2012 Chevrolet Spark – First Drive Review
We drive Chevy’s new microcar in advance of its U.S. arrival.
Until recently, you probably hadn’t heard of the Chevrolet Spark unless you were a corporate lawyer for General Motors. The first generation Spark—or Daewoo Matiz, as it was originally called—was blatantly copied by Chinese carmaker Chery. The resultant Chery QQ was so close to the [...]
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Mazda to boost Chinese production capacity
Mazda currently has two JV’s in China, previously they were in partnership with Haima, but Haima were eventually taken over by FAW and then Mazda set up another JV with Chang’an.
Mazda Motor Corp., 11 percent owned by Ford Motor Co., plans to increase production capacity in China to meet growing demand in the world’s biggest car market.
“We need to expand current capacity when we look into next year and the year after,” Chief Financial Officer Kiyoshi Ozaki said in an interview yesterday in Tokyo. Ozaki declined to say …
Porsche and Crocs square off over use of ‘Cayman’ name
Legal battles involving trademark claims are nothing new.
This one, however, is a little surprising considering that the two protagonists come from completely different industries.
In the blue corner is German carmaker Porsche. On the red corner, it’s footwear designer Crocs.
Their squabble: the rights to use the name ‘Cayman’ in their products.
Porsche is claiming that the name ‘Cayman’ is trademarked for its exclusive sports car and that Crocs, which sells a plastic cog bearing the same name, should refrain from using ‘Cayman’ again. Predictably, Crocs is staying on course and in a statement that was filed in their quarterly reports, the footwear brand has stated that they will “vigorously defend themselves against these claims”.
We haven’t gotten further comments from the two squabbling brands although if you ask us, we don’t think that these two are risking anything by just letting things go. Apart from catering to distinctively different markets, it must be pointed out that a Porsche Cayman costs around $50,000 while a pair of Crocs Cayman sells for just a shade under $30.
Big difference, don’t you think?
Porsche and Crocs square off over use of ‘Cayman’ name originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 13 November 2009 09:00 EST.
Volvo suppliers threaten to pull the plug
Could the major obstacle to Ford selling Volvo to Geely be the issue of suppliers, who are threatening to stop supplying parts to Volvo should Geely become the new masters?
From Bloomberg:
Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) — Volvo Cars, Sweden’s third-largest private employer, may lose contracts with some suppliers unless Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., the favored bidder, promises to protect their patents and not plagiarize products in China.
“Big, tech-heavy suppliers are definitely concerned about China’s record when it comes to copyrights and Volvo would be in real trouble if it ends …
Lexus LF-A takes hotlap at Homestead-Miami
Nobody knows the ins-and-outs of a Toyota-produced sports car better than Hiromu Naruse. Regarded as the Japanese carmaker’s resident “test driver”, Naruse has been behind the wheel of some of our favorite Toyota sports cars, including the MR2, the Supra, and lately, the Lexus LF-A.
In this video, Naruse jumps behind the wheel of an LF-A and takes all of us on a scintillating lap around of the car arounf the Homestead-Miami Speedway. You might be surprised to see just further along Naruse is in the calendar of life, but despite being older than most of us, he still knows a thing or two about taming these beasts of sports cars out on a racetrack.
Watch the video and enjoy Naruse bring the horses out of the Lexus LF-A.
Lexus LF-A takes hotlap at Homestead-Miami originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 26 October 2009 09:00 EST.
Rolls Royce working on a hybrid Ghost sedan
In an effort to hop aboard the hybrid bandwagon, perennial luxury carmaker, Rolls Royce recently announced of their plans to produce a hybrid drivetrain for the new Ghost sedan that will effectively cut the car’s gas-guzzling capabilities by as much as 15%.
The word floating around is that since the Ghost uses the a platform that was pegged from the BMW 7-Series, the new hybrid version of the Ghost will also use the same ActiveHybrid 7-Series from BMW.
According to Autocar, the hybrid model of the Ghost will still come with the same 6.2-liter V12 engine found on the traditional model, but with the addition of an electric motor that’s integrated into the Ghost’s eight-speed auto transmission, which if form holds, will amount to the hybrid Ghost saving 15% of its fuel compared to the traditional counterpart.
If plans move along – and they are moving rather quickly, as a matter of fact – we could very well see a hybrid Rolls Royce – who would’ve thought that day would come – rolling out of production lots sooner than we thought.
Rolls Royce working on a hybrid Ghost sedan originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 9 November 2009 08:00 EST.