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Trade War Watch 19: Brazil Hits The Brakes Of Imports
As you’ve read here many times, the drums against imports have been beating in Brasília for a long time. Now, the government is acting. It has opened up its little tragic bag of dirty tricks and is...
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Chart Of The Day: Global Sales Growth Slows To A Crawl
According to Wards Auto, global auto sales through May hit 32.62 million units, up 6.0% from the year-ago number. But as the chart above shows, the rate of growth in global deliveries has slowed...
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Live From Jakarta: Indonesian International Auto Show Coverage
The 19th Indonesian International Motor Show (IIMS) is currently taking place at the JIExpo in the capital city, Jakarta, with almost all the world’s major automakers represented at a show which is...
View ArticleNissan Marches Into Brazil
Brazil is touted to soon eclipse Japan as the world’s third largest auto market, and there is at least one Japanese company that wants to make hay of this: Nissan. The Nikkei [sub] heard that Nissan...
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Japanese Auto Industry: We’re Outta Here
Again and again, Japanese automakers had been warning that they cannot stomach the strong yen, and that it will eventually cost jobs. Today, the yen stood at 76.6 to the dollar, and Japanese...
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Ratan Tata Does Damage Control On Brit Criticism, Downplays Nano Quality Issues
After making rather disparaging remarks about the management culture at Jaguar Land Rover, Tata CEO Ratan Tata is attempting to do some major damage control after he criticized the Brits in a May,...
View ArticleWho And What Is Moving In Brazil (Not Just To The Rhythm Of Samba)
Brazil provides the first letter of BRIC. Without the BRICs, we’d have tombstones for carmakers. How are we keeping the global auto business alive, down here in the Southern Cone? Follow me as I give...
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Lamborghini Gets Serious About India
Lamborghini has become very bullish about the Indian market. The Italian automaker launched its second showroom in the country last week and also set up a national sales agency. Lamborghini currently...
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Volkswagen Under Attack In Brazil. Here is The Order Of Battle
According to Bloomberg, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn claimed that “Brazil is very much a cornerstone” in VW’s push to become the world’s largest car maker by 2018. Herr Winterkorn is in São Paulo...
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The Truth About Brazilian Cars Being “Unsafe”
This week, the idea of Brazil’s cars being “unsafe” due to inferior construction has been gaining a lot of currency on the blogosphere after the Associated Press published a report on this topic. Very...
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Renault-Nissan To Launch Modular Architecture For Low-Cost Cars
Click here to view the embedded video. In India for the relaunched Datsun brand’s first car, the Go, CEO of the Renault-Nissan alliance, Carlos Ghosn, announced that Renault and Nissan will jointly...
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Ford Ka Concept Developed & Debuted in Brazil, Will Likely Start Production...
The importance of South America to Ford Motor Company’s plans can be seen from the fact that chairman Bill Ford went to Brazil to introduce the Ka Concept, an entry level hatchback for urban consumers...
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McLaren Faces Hurdle From China’s Lavish Spending Crackdown
McLaren, like many makers of luxury goods, is having a difficult time moving their fine wares in China as of late, all thanks to a crackdown against lavish spending begun last year by the country’s...
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New Jaguar Land Rover Factory in Brazil to Open in 2016
If you live in Brazil and are pining away for a Jaguar or Land Rover, Tata Motors will open a factory for the luxury marques in time for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The new factory, slated to produce...
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Brazil Imposes New Safety Standards As Consumers Fork Out More, While VW Gets...
The Brazilian auto industry has been on edge for a week and a half, as the Economic Ministry announced that the mandate for airbags and ABS on all Brazilian cars in 2014 was “under review”. Citing...
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Akio Toyoda Sees Emerging Markets’ Growth Slowing, Uncertainties in China, Japan
Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corp. and scion of its founding family said that a slowdown in emerging markets and uncertainty over demand in both China and the Japanese home market makes 2014...
View ArticleRussian Government to Spend $8 Billion Subsidizing Local Car Industry
Click here to view the embedded video. The Russian government said that it will spend up to 271 billion rubles ($8US billion) over the next three years to subsidize the country’s struggling auto...
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Dispatches do Brasil: A Brief History Of The Ford Ka
The rumors have it that the new Ford Ka will be on sale as of March this year. Production of the old Ka has come to a close as the Zetec Rocam engines have also been terminated (and thus the old...
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Ford Figo Debuts In India
Our friends at Motorbeam in India snagged these live shots of the Ford Figo, aka the sedan version of the next Ford Ka and EcoSport. Designed as a world car to be sold in BRIC markets, the Figo is...
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Tata Debuts Bolt, Zest Subcompacts
Debuting their first new cars in four years, Tata took the wraps off the Bolt and Zest subcompacts, which are designed specifically to sneak in under four meters in length, to get around vehicle...
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Datsun Go Production Launched In India
Just in time for the 2014 Delhi Motor Show — where the above Datsun Redi-Go concept made its debut this week — Renault-Nissan launches production of the revived brand’s Go subcompact at their plant in...
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PSA Board Holding To Dongfeng, French Government Stock-Sale Plan
With PSA Peugeot Citroen’s supervisory board’s blessing, CEO Philippe Varin is continuing talks with partner Dongfeng regarding the stock sale to both the Chinese automaker and the French government....
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Datsun To Enter Russian Market April 4
Following its global grand opening in India, Nissan’s low-cost Datsun brand will open its doors to the Russian market April 4 in Moscow. Just Auto reports the launch marks the official introduction of...
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Ford Cuts 950 Jobs In Russia Due To Weakening Ruble, Demand
Two plants in Ford’s joint venture with Russian manufacturer OAO Sollers will experience job cuts as a result of a weakening ruble and decreasing demand by customers in the local market. Bloomberg...
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BAIC Seeks To Acquire US, European Brand
Looking to expand its global presence beyond its native China, Beijing Automotive Group announced they would like to acquire a “mid to high-level brand” in either Europe or the United States, and...
View ArticleRenault And Daimler Agree: Europe Meh, BRICS The Bomb
While some analysts (who might be sitting on large quantities of GM and Ford stock) already dream of a sales rate between 15 and 16 million cars by year’s end in the U.S., CEOs of European carmakers...
View ArticleToyota’s Secret Weapon: Low Cost Car Factories
Today, I saw a new, and so far the finest specimen of Japan’s new export products: A car factory. Remember when the Nikkei wrote about a new Toyota factory in the Miyagi Prefecture with a U-shaped...
View ArticleHyundai Expands In Europe, Eyes Brazil
Hyundai and Kia are on a tear in the European market, having recently passed Toyota to become the best-selling Asian automaker in the EU (at 605,386 units, some 50k away from Daimler’s 2010 sales). And...
View ArticleJeep Pickup, Jeep Compass and Jeep Renegade: All The Things We’ll Probably...
On Wednesday, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne will update investors on his long-term plans and fourth-quarter profits — namely, how many Jeeps it sold — during his scheduled earnings...
View ArticleFord Fueled Record Profits in 2015 With Truck Sales, China Surge
Ford announced Thursday that it had earned a record pre-tax profit of $10.8 billion for 2015 — including $2 billion in the fourth quarter — bolstered by pickup sales in the U.S. and strong growth in...
View ArticleOnly in India: Attack of the Stubby Little Sedans
How automakers address the sedan question in India is particularly interesting. It doesn’t involve increasing legroom or wheelbase. It doesn’t involve creating a reason to increase the average...
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