Europe Auto News

Posted Jul 31st 2008 11:32AM by John NeffFiled under: Car Buying, Convertibles, Coupes, Sedans/Saloons, Sports/GTs, BMWClick above for high-res gallery of 2009 MY changesBMW’s lineup of M-fortified vehicles now numbers nine, which is the largest it’s ever been in the sub-brand’s 30-year history. Munich has tweaked the lineup for 2009, and while nothing groundbreaking has been added, the additions and changes are worth noting. For instance, the BMW M3 Sedan gets a new rear end that sports updated taillights with two LED light clusters, and the entire M3 line gets some minor interior tweaks, new colors and crash-active headrests. (Read the full post about ‘BMW updates M models for 2009′…)

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Posted Jul 31st 2008 1:28PM by John NeffFiled under: Maintenance, Etc., Supercars, LamborghiniA wealthy Arab man, thought to be a Sheikh, recently had his black and gold Lamborghini LP640 flown 3,250 miles to London via Qatar Airways and trucked to a certified UK Lamborghini dealership last Friday for a fluid change, which cost him a paltry £3,552 compared to the £20,000 round-trip flight. That’s a grand total of £23,552 ($46,644 USD) for a friggin’ oil change. Environmentalists are obviously not pleased with the owner’s wanton display of conspicuous consumption. Airport workers at Heathrow also blasted the owner’s excess after watching the car get the royal treatment on the runway. (Read the full post about ‘Owner ships Lambo from Qatar to London (and back) for oil change’…)

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Ford officially released pictures of the 2009 Ka that will make its official debut in October at the Paris Auto Show. The new generation UK best seller comes twelve years after the original was introduced. The original design was one of the first production cars to use Ford’s “new edge” design philosophy. Now, the next generation will be brought up-to-date utilizing Ford’s “kinetic” design. Roelant de Waard, chairman and managing director, Ford of Britain, said, “The original has been a huge hit in the UK with a sales record of over 480,000 – 80% of which have been to retail customers, and many of those first-time buyers.”Stay tuned, more details should be revealed before the official debut. (Read the full post about ‘2009 Ford Ka - new official images’…)

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BRENTWOOD - July 30, 2008: Energy company E.ON has renewed its Ford contract with the environmental performance of Ford vehicles a deciding factor. The agreement with E.ON will see some 2,000 Ford vans and cars added to their UK fleet this year as part of the three-year deal.

E.ON UK is part of German-based E.ON, the world’s largest investor-owned power and gas company. The selection of Ford vehicles for the contract follows a comprehensive international tender exercise.

“This is part of a pan-European contract with each country managing its own requirements,” said E.ON UK’s fleet manager David Graham.

The utility is one of the UK’s leading power and gas companies and has been running Ford vehicles for the past 10 years.

(Read the full post about ‘Energy Company Selects Ford As Green Option’…)

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Mercedes plans to give the C-Class and GLK SUV a new 2.2-liter diesel engine in North America by 2010. Because of emissions regulations, Mercedes needs to re-engineer the engine to accept BlueTEC technology. A company spokesman said, “The 2.2-liter in the GLK already averages 34 miles per gallon U.S. With BlueTec that will improve to just under 40.”

The decision has been made first because of the rising fuel prices and also because of the weak dollar.

You can read all about BlueTEC technology from when Mercedes gave TopSpeed an exclusive look.

Tags: Audi, Chrysler, cars, Honda

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COLOGNE - July 30, 2008: Ford of Europe is planning to establish a dedicated National Sales Company (NSC) organisation in Romania, which will take full responsibility for the marketing, sales and service of Ford vehicles there from August 2010.

The establishment of an NSC in Romania is the next logical step for the company following a steady increase in sales of Ford vehicles in recent years and the purchase of the Craiova vehicle manufacturing plant in the south-west of the country.

For the past 16 years, Romcar SRL has been the authorised importer of Ford vehicles and parts in Romania.

(Read the full post about ‘Ford To Establish National Sales Company In Romania’…)

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Posted Jul 31st 2008 8:29AM by Noah JosephFiled under: Motorsports, Earnings/Financials In the highly competitive world of Formula One racing, the only thing teams can agree on is money — they want more of it. To that end, they’ve set up the new Formula One Teams Association. Unlike the previous Formula One Constructors Association – which represented only the independent teams and came, somewhat ironically, to be dominated by Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley when they were team owners – the new group has the backing of all the teams (both independent and manufacturer-owned). (Read the full post about ‘F1 teams meet, form new association in Maranello’…)

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Posted Jul 31st 2008 7:57AM by Noah JosephFiled under: Car Buying, Euro, Jaguar, Land Rover, Earnings/Financials, FIAT, Tata Remember the first time you moved out of your parents’ house? Suddenly you were out on your own, without the security of a financial safety net. Same goes for car companies, so after Jaguar and Land Rover moved out of the Ford house and in with its new roomie Tata, suddenly the pair of British auto marques is searching for a new financial arrangement. And it’s found one, thanks to the close relationship between Tata and Fiat. Through a joint venture with French bank Credit Agricole, the Italian auto giant will be handling the financing of all new Jaguars and Land Rovers purchased across Europe. (Read the full post about ‘Fiat takes over financing for Jaguar/Land Rover in Europe’…)

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DETROIT Jul 30, 2008 Kevin Krolicki and Poornima Gupta wrotonfg for Reuters reported that Chrysler is in talks to lease U.S. production capacity and share retail distribution with Fiat SpA, allowing the Italian automaker to return the U.S. market for the first time in 25 years, people briefed on the talks said on Wednesday.

Chrysler, the No. 3 U.S. automaker, has also been in discussions with India’s Tata Motors Ltd about selling its Jeep Wrangler SUV in India and possibly other Asian markets, said the sources, who were not authorized to discuss the negotiations.

A spokesman for Chrysler, which is controlled by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, declined to confirm the talks.

A Tata representative had no immediate comment.

(Read the full post about ‘The New Chrysler In Talks With Fiat and Tata - What Could They Be Talking About?’…)

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Posted Jul 31st 2008 12:32AM by Damon LavrincFiled under: Sedans/Saloons, Wagons/Estates, SubaruClick above for a high-res gallery of the 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX.It’s official folks. Those of you that picked up a 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX have been had. The road-going rally rocket gets an update for 2009 and with it comes a retuned 2.5-liter boxer four-pot producing 265 hp and 244 lb.-ft. of torque – a 41 hp and 18 lb.-ft. increase over the outgoing model. Power will be sent to all four wheels through a five-speed manual – the only transmission available — with low-profile 225/45R17 summer tires replacing the 205/50R17 rubber of the 2008 model.The suspension has been revised to include stiffer springs, uprated dampers, upper strut mounts cribbed from the STI and larger anti-roll bars fore and aft. (Read the full post about ‘2009 Subaru Impreza WRX: 265 hp, retuned suspension, STI tweaks’…)

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