The Green Machine trend is continuing with Japanese manufacturers Lexus entering the fray with their new hybrid, the HS 250h in the New Year. Sporting a compact frame and a resolutely hybrid design – there’s no petrol-only option – the HS 250h looks to bring hybrid emissions and fuel economy to a luxury brand, but at an affordable price.
Offering a design and build quality which will remind owners of the higher end of the Lexus brand, but at a price more fitting an entry level car, the HS 250h is a high quality machine, blending economy on the price and economy on the fuel usage with the quality and prestige that drivers have come to expect from the Lexus brand.
The new MINI Beachcomber is set to be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show next month. This Moke-inspired number has certainly divided the MINI community like few other developments have, but it seems that all questions will be answered when it finally rolls out.
MINI aficionados are notoriously difficult to please when it comes to alterations to the classic design and the Beachcomber is the biggest modification in recent memory. With both soft and hard top options due to be made available, this new MINI will be suitable even if it’s not beach weather which, let’s be honest, it rarely is here in the UK.
Never ones to shy away from a fight, it seems that BMW are wading into the electric vehicle battlefield. The German giants are heading into next month’s Detroit Auto Show with the impossibly posy-looking Concept ActiveE, with strong hints that it may actually see production.
The Concept ActiveE is the latest piece to roll out of BMW’s Project i campaign, which is dedicated to creating low-emission city cars and follows the MINI electric car out of the door and promises “CO2-free Mobility”.
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.
The latest BMW 3 Series emphasises the German motor experts’ intent on producing eco-friendly and economical vehicles that do not compromise on performance.
The BMW 316d saloon encompasses BMW’s award winning EfficientDynamics technology and returns impressive statistics.
With better combined fuel consumption (62.8 mpg) than two of its main rivals – Audi A4 TDIe 136 and Ford Mondeo ECOnetic TDCi 115 – and more eco -friendly, emitting just 118g/km CO2 (just 35 pounds annual road tax), the BMW 316d is set to finish top of the class yet again.
Lexus dealers are set to be in for a busy couple of years as they look to set to push full steam ahead with production of their new premium compact car, the Lexus LF-Ch.
Since unveiling the latest model at the Frankfurt Motor Show to critical acclaim, Lexus dealerships have been inundated with requests for further information on the LF-Ch which won’t be available on the road until 2011.
With a petrol hybrid engine that will emit less than 100/km CO2 and front wheel drive, the LF-Ch represents a new challenge for Lexus who aim to target market share from the Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series.
The motor industry has been struggling against a tide of financial depression over the course of the last year as we all know: Cars continue to back up on fore-courts with customers refusing to part with their hard earned cash, opting instead to save their money until the recession has passed. Even the new scrappage scheme employed by several manufacturers hasn’t worked as well as they had initially hoped.
However, there is some good news coming out of America that sales on certain brands of luxury cars has started to move in a positive direction again. Sales of Lexus cars have been boosted with a 12% gain in the last month.
New images of the Lexus LF-Ch concept car, set to be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show have been released, and the compact sportsback looks even better than Car Chat had first expected.
Following from the sketches of the concept car, leaked by Lexus a couple of weeks ago, these images of the actual concept car look stunning.
This model will aim to gain Lexus some of the market share in the sportsback sector, to rival the likes of the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3.
This new Lexus model will also be available in full hybrid making it the first fully electric car of its type.
