Archive for April, 2009
Press Report : LDV on the brink of administration
Jonathan Guthrie, FT.com, 29th April, 2009 Birmingham van maker LDV has announced it will enter administration on May 6, a move likely to result in several thousand job losses. The company, which is owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s GAZ Group, said that it had given up any hope of receiving a small bailout of [...]
April 29, 2009
· 
Clive Goldthorp · 
No Comments
China Watch : SAIC Motor Q1 net profit down nearly 50 percent
Automotive News Europe/Reuters, 28th April, 2009 SHANGHAI (Reuters) SAIC Motor Corp., which owns the remnants of the British MG Rover carmaker, on Tuesday posted a fall of nearly 50 percent in first-quarter earnings. The company also runs car manufacturing ventures in China with General Motors and Volkswagen. SAIC Motor said it booked 626.9 million yuan [...]
April 28, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
India Watch : Unsold Montegos unearthed!
Keith Adams These images have just come into AROnline’s inbox, proving that not all of the Montego TDs assembled in India found buyers. As much as we’d like to rescue these cars, due for auction next week, we’ll pass. Details of who to get in touch with, along with the original email, are below. If [...]
April 23, 2009
· Keith Adams · 2 Comments
Why I hate the next six weeks…
Nicola Elphick Well it’s that time of year when everyone starts wondering what the Budget has in store… I am just the same. I used to work for Barclays Financial Planning so the Budget always meant extra work, which in turn, meant more income, which meant a bigger bonus…. (the only bit I miss about [...]
April 23, 2009
· Keith Adams · 6 Comments
China Watch : SAIC Motor’s own-brand car sales accelerate
Richard Fu, Shanghai Daily, 21st April, 2009 CHINA’S top automobile maker, SAIC Motor, said yesterday it boosted sales of its own-brand passenger cars by fourfold in the first quarter to 18,000 units on an annual basis. Meanwhile, at the Auto Shanghai 2009 show, the Shanghai-based company unveiled three new models using new energy sources. “To [...]
April 21, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Rover SD1 Spares Day
Keith Adams If you own a Rover SD1, then you need to travel up to Rimmer Bros in Lincoln to visit the SD1 Spares Day. The event, which is run by the SD1 Owners Club, and which attracts the best cars from all over the country is an opportunity to pick up those parts you’ve [...]
April 21, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Blog : Mini madness
Steven Ward After Richard Aucock’s recent blog and the updated Mini story, I decided to see if it was possible to bag a Mini for the hypothetical monkey. A gloriously fine Bank Holiday Monday last week saw me and my partner heading to BCA’s Easter Auction in Brighouse, West Yorkshire. I gambled that the sale [...]
April 20, 2009
· Keith Adams · 4 Comments
Roewe : Advancing at Auto Shanghai
Words: Keith Adams Photography: Dan Strong Roewe is looking to a bright future, with a serious expansion of the range, and alternative fuelled vehicles. But will they come to Europe, or is that reserved for MG? SAIC Motor’s strangely-named Rover reincarnation, Roewe, unveiled its N1 concept at Auto Shanghai earlier today. The compact five-door is [...]
April 20, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
MG6 : New metal for the New Journey!
Words: Keith Adams Photography: Dan Strong A new MG at last! The MG6 might be billed as a concept but the production version will be on sale in China later this year and at a dealer near you here in the UK during 2010. The wraps came off a new MG hot hatch for the [...]
April 20, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Jaguar : A first glimpse of the all-new XJ
An all-new Jaguar XJ will make its public debut this July – and today saw the preview and release of the first official information about the new car. Speaking at Auto Shanghai 2009, Jaguar Cars Limited’s Managing Director, Mike O’Driscoll, confirmed that: – the all-new XJ will go on sale at the end [...]
April 20, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
MG6 : More SAIC Design images released
Keith Adams More images of the fastback styled MG6 have appeared on Chinese websites ahead of the unveiling of the initial Concept model at Auto Shanghai next week. The new car, which shares its underpinnngs and powertrain with the Roewe 550, is conventionally styled with a sloping rear end at odds with current automotive fashion. SAIC Design’s [...]
April 17, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
MG UK : The next phase of the New Journey?
Clive Goldthorp AMOnline, the online version of Automotive Industry newspaper AM (formerly Automotive Management), yesterday ran a story claiming that ‘MG and its Dealer Network seem confused about when future product is likely to arrive in UK showrooms’ and implying that the TF LE500 was a ‘sellout.’ However, when speaking to AROnline yesterday, Eleanor De [...]
April 17, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Roewe N1 : SAIC Design takes a dynamic direction
Keith Adams Roewe N1 Concept The Roewe N1 Concept, which will be unveiled at next week’s Auto Shanghai, clearly shows that SAIC Motor wishes to establish a younger and more dynamic identity for its pseudo-British marque. The N1 follows in the footsteps of the Roewe W2 concept, by being a barely disguised version of a future production vehicle [...]
April 16, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Remind me why I do it…
Keith Adams What did you do this Easter? If you were particularly lucky you might have ended up buying a car. Well, double that, and you’ve got what I found myself doing on Easter Sunday. It all started with a post on the AROnline forums – its title, ‘Rover 214 bubble, 1996. Tax and MoT [...]
April 15, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
MG6 : Breaking cover at Auto Shanghai next week
Keith Adams SAIC Design’s renderings of the MG6 Concept have now filtered onto the web and hint at an exciting future line-up of sporting hatchbacks based upon the critically acclaimed Roewe 550. The new hatchback is already deep into a stringent global development programme, with the latest sightings in Germany. The 1.8-litre turbocharged hot hatch will initially be built in [...]
April 15, 2009
· Keith Adams · 23 Comments
Jaguar : XF tops Britain’s biggest Driver Satisfaction Poll
Readers of Auto Express magazine have voted the new Jaguar XF Britain’s best car in the 2009 Driver Power survey. The results revealed that the XF secured the overall number one spot with drivers praising the Jaguar’s combination of luxury, comfort and driving dynamics. Mike O’Driscoll, Jaguar’s Managing Director, said: ”Securing top place in the [...]
April 15, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Probe into Rover collapse has cost £14.8m
Jean Eaglesham, Chief Political Correspondent , Financial Times, 15th April, 2009 The nearly four-year inquiry into the collapse of MG Rover has cost taxpayers more than £14.8m with no end in sight, according to official figures released to the Financial Times. Ministers are privately frustrated and embarrassed by the escalating cost of investigating Rover’s demise, [...]
April 15, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Jaguar to build hybrid XJ
Autocar, 12th April, 2009 Jaguar is poised to launch the world’s first electric-drive luxury saloon, a version of the next-gen XJ, after the European Union last week agreed a loan for new green technology. The breakthrough Jag XJ four-door will use similar tech to the Vauxhall Ampera/Chevy Volt. Those cars run on electric power from [...]
April 15, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Jaguar close to £800m loan
Domomic O’Connell and Ben Marlow, The Sunday Times, 12th April, 2009 JAGUAR LAND ROVER is in advanced talks with ministers, banks and its owner, Tata Motors Limted of India, on a £800m refinancing that should ease worries about it running out of cash this year and safeguard 15,000 jobs. Senior sources said negotiations were at [...]
April 15, 2009
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Genuine parts still available for MG Rover cars
Four years after the collapse of MG Rover, XPart continues to provide affordable specialist servicing and parts for the UK’s one million MG Rover cars. MG Rover owners still have access to genuine parts and affordable specialist servicing as XPart continues to ensure the ongoing supply of MG Rover parts four years after the closure [...]
April 10, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
