Archive for March, 2009
Congratulations to Brawn GP!
Keith Adams The first F1 race of the 2009 season had me out of bed and on the edge of my seat even before the red lights went out for the start. Reflecting the ex-Honda Brawn GP cars’ devastating pace in pre-season testing, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello locked out the front row of the [...]
March 29, 2009
· 
Keith Adams · 
No Comments
Mini fixes easy to come by
Richard Aucock Over to my mate Keith Adams’ AROnline site, for my daily fix. And, lo, what should sit at the top, but an UPDATED Mini history! I won’t spoil it for you, not least because it’s an absolute fact-packed epic. Who needs a bedtime book, when you’ve got treasures like this. But charging on [...]
March 28, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
From Calvin’s City to the Côte d’Azur – Mondeo memories
Robert Leitch Since Sward and Elphick have posted their accounts of the Trans-Alpine caper, perhaps its time for the Richard Hammond of the team to give his account. The shennanigans at the Geneva hire desk, in an airlocked (literally) French enclave are well enough reported. I’m in no doubt that, across the entire globe, car hire [...]
March 28, 2009
· Keith Adams · 5 Comments
Blog : Why aren’t all small autos CVT?
Ian Seabrook Recently, my Rover 2000 went into a garage for some work and I ended up borrowing a Rover 100 CVT as a courtesy car. I’d not had the pleasure of the ‘gearless’ Metro before and I must admit that I was looking forward to it. Sure, the build quality was shocking – the [...]
March 26, 2009
· Keith Adams · 14 Comments
Geneva: A counterpoint to Pearly
Steven Ward I was the man with the plan – Geneva was the excuse to get away with the lads for a motor trip to Monte Carlo . As ‘Pearly’ Elphick says in his piece, the Geneva Salon is worth the jaunt but, alas for me, this year wasn’t as good as last. It never [...]
March 26, 2009
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
Press Report : Jaguar XF Estate to debut at Frankfurt Show?
Jack Rix, Auto Express, 23rd March, 2009 The XF is going XL! Jaguar is poised to expand its range with an estate version of the award-winning XF saloon at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. There’s been no shortage of new metal from the Coventry-based firm of late, with hot R versions of both the [...]
March 26, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · 13 Comments
MG TF LE500 : Lowest bid wins on Auctionair
MG Motor UK Limited (MG UK) and online auction website Auctionair are currently offering Limited Edition No. 123 of the 500 Limited Edition MG TF LE500s made at Longbridge in a reverse auction at www.auctionair.co.uk. Each person participating in a reverse auction simply chooses the lowest price which he or she thinks no one else [...]
March 26, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : JLR boss Ratan Tata hits out at Government’s failure to help
Marc Reeves, Editor, Birmingham Post, Mumbai, 25th March, 2009 The Indian boss of Jaguar Land Rover has broken his silence to launch an unprecedented attack on the UK Government’s tardy response to appeals for loans to help the West Midland car maker survive the recession and credit squeeze. In an exclusive interview with the Birmingham [...]
March 25, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : We are trying to keep our JLR promises, insists Tata
Marc Reeves, Editor, Birmingham Post, Mumbai, 25th March, 2009 Birmingham Post Editor Marc Reeves spoke to Tata Chairman Ratan Tata in Mumbai about the consequences of continued Government inaction over Jaguar Land Rover. When Tata bought Jaguar Land Rover exactly one year ago tomorrow, crucial to its wooing of the UK Government and its new [...]
March 25, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
India Watch : S&P cuts Tata Motors’ credit rating
Paul McVeigh, Automotive News Europe, 25th March, 2009 Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services today lowered its corporate credit rating on India-based automaker Tata Motors Ltd. to B+ from BB-. Standard & Poor’s said the action followed a deterioration in Tata Motors’ cash flows during the economic downturn, which, combined with significantly high debt levels, will [...]
March 25, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
China Watch : SAIC develops new MG cars for China and Europe
Namrita Chow, Automotive News China, 25th March, 2009 Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) is now developing new MG models on the platform of its Roewe 550 compact car, say sources at the company. SAIC will launch a new MG car in China at the end of this year, says a source with SAIC in China [...]
March 25, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Ratan Tata pleads for UK Government aid for JLR
John Revill, Automotive News Europe, 24th March, 2009 Jaguar Land Rover could make further job cuts unless the British government provides financial aid to the brands, Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Motors, said today in a television interview. Tata said Jaguar Land Rover needs £500 million (542 million euros) in loan guarantees from the British [...]
March 25, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Our cars : Project Tomcat Turbo
Update: 23 March 2009 The trouble with taking on a ‘rolling restoration’ is that there often ends up being far too much rolling and not enough restoration. As a driving enthusiast, Rover’s 200bhp 220 Turbo Coupe offers rather too many sinful pleasures not to enjoy on a daily basis. Now it’s true that my car [...]
March 23, 2009
· Keith Adams · One Comment
Blog : The class of ‘gas
Steven Ward It’s not every day you get to met one of your all-time heroes but, occasionally, life allows it to happen. Whether by cunning or co-incidence, these meetings are always something to be treasured. When that meeting happens through a prior arrangement with said ‘hero’ and you’re in the company of like minded friends, [...]
March 23, 2009
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
Drive story : Citroën C5 in the South of France
There is an old adage that the fastest car in the world is a hire car, especially in reverse… After a trip to the Geneva Motor Show, Andrew Elphick takes a Citroën C5 for an extended play in the Alps… Words and pictures: Andrew Elphick Vive la difference! RECENTLY, I made a pilgrimage to the [...]
March 22, 2009
· Keith Adams · One Comment
Press Report : Jaguar climbs to top of dependability rankings
John Reed in London, FT.com, 20th May, 2009 Tata’s Jaguar tied with General Motors’ Buick brand for the top spot in a closely watched US survey of vehicle dependability, released on Thursday. Jaguar and Buick nudged Toyota’s Lexus luxury marque out of the top spot it held last year in JD Power and Associates’ 2009 [...]
March 20, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Tata scales back production of low-cost Nano car
John Reed in London and Joseph Leahy in Mumbai, Financial Times, 20th May, 2009 The Nano, the world’s cheapest car due to launch in India on Monday, will have an initial production run of 40,000 – a fraction of Tata Motors’ original target. The Indian carmaker, which was forced to move the site of a [...]
March 20, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Nano fails to hide terrible year
Joe Leahy in Mumbai and John Reed in London, Financial Times, 19th March, 2009 Next Monday, Tata will launch the Nano, the mini-car set to revolutionise the bottom end of the global automotive market with a starting price of Rs100,000 ($1,996) for the most basic petrol-driven version. The Indian industrial group stripped out costs by [...]
March 20, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Over to you…
Keith Adams A quick chat with Mike Duff (fellow journo and my co-pilot to Chernobyl back in 2006) about AROnline kinda reinforced what I’ve been thinking for a while: it’s a great site but, just like the amiable robot from Short Circuit, we need more input. ‘Could you look to establish some kind of collective [...]
March 16, 2009
· Keith Adams · 6 Comments
Can you help me buy a Mini in 2009?
Richard Aucock We motoring journos are a lucky lot. We drive a heck of a lot of cars – this week alone, I’ve had an Audi A5, a Merc A 150, plus the current steed, a Toyota Avensis estate. The trick, Chris ‘Drivers Republic’ Harris told me, during work experience at Autocar back in the [...]
March 16, 2009
· Keith Adams · 2 Comments
