Tag: production

Report: Mercedes considering Mexico for CLA production

Filed under: Sedan, Plants/Manufacturing, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Luxury

Would you buy a Mercedes-Benz if it were made in Mexico? That’s what the German outfit is wondering, as it considers localizing production of its new budget model at a factory operated by Nissan, of which the automaker is a joint-venture partner.

According to a report from Automotive News, moving production of American-spec CLAs from Hungary to Mexico would protect Mercedes from currency fluctuations. “Mexico is the best location for the United States,” Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche told AN. The CLA is also expected to become the brand’s volume model in the US market, which makes North American production a logical move.

In the event that Mercedes approves the plan, Nissan would expand the capabilities at its Aguascalientes, Mexico plant, allowing production to begin in 2018.

Mercedes considering Mexico for CLA production originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Volkswagen Taigun going into production, but not for US

Filed under: Concept Cars, Budget, Crossover, Volkswagen, South America

We last mentioned the Volkswagen Taigun when discussing the subcompact crossover that Volkswagen will be bringing to the US in 2016. Well, turns out the Taigun won’t be that crossover, but it is going into production for other markets outside the US according to a report in Autoweek. Based on the same platform as the Up!, the Taigun is two size classes – not one – beneath the Tiguan, and is seen by VW as lacking the dimensions and power that the US crossover brigades demand. It’s the same reasoning that will probably keep the Ford EcoSport, a Taigun competitor, from coming here.

The Autoweek piece says the Taigun, with a wheelbase two inches longer than the Up! and a seating position that puts the driver 2.5 inches higher, will only use front-wheel drive. Three-cylinder gas and diesel engines, as well as a natural gas option, will provide motivation; manual and dual-clutch transmissions will do the shifting. The concept, for example, uses a 1.0-liter three-cylinder with 109 horsepower and 129 pound-feet of torque. What’s more, it seems the patent drawings spied in China weren’t lying, AW saying the production version will remain close to the concept. For a driving review of the concept, head over to AW.

A solid date for release hasn’t been given, but 2016 is the expected timeframe. That would have it on sale at the same time as the compact crossover we are meant to get, which will sit above it and below the next-generation, long-wheelbase Tiguan due also to be shown in 2016.

Volkswagen Taigun going into production, but not for US originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Land Rover to decide soon on production Evoque Convertible

Filed under: Concept Cars, Convertible, SUV, Geneva Motor Show, Land Rover, Luxury

Land Rover Evoque Convertible

Ignoring the lessons learned from the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, it appears Land Rover may be about to greenlight production of the Range Rover Evoque Convertible. At least, that’s what Australian website Car Advice is saying.

The topic came up at a Land Rover executive meeting for the Asia Pacific region, with brand director John Edwards supporting the idea.

Really, it’s not hard to see the dollar signs in Land Rover’s eyes. The Evoque has been a runaway success for the Anglo-Indian brand, and is largely responsible for it cresting 300,000 units sold in 2012. But this piece also flies in the face of previous reports, arguing against a production Evoque Convertible due to a lack of public demand.

As popular as an Evoque Convertible would be with the Real Housewives set, all the scuttlebutt has been against a production for the droptop Land Rover, going back to its debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. With the 2013-2014 auto show season on the horizon, though, we can expect a definitive answer soon.

Land Rover to decide soon on production Evoque Convertible originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Jul 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lego approves fan-made Mars Rover Curiosity set for production [w/video]

Filed under: Toys/Games

Lego has announced that the Mars Rover Curiosity will become the Danish company’s next user-designed Cuusoo set to reach store shelves. The company’s Cuusoo program allows anyone to submit an idea for a Lego set that could make it to production. After having been among a small group of sets to receive at least 10,000 votes – the minimum required – in the 2012 Fall Review on the Lego Cuusoo site, the Mars Rover Curiosity then survived an exhaustive review process, which not all sets do (sorry, UCS Sandcrawler), before receiving final approval from the company. While it got the nod, pricing and availability is yet to be determined as the set continues being developed for mass production. Scroll down to watch Lego make the announcement on video.

The Mars Rover Curiosity Lego set actually has an interesting back story. Its designer, listed as Perijove on the set’s official Cuusoo page, is a mechanical engineer who worked on the real Mars Rover Curiosity at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which means his recreation of the rover is highly accurate, not only in how it looks, but also in the details and all of its moving parts. Perijove states that the purpose of his model is “to continue the educational outreach for this incredible mission.” The timing couldn’t have been better, as the set became popular on the Lego Cuusoo site in late Summer 2012 when the real Curiosity rover touched down and began rolling around on the surface of Mars.

The last set to make it all of the way through Lego’s Cuusoo program was the Lego Back to the Future DeLorean, which received approval for production last December. Other autos-related Cuusoo sets that received 10,000+ votes and are scheduled for production review include an incredibly detailed Land Rover Defender 110 and minifig-scale Batman Tumblr.

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Lego approves fan-made Mars Rover Curiosity set for production [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: GM will no longer release monthly production figures

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, GM

General Motors has announced that it will no longer disclose monthly production figures to automotive data providers. Automotive News reports that GM notified research and data providers IHS Automotive, Automotive News Data Center and Autodata Corp. about the change, saying that the company will now provide numbers for wholesale deliveries. Up until now GM, along with many other car companies, provided monthly North American production figures, broken out by individual models.

The automaker says that the new policy is due to a change in the way it records financials for vehicles. In the first part of this year, GM started assigning profit and loss to the country in which a vehicle is sold, rather than to the facility at which it was manufactured. This, says GM, makes the production numbers less critical to keep track of.

Concerns about the change in reporting are multitudinous. Many automotive suppliers use production forecasts that are based on real production data to plan their own manufacturing schedules for coming months. What’s more, Automotive News tells us that the GM numbers have been used in many other standard indicators of economic health in the US, including those published by the Federal Reserve. While models exist for estimating the production data, nobody is exactly sure how accurate they’ll be, or what the longer term fallout in the industry will look like.

GM will no longer release monthly production figures originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class enters production

Filed under: Sedan, Plants/Manufacturing, Mercedes-Benz, Luxury

With the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class set to go on sale next month, the first examples of the sixth-generation ultra-luxury sedan have begun rolling off the assembly line at the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant in Germany. The first car headed to customers is the silver S400 Hybrid you see above, and Mercedes executives Dieter Zetsche and Andreas Renschler were both on hand to welcome the car.

To prepare for the new S-Class, Mercedes has invested close to one billion euros in the German factory. While a half dozen models are produced at this plant, most of the recent improvements were focused on Mercedes’ flagship sedan. Also destined to be built at this plant is the upcoming S-Class Coupe, which is replacing the CL-Class. Interestingly, this name change has been speculated for some time, but the official press release posted below could be the first time we’ve seen Mercedes refer to the car as such.

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2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class enters production originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: BMW 3 Series production to end in October, next-gen model coming in spring 2012

Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Sedan, Performance, Europe, BMW, Luxury

2011 BMW 335is

2011 BMW 335is – Click above for high-res image gallery

Production of the current E90 and E92 BMW 3 Series will come to an end for good in October, in preparation for next spring’s launch of the all-new F30 3 Series. Before the gas models bow out, the oil-burning 335d will cease production in August.

The death of the current 3er makes room for a sleeker, less cluttered version of the car which clings closely to the more aggressive new BMW design language. Among the changes will be flatter kidney grilles as well as shorter overhangs, as well as a more muscular stance.

The new 3s will also get a bump in efficiency, with a range of turbocharged four- and six-cylinder mills, with the outside chance of a three-banger joining the lineup later on. The next M3 will ditch V8 power in favor of a twin-turbo inline-six sporting about 450 horsepower.

BMW 3 Series production to end in October, next-gen model coming in spring 2012 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 May 2011 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spy Shots: 2012 BMW M5 inches closer to production in a stunning shade of brown

Filed under: Frankfurt Motor Show, Spy Photos, Sedan, Performance, BMW

2012 BMW M5 spy shots

2012 BMW M5 spy shots – Click above for high-res image gallery

The BMW M5 that debuted at this year’s Shanghai Motor Show may have technically been a concept car, but it comes as no surprise to see that the near-production models the German automaker is testing look exactly like the car we saw on stage. For what it’s worth, we certainly hope the dark brown paint seen on this prototype will be offered when the M5 hits dealerships. Those blacked-out wheels can stay, too.

As you’ve no doubt read countless times before, the M5 will be offered with BMW’s twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8, packing somewhere north of 480 horsepower. In the United States, both a manual and dual-clutch transmission will be available, and all-wheel drive may be in the cards, as well.

We’ll have the full details later this year. The Frankfurt Motor Show can’t come soon enough.

2012 BMW M5 inches closer to production in a stunning shade of brown originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 23 May 2011 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Saab 9-4X production underway, only Saab currently being built

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Crossover, Saab, Luxury

2011 Saab 9-4X

2011 Saab 9-4X – Click above for high-res image gallery

Production of the all-new 2011 Saab 9-4X crossover has started on schedule, despite the company’s crippling financial woes. While production of the rest of the Saab lineup at its Trollhattan, Sweden plant has ground to a cash-strapped halt, 9-4Xs are rolling off the assembly lines in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.

The plant producing the latest Saab is under contract to the Swedes from GM, and with any luck will help jumpstart a recovery. Under its very Swedish skin, the Saab 9-4X packs the same underpinnings as the 2011 Cadillac SRX.

The base model, which comes with a 265-hp 2.8-liter V6, starts at $33,380, with the top-whack, turbocharged model ringing the register at $48,010. Ominously for Saab, the 300-hp mill is the same engine Cadillac just pulled from the SRX lineup to deal with reliability issues.

Saab 9-4X production underway, only Saab currently being built originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 21 May 2011 16:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Toyota and Subaru to unveil production sport coupes in Tokyo?

Filed under: Coupe, Budget, Performance, Tokyo Motor Show, Scion, Subaru, Toyota, Rumormill

Scion FR-S Concept

Scion FR-S Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

The wait is over… almost. According to a report from Inside Line that jives with what we’ve been hearing ourselves, Toyota (or Scion, or both) and Subaru are set to use the Tokyo Motor Show to jointly unveil the hotly anticipated rear-wheel-drive sport coupes that they have been working on together since what seems like the beginning of time.

Yes, that means we need to sit back and keep waiting until December, but at least it’s some sort of real real date to mark on the calendar, right? Until then, you’ll just have to be content with what is sure to be an endless series of spy shots and leaked information on the affordable sportscar duo.

Inside Line also offers something of a timetable for production, saying that the Scion FR-S will hit American shores sometime in 2012 (rather nebulous, no?) while the unnamed Subaru version will begin production in the spring of the same year.

Toyota and Subaru to unveil production sport coupes in Tokyo? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 20 May 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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