Smart Fortwo pricing announced (UK)

The revised Smart Fortwo goes on sale this week with tweaked styling, more equipment and lower running costs. The Pulse and Xclusive models receive new alloy wheel designs, while Pulse and Passion models are available in two new colours; blue and green. Prices start at £8,780.

The reworked dashboard brings greater stowage space to the glove-box and side seat bolster pockets. The Pulse and Passion trim-levels also get a redesigned 3 & 2 spoke leather steering wheel, while three new fabric patterns are available on Passion models.

Features like AUX-in/USB port/iPod connectivity are standard on Pulse while Passion and Xclusive models obtain a touch-screen satellite navigation/audio system.

The entry-level 1.0 litre petrol engine – as used previously – emits 97g/km. Every model is exempt from road-tax except from the range-topping variant that breathes out 119g/km.

The range also gains more high-tech equipment, with USB/iPod connectivity on Pulse models and a touch-screen sat-nav/audio system on Passion and Xclusive models. The changes apply to both coupe and cabriolet versions of the Fortwo.

Options will include LED day-time running lights, 8 speaker premium sound system, alloy wheels, metallic paint etc.

Gary Savage, Managing Director Mercedes-Benz Cars UK, said: “The previous Smart attracted a whole new generation of motorists to the brand when it was launched in 2007 and the advancements of the new model are destined to further broaden its appeal.

“The significant changes ensure that the new smart continues to be at the forefront of its sector when it comes to comfort, style and environmental-compatibility, yet do not detract from the car’s unique fun-to-drive nature that has captivated over 60,000 motorists since the smart was officially launched in the UK over 10 years ago.”

Honda to recall Accord Crosstour due to defective airbag (U.S)

Honda will be calling back 3,336 Accord Crosstours due to a faulty front passenger-side airbag according to NHTSA.

"The front passenger airbag may not have been assembled according to correct specifications. In the event of a crash, the front passenger airbag may not deploy as intended and could place an unbelted child seated in the front passenger seat at greater risk of injury should the airbag deploy."

In other documentation, Honda said the problem rests with the airbag packing cloth cover.

"Deployment of the low-risk deployment flag will be delayed, resulting in improper performance," wrote Jay Joseph, the senior manager of Honda's product regulatory office. "Should the flap deploy improperly when an unbelted child is out of position in the front seat, the child may incur neck injuries."

The recall will begin on the 22nd September. Honda dealerships will look over and replace the passenger airbag unit if needed.

Owners can contact Honda at (800) 999-1009.

Suzuki SX4 SZ-L special edition launched (UK)

Suzuki GB has launched a special-edition SX4 exclusively for the British market. The SZ-L (based upon the ‘SZ4’ trim-level) shows the darker side of the regular SX4 with a number of renovated interior and exterior features. It has a sticker-price of £13,145 including metallic/pearlescent paint.

Available in two colours; 'Silky Silver Pearl' and 'Cosmic Black', the SZ-L comes with distinctive gunmetal coloured front grille, alloy wheels, front & rear skid plates and roof rails.

Internally, SZ-L receives Alcantara light grey interior, 3-spoke leather steering wheel w/gunmetal stitching and 6 disc CD auto-changer.

While the car may come with skid plates, they won’t be used much since the SZ-L is solely available with 2WD. Living under the hood is a 1.6 litre, 120bhp petrol engine mated to a manual gearbox. This allows the crossover to reach 62mph from 0 in 10.7 seconds with combined fuel economy of 45.6mpg and CO2 emissions of 143g/km.

BMW to increase testing on British roads (UK)



The UK purchases more M-Sport models
than any other country worldwide



BMW will be testing more of its future models on UK roads ahead of new car launches.

It is now going to put more work on UK testing earlier in a new models development programme.

'We have always recognised that UK roads have a unique surface, and especially, unusual cambers,' said a BMW spokesman. 'Now our engineers will spend more time in the UK to account for that.'

The UK is an important market for BMW, being only second to Germany in Europe. In the UK, the 3 Series accounts for 50% of total BMW sales with the M-Sport variants being popular.

Ford C-Max & Grand C-Max pricing announced (UK)

Ford’s all-new C-Max compact MPV will start from £16,745 with a 1.6 litre 104bhp petrol engine, while the larger Grand C-Max starts at £18,745 when the models go on sale in October.

Only two trim-levels will be available; Zetec and Titanium. Entry-level Zetec model comes with alloy wheels, air conditioning, leather steering wheel, Thatcham category 1 alarm, DAB radio/CD and Bluetooth w/USB connectivity and voice control. Grand C-MAX has powered child-proof locks on the rear dual sliding doors, and rear parking sensors.

Titanium adds rain-sensing front wipers and dusk-sensing headlamps, dual electronic automatic temperature control, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, hill start assist, keyless start, cruise control w/speed limiter, premium Sony audio, and tyre pressure warning light. The Grand C-MAX has electric folding mirrors.

Other petrol engines in the C-Max range include a 123bhp 1.6 and an all-new 4-cylinder 148bhp 1.6 Ecoboost engine linked to a new six-speed manual gearbox. This costs from £19,745 in Titanium trim.

Diesel engines available in the C-Max include an 113bhp 1.6 and a 138bhp 2.0, which is also available with Ford’s 6 speed dual-clutch gearbox.

All of the engines available in the C-Max are available in its larger sister model, with the exception of the entry-level 104bhp 1.6 petrol unit.

Mark Simpson, marketing director, Ford of Britain said: "When C-MAX was launched in 2003 it preserved the entire brand's most important qualities including style, comfort and driving quality, but added more flexibility and space to the Focus package."

"Since then the market has expanded quite considerably with customers expressing a variety of needs. These are met with the family-friendly seven-seater and the sporty-but-spacious five-seater. The new Ford C-MAX and Grand C-MAX are priced to offer customers best value for money whilst still introducing many exciting new technologies which will feature on the all-new Focus due next year," he said.

Cars sales down across Europe (EU)

Car sales across Italy Spain, France and the UK plummeted during August after Government incentives were wearing thin or ended.

Italian car sales dropped by 19% to 63,000 units last month while Spanish car sales plunged by a massive 23.8% to 44,578 units. French sales were down 9.8% when the scrappage scheme was near end with British car sales falling by 17.5% to 55,305 for the second month in a row. The decline comes in advance of the introduction of the September ‘60’ plate, and the market for newly registered cars is expected to fall by around 10% this month, from 367,929 units last year, even though over the first seven months of 2010 the market remains 13.2% above 2009 at 1,300,413 units. The best-selling car was the Ford Fiesta with 2,660 units.

Federauto president, Filippo Pavan Bernacchi said Italian dealers would have to cut about 15,000 of their current 178,000 jobs to survive in the declining car market.

A French consumer credit agent said car sales will continue to show year-on-year falls in France in the coming months. Sales were exceedingly strong in the months in late 2009, when buyers took advantage of the €1,000 bonus before it was reduced.

In Spain, Government funding to help people buy new cars ran out 1st July, at the same time as a jump in their value-added tax (VAT) was introduced.

In the UK, the scrappage scheme ended in March with the scrappage blues settling in July. The full year estimate suggests 2010 registrations will finish at approximately 2m units, a 1.2% boost from 2009.

Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, said: “New car registrations were down 17.5% in August and conditions will remain challenging through the rest of the year. The industry enjoyed a better than expected first half of the year and, despite the difficulties, SMMT is forecasting that new car registrations will close just ahead of 2009 figures.”

Diesel cars saw their market share achieve another unsurpassed peak of 52.6% during August. For the second month in a row, sales of superminis and city-cars have been sluggish with sales of MPVs (Kia Venga, Peugeot 5008, Ford Galaxy), SUV’s (Mercedes GL, Toyota RAV4, Daihatsu Terios), and mid-sized executive and luxury saloons (Hyundai Grandeur, Citroen C6, Mercedes S-Class, Jaguar XJ) being very strong.

News in brief

KIA vice-president resigns following recalls:

Toyota and GM, take note!

KIA’s vice-chairman, Jeong Sung Eun, has quit his job last week due to 100,000 vehicles being recalled worldwide. Lee Hyong Keun will be replacing Eun as KIA’s vice-chairman.

“Quality is a top priority for Kia and Hyundai Motor Co. management,” Chae said. “They don’t want to tarnish their image.”

To date, KIA recalled 85,900 vehicles due to a wiring problem that could cause fires. Around 36,000 Souls, 33,000 Sorentos, 8,000 Mohaves and 8,900 Cadenza sedans are on the list. Kia is preparing to recall an additional 18,147 Sorento, Borrego and Soul passenger cars in China due to problems with circuit boards.

Toyota Prius III continues to be top seller (JP):

For 16 months now, Japanese customers have been flocking to Toyota showrooms across the country to buy a Prius hybrid. However, while sales are still rapid, they fell to their lowest level in 2010.

Government tax cuts and new car incentives that are aim at fuel efficient vehicles run out towards the end of September. Japanese buyers bought 22,263 Priuses last month, 30% better volume than the second place Honda Fit.

The Prius continues to be by far the best performing hybrid in Japan; although there was some premature competition against the Honda Insight just over a year ago, it ranked 15th on Japan's best-seller list last month.

Geely brand to disappear:

Geely is axing the Geely brand to focus on its sub-brand like Gleagle, Emgrand, Shanghai Englon and, Volvo. Gleagle, short for Global Eagle, is Geely’s global brand, while Emgrand is the firm’s luxury division. Shanghai Englon focuses on economy and some fleet vehicles.

The result to axe the Geely brand will most likely be a good move for the company as its on course to become China’s leading car company. Geely’s first half profits rose 35% to $119 million.

Toyota recalls over 116,500 Hilux pick-up trucks in Australia (AU):

Toyota’s Australian division is recalling 116,507 Hilux pick-up trucks due to a faulty rear driveshaft bracket support.

The recall covers Hiluxs produced between January 2005 – February 2010 with 4WD. Toyota says that the concern primarily affects vehicles used in rough road conditions, such as over cattle grids and on poor unpaved terrain.

Toyota said that 19 vehicles have suffered support tears, but only one suffered total failure. No injuries have been reported.

MINI plans Countryman Coupe:

MINI is preparing a sporty coupé variant of the all-new Countryman crossover, with initial images on the drawing board at MINI’s design studio in Munich.


With BMW planning front-wheel-drive models, the Countryman coupé would be the first of many models in a niche of its own. According to insiders, the concept is being probed because the BMW X6 is a success.

MINI is eyeing up the forthcoming Range Rover Evoque because MINI could give a cut-price rival for around £20k. If green-lighted, the coupé will arrive in 2013 with rear-hinged (suicide) doors and no B-pillars.

Via Autocar 
 

Police to fit parking sensors to reduce repair bills (UK):
 
Police in South Yorkshire, Northern England, will fit parking sensors on all police cars to shrink the amount of cash spent fixing the destruction caused by low-speed accidents; they spend around £60,000 annually.

Martin Whysall, South Yorkshire Police’s fleet manager, said, "Police station yards were not necessarily designed for cars and they can be tight in terms of space."

Police forces across the land spend hundreds of thousands of pounds repairing damaged police cars. From April 2009 – April 2010, Merseyside Police spent £205,403 on repairing crashed cars. Humberside Police buys cars with reversing sensors as standard, whereas North and West Yorkshire police already add parking sensors to the larger vehicles in their fleets.

Infiniti M30d pricing announced (UK):

Infiniti has released prices for its first-ever diesel saloon which goes on sale next month.


The M30d is available in 5 trim-levels; standard, GT, GT Premium, M30d S and M30d S Premium. The standard model starts at £36,750 and comes with heated steering wheel, bi-xenon headlamps, 10 way electrically adjustable front seats, rear parking sensors w/reversing camera and Infiniti Driver Selector.

The GT model – at £39,250 – features semi-aniline leather heated and ventilated front seats. The GT Premium starts at £44,600 and comes with a blind-spot monitoring system, adaptive cruise control, Connectiviti+ infotainment system and Infiniti’s Air climate control.

The sportier M30d S features 4 wheel steering, sports suspension, sports seats, 20” alloy wheels and gear-shift paddles. Flagship M30d S Premium adds the extra equipment included in the GT Premium over the standard GT model at £46,600.

Volkswagen Caddy facelift pricing announced (UK):

Prices have been announced for Volkswagen’s revised Caddy LCV and Caddy Maxi. The Caddy starts from £12,100 (excluding VAT) for the 1.6 TDI 75bhp, rising to £22,690 for the Caddy Maxi MPV 2.0 TDI 110bhp 4Motion. The Caddy Maxi starts at £14,050 (excluding VAT) and comes with a 102PS, 1.6 TDI.

Joining the 1.6 TDI 75PS and 102PS diesel engines is a 2.0 TDI that is available with 110bhp and 140bhp, while Volkswagen offers two Bluemotion models. These make use of stop/start, automatic battery regeneration, aerodynamic wheel arch spoilers and low rolling resistance tyres, in addition to the 102PS, 1.6 TDI engine for combined fuel economy of 55.4mpg and CO2 emissions of 134g/km. This gives the vehicle of range of 735 miles (1,181km).

All Caddy models come equipped with ESP, ABS, Traction Control System (TCS), automatic hazard lights, driver's airbag, speed sensitive power steering, remote central locking and a CD stereo w/AUX-in socket as standard. A 7-speed DSG gearbox and 4Motion is available.

Order books open 27th September with first customer deliveries in November.