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Fiat Pledges to Keep Italian Plants, Shift Focus to Foreign Markets by Building Chrysler Models

As expected after last week’s announcement, on Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti met with Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and the company's Chairman and heir to the Agnelli family empire, John Elkann, to discuss the automaker’s future in the country.

The meeting was arranged after rumors surfaced that Fiat, which is expected to lose around €700 million (US$904.5 million) this year due to a sales slump in the European market, is considering closing some of its plants and moving production out of Italy.

Walter de Silva is a man who knows a thing or two about styling; after all, he is in the business for the last 40 years.

The Italian designer has worked at the I.DE.A institute under award-winning architect Renzo Piano, who designed the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the New York Times Building. In the automotive field, he has some pretty impressive designs in his long resume such as the Alfa Romeo 156, the Seat Tango concept, the Audi A5 and the VW Scirocco.

De Silva, who joined Audi in 2002 to become VW Group’s head of design overseeing all brands from Skoda to Bugatti in 2007, believes that the “overdesign” school, which began with BMW's Chris Bangle and his "flame surfacing" that has since been adopted by many automakers, is becoming obsolete.

General Motors is pretty serious about maintaining its leading role in China, the world's largest auto market.

On Saturday, September 22, GM and its Chinese partners, which include SAIC, Shanghai GM and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, opened the largest automotive proving ground in the country.

A truck driver in southern Brazil was captured on tape trying to escape along with his…luggage after an accident that occurred on the Chavantes bridge, which connects the Brazilian states of Parana and Sao Paulo, this past Saturday.

A local website named Npdiario reported that the driver, Aguinaldo da Silva, lost control of his two-trailer truck when he tried to avoid a passenger car that suddenly stopped in front of him and ended up crashing over the guardrail with the truck cabin dangling over the water.

The Chrysler Group has temporarily pulled the plug on its test fleet of advanced plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs) to fix a battery problem that occurred on a small number of models.

In particular, the Detroit-based carmaker said three of the fleet’s 109 pickups fitted with plug-in hybrid powertrains sustained damage when their prototype 12.9-kWh lithium-ion propulsion batteries overheated, adding that no injuries were reported with all incidents happening when the vehicles were unoccupied.

Two months ago, Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk said that his company would deliver 5,000 units of its Model S this year. Yet, when he was interviewed on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop with Betty Liu” on September 21, he was reluctant to confirm that the company’s electric saloon would indeed meet its initial sales target.

“I need to be very hesitant about talking about any near-term metrics for Tesla”, said Musk who, nevertheless, was buoyant about Tesla’s 2013 targets claiming that it will deliver 20,000 units and achieve a gross margin of “more than 20 percent”.

All-electric and hybrid car sales so far account for just 3.5 percent of total vehicle sales in the U.S. this year. Not exactly what their makers expected when they launched these models.

At a first glance, the situation is improving for General Motors, as its Volt extended-range hybrid sold a record 2,800 units last month. Year-to-date Volt sales have so far reached 13,000 units, which certainly compares very well to the 7,700 cars that were sold in 2011.

For example, before the discounts, Bunnin Chevrolet in Culver City, California was selling three to five Volts per month. Last month it shifted 36 cars, mostly leases, and sales manager Chad Kelman told The Detroit News that the dealership is having a hard time keeping enough units in stock.

While electric vehicles may not yet have substantial range to be as versatile as hybrids or internal-combustion engine models, if the their use is confined in daily commute in cities, theoretically then, their range is more than enough to satisfy most drivers’ needs.

The iQ city car (sold under the Scion nameplate in North America) is designed specifically designed to be used in an urban environment. Prototypes were displayed at both the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show in the form of the FT-EV III concept and this year’s Geneva Auto Show. Now Toyota has officially revealed a plug-in all-electric variant – but it will not enter full production.

The European car market may be in trouble because of the financial crisis that’s been dragging on for a long time now, but carmakers are gearing up to display their latest models in the City of Light.

From September 29 until October 14, the Paris Expo at the Porte de Versailles will host some of this year’s most important world premieres.

The French automakers have chosen the 2012 Paris Auto Show to launch models like the all-new Renault Clio, the Peugeot 208 GTi and the Citroen DS3 Cabrio.

As the Chrysler Group's undisputed "halo" car, one would believe that the Detroit-based carmaker would want most of its U.S. dealers to be able to show and sell the new 2013 SRT Viper, but that's not the case.

An Autonews report back in July, quoted Ralph Gilles, CEO of the SRT brand, saying that around 15 to 20 percent (or roughly 340 to 460 showrooms) of Chrysler's more than 2,300 U.S. dealers will carry the V10-powered sports car, but according to USA Today, Gilles has now lowered that number even more to only about 100 to 150 shops or 4-6%.

Gilles told the newspaper that the No. 1 requirement, "Is first of all, to have the fire, the passion. That's the unofficial requirement -- that you have a love affair with the cars and you just love fast cars."

For the past 10 years, the city of St. Louis plays host to the annual Streetfighterz Ride of the Century (ROC) festival.

The 2012 edition of the ROC gathering took place last weekend with hundreds if not thousands of riders traveling to Missouri to attend the event.

At some point, the bikers hit the highway in large groups and the Missouri Highway Patrol got involved and started following the bikers, many of whom were recording the ride.

In the first clip, which was said to be shot by multiple people from many angles, we see two cop cars driving alongside a group of motorcyclists. At the 2:10 mark, some of the riders break off and cut through the grass to make a run for it as patrol cars had partially blocked the road in front.

You would think BMW would want owners of the latest iterations of the M5 sedan and M6 Coupe and Convertible models to have a blast with their cars – and you're right, it does, just only after it makes a fix to certain 2013MY vehicles sold in the States.

A safety bulletin issued by BMW of North America and released to the world for all to see by the folks over at the F10 M5 Post forums, reveals that the Bavarian automaker came to know of a problem with the S63TU 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine found in the 2013MY M5 and M6 cars.

Since 2010, the designers at Mercedes-Benz have been working on a raft of products outside the field of automotive industry in cooperation with select partners. Some of their projects include the Eurocopter EC145 and a collection of house furniture marketed under the Mercedes-Benz Style label.

Now, some 125 years after Mercedes-Benz co-founder Gottlieb Daimler built the first motorized boat, the German automaker's designers are presenting plans for a new luxury motor yacht against the backdrop of the 2012 Monaco Yacht Show.

While in the United States, the Accord is Honda's bestselling nameplate with 218,665 deliveries this year (from January 1 through August 31), in Europe, things aren't anywhere near as rosy.

Speaking to Just-Auto, a spokesperson for Honda said that Accord sales in the continent have plummeted to the point that the car has become a niche model. As a result, the spokesman said that the Japanese carmaker has "no immediate plans" to launch a new model in Europe.

There's a whole lot of news - but unfortunately, no pictures, coming out today from Honda's headquarters in Japan where the company's CEO Takanobu Ito outlined the product, technology and business developments through 2015.

We are going to start with the new Honda Civic Type R sports hatchback based on the European market model that is currently undergoing development for an introduction in 2015.

Honda said that this model is designed specifically for the European market, though we could see it being exported to Japan at some point. More importantly, the Japanese carmaker's CEO stated that the Type R is being developed "with the goal of becoming the fastest front-wheel-drive vehicle on the Nürburgring race course".

On a more global note, Ito said that Honda will roll out an all-new replacement for the Fit, also known as the Jazz in Europe, in 2013. Within two years after the initial market presentation, the Japanese automaker will launch a small SUV model based on the underpinnings of the new Fit/Jazz as well as a replacement for the related City small sedan.

The good news about the V40 Cross Country is that we have a fresh set of high-resolution images and a pair of videos to show you following the introduction of the car the other day.

The bad news is that if you live in the United States and thought the Cross Country's tougher looks may have persuaded Volvo to bring it to this side of the Atlantic, we hate to disappoint you, but that's not going to happen.

We asked Laura DiStefano, Corporate Communications Manager for Volvo Cars of North America, and her reply was the same we got for the regular V40 hatchback: "No plans for the U.S."

Negotiations between the Canadian Auto Workers’ union and Ford resulted in a tentative deal concerning the new four-year contract between the workers and the automaker, averting the proposed strike that would start on Monday midnight if a deal couldn't be reached.

Though the deal still needs to be ratified by the union members, it includes creating 600 new jobs, modifying the two-tier wage system, paying CAW members US$9,234 in bonuses over the life of the contract and eliminating guaranteed cost-of-living wage increases. Moreover, new hires will start at about US$21 an hour, but will receive full wages of about $35 an hour after 10, instead of six, years.

Only a day after the official brochure of the 918 Spyder leaked on the web, Porsche confirmed reports that its hybrid supercar posted a 7:14 lap time at the 20.6 km (12.8-mile) Nürburgring track on September 18.

Porsche said that the prototype was packing 795HP, which is the first time the automaker is being specific about the 918 Spyder's "770HP-plus" output.

The Holy Grail in any industry is customer loyalty. All manufacturers are fighting to improve their retention rate, that is, the percentage of customers who, when the time comes to replace a product, will remain loyal to the brand.

The automotive industry is no different. In the U.S. market, the current leader is Toyota, with a 58 percent retention rate. General Motors’ percentage is around 52-53 percent, close to the automotive industry average. Clearly, GM execs think that this should change; and there’s a very good reason for that.

It’s going to a busy time for General Motors and its Buick and GMC brands as the company's executives told dealers today that the two automakers plan to launch nine all-new or "significantly" refreshed models in the next 12 months.

The first models to arrive will be the brand-new Buick Encore small crossover and the revamped GMC Acadia SUV this fall.

In the course of 2013, Buick will introduce the Regal sedan and LaCrosse (most likely facelifts), while GMC, the new Sierra and Sierra HD full-size pickups, as well as the Yukon and Yukon XL full-size SUVs.

car to ride

Fiat Pledges to Keep Italian Plants, Shift Focus to Foreign Markets by Building Chrysler Models

VW Group Design Boss Says “Flamboyant” is so Last Year, “Simple and Clean” is the Way to Go

General Motors and its Local Partners Build China's Biggest Test Track

Brazilian Truck Driver Crashes and Dangles Over a Bridge, By Passers Come to Help with a Rope

Chrysler Group Halts Plug-in Hybrid Test Fleet after Discovering a Problem with the Batteries

Tesla CEO Cagey About 2012 Model S Sales, Confident About Meeting 2013 Targets

August a Record Month for Chevy Volt Sales Thanks to Big Discounts; But is it Really Good News?

All-Electric iQ Revealed, but Only 100 will be Produced as Toyota Prefers to Focus on PHEVs

Carscoop’s A to Z Guide to the 2012 Paris Motor Show

Only About 5 Percent of all Chrysler U.S. Dealers to Sell New 2013 SRT Viper, Each will be Charged $25k

Motorcyclist Gathering at St. Louis' Ride of the Century Doesn't Sit Well with the Cops

BMW Warns 2013 M5 and M6 Owners to Stop Driving Their Cars

Mercedes-Benz Style Designs a Luxury Motor Yacht, will Enter Production Next Year

Honda Says it has "No Immediate Plans" to Replace the Accord in Europe

Breaking: Honda Confirms New Civic Type R, Jazz / Fit Based Small SUV and Sports Roadster

Volvo Tells Us V40 Cross Country Not Coming to the States Either [New Photos and Videos]

CAW Strikes a Deal with Ford, Gives GM and Chrysler More Time to Make Up Their Minds

Porsche Confirms 918 Spyder's 7:14 Nürburgring Time, Says it was a One-Lap Attempt

GM Wants to be the Best in Customer Loyalty, Gain More than US$4 Billion Annually

Buick and GMC to Present Nine New Models in the Next Year Including Regal, LaCrosse and Sierra