WheelTronix

Honda is putting a stop to the production of its 6 seat FR-V MPV. Production will come to an end at its Japan factory from this summer and it is anticipated that its last car will be rolled off from its Suzuka plant in August.

The Honda Company has not yet substantiated anything about a replacement for the FR-V.

This actually points to the course of curtailment and the slumping of the MPV market. It lays claim that it will be capable of covering the market with the Insight and Jazz.

Right from its first sale in 2004, 13,531 of the FR-Vs have been sold in the UK alone. Like the Fiat Multipla that came before it, the Honda banished the more distinctive 2+3+2 for a 3+3 placement.

The FR-V will go on with its sale in the UK till stocks last. Prices start from £16,700 for the 1.8-litre SE.

The Fiat Bravo is a new tiny family coupe of Fiat. This small family car was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2007. The car was planned by the Fiat style centre. The Austrian automotive company Magna Steyr was called for in masterminding most of the car’s body and adjustments.

Once the Bravo is set in motion in India, it will turn out to be the most costly hatchback in the country.

The inspiration behind setting up this car is not to bring forth huge sales numbers but it is done so to create a sturdy brand image with a eminent quality of a world class product.

The Bravo in India will be fitted with a 1910cc, 16-valve turbocharged multijet engine. This will be able to produce a huge 150bhp@4000 rpm, with the car covering 0-100kph in about 9 seconds. The Bravo is a lavish hatchback, with insides that well match any other makes. The price is expected to be between Rs. 18 and 25 lakh.

A foremost supplier of automotive data and intelligence states that the European motor industry is displaying marks of retrieval due to the introduction of scrappage schemes on the continent.

Jato Dynamics’ monthly European new car market study for May 2009 has exposed that even though the car market is behind by 13.1% year-on-year, there is a 2.4% step up on the preceding month’s figures.

The scrappage schemes which were brought out through out a number of European markets are now starting to have an encouraging result.

The German market has recorded 39.7% up comparatively to that of May 2008 which is a 20.3% enhancement more than the figures of last month. France shows an 11.8% increase over the figures for April.

The Jato figures reveal that the Volkswagen Golf carries on leading the sales charts with increased sales by 32.1% on the same month last year. The Fiesta is up by 56.0% in May and also the Fiat Punto, Fiat Panda and Volkswagen Polo have all modified sales in May when equated to the same month last year.

A fresh and extraordinary edition Fiat Bravo has just been declared to partake in an international charity driving expedition which will be taking place in capital cities across Europe to Turin, Italy.

The new Bravo MSN Special Series is the outcome of a teamwork between Fiat and internet giant MSN.
It is founded on a Bravo 1.4 and is equipped with standard Sony Ericsson mobile phone engineering.
The Bravo MSN Special Series is priced at £13,255. This cost is equal to that of a standard 1.4 16V Active.

The difference is that the Bravo MSN Special Series offers clients £2,700 worth of free additional equipment.
Along with the navigation and communications outfit, the particularly marked car also has unique grey pearl scent paint with 17″ alloy wheels and a leather guiding wheel.

The Bravo MSN Special Series is connected with the Bravo Tour which is a 3 day drive to Fiat’s Balocco dummy run track near Turin. The European initial points include Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, London, Rome and Brussels.

Fiat is planning to take over GM Europe which would result in job losses and this has been warned by industry experts.
Fiat at present has losses which amount to around £7 billion.

Even though Vauxhall factories at Ellesmere Port and Luton have undergone foremost reformation and efficiency savings, it is said that more could follow under Fiat ownership.

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Continuing business and restructuring will be carried out simultaneously by Chrysler, since it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the USA.

20% of the stake of Chrysler will be taken up by Fiat and this will be augmented to 35% in increments- Fiat has confirmed to this extent today. This is being done under an ‘agreement in principle’ mode.
The increments will be done in the following ways:

• First 5% when Fiat brings a proposal for a 40mpg car for Chrysler to assemble in the US;
• 5% when Chrysler can manufacture a sequence of fuel-effective Fiat engines in the US;
• Finally a 5% when Chrysler can make use of Fiat’s global sharing network for exports.

Fiat will be not be given full ownership of Chrysler till all the debt of Chrysler’s to the US government are paid off.
The governments of both US and Canada will take up 8% and 2% stakes respectively. A new organisation known as the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) will possess 55% of the stakes.

Fiat has issued pictures of its Fiat 500C mini-convertible, to be set in motion at the Geneva Motor Show.

In the strength of the unique Cinquecento soft-top (1957), it is not a complete drop-top, but its power-driven material roof sheet does glide back to open up a significant area to the sunshine.
A glass rear window is held back, along with back end luggage space and 4 seater accommodation.

The roof can be selected in red, black or ivory white, so that it matches with body colours including an unparalleled Pearl Red or Warm Grey. The 500C has the same 1.2 (69bhp), 1.4 (100bhp) and 1.3 diesel (75bhp) engines as the 500 hatchback, along with Fiat’s new fuel-saving stop-start system.

Fiat will be launching its 500 cabriolet which will be called 500 C at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

The 500 C will be put up for sale shortly after the show, as Fiat wants its new vehicle to be available during summer. British buyers will be getting the first chance to take delivery, since they buy more convertibles than any other European nation in spite of the miserable weather.
It will be a four-seater but the rear seats will be small; a bit of boot space will be lost, says a Fiat corporate executive, but other than that the interior will be same as that of the hard-topped 500 .

The 500 C will have a breakdown canvas roof, which packs off neatly into the rear compartment; it will have its door pillars and roof structure unharmed.
It will also have the same 70bhp 1.2 and 100bhp 1.4-litre petrol engines as the 500 hatch; a turbocharged Abarth version may follow, though the 75bhp 1.3 diesel may not be offered.

For the 13th year in a row the Holden Commodore is the best-selling car Down Under.

Though the 51,093 cars sold were less when compared to the Commodore’s peak sales figure of ten years ago 94,642, it was still ahead of the next contender, the Toyota Corolla.
Sales were promoted by the addition of the Sport wagon estate to the array and discounts offered to the tune of $10,000 towards the end of the year.

Toyota, having its manufacturing facilities in Australia, was the best-selling brand by a wide margin. It sold nearly 239,000 vehicles, whereas Holden sold less than 130,500. Ford sold 104,715.

New car sales went down by just 3.6% on 2007′s results, with 1,012,164 vehicles sold. Fiat, Maserati, Ferrari, Volkswagen, Audi and Citroen all recorded large rises.

In Britain, the best-selling car is the Ford Focus and in the US it’s the F-150 pick-up truck.

Fiat will now own 70% of Zastava and this will be completed by the end of this month.

The settled takeover will engage Fiat’s 700million-Euro purchase of 70% of the company with the Serbian government holding a 30% stake.

The conduct includes the Zastava factory in Kragujerac, which has been building the last-generation Fiat Punto under licence for sale as the Zastava 10.
Both Fiat and the Serbian government are to spend a further 100million Euros each to advance the factory and fit it out to build two all-new Fiat models. Production of the first ‘new Topolino’ city car – will begin in late 2009, with an output of 200,000 a year planned. A second car, to up volume to 300,000 cars a year, will go into production in 2010.