Report: Nissan expects LEAF sales to double with new Smyrna plant
Nissan new plant in Smyrna, Tennessee will be reedy to produce the Nissan LEAF in December, helping the brand overcome sluggish sales of the all-electric compact car and doubling U.S. sales to 20,000 units during the current fiscal year.
Nissan’s Bill Krueger, vice chairman of its U.S. unit, said that the company is in the process of expanding sales nationally after launching it in seven states.
Sales of the LEAF have dropped in the past two months with May numbers falling 55 percent to 510 units.
“We’ve had to fulfill demand from one plant globally,” Krueger said. “Once we localize it in December, the second half of the fiscal year is when we’ll see most of the supply, demand be available.”
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Interview: Former F1 Driver and Two-Time Le Mans Winner Hans-Joachim Stuck
C/D: What cars are in your garage?
H-JS: A VW Touareg diesel, a VW Tiguan diesel, and a Škoda Yeti.
C/D: You crashed an Audi R8 and sustained head injuries at the Nürburgring two years ago. Have you completely recovered?
Toyota launching TMG performance sub-brand
German based Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) is set to become the motorsport division of Toyota passengers cars as the Japanese giant gets even more serious about creating performance cars.
Speaking to the media at the Toyota Europe Motorsport facility in Cologne, Germany, Yoshiaki Kinoshita, president of TMG, said the facility would become to Toyota what AMG is to Mercedes-Benz.
“After we stopped Formula One (involvement) we decided several things, one of these things is to to become AMG-type company, we are now trying, how feasible (it will be) I don’t know. But we are in a very good position”
The Cologne based facility has endured a hard time since Toyota pulled out of Formula One in 2009. The facility has gone from around 800 staff in the prime of Toyota’s Formula One involvement back to around 200 in it current form.
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Porsche Design Brings Back Classic Colors
For its new Summer collection Porsche Design is bringing back the classic styling and colors of the 1968 collection from Driver’s Selection, as an homage to colour spectrum of 911 in the late ‘60s, including Tangerine, Polo Red, Irish Green and Ossi Blue. The collection also includes new Martini-coloured items inspired by the 1971 Le Mans winner Porsche 917.
Featuring distinctive light blue, dark blue and red stripes, the Martini range includes clothing items, accessories and sports equipment. New to this year’s collection are the Martini Racing Sportsline Jackets in white for ladies (£175), dark blue for men (£175) and a limited edition red, also for men (£190). The range also includes Martini Racing longsleeve tops for men and women (£60); as well as polo shirts in deep blue, priced at (£55) and to complete the look, this year’s collection also includes the Martini racing baseball cap (£20).
The range-topping item is a pair of Aviator Sunglasses (£150) trimmed in blue.
The normal range of classic items incorporating the motif of contrasted blocks of colour and cars in the 1968 colours include T-shirts for men, women and children are priced at £39 and £25 respectively. The stylish messenger bag (£85) and shopping bag (£89), set of Glass Coasters (£40), the Collector’s Cup No.12 (£15) and the Breakfast boards and an umbrella (£40) are other notable goodies.
But perhaps the main highlights of the whole package is the Speedminton set (£125), a high performance badminton kit. The set includes two carbon-composite racquets created for enhanced precision and impact and five high-speed shuttlecocks.
Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG Project Luna by SR Auto Group
Car News, Mercedes, Wald International, Wheels — By Lawrence on June 19, 2012 at 2:00 pm — No Comments
SR Auto Group recently finished a Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG named Project Luna. The project features the Wald Black Bison bodykit and a set of PUR Wheels. The Wald International Mercedes-Benz CLS is one of our favourite tuning packages, coupled with the CLS63 AMG engine and a set of PUR Wheels, this particular car is one of our all-time favorites!
Wald have provided their complete ‘Black Bison’ kit for this car. It includes an aggressive new front fascia, new LED daytime running lights, ventilated fenders and an aerodynamic side skirt. At the back, there’s a new set of rear air vents, a roof spoiler, boot spoiler, diffuser and quad-exhaust system.
The wheels are twenty inch PUR 4OUR. They feature a gunmetal finish which complements the white paintwork. We’re not sure which version of this car we like the most, brushed blue, matte orange, silver or black.
Report: All first 800 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series coupes sold
If you were hoping to scoop up one of Mercedes-Benz’s AMG C-Class on steroids, the C63 AMG Black Series in coupe guise, you might be out of luck. A Dutch magazine has recently just reported that all 800 pieces of Mercedes-Benz’s baby tire roaster have been built, sold, and shipped around the world.
Originally, Mercedes-Benz only planned to produce 650 units. But because of high interest and demand, the Stuttgart brand produced 150 more. Though of course, demand in general for the C63 AMG Black Series coupe is high.
The reason why the brand has decided to keep production low is to not only maintain the value of the vehicle, but also because the Black Series coupe takes quite a bit longer to produce than a standard C-Class. Additionally, it’s to prevent any production delays that the longer assembly time may incur.
Refresher: Power for the new 2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe Black Series comes from a 6.3 liter naturally aspirated V8 engine making 517-hp at 6,800 rpm with a maximum torque of 457 lb-ft at 500 rpm. The engine gets forged pistons, conrods and crankshaft, a new engine control unit and a 50 percent bigger oil cooler. Mated to an AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT 7-speed sports transmission with four ESP control settings and can go throw the cogs in 100 milliseconds in the sportiest Sport Plus and Manual modes, the C63 AMG Coupe Black Series run from 0 to 60 mph comes in just 4.2 seconds.
Two Audi Crashes – 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans
I happened to be sitting in one of the Audi enclosures when double disaster hit.
First Marc Gene slid off in the #3 machine, doing a duplicate of yesterday’s accident in that car, this time bending the right front suspension.
Groans all around from the Audi people.
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