Automotive The Racket

They’ve been charged by the FBI for allegedly selling more than 200 Hummers overseas with phony titles and collecting more than $500,000 in unearned incentives from General Motors.

Steve Romshek, a former salesman at the Huber dealership in Omaha (that’s the one that sold the Hummers), has been arrested, while Marilyn Maskill, owner of an Overland Park, Kan., trucking company, hasn’t been arrested yet. According to an Associated Press report, the crafty pair sold the Hummers in 2005 and 2006 to a small broker in Chillicothe, Mo. The Hummers were then resold overseas and exported to Nigeria, Germany, Canada, Japan, just to name a few countries. With the fraudulent titles, they were able to pocket more than $500,000 in unearned incentives from General Motors – and that’s money they shouldn’t have been eligible to collect. In total, the pair is facing 11 counts of wire fraud and one charge of conspiracy. Read the rest of this entry →

After the RX-8, is now Japan’s Mazda CX-7 to stop production after the 2012 models were sold, at least for North American market. The move was taken as the Mazda’s market strategy and gives spacefor sales of the CX-5 in order to market the results could be morepassionate than the CX-7.

Indeed, the market CX-7 is less exciting. In 2007, when newly introduced, only 41 653 units recorded the highest number. Worse,two years later, its sales drop by half, to live 20 583 units. AlthoughMazda is trying to change the look with just a touch on one side ofthe grille, it can not boost sales. Read the rest of this entry →

GM Indonesia officially launched the Chevrolet Colorado, last night (3/5/2012) at Puri Begawan, Bogor. This is the first vehicle and the pickup in the market will compete with the Mitsubishi Triton, Ford Ranger, Nissan Navara, and the Mazda BT50.Consumers are offered in three variants, starting from the lowest extra cabin with a tag of Rp 265 million, double cabin LT Rp 323 million and double cab LTZ Rp 343 million.

“All-New Chevrolet Colorado has been designed and manufactured as a mid-size pickup truck of the most powerful and has the highest performance in its class. We are proud to present it in Indonesia. Pick-up is marketed in 60 countries around the world features, technology, design, exterior , as well as the best interior design and the latest 100-year history of Chevrolet, “said President of GM Southeast Asia, Martin Apfel who attended the launch of the All-New Chevrolet Colorado in Bogor.

Following the success of Colorado in Thailand, Martin Apfel believes that the first mid-size pickup-engined all-new Duramax turbo-diesel 2.500cc will be able to meet market demands double cabin Indonesia, including the mining industry, oil, gas and petroleum, and the freight industry and services, which currently shows remarkable development in Indonesia. Read the rest of this entry →

The Korean automaker Kia car has set a strategy remarkably aggressive in its expansion (both market and target segments) during the last couple of years to the point of consolidation as one of the automakers with uniform and constant presence around the world.

Now we can witness how Kia is in full (and risky) venture into an entirely new market for the brand after the good reception given to the GT concept car first seen at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show a few months ago. Just enough that the audience for this Auto Show runs out of breath by the design of the car leading to the design department received final approval by the directors of Kia to move into the commercial phase of development of this sport.

One of the most innovative features for an Asian company is planning to create a whole family of vehicles based on the concept GT, much in the vein of the BMW 6 Series will include a 4-door Coupé from next year. It is very possible even to see a family car with sporty lines very much in the tradition of Alfa Romeo. Read the rest of this entry →

It seems that 2009 will be a year that will leave your mark on the BMW Group. At least that seems to indicate the level of presentations by the brand in the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. It happens that the Mini Coupe Concept, a vehicle that is already revolutionizing the world of motoring, the BMW is added EfficientDynamic Vision, an efficient concept who had been captured during transport to Frankfurt and was waking up all kinds of suspicions on the web.

Finally today BMW has decided to end the rumors and has issued a press release with a lot of photographs that makes clear that the car goes. This is a 2 +2 display described as the BMW ActiveHybrid technology. That is, according to the company, a symbol of high performance and efficient conduct of the future.

To illustrate that most of the public understands that it is, would a car with a BMW M performance combined with fuel economy and emissions of a small modern car in the high-end segment. This is the core of the BMW EfficientDynamics development strategy. Read the rest of this entry →