Archive for November, 2009
BMW and Mini are on a collision course after it was announced that the German manufacturer are looking to introduce a new series called the 0-Series. As it suggests the new mini car will be designed to be smaller than the current 1-Series which means that it is likely that it will go into direct competition with the current Mini, which strangely is also owner by BMW.
It really does seem that the company is almost shooting itself in the foot with this latest move, admittedly having two cars competing in the market should mean that the company will grab large shares of the market, however it could of course backfire and the companies could end up taking sales off of each other.
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Honda is looking to use India as its springboard to launch a new series of small cars before bringing then to the European market. The new breed of Honda cars are set to be launched to compete directly with their Japanese counterparts, Suzuki, who currently occupy over 50% of the current car sales within the country with their highly successful Suzuki Swift and Suzuki Alto.
This is a bold strategy for the Japanese manufacturer to take at such a delicate time in the economy, but it is clearly something that they feel will benefit them in the long run. India has a love affair with the car and Honda is very keen to capitalise on a slice of this market.
BMW have just released a new car that is set to take the performance car world by storm. The new BMW M3 GTS is a hardcore version of the BMW M3.
The German manufacturer has decided to follow in the footsteps of Lamborghini, Porsche and Aston Martin in making an extreme race version of their supercar. This new M3 has been stripped of any weight and tips the scales at just 3300lb including the internal roll-cage and six-point race harness.
Lexus Dealerships around the world will be holding their breath this week as the new GX460 SUV is about to be unveiled at the China motor show. The car/van has been produced to replace the GX470 and from browsing the spy shots of the car online one thing is very apparent and that is that this car hasn’t been built with style in mind.
It is quite possibly one of the ugliest looking SUV’s I’ve seen and that is bearing in mind that there are a number of appalling SUV’s out there at present. The Lexus GX460 seems very square and boxy and appears to lack any sense of sporty qualifications, with the Porsche Cayenne leaving it for dust in the looks stakes.
BMW fended off the competition, including Honda, to take their place at the top of the Fleet News reliability survey as the most reliable company car manufacturer.
Fleet News is a sister publication of the well respected car guide, Parker’s, and the annual survey covers 840,000 cars from 50 of the biggest UK contract hire companies.
Manufacturers were graded by counting the number of vehicles on a fleet per 1,000 that broke down.
BMW received the same points as Honda yet more companies voted for BMW as first placed manufacturer.
Reliability is a key factor to consider when purchasing a car and with the results of the Fleet News magazine 2009 top50 results just released it is the perfect opportunity for customers and consumers around the UK to take stock of the situation and make a informed decision about their next purchase and used Honda’s recorded staggering results.
The Japanese and German car manufacturers have come out of the latest survey very well, with the Honda Civic coming out with the top honour of being the most reliable car on the market today. There was even more reason for the Japanese car giant to celebrate with two more of their cars featuring heavily inside the top 5 cars with the Honda Jazz in third place and the Honda Accord scooping fourth place.
Although the German manufacturer’s profits have fallen thanks to this year’s trying economy, the BMW group remain optimistic. Thanks to recent indications of recovery, they are hoping to make a positive turnover by the end of the year across all their brands.
The fall in returns has been blamed on a decrease in consumer spending and has resulted in a loss of 73.8% (down to £70.5 million) with total sales of cars across the BMW group including BMW, Rolls Royce and MINI brands down 15.7% from the year before.
Ok, a Lexus may not appear to be the most exciting cars on the market, although that could all change when the LF-Ch hits the market, but what Lexus has always held above the rest is reliability. Taking this into consideration means that a used Lexus will prove to be a prudent move for second hand buyers.
Owners of approved used Lexus vehicles rarely find problems, as is evident in customer satisfaction surveys, with Lexus at the head of the list for cars between 3-5 years old.
