The anatomy of a car lease is not that complicated as some of you might have thought. It is an ongoing financial arrangement whereby you – the lessee – sign for example, a two-to-four year contract, drive the car for the allotted time and then return it to the dealership – the lessor. You then have the possibility to either purchase the car or get another lease for a new one. Of course, you also can simply walk away without any further obligations.

Generally, the lease payments are lower in comparison to loan payments. With loan financing, you will retain ownership of the vehicle after you finish off paying the car. When leasing however, ownership of the car remains with the lessor throughout and after the lease ends, unless you decide to buy the car as we mentioned before. Therefore, leasing will not allow you to build ownership value (equity), in the car; however, it does free you from the significant expense of owning a newer car, which is depreciation.

There are two types of lease: open-end and closed-end. We'll explain them in the following.

The open-end lease requires you to pay any differences that are between the projected residual, or remaining, value of the car and its current market value when the lease ends. This type of lease is not that popular nowadays as financers usually offer closed-end leases.

The closed-end leases are also known as walkaway leases and they specify the price at which you may (but are not compelled to), buy the car when the lease ends. Taking into consideration the fact that you are not obligated to buy the vehicle, you can simply walk away and enter into another lease agreement for a brand new car. This type of lease shifts the risk of overestimating the residual value of the car onto the lessor, who will agree to absorb any losses that stem from rapid depreciation.  However, you will be fully responsible for any above-normal mileage or wear & tear.

In order to qualify for a lease, you normally must have a good credit. If you make a low down payment, you will be exposed to greater risks of substantial loss if you later on cannot afford to pay the lease. The lessor usually charges a substantial penalty if you decide to terminate the lease early and for this reason we highly recommend that you enter a lease if you are 100% sure that you can fulfill the terms completely.

When learning more about the anatomy of a car lease, you have to take into consideration that most of them have a maximum number of miles that you can drive the car before you will be charged for excess-mileage. In most cases, you can make 15,000 miles per year, anything above that will cost you. If you think that you will make more than that, try to negotiate a higher limit.

The vast majority of the leases require a nonrefundable down payment of $1,000-$2,000, depending on the car's value. They also might require a security deposit which in most of the cases is refundable. You'll also need to take into consideration the sales taxes that you might be asked to pay.

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Anatomy Of A Car Lease

The Korean automaker Hyundai is planning on expanding in the emerging markets and for this reason they are going to build a new car plant in Brazil. The company will invest $600 million in the factory in Piracicaba, Brazil, a plant that will have an annual capacity of 150,000 cars. In a statement published yesterday, the company said that the production of a small-sized car will start in November 2012.

This new factory in Brazil will complete the automaker's presence in four key emerging markets, after they have set up plants in India, Russia and China. With the help of this factory, Hyundai will be able to compete more aggressively with General Motors and VW in the South American nation and increase its market share, according to Kim Byung Kwan, who is an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co., based in Seoul.

Last year, Hyundai managed to sell 19% more cars in Brazil according to that same statement, commercializing 80,000 cars. In Latin America, the company's sales went up by 27% to 230,000 units. For this year, the automaker is planning on selling 93,000 cars in Brazil.

Toyota, VW and GM have already opened up factories in Brazil and Hyundai will about to join them. They expect that Brazil will become the world's 3^rd largest auto market by 2015 and Kim Byung Kwan said that Hyundai's Brazilian market share will reach 6% by 2014.

In the same statement, the automaker said that this new factory will help them reach their goal of manufacturing 4.51 million cars worldwide annually by 2012. The production outside of homeland South Korea will consist of 2, 65 million cars. Brazil will be the 7^th country where the automaker will set up a factory outside its homeland.

Back in September, the company said that they will finish the construction of a third plant in China with a capacity to make 400,000 cars by 2012. They also have two other plants in India where they make 600,000 cars, combined.

In 2011 they've started making cars at their plant in Russia where they will be rolling out 150,000 cars. Hyundai also has factories in Czech Republic, Turkey and the United States.

The aforementioned small-sized car that will be made in Brazil is going to be a hatchback targeted for customers in the Central and South American markets. They've said that more models could be added after 2013, depending upon the demand.

Source: AutoNews

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Hyundai Plans On Building Factory In Brazil

Not only Toyota is recalling cars these days because Ford recently announced that they are recalling 144,000 F-150 pickups from the 2005 and 2006 model years due to concerns that the airbags may deploy without warning.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advised the Blue Oval company to recall the pickup truck after analyzing 238 reports of accidental airbag deployment.  77 injuries have been reported, including minor burns and cuts to the face, hands, arms as well as chipped teeth.

Regular driving and road vibrations can cause the truck's airbag wires to rub against the metal edge of the horn plate. This rubbing might lead after a while to a cut through the insulation of the wire, which then might cause short and cause the deployment of the airbag.

The automaker is recalling 135,000 units in the United States and another 9,000 in Canada. According to Ford, the risk of accidental airbag deployment is relatively low. The company changed the wiring on the 2007 model in order to avoid this problem.

Source: Autoweek

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Ford Recalls 144,000 F-150s

Mansory has become famous for releasing some of the most extreme tuning programs, but now they've decide to do something a little bit different and they created a custom bike. Dubbed Zapico, it was built in collaboration with bike customizer Thomas M. George and it is made almost entirely out of carbon fiber, excluding here the metal ornaments.

The bike's seat module, front mask, bug spoiler, fuel tank, silencer applications, airbox, wheel rims, fork and frame are all made out of CFRP. Metal was used for the engine, exhaust and a few inserts on the fuel tank, spoiler and rear fender. The rims measure 3.5×18-inch up front and 10×18-inch in the rear, wrapped around 130/60/18-inch and 280/35/18-inch rubber, respectively.

It has an S&S 124 2,080 cc V2 spring-loaded vibration power unit that develops 160 hp @ 5,200 rpm transmitted to the rear wheel via 5-speed transmission. Thanks to the very low curb weight of only 340 kg (with a full tank), the Mansory Zapico can sprint to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds.

No details regarding the price of this bike were revealed.

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Mansory Zapico Revealed

You probably know by now that China has one of the fastest growing automotive markets in the world and more manufacturers are either building new factories or forming alliances with other companies that are already established in the country, in their search of grabbing more and more customers.

Volvo is about to do the same thing as at a press conference held yesterday in Beijing, the Chinese-owned Volvo Cars revealed its plans to construct a new factory in Chengdu and will continue investigations for a second plant in Daqing, located in NE China. The automaker said that the deal is still pending approval from the local government.

The aforementioned Chengdu factory will manufacture only Volvo cars and will have an initial output of about 100,000 cars per year and the production is estimated to start sometime in 2013. The automaker said that this decision to expand in the Chinese market will not have consequences for the operations and the employment in Europe.

If you don't remember, Volvo was bought from Ford by China-based Geely in 2010. The Swedish automaker said that the city of Shanghai will be the Volvo Car China's HQ and centre for product development, design and sourcing.

The officials at Volvo affirmed that they plan on increasing the company's presence in China and they want to sell approximately 200,000 units / year in the country by 2015. In 2010, Volvo's global retail sales reached 373,525 units and only 30,000 were commercialized in China. In comparison to 2009, they've sold 11.2% more cars.

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Volvo Plans On Building New Factory In China

We've told you a while ago that De Tomaso will make its return this year at the Geneva Motor Show with the launch of a new large luxury AWD crossover named SLC (Sport Luxury Car). The Italian automaker filed for bankruptcy back in 2004, but was bought back to life after ex-Fiat executive, Gianmario Rossignolo, purchased the brand in November 2009 from a Modena bankruptcy court.

As we mentioned last week, the new car was supposed to be called SLC but in the latest press release coming from De Tomaso, the crossover will be wearing the "SLS" designation (Sport Luxury Sedan). However, taking into consideration that Mercedes already owns the rights for the "SLS" name, the automaker will reveal the final production name of the car next week at Geneva.

As you can see from these images, it will be a high-riding saloon / crossover like the BMW 5-Series GT. It will have four-wheel-drive and it will be offered at first with two gas engines, a V6 that will output 300 hp and a V8 that will produce 550 hp. The automaker said that in the future they will introduce a diesel engine.

Designed by Pininfarina, the SLS is going to be built on an aluminum chassis by using "an innovative construction technology called Univis" – more details about this will be revealed next week.

The architecture of the SLS will be the foundation of two new models from De Tomaso, including a coupe and a sports sedan. The company is planning to invest about $160 million in this project and they hope to sell 3,000 units of the SLS per year, along with 2,000 coupes and 3,000 sport sedans.

The new De Tomaso SLS will be manufactured at the company's plant near Turin which was owned by Pininfarina S.p.A. and in the Livorno plant by ex-Delphi employees.

Source: Carscoop

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De Tomaso SLS Confirmed For Production

As you probably know by now, the Italian automaker Ferrari will be bringing to this year's Geneva Motor Show the highly-anticipated FF model. According to Carscoop.com, they will also bring a "greener" 458 Italia with the HELE System (High Emotion, Low Emission) that will reduce the fuel consumption and the CO2 emissions.

Although 99% of the people that buy a Ferrari 458 Italia don't really care about fuel economy or carbon dioxide emissions, thanks to this HELE technology and the start/stop technology, the car will be able to emit 11% less CO2 emissions, from 307 g/km to 275 g/km. Most likely, the HELE system will be offered as an optional feature.

We'll let you know once Ferrari reveals the car next week at Geneva.

Source: Carscoop

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Geneva Preview – Greener Ferrari 458 Italia

Yesterday, Opel announced that they will launch a new convertible in 2013 as a part of their 11 billion Euros investment which was announced last year that also includes the introduction of the new-gen Zafira and the Ampera electric vehicle.

This new droptop will be based on GM's compact vehicle architecture, which is the foundation for the current hatchback version of the Astra, AstraSportsTourer and the soon-to-be-released Astra GTC, as well as the Cruze and Orlando models from Chevrolet.

The Germans did not reveal the name for the new convertible, but it will probably be the next generation Astra Convertible, that is at the moment produced as a CC (coupe-cabriolet) with the Astra TwinTop designation.  The new car will go into production in 2013 at the automaker's factory in Poland where other Astra models are produced.

We don't know if the new model will come with a retractable hardtop (like the current generation) or if it will feature a soft top in order to rival the recently announced VW Golf 6 Cabriolet – hopefully, they'll stick to the hardtop.

More information will be revealed closer to the car's launched date. Stay tuned.

Source: Carscoop

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Astra-based Convertible In The Works

A new generation of the Toyota Yaris (Vitz) was launched in Japan last December. Next week at the 81^st edition of the Geneva Motor Show, the automaker will bring a thinly disguised concept of a soon-to-be-released hybrid version of the supermini. But, as these trademark fillings from Europe prove, Toyota is also working on a sport model that will probably replace the Yaris TS.

The car that you see in these patent designs comes with a full body kit that offers a new front bumper that will replace the standard front grille with openings next to the headlamps while at the same time offering LED daytime running lights, more aggressive side skirts, an updated rear bumper that has a prominent diffuser and bespoke tail lamps. The car will also get a brand new set of bespoke alloy rims and a new roof spoiler.

Most likely, the sport version of the Yaris will come with a much more powerful engine than the 1.8-liter gasoline unit that produces 133 hp, available for the standard model. Probably, the Japanese engineers will also improve the car's handling, the brake system and the suspension.

Source: Carscoop

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Toyota, Working on Sporty Yaris Model

I've always liked MTM for their tuning programs, but the looks of their R8 V10 Biturbo are too flashy for my tastes. I don't think that any car in the world looks good in a chrome exterior, and the Audi R8 is no exception to this rule.

The good thing is that the engine of the R8 has received a little bit of tweaking and can now produce 766 hp (777 PS / 571 kW) and a peak torque of 655 lb.-ft (888 Nm) of torque. Thanks to the bi-turbo kit, the car will be able to hit a top speed of over 224 mph (360 km/h), once the testing is completed. According to MotorVision.de, MTM managed to a hit a top speed of "only" 216 mph (347.6 km/h).

The car now sits on 20-inch rims wrapped around in Michelin PS2 rubber. In addition, it sports new 8-piston brakes, a new front lip, and rear spoiler along with a bunch of handling improvements. That powerful engine is mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox.

When it will be available, the MTM Audi R8 V10 Biturbo will have a very steep price of 400,000 Euros.

Source: MotorVision.de via GTSpirit via WCF

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MTM R8 V10 Biturbo, Heading To Geneva