Tag: hoping

Report: Mexico’s Mastretta hoping to turn Top Gear notoriety into sales

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Etc., UK, Celebrities

Mastretta MXT

Mastretta MXT – Click above for high-res image gallery

Mexican sportscar manufacturer Mastretta is making the best of a bad situation. The company is attempting to capitalize on the furor over insulting comments that the presenters of Top Gear made about the automaker and Mexico in general. According to Drive.com, since the incident, traffic to the company’s website has skyrocketed, and more importantly, orders for the Mastretta MXT have leapt as well. According to Carlos Mastretta, the company’s general manager, the manufacturer now has orders from countries in Europe as well as Brazil and Chile. Mastretta has recently begun to receive inquiries from the States, as well.

The jump in attention is thanks solely to the dust up over the Top Gear comments. According to Drive.com, the MXT was a relative unknown – even in its home country. While Mastretta is a well-known manufacturer of public-transportation vehicles, few knew that the company is also responsible for this new sportscar before hearing about the confrontation between the BBC and Mexico’s ambassador to the UK.

The Mastretta MXT is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter Ford Duratec four-cylinder engine with around 250 horsepower, and the company says that the vehicle should be good for 0-60 mph dashes in the high four-second range thanks to its lightweight design.

Gallery: Mastretta MXT

[Source: Drive.com]

Report: Mexico’s Mastretta hoping to turn Top Gear notoriety into sales originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Ford still hoping to cut 10% of its dealer network

Filed under: Car Buying, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury

Ford may have come through the automotive implosion relatively unscathed, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t still trying to trim its costs. According to Automotive News, Ford wants to consolidate its dealer network by closing the doors on some 300 lots. The reason? While the automotive market is slowly improving, no one expects to see the kind of buying levels enjoyed before 2009 anytime soon. As a result, Ford wants to boost the profitability of its dealer network by reducing the number of outlets available to consumers.

While you’d expect dealers to be up in arms over such an announcement, Ford says that, by and large, its showrooms are behind the move. The company’s relationship with its dealer network recently hit an all-time high, putting Ford in a good position to push the consolidation effort.

The move to trim outlets is also bolstered by the fact that there are 261 Lincoln-Mercury dealerships out there, and with Mercury on its way to the back lot in the sky, those dealers will likely be exploring other options. And with Ford currently operates a total of 3,338 dealerships in the States, a sacrifice of 10% seems more than reasonable.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req. | Image: Bill Pugliano/Getty]

Report: Ford still hoping to cut 10% of its dealer network originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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