BMW M Model Sales Up 50% in 2008

The global slowdown in the auto sector in 2008 had no affect on BMW's M car division that reported a 50 percent sales increase over 2007. Overall, BMW sold 24,186 'M' vehicles, making 2008 the second best year in the sport division's 30-year-old history after 2002 when it shipped 26,776 units. The driving force behind the M division's success was of course the new BMW M3, which in its first full year of production managed to sell 18,000 units worldwide.

The most successful model in the range was the M3 Coupe with 10,571 units followed by the M3 Sedan (3 ,253 units), M3 Convertible (4,169 units), M5 Sedan and Touring (2,465 units), M6 Convertible (1,158 units), M6 Coupe (1,102 units), Z4 M Coupe (739 units) and Z4 M Roadster (699 units).

Once again, the United States was the M division's most prominent market with 10,663 vehicles sold in 2008. In Germany, BMW recorded sales of 2,777 "M" vehicles which represents a 37 percent increase over 2007. By far the strongest growth was reported in Canada, where sales increased by almost 130 percent to 1,114 vehicles.

Toyota Bloggers Break Through 500 Miles with iQ Mini on a Single Tank of Fuel

A pair of drivers from Toyota's UK based 'iQ blog' managed to break through 500 miles with a standard iQ 1.0-litre VVT-i (that's the petrol engine version) on a single tank of fuel. Mark and Simon from the 'iQ blog' traveled to 18 cities in two days on a route that took them as far west as Cardiff and as far north as Wolverhampton. In theory, since the official fuel economy of the iQ is rated at 65.7 UK mpg / 54.7 US mpg, the full 32-liter tank should have gone dry once they covered a distance of 462 miles.

However, and in spite of the fact that the two drivers said that they had to deal with wind, rain, congestion and the need to run the heater, headlights and wipers � factors that have a negative impact on fuel economy, the car managed 504.2 miles before the ending of its journey in central Oxford. Put the numbers together and that translates to an average of 71.6 UK mpg or 59.42 US mpg.

Even though the team's driving style was evidently focused on achieving a low fuel consumption, nevertheless, the end result is impressive since we're talking about real-life road conditions.

Daimler to form New Chinese Joint Venture with Beiqi Foton

Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler AG has signed a letter of intent to form a new 50:50 joint venture with China's Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd to produce medium and heavy-duty trucks and exchange technology in China. The deal between the companies has not been finalized yet as it has to gain the approval of the Chinese government. If the agreement is approved, Daimler will have two commercial vehicle joint ventures and one passenger car joint venture in China, in addition to its financial services operations there.

"This joint venture is another step in realizing both our long-term commercial vehicle strategy and our China strategy," said Dr. R�diger Grube, Daimler AG Board of Management member responsible for corporate development. "Foton is the right partner for us. This cooperation is a win-win situation for both companies and, most importantly, for our customers."

"At BAIC we are very happy to expand our business relationship with Daimler to include commercial vehicles at Beiqi Foton, in addition to our cooperation for passenger cars at BeijingBenz-DaimlerChrysler Automotive," said BAIC Chairman Xu. BAIC is the primary Chinese shareholder for both Beiqi Foton Trucks, Ltd. and BeijingBenz-DaimlerChrysler Automotive Ltd. (BBDC).

Porsche Officially Opens its New Museum in Stuttgart

At a special ceremonial event in Stuttgart, Germany, Porsche today officially declared the opening of its brand-new museum that will begin accepting the public from January 31st. The lavishly designed building has 5,600 square meters of exhibition space, enough to host around 80 historic vehicles and more than 200 small exhibits from the firm's history. Altogether, Porsche's historic collection encompasses a fleet of 400 production, concept and racing cars of all sorts. However, since most of the exhibition cars still take part in historic racing events, the vehicles in the museum will constantly be changed.

Porsche said that it is expecting at least 200,000 visitors per year at the new museum. The German sportscar-maker's previous museum which was located at the same site and accommodated around 20 exhibits, had around 80,000 guests a year.

The new Porsche-Museum is open daily as from the 31st January, except on Mondays, from 9 to 6 p.m. The admission for adults is 8 euros while children up to the age of 14 get free admission when accompanied by an adult.

Aston Martin Reduces Production Amid Slowing Demand

In another sign of economic pressure in the automobile industry, British sportscar maker Aston Martin has announced further cuts in production. In order to cope with slowing global demand, the company said that it put all of its employees at its Gaydon plant in central England on a three-day work week. The announcement comes in less than two months after the British firm revealed that it was planning to cut up to 300 temporary and 300 full-time positions at its Gaydon plant in 2009. Up until now, three hundred staff have already left and Aston Martin is in the final stages of talks over the remaining 300.

Via: News.com.au , Thanks for the tip Matt!

Honda to end S2000 Production in 2009, No Replacement Planned

Production of Honda's rev-happy S2000 will come to an end this year after being in the market for a decade. The rear-wheel drive roadster was first introduced in 1999 as a limited-edition tribute to Honda's 50th anniversary, however customer response 'forced' Honda to alter its plans and extend production. Available in 64 countries around the world, the S2000 sold over 110,000 since its introduction in 1999, with over 65,000 sold in the United States alone. Honda does not have any plans to replace the S2000 roadster in the near future.

"The S2000 is a sports car designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts," said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "It raised the bar for all future roadsters, and it's already considered a classic by many Honda fans."

Report: Fiat 500, Alfa MiTo and 149 Head to the States, Chrysler to Build Four Models Based on Fiats and Alfas

If the planned deal between Chrysler LLC and Fiat S.p.A is sealed by the end of April, the new American-Italian partnership will see seven new vehicles heading towards North American shores, according to a report from Automotive News that cites inside sources who have seen the product-sharing agreement between the two automakers. These vehicles, two Alfa Romeos, one Fiat and four Fiat Group based Chrysler LLC cars that will be all built at Chrysler's North American plants, will be sold in the States through Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealerships.

The report claims that most likely, the three Fiat Group models to come to the U.S., are the retro-styled minicar Fiat 500, the sporty Alfa Romeo MiTo that is aimed towards the MINI Cooper and the Audi A3 / VW Golf sized Alfa Romeo 147 replacement that is unofficially named 149.

Understandably, the three Fiat Group cars that will be assembled in the U.S. will also form the base for the four planned Chrysler LLC models. In particular, Automotive News sources support that the American automaker will get a five-door hatchback based on the next Fiat Panda minicar (same platform as the 500) that will be sold as a Chrysler or a Dodge.

The Alfa MiTo will lend its platform and its 1.4-liter and 1.8-liter turbocharged engines to a B-Segment sized hatchback - hopefully, it will have nothing in common with out humoristic Magnum-faced Mito photoshop. Finally, the Alfa 149's platform, called C-Evo, would be used to create a possible replacement for the Dodge Caliber as well as for the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring mid-size sedans.

Source: Automotive News (Sub. Req.)

GM Reported to Kill off Cadillac XLR this Spring

The next model in GM's vehicle line-up to bite the dust will be the Cadillac XLR according to a report from the Bowling Green Daily News. General Motors communication manager Sharon Basel, told the newspaper that production of the slow-selling XLR coupe-cabriolet will cease this spring, impacting around 40 employees at the firm's Bowling Green Assembly Plant. The factory that also assembles the Corvette will remain closed until February 23 as GM has been forced to adjust production to plummeting vehicle sales.

Cadillac introduced the XLR in 2003 as a rival for the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class and its likes, but the edgy-shaped roadster with the folding hardtop that shares its underpinnings with the Corvette, never quite managed to hit the mark in the luxury sportscar segment.

Will it be missed? We doubt it. Should Cadillac reveal a successor? Our opinion is that it would be far more sensible for GM's luxury brand to spend its resources and time on creating a CTS-based BMW 3-Series Coupe adversary than to give this segment another shot - at least for the time being.

Source: BG Daily News , Via: Jalopnik

Report: Toyota's Japanese Production May Fall 25% in 2009

The enduring global economic crisis brings more bad news for Toyota. Citing an unnamed senior official, Japan's top-selling newspaper Yomiuri said that Toyota's domestic output that accounts for about half of the firm's worldwide production, will drop to 3 million vehicles in 2009, down 25 percent from 2008 when it produced 4 million units. What makes things even worse is that the unnamed official told the newspaper that "producing 3 million vehicles is the minimum necessary for Toyota to keep its full-time workers."

While Toyota's spokesman Keisuke Kirimoto declined to back up the report from Yomiuri, he did note that the last time that the company's domestic production fell under 3 million was 30 years ago, in 1979, when it rolled out 2.99 million vehicles in Japan.

Earlier this month, Toyota announced that it would shut down its operations at all 12 of its Japanese factories for three days in January and 11 days over February and March. In 2008, the company saw its Japanese market sales drop by 7.4% over 2007.

Via: Businessweek , Source: Associated Press

Why the Surprise? Hybrid Sales fall 9,9% in the U.S. in 2008

Just as gasoline-electric hybrids looked like they were ready to conquer America when gas prices rose up to nearly $4 a gallon in July, a steep decrease in fuel costs -aided by the collapse of the auto market in the second half of the year- resulted to a significant decrease in their sales. According to a report from Autonews, U.S. sales of hybrids fell 9,9% in 2008 to 315,761 units. Even Toyota, which controls about 75% of the hybrid market in the States, saw its sales drop 12.5 percent the past year.

General Motors on the other hand, saw its hybrid sales nearly triple from 5,175 units in 2007 to 14,439 units in 2008, but that was mainly due to the addition of several new models like the Chevrolet Malibu and Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and GMC Yukon.

But as GM's Vice Chairman Bob Lutz rightfully pointed out at the Detroit Show last week, "at $1.50 a gallon, the American public is not willing to pay for fuel-saving technology." We couldn't agree more. If fuel prices continue to remain at these levels and unless automakers find a way to reduce the cost of these vehicles -eg. like Honda promises that it has done with the 2009 Insight, we seriously doubt that American consumers will embrace hybrids or any type of fuel-efficient vehicles for that matter.

And just to make it clear, it's not just Americans; do you think that European or Japanese consumers would choose a fuel-efficient car over one with better performance if gasoline prices were as cheap as they are in the States?

Source: Autonews

Hyundai's Global Sales Rise 6.8 Percent in 2008 but Profits Drop

Despite the slowing global economy in the second half of 2008, Hyundai saw its sales rise 6.8 percent year-over-year to 2,796,370 units. South Korea's largest automaker also saw its sales revenues in the 2008 calendar year rise 5.1 percent to 32.19 trillion won. However, the firm's profitability declined by 13.9 percent to 1.448 trillion won from a year earlier while operating profit also dropped by 3.5 percent to 1.877 trillion won. Hyundai said that the decline was "due to higher marketing, dealer and brand development expenses which are needed to secure future competitiveness."

Fiat Announces 21% Drop in Pre-Tax Profits for 2008, Foresees 20% Less Sales in 2009

Two days after announcing its plans to acquire a 35 percent stake in Chrysler LLC, Fiat S.p.A. released the group's 2008 calendar year results and at the same time, revealed its gloomy outlook for 2009. The Fiat Group's total revenues for 2008 totaled �59.4bn, up 1.5% from 2007, with the firm's record first-half performance (+10.9%) being offset in the second-half (-7.7%) and especially in the fourth quarter (-17.2% vs 2007). However, the group's pre-tax net profits for 2008 plunged 21% to �2.2bn while the Italian company announced a significant increase (+36% vs 2007) in net industrial debt to �5.9bn.

Fiat also revealed that at 31 December 2008, the Group's liquidity stood at �3.9 billion, which is significantly lower than last year's �6.9 billion. As a result, the company said that it would not pay a dividend this year. "In order to preserve liquidity, the Board will not propose a dividend for 2008, except for dividends on savings shares (�25 million as mandated in the Company's by-laws). The buy-back programme has been placed on hold," said the company in a statement.

In what concerns Fiat's automotive sector, the company delivered a total of 2,152,500 cars and light commercial vehicles in 2008 - down 3.6% from the prior year. Despite the decrease in volumes, Fiat Group Automobile's revenues for 2008 were essentially flat (+0.5%) compared to 2007, at �26.9 billion. Fiat said that it was able to offset the lower vehicle sales by improving pricing and product mix, in addition to increased sales to joint ventures.

For 2009, Fiat said that it foresees a 20 percent decline in global demand for its products compared to 2008, and that it expects the Group's net industrial cash flow to be in excess of �1 billion, with net industrial debt levels falling below the �5 billion mark.

Cadillac's Australian Market Launch Postponed Indefinitely

The global meltdown in auto sales has taken its latest victim as GM's Cadillac division has postponed its Australian debut indefinitely. The American luxury brand was initially supposed to be introduced in Australia during the last quarter of 2008, but GM postponed the launch for this February. Now, GM's execs decided that due to the "downturn of the domestic automotive market", it made no sense at all to launch Cadillac in Australia at this time.

"There is only one chance to launch this brand in Australia and in these challenging times, we believe we couldn't give it the best chance of success," said GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director Mark Reuss. "This was a difficult decision but the only viable decision."

"There is no doubt the Cadillac CTS is a magnificent vehicle and the response since it was revealed at the Australian International Motor Show in October has been very positive. But obviously since then the market for new cars has continued to deteriorate, the broader economic environment difficulties remain largely unchanged and the exchange rate has worsened for imports," Reuss added.

While only time will tell if the American automaker made the right decision - or not, we must say that if anything else, GM's on-and-off affair with Cadillac's Australian launch, doesn't sound very professional...

Thanks for the tip Matt!

BMW to Cut Production in Germany During February and March

Following the example of other automakers, BMW has announced further cuts in production in response to weaker global demand. In addition to previous cutbacks in the number of temporary workers, the Bavarian automaker is putting thousands of employees in Germany on short-time working. Specifically, a total of approximately 26,000 employees will work short-time on certain days during the months of February and March (Dingolfing 15,000, Regensburg 8,000, Landshut 2,700, Berlin 190).

BMW said that the goal is to achieve the necessary cost reductions while at the same time securing jobs. Luckily for the German employees with tariff contracts, even working short-time, their net income will amount to at least 93% of regular levels. According to the Bavarian firm, in the event that the net compensation of such employees, inclusive of a short-time allowance, should fall below 93% of this level, the company will compensate them for the difference.

"Safeguarding jobs - even in difficult times - by using a broad range of flexibility instruments has always been one of our key strengths," said Harald Kr�ger, Human Resources Director of BMW AG, on Tuesday in Munich. "Our wide variety of work schedule models helps us to achieve that. In addition to these measures we are also using a sophisticated combination of flex-time accounts, proactive leave planning and temporary short-time working at specific plants. I am confident we will emerge from the current difficult situation stronger than before - not least as a result of these measures."

Mitsubishi's European Sales Plummet 18 Percent in 2008

The year that passed proved to be very difficult for automakers around the globe, so we can't say that we are surprised with Mitsubishi's latest announcement that concerns its European sales. For the calendar year 2008, in the 33 European countries that it operates, Mitsubishi's sales decreased by 18% to 164,462 units versus 2007 (200,045 units). The firm's large SUV sales were among the hardest hit with the Pajero/Montero/Shogun losing 46% and the L200 25%.

However, even Mitsubishi's best selling Euro model, the sub-compact Colt hatch, saw its sales decline by 20,6% to 53,435 units from 67,328 units in 2007. The Japanese automaker believes though that it will win back customers this year with the introduction of the facelifted Colt that was revealed at the Paris Show last October.

MME CY 2008 Sales Results

COUNTRIES

	2008	2007	Variation	Market
1 � Germany	27,023	33,643	- 19.7 %	- 1.8 %**
2 �U.K.	23,497	30,656	- 23.3 %	- 11.3 %**
3 � Italy	12,499	19,461	- 35.8 %	- 13.4%**
4 � Spain	9,641	16,979	- 43.2 %	- 28.1%**
5 � Turkey	8,543	6,971	+ 22.5 %	- 17.5 %
6 �Netherlands	8,450	9,079	- 6.9 %	- 1.1%**
7 � Israel	8,430	9,057	- 6.9 %	+ 1.6 %
8 � Greece	6,081	6,769	- 10.2 %	- 4.5%**
9 � Norway	5,361	5,907	- 9.2 %	- 14.4%**
10 � Poland	5,432	3,433	+ 58.2 %	+ 9.4%**

** Source: ACEA / excludes L200

TOTAL EUROPE	2008	2007	Variation
Overall market (ACEA)*	14,712,158	15,959,804	- 7.8 %
Mitsubishi Motors (ACEA)*	104,929	129,937	- 19.2 %
Mitsubishi Motors (MME)**	164,462	200,045	- 18 %

* ACEA estimated figures / 27 EU countries (incl. Bulgaria and Romania / excl. Malta and Cyprus) + 3 EFTA countries / do not include pickups like L200.

** MME figures / 33 countries / includes L200 / excludes The Ukraine

MODELS	2008	2007	Variation
1 � Colt	53,435	67.328	- 20.6 %
(change-over to new model during Q4 - 2008)
2 � New Outlander	31,561	33,394	- 5.5 %
(launched early 2007)
3 � New L200	28,735	38,369	- 25.1 %
4 � New Lancer	20,802

(launched sequentially from the back end of 2007)

Breaking News: Fiat Confirms Plan to Take 35% Stake in Chrysler LLC

Confirming earlier reports, the Fiat Group and Chrysler LLC today issued a joint statement revealing that they have signed "a non-binding term sheet to establish a global strategic alliance." Under the agreement, Fiat will take an initial 35% equity interest in Chrysler with an option to increase its stake. However, the Italian automaker would not be obliged "to make a cash investment or commit to funding Chrysler in the future".

The alliance between the two automakers will give Chrysler access to Fiat's fuel-efficient city and compact segment vehicle platforms, powertrain, and components that would be produced at Chrysler manufacturing sites, as well as access to additional markets outside North America using Fiat's distribution network.

Aside from the cost savings opportunities, Fiat aims to use Chrysler LLC's North American manufacturing plants to build /assemble Alfa Romeo and Fiat models bound for the U.S. market and to take advantage of the American automaker's Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealerships to sell its products in the U.S.

The projected deal between Chrysler and Fiat was received lukewarm by the President of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Ron Gettelfinger who said, ""This is great news for the UAW Chrysler team and we look forward to supporting and working with them to ensure Chrysler's long term viability."

"This initiative represents a key milestone in the rapidly changing landscape of the automotive sector and confirms Fiat and Chrysler commitment and determination to continue to play a significant role in this global process. The agreement will offer both companies opportunities to gain access to most relevant automotive markets with innovative and environmentally friendly product offering, a field in which Fiat is a recognized world leader while benefitting from additional cost synergies".

"The deal follows a number of targeted alliances and partnerships signed by the Fiat Group with leading carmakers and automotive suppliers over the last five years aimed at supporting the growth and volume aspirations of the partners involved," the CEO of Fiat Group, Sergio Marchionne said.

"A Chrysler/Fiat partnership is a great fit as it creates the potential for a powerful, new global competitor, offering Chrysler a number of strategic benefits , including access to products that complement our current portfolio; a distribution network outside North America; and cost savings in design, engineering, manufacturing, purchasing and sales and marketing," said Bob Nardelli, Chairman and CEO of Chrysler LLC.

"This transaction will enable Chrysler to offer a broader competitive line-up of vehicles for our dealers and customers that meet emissions and fuel efficiency standards, while adhering to conditions of the Government Loan . The partnership would also provide a return on investment for the American taxpayer by securing the long-term viability of Chrysler brands in the marketplace , sustaining future product and technology development for our country and building renewed consumer confidence, while preserving American jobs."