Porsche Cajun Will Start Porsche’s Expansion
Porsche is planning for a new small SUV which is called Cajun to be a part of their ambitious growth strategy which is currently being mapped by their parent company, Volkswagen. They will boost their annual global sales to over 250,000 units in the middle of the decade. This new five seat Cajun is based on the Audi Q5 and will be slotted beneath the Cayenne. It seems like Porsche will offer it in both four and six cylinder engines and a diesel.
Porsche has confirmed earlier this month that they will build the car at the Leipzig facility. That was the same factory that produces the Panamera. Porsche is now working to extend the plant to accommodate the new lines and paint shop which is required to produce the Cajun. The production itself will begin later this year with the scheduled launch date of late 2012.
Before this new SUV coming, Porsche is setting to introduce the new generation of 911. It will make its world debut at Frankfurt Motor Show next September and scheduled to reach the UK in Carrera and Carrera S later this year. Another upcoming new model from Porsche is the third generation of Boxster. It will be the evolution of the current model and will be on sale in the end of 2012.
Porsche Cajun Will Start Porsche’s Expansion is a post from: Automotive News and Review
Cooper Tires Using Ford Mustang to Introduce Zeon Line
Cooper Tires is currently the fourth largest tire manufacturer in North America. They have more than 13 percent of the replacement tire market in the land of America. However, the rule here is being number one or be no one. So, Cooper is trying to get a bigger market share by creating a few new tires recently.
Recently, Cooper Tires is trying their four new tire models. One of those trial is the Zeon RS3-A which is an all season tire. Cooper is using two identical Ford Mustang. One with their tires, and one with the market leader, the Hankook Ventus V4 ES. It seems that this tires is handled well on both dry and wet conditions, but it is especially good in the wet.
You can see it from the result. The lap time of the Zeon RS3-A is faster 1.5 seconds on dry and 2.8 seconds on wet compared to the Hakooks. Beside this all season tires, they also have the RS3-S for an ultra high performance in a dry track, Discoverer A/T3. And Discoverer S/T Maxx. The last two name is designed for trucks. These will replace the Cooper ATR with 55,000 mile warranty.
Cooper Tires Using Ford Mustang to Introduce Zeon Line is a post from: Automotive News and Review
BMW 3 Series GT Might be the New 4 Series
Last year, there are some reports that BMW is planning to launch the 3 Series Gran Turismo version. The sources said that the vehicles were scheduled to be launched in 2013. Now, Auto Motor Und Sport magazine is reporting that BMW will introduce the new 4 Series line up of sedan, coupe, and convertible variants. They also said that the four door coupe will also be introduced. Now, there is a possibility that those two vehicles are actually the same.
The question is why would BMW introducing the new 4 Series? It is similar to the 6 Series offerings, the 4 Series models will be slotted between their 3 and 5 Series and will be looks similar to the coupe. BMW plans to compete with the other automakers such as Audi and Mercedes-Benz by offering a higher coupe. Those two competitors is also said to launch a smaller SLS model.
This new 4 Series will allow BMW to price it a little bit higher at the premium price. The dynamic design would appeal to their younger customers and also be a viable alternative to the 6 Series Coupe. If only BMW will really introduce a new series, I think there will be ‘Gran Coupe’ name on it.
BMW 3 Series GT Might be the New 4 Series is a post from: Automotive News and Review
Mercedes-Benz is the Current Top Brand
The latest result from Harris polls are coming. The winner of this poll in the automotive sector are Ford and Mercedes-Benz. Those two automakers were in the top of the list among other luxury automakers and scoring the highest score in terms of customer connection, commitment, trust, and equity.
Ford is taking the top spot in the full line automotive due to their strong new comers. They are beating out Chevrolet, Honda, and Toyota. Chevrolet is on the second place and Toyota has dropped from the first position previously, to the fourth place now. In this survey, Hyundai and KIA were the fastest growing brands though neither is able to reach the top 10. For luxury product, Mercedes-Benz is on top as Toyota is now in the second place. The other automakers in top five are BMW, Infiniti, and Acura.
There are a total of 25,099 people aged above 15 which were randomly asked about 60 top brands out of a total of 1,273 name. Each brand has a total of at least 1,000 responses, while their rankings were based on the calculation on the familiarity, purchase consideration, and the quality of the products.
Mercedes-Benz is the Current Top Brand is a post from: Automotive News and Review
Ford won’t lease the Electric Vehicle’s Batteries
Ford will introduce their new Ford Focus, which is an electric car. But now, they will sell the car in the same way like a conventional car. It means that the battery pack will be included as standard equipment for this car. The managing director of Ford UK, Nigel Sharp, said that the company would not consider leasing the lithium-ion battery pack of this Focus separated from the car.
“We are waiting to see on how the market will react to our new electric vehicle. In the other way, we are pretty sure that leasing the batteries separated from the car is not how we will do it, even if the fact that it would bring the initial price down. The Focus will be sold just like a conventional car would be,” said Nigel.
Ford Focus Electric will be the flagship car over the five strong members of alternatively fueled cars by Ford. The car will be the fierce rival for Nissan Leaf which is also has a battery pack as the standard feature. Ford Focus Electric will be powered by 28kWh li-ion battery for a top speed of 83 mph. It will take four hours of charging with 240 V with 100 mileages.
Ford won’t lease the Electric Vehicle’s Batteries is a post from: Automotive News and Review