weight and 7 second 0-60 mph time, the British automaker has something in store for younger and aspiring Morgan owners: the new EV3 Junior.

The Morgan EV3 Junior is a scaled-down version of the standard EV3 electric trike, built for children above the age of 6. Like the big-boy Morgan, the EV3 Junior is assembled by hand, using genuine carbon fiber, leather and wood. It comes in red, green or ivory, but for a little more money, you can pick from one of Morgan’s 40,000 available colors. The leather can be had in either black or tan, because what’s the fun of customizing the interior alone? There are also sticker packs for further customization. Read more

BMW reported record sales in 2017, but Mercedes keeps lead

BMW Group has released its sales numbers for 2017 and they show the last 12 months for the company have been really successful. The announcement even goes on to say “the BMW Group reconfirms its position as the world’s leading premium automotive company,” but there’s a small catch. Nevertheless, the company was outsold by Mercedes-Benz, keeping the order in the three-way German luxury sales race unchanged.

Sales of BMW brand models rose 4.2 percent in 2017 to 2.09 million passenger cars and SUVs, compared with a 9.9 percent gain to 2.29 million at Mercedes, which claimed the top spot in global luxury-car sales rankings for a second year. Registrations at Volkswagen’s Audi premium division edged up 0.6 percent to a record 1.88 million cars, benefiting from a 34 percent December surge in China, the brand’s largest market. BMW, which had kept the global luxury sales crown for about a decade before slipping behind Mercedes in 2016, said deliveries were fueled by a 9.6 percent gain for its SUV lineup and a 15 percent increase for the 1-Series. Read more

Maserati will fix 2018 Ghibli and Quattroporte due to risk of fire

Maserati North America Inc. is recalling more than 1,000 of its newest luxury cars to fix leaky fuel pipes that increase the potential for an engine fire. The 2018 Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans – with prices starting at $73,050 and $105,600, respectively – have a faulty fuel delivery pipe in the engine compartment that may leak gasoline.

The cars haven’t yet been delivered to customers, and they’ll be fixed before individuals are able to drive off with them, according to Matteo Sardi, a spokesman for the carmaker. The company said the flaw, caused by a part from supplier SumiRiko Italy, affects all 1,406 of the vehicles manufactured from July 24 through Dec. 14, when the problem was identified. Read more

Porsche dresses five cars in classic racing liveries

For over 60 years, Porsche has enjoyed wins across the world at all levels of competition — more so than any other automaker. From the early air-cooled models to the more recent 919 Hybrids, nearly every Porsche that’s hit the track has been memorable in one way or another. Still, some are more recognizable than others. To pay tribute to some of those models, Porsche has created a series of five Macans dressed to the nines in classic racing garb. Each of the liveries represents some form of Porsche Le Mans race car. Porsche has won Le Mans more times than any other manufacturer or team on the planet. The German automaker took the five Macans to Singapore to photograph them in some of the city-state’s most iconic locations.

The white, red and blue Martini Racing livery might be the most iconic of them all. This dress covered everything from the Porsche 917 in Le Mans to some of the automakers efforts in rally and touring car. It’s simple, clean and permanently tied to motorsports. Porsche began its partnership with Martini and Rossi in 1968. The photo was taken at Holland Village. Read more

Ford Motor Co. best-selling U.S. brand for 2017 year

Congradulation to Ford Motor Co. for keeping the title of best-selling U.S. Brand results of 2017, driven by strong light-truck sales, it rose with 1.3 percent. Even if the full-year volume of sales dropped with 0.9 percent in comparison with 2016. Ford takes this position for the eighth year in a row, and the F series was America's best-selling truck for the 41st consecutive year. 

While light-truck sales grown, the passengers cars fell more than twice because of decision to sell less vehicles to rental fleets, in December the sells fell 42% from a year earlier. Ford's fleets sales to rental companies finished the 2017 year at 11.1% of total sales, according to Ford lead. Daily rental sales had been at 11.1% each of the past three years.

U.S Car Sales decline in 2018

This year was not good for U.S. car sales, academics and researchers are talking about a pangent but not the worst decline in 2018. There are not so many specialists who dare to have a look beyond 2018, but Morgan Stanley did it and he doesn't like what it sees, with a technology-obsolescence inspired downturn so awful government subsidies may be necessary to support the market.

Meanwhile forecasts for 2018's decreases with 1.5% to off 5%. BMI Research rekons sales in 2018 will go down with 1.5%after a 1.1% fall this year. The Center for Automotive Research  at the University of Duisberg-Essen in Germany is peripheral less optimistic, going for a 2% fall in 2017 to 17.2  million cars     and another fall of 1.5% in 2018

Alfa Romeo will launch a larger version of its Stelvio SUV

Alfa Romeo is currently working on a larger version of the Stelvio (pictured). The upcoming flagship SUV will also be the first vehicle from the Italian automaker to be offered with an electrified powertrain. The vehicle will be built on the Stelvio’s Giorgio platform but will have a bigger body and a longer wheelbase.

Alfa Romeo Chief Technical Officer Roberto Fedeli claims that a larger, heavier SUV could embody brand DNA with the help of “a 48-volt mild hybrid solution.” The near-instant get-up of an e-turbo would counteract weight gain expected to be around 440 pounds. Fedeli revealed Alfa Romeo’s testing a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder with an e-turbo on a simulator, and said they “can achieve around 350 to 400 bhp.” Right now, the standard Stelvio produces 280 hp from its turbocharged 2.0-liter. Read more

Galhotra's success and progress

Galhotra's success and progress:

Kumar Galhotra emigrated from India to USA at age 18 to study mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. He knew there was just one company he wanted to work for "It was just Ford"he recalled. Shortly before receiving his bachelor of sience degree, Galhotra printed a stack of resues and hand-delivered them in hopes of landing a job with Blue Oval. Galhotr's ambition paid off with a 30-years career at Ford that now has him taking on high-stakes responsibilities as automaker's chief marketing officer.

Galhotra has orchestrated since 2014 at the once-moribund Lincoln Brand, he has oversee four consecutive years of sales growth at Lincoln, a century-old brand whose customer bas had deteriorated to be beyond airport limos and the ederly. He became president of the brandin Mark Field's first month as CEO in 2014 and immediatly began changing toward a formidable goal of tripling Lincoln's global sales t0 300,000 by the end of this decade.