Speaking at the Chicago Auto Show, Henrik Fisker said sales of his company’s $100,000-plus Karma plug-in hybrid luxury sedan are starting in the Middle East. Fisker now has a dealer in UAE and 12 Karmas have been ordered, said the Danish-born car designer, whose career has included spells at BMW, Ford and Aston Martin before … Continue Reading →

At last year’s Detroit Car Show, I asked an official at BMW what kind of competition the new little Cadillac ATS might provide for the top-selling BMW 3 Series. The official didn’t reply with words, but instead looked down his nose, pursed his lips, and came up with a look suggesting the ATS was something … Continue Reading →

VALENCIA, Spain – Ford of Europe could have picked a better time to launch its new Kuga compact SUV here this week –  losses in 2012 of $1.75 billion, another $2 billion in the red likely this year according to an announcement Tuesday – but investment bank Morgan Stanley still  believes turnaround plans could produce … Continue Reading →

  Mercedes-Benz still hasn’t decided when it will bring the new little A Class to America, but its more expensive and slightly bigger sibling, the CLA, will be available in the fall. Mercedes plans to be the top selling luxury car manufacturer in the world by 2020, and it needs to liven up its smaller … Continue Reading →

You can’t have a conversation with any group in the automotive industry without a shaking of heads and sad looks agreeing, that, yes, the young are just not interested in cars anymore. But that’s not true, according to a new survey from management consultants McKinsey & Co. On the contrary, car ownership is still seen … Continue Reading →

For the second time in a month, developments with the Peugeot-GM alliance were reported in the media as deepening the relationship, when a closer look showed that might not be the case.

China has been like a license to print profits for the German luxury car manufacturers, but 2013 looks likely to be the peak year for this easy money.

News that the General Motors alliance with Peugeot-Citroen of France has scaled back some cooperation plans means that this combination either has limited ambitions, or that the partners have differing visions of what can be achieved, according to Deutsche Bank.

Germany’s Volkswagen could have see its European market share accelerate to about one third by 2020 if present trends continue, while GM’s Opel-Vauxhall and France’s Peugeot-Citroen will be in mortal danger, according to Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton.

European car sales are down sharply this year, will fall a bit more in 2013, and are unlikely to reach pre-recession heights any time soon as the appetite for new cars and driving, peaks and recedes. There is still a faint possibility that European governments might come to the rescue with another scheme to finance … Continue Reading →