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Honda, leading premium car manufacturer in India, is soon going to start work on another small car for Indian roads, reports says. The car will be priced around Rs 5 lakh and will make Honda a major player in small car segment.

EVEN AS Honda Siel Cars India prepares itself for launch of premium small car Jazz, the parent company Honda has started to work on another small car for India.

Just like the Tata’s, the Japanese car manufacturer is starting its work wit the price. It has been learnt that a new research and development team will arrive in India and start work on the new small cars, said to be priced below Rs 5 Lakh. In comparison, the upcoming car Jazz has a price tag of Rs 7 Lakh. Honda… Read the rest of this entry

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Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd. (SVW) will suspend the production of Santana in 2012, said sources.

As a veteran brand, Santana witnessed the growth of the Chinese automobile market. When Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Co., Ltd. (DPCA) suspended the production of Fukang, another earliest domestic nameplate, analysts questioned about the lifecycle of Santana, as well as Jetta, the trademark owned by FAW-VW Automobile Co., Ltd., the other joint venture of Volkswagen in the country.

In 1983, the first Santana rolled off the production line in Shanghai. Till now, its sales has reached 3.21 million vehicles. From January to April 2009, SVW sold 56,012 Santanas, including 16,765 units in April alone, citing the data by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), indicating that the market still has a strong demand for the car model.

On the strength of advanced technology and high-quality after-sales service, SVW can easily snatch… Read the rest of this entry

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Toyota Motor Corp has received more than 80,000 pre-sale orders for the new Prius in Japan, Executive Vice President Akio Toyoda said on Monday, unveiling the third-generation model.

Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, said it was targeting monthly sales of 10,000 units in Japan.

The car, which will start at 2.05 million yen ($21,620), will be sold alongside the entry-level grade of the second-generation Prius, which will cost 1.89 million yen, equal to Honda Motor Co’s new Insight hybrid.

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1.Honda Insight  10,481

2.Honda Fit/Jazz  9,443

3.Toyota Vitz/Yaris  6,706

4.Toyota Corolla (Axio+Fielder+Rumion) 6,341

5.Toyota Wish  5,556

6.Toyota Passo (5Doors+Sette)  5,545

7.Honda Freed  4,591

8.Toyota Voxy  3,690

9.Toyota Crown  3,521

10.Toyota Estima  3,424

11.Toyota Vellfire  3,071

12.Suzuki Swift  3,032

13.Mazda Demio/2  2,909

14.Nissan Serena  2,898

15.Nissan Cube  2,705

16.Toyota Noah  2,603

17.Toyota Ractis  2,543

18.Nissan Note  2,527

18.Nissan Tiida (5 doors+Latio  2,148

20.Toyota Alphard  2,065

21.Toyota Prius  1,952

22.Toyota Sienta  1,761

23.Honda Odyssey  1,709

24.Toyota Porte  1,649

25.Nissan March  1,642

26.Honda StepWGN  1,638

27.Toyota bB  1,593

28.Toyota Mark-X  1,283

29.Honda Stream  1,277

30.Toyota Vangard  1,263

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Toyota Motor Corp. has hit a pothole in China, where its failure to anticipate booming demand for small cars is depressing sales as rivals like General Motors Corp. report sharp gains.

The sales slump is a blow to the world’s biggest auto maker because China is the only major global auto market still growing. The problem adds to weakness in other markets for Toyota, which is expected Friday to report big losses for the year through March 31.

Toyota’s China sales in the first quarter of 2009 fell 17% from a year earlier to 125,743 vehicles, even as the total Chinese market, fueled by rising demand for small cars, grew 4% to 2.7 million vehicles. GM’s sales gained 17% to 363,317 vehicles, including commercial microminivans made by SAIC GM Wuling Automobile Co., in which GM holds a minority stake.

Other big producers, like Japanese rival Nissan Motor Co.,… Read the rest of this entry

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Chery will introduce its Tiggo (pictured), built in Uruguay, to the Brazil market. (Photo courtesy of Chery)

S?O PAULO, Brazil — The second Chinese brand is about to land in Brazil. The first is Hafei, working through local distributor Effa Motors, which started selling small vehicles in Brazil in late 2008, notably the small M100 light commercial vehicle. Chery will hit the Brazil market in July with the Tiggo SUV.

Like the Effa-Hafei vehicles, the Tiggo will be imported from neighboring Uruguay, where China's third automaker, Chery, has set up an assembly operation. Under Mercosur trade rules, the Chinese car is exempt from import tariffs, making it truly price-competitive in this market at the equivalent of about $23,300.

The Tiggo is a medium-size 4×2 SUV powered by a 123-horsepower 2.0-liter engine mated to a manual gearbox. It will be equipped with two airbags and ABS; an… Read the rest of this entry

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Volkswagen is launching this Polo W?rthersee '09 special edition at the Austrian event of the same name. (Photo courtesy of Volkswagen of America, Inc.)

W?RTHERSEE, Austria — Volkswagen on Wednesday announced the dual world premiere of the Golf GTI W?rthersee '09 and the Polo W?rthersee '09.

The special-edition VW Golf GTI W?rthersee '09 is painted in Firespark Metallic with 19-inch alloy spoke wheels and smoked LED taillights. The cabin gets brushed aluminum trim and redesigned sport seats. Power comes from the 2.0-liter TSI with 207 horsepower. VW said the car has a top speed of 148 mph and accelerates from zero to 60 mph in less than 6.9 seconds.

The Polo concept gets a Flash Red paint job accented by two black rally stripes. Black 18-inch alloy wheels round out the cosmetic touches on the outside.

VW said it will also roll out new GTI products… Read the rest of this entry

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The Aptera 2e in action at the company's production facility. (Photo by Scott Jacobs)

LOS ANGELES — Jay Leno isn't easily impressed, but in a recent episode of Jay Leno's Garage the comedian, talk-show host and car aficionado had nothing but great things to say about the Aptera 2e battery-electric vehicle.

In an on-camera interview with Aptera President and CEO Greg Wilbur, Leno said the “problem with most electrics is that they look dorky. You know, they just have that kinda Volkswagen that's been gutted and put an electric motor in.

“This is a car that from the ground up was designed to be an electric car and was designed to be as aerodynamic as a car can possibly be. This is an exciting-looking vehicle. It looks like it's going 200 miles an hour just sitting still.”

Leno invites Wilbur to discuss the vehicle's aerodynamics and… Read the rest of this entry

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C. Robert Kidder will become chairman of Chrysler after the Fiat merger is complete, the automaker announced today. (Photo courtesy of Chrysler LLC)

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan — Chrysler LLC announced that it will name the former head of Duracell International and Borden Chemical, C. Robert Kidder, to chairman of Chrysler Group LLC, succeeding Robert Nardelli. On April 30 Nardelli made known his intention to depart Chrysler and return to Cerberus Capital Management as an advisor. Kidder's appointment will be come effective after the Fiat “global alliance” acquisition is complete.

Nardelli praised Kidder's “accomplished business background.” Kidder, who lives in Ohio, is currently chairman and CEO of 3Stone Advisors, an investment firm that focuses on “clean-tech companies,” according to Chrysler.

The completion of the Fiat acquisition will trigger appointment of an independent board of directors, which will select a CEO for the company. Fiat had confirmed earlier… Read the rest of this entry

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General Motors has narrowed down potential buyers of both Saab and Opel to three. Pictured: 2009 Saab 9-3 sport sedan. (Photo courtesy of General Motors Corporation)

DETROIT — General Motors says it has narrowed down the potential buyers of Saab to three. In court papers filed this week, GM said it has talked to 10 suitors and has decided to spend the rest of May talking to three of those before choosing the “final candidate.” Meanwhile, General Motors Europe reportedly has received a trio of bids for Opel. The automaker isn't saying who these bidders are or if there is any overlap.

The prospective Opel buyers are widely believed to be Canadian supplier Magna International, private-equity firm Ripplewood Holdings and Fiat. Reuters reported that Fiat is likely one of the bidders for Saab as it has said it wants to merge Fiat with GM Europe to… Read the rest of this entry