Nissan Leaf

The Nissan Leaf is probably one of the most interesting cars of the year and opens a new era for electric automobiles thanks to its 99 mpg EPA ratings. Here are 10 interesting facts (courtesy of PopularMechanics.com) about the car, some of them you might know while others are new to you.

1. It is made from recycled water bottles – 60% of the plastic used for the interior is made out of recycled material. Most of it comes from water bottles and after the lifespan of the car ends, the vehicle's weight which is 3375 pounds is recyclable and can be used to make other Leafs or water bottles.
2. 100,000 miles warranty for the batteries – we all know that batteries are not what we would expect them to be after years of developing, but the Leaf has lithium-ion units that have a 100,000 mile / 8 year warranty. According to the estimates made by the engineers at Nissan, after using the Leaf for 10 years, the batteries will most likely maintain 70-80% of their capacity. Thanks to the fact that lithium will not chemically change while using the car, the batteries of the Leaf are also recyclable, just like the car.
3. Leaf's headlights make it quieter – first of all, the LED headlights are 50% more power efficient in comparison to halogens. What is more interesting is that their winged form will direct the air away from the side mirrors which will reduce the level of the interior noise. The car is known to be more quiet even then premium luxury cars.
4. Batteries Charge 80% in 30 minutes – the battery only needs 8 hours to be charged at a 220-volt outlet, and 16 hours at a 110 one. By using a 3-phase, quick-charging station, the Leaf's lithium-ion batteries can reach 80% charging level in half an hour.
5. Leaf can communicate with the driver – with the help of an E-mail-based system that is able to manage the charging system of the car, the Leaf can text info about the battery level to its owner. What it will do is to notify the owner when the batteries are charged, and at which point the driver can manage the AC system so that the interior of the car can reach the desired temperature level, before he gets inside of it. If the charging is interrupted, the driver will be notified via SMS.
6. The navigation system is able to show your reachable area in real time – the Nissan Leaf comes standard with a navigation system that is capable of displaying the range in a graphic form, with a intuitive halo around the car's current location, providing a real-time visual estimate of how much farther the driver of the car can go before he runs out of batteries. This can be done as the Leaf's navigation system constantly communicates with Nissan's databases by using satellite networks and is capable of displaying on the screen which nearby charging stations are available.
7. Top speed of 95 mph – although it is a small-sized electric car, the Leaf is able to reach a top speed of 95 mph.
8. The car offers driving tips – the energy menu of the Nissan Leaf can advise the driver to shut down the climate control under certain circumstances. This will allow more efficient energy consumption for the Leaf.
9. $0.03 operating cost per mile – a conventional car that has a combustion engine that does 25 mpg will need about $1,800 in gasoline (for a $3 / gallon price tag) over a year of driving (15,000 miles), which doing the math works out to about $0.12 / mile. A useful innovation of the Leaf is that it can be pre-programmed to start charging during the wee hours (when the off-peak electric rates are active). For a $0.11 / kwh, The Nissan Leaf costs about $0.026 / mile to drive, or about $396 for 15,000 miles, which is about $1.400 less in comparison to a combustion engine powered cars.
10. Its affordable too – the Nissan Leaf has a base price of $25.280, after the significant $7,500 federal rebate, which means that it is cheaper in comparison with the average new car sold in the United States. In addition, there are some states in USA that will offer extra incentives, like California – $5,000 or Colorado – $6,000. More than that, if the costumer of the Leaf wants to get a $2,200 charging station, the government will give him a $2,000 tax credit. In a year, Nissan is hoping that there will be 12,000 public charging stations in the United States.

Nissan Leaf

Source: PopularMechanics.com

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10 Facts About The Nissan Leaf

2012 BMW 1-Series M Coupe

The BMW Coupe is considered by many one of the most controversial cars ever designed by the German manufacturer. Many people saw it as a wagon-like version of the Z3 and Z4 convertibles from BMW that always attracted our attention. Production ended in 2008 and now it is about to return with a brand new iteration. The car will be officially unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show, but folks over at PopularMechanics.com had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours with the 2012 1-Series M Coupe.

The most correct way to simply describe this new model is by looking at it as a current generation M3 driveline car that does not have the powerful V8 engine. Instead, it comes with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter N54 inline six-cylinder that was borrowed from the BMW Z4 sDrive35is. The engine is capable of outputting 335 hp and a maximum torque of 332 lb. ft. The final version of the car might have an updated engine that could produce 350 hp or even more. It would be very good if a car of only 3300 lbs (190 lbs less than the M3) could come with such power. The engine will be most likely linked to a 6-speed manual transmission. Rumors regarding the choice of a DSG gearbox are at the moment false, at least for the first year of production.

As far as the exterior looks are concerned, the 2012 BMW 1-Series M Coupe will come with a new fascia that will direct the air towards the intercooler, the main radiator as well as the auxiliary coolers. In the back of the car, a small lip was added above the spoiler with the main purpose of improving aerodynamics.

2012 BMW 1-Series M Coupe

Although from the pictures you will notice that the car is wearing camouflage, the 2012 model is certainly wider than the standard model. The car is in fact 3.14 inches (80 mm) wider, giving it a more aggressive look. BMW did not use carbon fiber materials for this model because it would have made the car more expensive, plus the weight reduction would not have been very significant to the overall performances of the car.

The car will feature an M3 suspension (multilink rear, strut front), M3-spec drilled rotors, M3's M Variable Differential Lock rear differential, 19-inch rims inspired by the M3 Competition Package and covered by P265/35ZR19R for the rear wheels and P245/35ZR19R for the front ones.

The engine performances of the car should allow it to reach 60 mph from 0 in about 5 seconds or less. The top speed will most likely be electronically limited to 155 mph. The guys that were lucky enough to drive it said that the Servotronic steering is very good for a car that does not have everything controlled by the computer. The suspension of the 1-Series M Coupe has fixed dampers and steel springs. The car will come with quad tail pipes which will give it the traditional M look of a BMW.

Source: PopularMechanics.com

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Preview – 2012 BMW 1-Series M Coupe

2011 Volkswagen Passat

According to the officials at Volkswagen AG, the company sales grew twice as fast in comparison with the worldwide auto market in October 2010. This sales rise is mostly because of the increased orders for the VW and Audi cars in China and the United States. In the future, VW is hoping to surpass Toyota as the largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

In comparison to 2009, deliveries went up by 9.8% for the VW Group cars which include Seat, Lamborghini, Bentley and Skoda. VW Group sold 612,200 cars, light commercial vehicles and SUVs last month, surpassing the industry's 4.5%, according to a statement made on Friday by the officials over at Volkswagen.

Adding approximately 70 models plus updated configurations of the current lineup of automobiles, VW is hoping for a consecutive second year of record sales. VW's sales chief Christian Klinger stated on September 30^th that the company is able to achieve the 10 million cars per year, before the 2018 target date. From January – October, VW sales grew by 12% to 5.98 million cars sold worldwide. Klinger said that VW will most likely increase its global share in the upcoming months.

2011 Volkswagen Passat

VW's preferred shares grew by 1.2% (1.35 euros), to 111.95 euros and traded at 111.90 euros two weeks ago. The 71% stock increase allowed VW to reach a value of $66 billion (48.4 billion euros).

Volkswagen's targets for expansion are based in China, where the company will be opening two new factories in order to double its annual production in its largest car market to 3 million units in the next 4 years. VW Group will be investing in the near future $8.2 billion (6 billion euros) for developing new models and construction. In China, VW's sales went up by 38%, reaching 1.65 million units.

Regarding United States, the VW sales went up by 21% in the first ten months of the year, reaching 295,900 cars. The company will resume production in USA in the future by opening a unit in Chattanooga, Tennesse.

VW sold 12% more cars and SUVs this year, reaching 3.78 million units. Seat was able to sell 285,200 cars while Skoda reached a sales figure of 69,200, a 5.5% increase in comparison to the similar period of last year. Audi also increased its sales by 16%, reaching 916,900 units. VW's commercial-van sales increased 17%, up to 349,000 units, especially because of the growth in the South American market.

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VW Posts Positive October Sales Figures

Geely Gleagle GS

China is the fastest growing automobile industry and by 2020 it could double the current production capacity. Anything above this level will most likely cause swamping the market with excess supply, according to the CEO of global parts supplier BorgWarner. He estimates that the annual car production in China by 2020 will reach 30 million units. In 2009, for the very first time the Chinese auto market surpassed the North American one, selling 13.6 million cars.

Other forecasters are approximating that by 2020 China will be producing 40 million cars annually, but there is a possibility that this number will not be covered by requests, according to Timothy Manganello, CEO at BorgWarner. If this happens, most likely the Chinese manufacturers will try to sell this surplus to the European market or in Asia or North America. If this situation will occur, it would most likely cause pressure pricing and expose areas of costly excess capacity for the other car manufacturers.

Manganello said that this surplus of cars will create a perfect storm between Europe and North America as China will try to export these cars everywhere they can sell them. "It’s going to create a fairly unique tension within the global auto industry. Even the Chinese (automakers) say if they end up with 40 million units of capacity, they don’t know if they can sell 40 million units inside China."

Geely Gleagle GS

According to him, although there are serious risks of producing more than necessary in China, in the near-term future, China will ride on the wave of the growth and see what the future will hold for the manufacturers. There is a possibility that BorgWarner might purchase a company in China in order to expand its powertrain offerings or to make cars in China that will not be available in North America or Europe.

Manganello affirmed that all Chinese carmakers are looking to expand in the local market and at the same time, increase global share. The key factor for the cars manufactured in China is quality and it could dictate if they will or will not have success in other regions of the world. He added that a good way to start earning international reputation would be to introduce cars in Africa or other underdeveloped countries of the world. "That’s probably where you’re going to see them penetrate first. It’s a lot easier, the standards are lower, the government regulations are less strict if any at all."

The BorgWarner company works very close with the Chinese car manufacturers to help them improve their technology, similar to other United States-based suppliers. Approximately 7% of the revenue comes from China. The company is the leading supplier of turbochargers as well as other transmission and engine parts. The company's largest clients are Toyota Motor Corporation, Ford Motor Corporation and Volkswagen AG.

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China – Possible Future Excess Supply

Mercedes E Classe

It looks like the employees over at BMW and Mercedes will have less time away from work, because the demands for new models is increasing, which means that the company will have to maintain the manufacturing numbers in order to keep up with this growing demand.

The BMW factories in Leipzig and Dingolfing will be rolling out cars over the holidays, in comparison to the three week break that they took in 2009 when sales were very bad. The Dingolfing factory unit is the place where the new generation of the 5-series sedan is produced. At the Leipzig, BMW is making the X1 crossover, which is a hit in terms of sales, ever since it was introduced in 2009.

Also working on the holidays is the Mercedes factory in Hamburg, where the supply various parts for the E-Class and S-Class sedans.

The request for luxury cars is recuperating after the financial and economical crisis, especially in the United States and in China where the economy is booming. Both Mercedes and BMW are aiming towards a 10% increase in sales this year. Audi, who is the luxury unit of Volkswagen AG, is planning on adding extra shifts in December in order to keep up with the increasing number of orders.

According to Juergen Pieper, who is an analyst with Bankhaus Metzler, "this is the first strong signal that the boom over the last few months can continue into next year". Himanshu Patel, who is an analyst at JP Morgan Securities LLC, based in New York, recently told Monday in a report about Johnson Controls Inc. that this shortened holiday for the employees over at BMW and Mercedes means that the German luxury carmakers are gaining back the share they have lost in the last 2-3 years. Patel wrote in the report that JCI generates approximately 50% of its auto-parts revenue in Europe, where the automobile production in the last quarter of 2010 will be even higher than what analysts predicted.

This increasing demand for luxury vehicles allows the investment banks to reward workers with various promotions as they recover from the last 2-3 years of economical and financial halt. Goldman Sachs Group, which is the most profitable securities company in all Wall Street history, promoted many employees to managing director, increasing their salary and status. The world's largest luxury-car market is in the United States.

BMW 7-Series

BMW, besides its own cars, is manufacturing Rolls Royce and Mini models; and increased its sells throughout the entire world by 13%, reaching 1.19 million until October. Mercedes and Smart sales went up by 12%, reaching 1.04 million in the same period.

BMW is manufacturing the 5, 6 and 7-Series at the Dingolfing factory which is the company's largest unit. In Leipzig, BMW is producing the X1 model which was introduced last year, as well as the 1-Series compact.

According to Michael Rebstock, who is a spokesman at BMW, "production capacity is the limiting factor at the moment. We are producing as much as we can and are happy for every additional shift we can get."

Rebstock also said that some of the BMW production plants will stop production around Christmas and New Year's holidays in order to carry out the necessary maintenance and to restock the supplies. They are hoping to keep the breaks as short as possible, in comparison to last year when they prolonged the breaks.

According to Nicole Kicherer, who is a spokeswoman for Daimler in Stuttgart, Germany; the Hamburg plant will remain in operation through the holidays. The plant is manufacturing steering columns, axles and exhaust systems. Nicole said that most of the automobile factories will stop the production between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day, which in comparison to last year, would be one to two weeks shorter.

Porsche AG has no such plants of shortening the Christmas break. The Audi plants in Neckarsulm and Ingolstadt will be closed between December 23^rd and January 7^th for performing the end-of-year maintenance routines, according to Audi's spokesman for the works council, Ralf Matters. He also said that although the Christmas break will not be shortened, Audi will add shifts on Saturday and overnight from Sundays to Mondays in December in order "to cope with record orders". At the Brussels plant where Audi makes the A1 compact, production will be resumed on January 3^rd.

Porsche's spokesman Heiner von der Laden recently said that the plant in Zuffenhausen will be closed from December 24^th to 31^st. The Leipzig assembly plant where the Panamera sedan and the Cayenne sport utility vehicles are assembled will be closed from December 24^th to January 9^th. Porsche has no plans of adding shifts to increase production.

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BMW & Mercedes – Will Shorten Christmas Breaks Due To Increasing Demand

Jaguar XJ Sedan

It seems that Tata Motors will be opening up 10 new Jaguar Land Rover luxury car brand dealerships in India, in order to increase sales in Asia's second fastest growing major economy. Tata will be opening dealerships in the large Indian cities like New Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, according to what Rohit Suri (India's head of the Tata Motors premier car division) said to the reporters of New Delhi Friday.

With this new decision to open 10 dealerships in India, Tata follows the trails of rivals BMW AG, VW AG's Audi division and Daimler AG, which also are looking into increasing their sales in India, a market that is expanding its needs for premium brands. The luxury goods and services market here is projected to triple by 2015, reaching $14.7 billion, according to a report published in October by the Confederation of Indian Industry and A.T. Kearney.

As far as the Daimler sales are concerned, they went up by 82%, reaching almost 3,000 vehicles between April and September, in comparison to the similar period of last year. BMW was able to sell 2,674 cars, which is 53% more than 2009. Audi also did good, managing to increase their sales by a healthy 62%. These figures were published by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Jaguar XJ Sedan

According to Suri, Jaguar Land Rover will start assembling the Land Rover units in Indian from mid 2011. The preparations of setting up the plant have already begun.

Forbes magazine states that the combined net worth of the 100 wealthiest people in India, reached $300 billion this year, a new record for India. This record is the equivalent of a quarter of the country's gross domestic product. Credit Suisse Group AG said that the Indian wealth assets will most likely double in the next five years, reaching $6.4 trillion, due to the reason that the economic growth will improve their ranks.

According to Wilfred Aulbur, who is the head of the Daimler India unit, affirmed in September that he hopes that Mercedes-Benz sales in India will be able to rival with the UK in the next 10 years due to the rising demand for expensive cars.

The Jaguar Land Rover sales allowed a 22.2 billion rupees income for Tata Motors. The sales went up by 43%, thanks to the increasing demand for the Jaguar XJ sedan request in China and the United States, a car that has a base price of $72,000.

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Tata Motors – Opening 10 Jaguar Land Rover Dealerships In India

Hyundai Genesis Sedan

A new manager of a Tustin Hyundai dealership in California managed to quadruple the dealerships' average monthly new car sales, reaching 85 cars sold / month. The reason why he acquired the Hyundai dealership is because he noticed that Hyundai's market share and sales increased in the laws two years. He also owns the Mazda dealerships nearby Huntington Beach and he stated that the Hyundai dealer that he acquired was underperforming in comparison to other dealerships were they sold cars in large quantities.

This success in terms of sales is replicated through the entire United States as 40 of the company's 803 stores in USA have new managers and this trend will rise in intensity in the next months. From September 1^st until now, 19 Hyundai dealerships have changed management.

Dave Zuchowski is America's sales chief for Hyundai Motor and he affirmed that the new owners are a very welcome trend to the once-bargain-basement brand, In the vast majority of the dealerships, the larger and more experienced dealers that have plenty of money, are taking out of their pockets high multiples in order to replace the owners that are managing underperforming dealerships. For example, the Penske Automotive Group recently acquired a low-volume Hyundai store located near Phoenix, in the first months of the year. According to Penske's spokesman Tony Pordon, "I think they are viewed as an attractive opportunity, whereas, four or five years ago you were unsure of the footprint the brand was going to garner."

The most important reason why the Hyundai franchises are more successful now than before is because the manufacturer has significantly increased his market share in the United States and added new models to their lineup, at the same time improving the current cars. Some of these new vehicles are now more expensive in comparison with what Hyundai had to offer in the past. Zuchowski also said that other major Hyundai dealership groups are doing the same thing; some examples would be AutoNation and Group 1 Automotive. Hendrick Automotive Group, who in 2009 was the 7^th largest auto retailer in the United States, bought its first Hyundai dealership in Charleston.

Mark Johnson is the president of MD Johnson Inc – a dealership buy/sell advisory company located in Seattle, and he said that the Hyundai dealerships are now more attractive for the major groups due to the reason that the updated product line permits the dealers to make good money on each new vehicle sale.

Hyundai has recently moved the top end of the product lineup upmarket with more expensive models like the Genesis Sedan ($30,000+) and the Equus luxury car that will be available for sale at a starting price of about $60,000. Hyundai also managed to improve its residual values and it was ranked as the 7^th mainstream manufacturer by ALG in its 2011 Residual Value Awards. This 7^th place is Hyundai's highest rank and well above the average of the industry.

Johnson affirmed that the dealership groups have had almost no interest in the Hyundai stores because the dealers relied on commercializing low-priced automobiles, well below invoice in order to boost volume enough so that they could get stair-step incentive cash as a primary means of profitability. He also said that "That model is something they [large dealers] wanted nothing to do with, And now basically what you’re seeing is, as Hyundai moves its product line up, you don’t have to run the store that way to be profitable."

Hyundai Genesis Sedan

Zuchowski affirmed that it is the company's overall strategy to buy-sell dealerships, in order to improve the dealership network across the United States so that the sales per store could increase significantly, reaching the highest levels in the industry.

Besides adding these high-powered dealers, the company is looking into improving its facilities at the existing stores in order to match these new cars that are considerably better than older generation models. Zuchowski stated that the existing 803 stores in the country are attracting more experienced managers and salespeople, many of them moving from more successful import brands like Toyota and Honda. Approximately 150 Hyundai dealerships will have facility improvements in the upcoming period.

The 21 stores that recently went under a new management sold about 25 cars per month in 2009 and thanks to this employment change, the figure went up to 48 automobiles per month, according to Zuchowski. Hyundai tells on a regular period to the worst-performing dealers to improve sales figures or let them find a buyer that might improve the situation. According to Zuchowski, Hyundai sometimes will pay money for advertising or financial incentives for upgrading the stores.

In 2009, Hyundai sold 435,064 cars in the United States, 8% more in comparison to 2008. This 8% increase is very important when taking into consideration the fact that the North American market fell by more than 20% in 2009. Until October this year, the sales went up again with 21% in comparison with 2009 and Hyundai was able to increase its market share to 4.7%, rising with 0.4 points.

Patterson had the possibility to purchase a Hyundai dealership back in 2003 but he said no as at that time, Mazda was very popular among customers. "Back in 2003, Mazda was overwhelmingly the first choice of those consumers. Hyundai’s name recognition in Orange County wasn’t as strong, but I think that the perception has certainly changed over the last two to three years."

Patterson opened his first Mazda dealership back in 2004, but paid close attention to what Hyundai was doing in Southern California. He later on purchased a local Hyundai store, renamed it Douglas Hyundai. It was an underachieving dealership, selling approximately 20 cars per year while others in the same area were able to sell more than 100 cars. The reason for this acquisition is that Hyundai is now more popular among consumers that are looking for a new product, and Hyundai is not the same old manufacturer that offered only cheap cars.

Source: AutoNews.com

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Hyundai Is Seeking Better Dealers