Europe

More GM-Euro Double-Trouble-Speak: Double Chevrolet Sales!

By Paul Niedermeyer
November 6, 2009

If the managers at Opel are feeling a little queasy today, this should have them running for the Alka Seltzer (or whatever Germans use). As if to throw (more) gas on the conflagration raging at Opel, Brent Dewar, vice president of Chevrolet, announced at the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit that GM is targeting sales of 1 million Deawoo-Chevrolets in Europe, double the 500,000 vehicles sold in 2008. (more…)

Posted in Europe | News Blog | Sales | 5 comments

Death Of A Chinese Car Salesman: European Brilliance Importer Crashes

By Bertel Schmitt
November 5, 2009

Did we mention that China’s Brilliance hasn’t been doing so, well, brilliantly? The joint venture partner of BMW, and maker of supposedly homegrown Ersatz-BMWs (the sight of which makes any BMW engineer reach for a bottle of Jägermeister) had racked up losses to the tune of 9b Chinese Yuan ($1.3b) in the first half of the year. And now, its European importer went kaputt. HSO Imports, located in tax-friendly Luxemburg, declared insolvency. To the tune of silent, but audible “hipp-hipp, hurrah!” amongst Germany’s automakers. Break out the bubbly, another attempted Chinese invasion has been repelled.
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Posted in China | Europe | News Blog | 21 comments

Volt Birth Watch 171: Weber Bails

By Edward Niedermeyer
October 30, 2009

Frank Weber, the man in charge of GM’s electric vehicle line, will be leaving GM for a senior leadership at the soon-to-be-sold (or not?) Opel. Weber previously worked on Opel’s development of GM’s global mid-size (Epsilon II) vehicle line, before becoming the head of GM’s electric vehicle development program in March 2007. Weber is the second senior executive in GM’s global electric, hybrid and battery development organization to leave in a month, following Bob Kruse’s departure at the end of September. And as with Kruse’s exit, the sound bites coming out of GM seek to portray the loss as no big deal. “There is a huge difference in the Volt program from when I came here,” Weber tells Bloomberg. “The entire organization has inhaled what we do here.” In reality though, Weber’s defection makes the introduction of the Opel Ampera (as the Volt will be known in Europe) even more difficult than it was already shaping out to be.

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Posted in Electric Vehicles | Europe | News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 12 comments

Opel Workers: Can We Do This Deal Already?

By Edward Niedermeyer
October 30, 2009

GM’s sale of Opel to Magna/Sberbank is being held up by the European Union, which is looking into whether the German government unfairly favored Magna’s bid. But while the interregnum plays out (the EU will decide by November 27th), GM has plenty of time to develop a case of seller’s remorse. After all, GM’s VP for Global Engineering Mark Reuss recently told Autoline After Hours that Opel is completely integrated into GM’s global product development, and that the relationship “won’t change.” Does that, as Business Week’s David Welch asked, mean GM will keep all of Opel’s development capacity while reducing loss exposure to 35 percent? Reuss had to change the subject, but it’s obviously not the case. With Daewoo under fire, GM would clearly prefer to keep Opel’s development capacity integrated, and keep its intellectual property out of the hands of Russian automakers. And with German newspapers reporting that GM’s board is considering a “plan B” to keep Opel within the GM fold, Opel’s workers are threatening to strike.

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Posted in Europe | High Finance | Industry | News Blog | 3 comments

Save Diesel ’till You’re Blue(Motion) In The Face

By Cammy Corrigan
October 29, 2009

Posted in Europe | Fuel Economy | New Cars | News Blog | 19 comments

Wild-Ass Rumor Of The Day: LX-Platformed Lancia, Maserati Planned

By Edward Niedermeyer
October 26, 2009

Well, we’ve been here before. A while back we’d heard that an Alfa 169-branded, LX-platformed sedan would be built at Brampton for the US market, with a rumored $62k price point. That story seemed a bit iffy at the time, although it wouldn’t surprise us to hear it announced officially at Chrysler’s forthcoming five-year plan announcement. Especially now that we’re hearing more rumblings that Fiat will borrow the LX platform for European-market sedans to be built at the former Carozzeria Bertone plant in Turin. Automotive News [sub] reports a Lancia Thesis replacement and possibly even a entry-level Maserati will be built using Chrysler’s long-running RWD platform. Fiat has been looking for a RWD platform for some time, having planned on using Cadillac’s Sigma platform, and when things got nasty with GM, Fiat went sniffing around the Jag XF platform. Now Fiat has its rear-drive underpinnings, and Chrysler’s new “Pentastar” V6 to play with… but will Maserati settle for less than a V8? And will the American market actually be getting an Alfa-branded LX? TTAC will be on-hand for Chrysler’s five-year product plan announcement, and will report the definitive word on November 4th.

Posted in Europe | Future Vehicles | News Blog | Wild Ass Rumor of the Day | 27 comments

Saab Going Upmarket?

By Thor Johnsen
October 26, 2009

Swedish daily Dagens Industri claims to have their hands on Koenigsegg Group’s secret market-plan for Saab. The one they used to secure a 600 million Euro loan from European Investment Bank. And they are aiming…upmarket! The ultimate goal is, by 2016, to establish a true luxury brand, and by then have such exclusive and expensive cars that an annual sale of 65.000 cars will suffice (by doubling the average prices).

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Posted in Branding | Europe | News Blog | 21 comments

What’s Wrong With This Picture: A Yellow Car That Actually Exists Edition

By Edward Niedermeyer
October 22, 2009

OK, so we pulled the Cruze wagon picture because it was a photoshopped fake [Hat Tip to Jalopnik for catching it]. So here’s a different yellow hatchback that also won’t be coming to the American market (thanks for nothing, Roger Penske and Carlos Ghosn). It’s a RenaultSport Mégane, and according to Autobild it’s a two-liter turbo four hot hatch with 250 horsepower.  To be perfectly honest though, we’re not entirely sure the picture hasn’t been run through the old shop of photo.

Posted in 3WTP | Europe | News Blog | 14 comments

What’s Wrong With This Picture: Pass The A1 Edition

By Edward Niedermeyer
October 17, 2009

Auto Motor und Sport’s Erlkönig prototype hunters tracked down Audi’s smallest car yet, testing before a 2010 European launch. Pricing and currency issues are blamed for the A1’s Euro-restricted habitat, and with a base price of €16-18k for a 1.2 liter engine, it’s no surprise that it won’t show up stateside. The possible 200 hp, AWD, seven-speed DSG S1 version sounds worth a grey market import, but at an estimated $36k, you’d have to be pretty fanatical about hot hatches to even think about it. And good luck finding a VW dealer in America who can work on your twincharger engine.

Posted in 3WTP | Europe | Future Vehicles | News Blog | 26 comments

European car sales accelerate growth in September. Danger ahead

By Bertel Schmitt
October 15, 2009

European new car sales continue on their path of recovery. However, as the Abwrackprämien-fuel tank ran dry in Europe’s growth engine Germany, the party may come to a halt in October.

In September, European passenger car registrations increased by 6.3 percent, compared to September 2008. A total of 1,388,136 new cars were registered in all of Europe last month, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) reports today. Nine months into the year, registrations of new cars in all of Europe are still 6.6 percent lower than during the same period of 2008.
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Posted in Europe | News Blog | 4 comments