Search Results for: cars

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) auto manufacturing industry has a good chance to grab more market share in Syria following a newly signed wide-ranging association agreement, slashing steep duties imposed on EU-made auto exports. Syria already imports a significant number of EU-made cars: according to the ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association) in 2008, 7,241 (Euro 106 million’s worth) cars and SUVs were exported from the EU to Syria and this year, 3,427 (worth Euro 52 million) were sold from January to June.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A MAJOR European research project is to spend Euro 44 million on developing tiny components to help electric vehicles improve their performance, so that they can better compete with models powered with liquid fuels. The Fiat and Audi-backed E3CAR (Energy efficient electrical car) project will especially focus on emerging nanotechnologies as its researchers aim to boost electric cars’ often less than stellar driving abilities.…

BY MARK ROWE

SHOWROOMS full of Bentleys and Ferraris continue to grace Moscow’s most salubrious boulevards, in a display of purchasing power that suggests global recession is a world away. The reality is somewhat different: the mainstream Russian car market has taken a swinging blow from economic collapse, its fortunes plummeting almost overnight.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE MOST detailed study into the environmental, energy and social costs generated by auto manufacturers when making cars has dubbed General Motors the world’s most profligate and Toyota cleanest and greenest. The study coordinated by Queen’s University, Belfast, concluded GM wasted Euro 9.8 billion’s worth of environmental and social costs compared to a notional industry average in 2007 (the most recent available data); while Toyota saved Euro 5.2 billion’s worth of impact compared to an industry mean.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DESPITE the uncertainty that has surrounded the future of Vauxhall/Opel in the past few months, there is every indication that the company will ride out the storm and should prosper in Britain’s looming economic recovery.

In October’s relatively bullish market (by 2009 standards), Vauxhall shifted 19,364 units, compared to 19,422 the same month last year.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA and KEITH NUTHALL

COUNTRIES that start exporting cars to Britain usually have a tough time convincing consumers about the quality of their vehicles. Remember the Skoda and skip jokes? Well, no one makes those anymore. Korean cars used to have a reputation for being cheap rubbish.…

By Paul Cochrane

With the end of the summer holidays, children and young people across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) once again donned uniforms, packed satchels and headed to school, amounting to more than a quarter of the region returning to class.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONCERNS are being provoked amongst auto traders over the latest implementation of the harmonised and modernised European Union (EU) customs code. Detailed reforms will be introduced step-by-step by the European Commission until June 2013, and two recent linked proposals have sparked fears at the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) that they could increase the customs valuation of some vehicles when imported into the EU from non-EU countries.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

MOROCCO’S 150,000 tonnes per year decorative paint market, worth Moroccan Dirham (MAD) 2 billion (GBPounds 157.4 million), grew by an estimated 5 to 8% in 2008, but plunged by 30% in December in the wake of the financial crisis, according to paint manufacturer Hempel Morocco (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and KARRYN MILLER

THE AMERICAN and South Korean auto sectors are closely watching the outcome of informal talks between their governments over removing trade barriers within the 2007 US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, which still requires ratification. The deal was negotiated by the old Bush administration, and is now being reviewed by Obama team, ahead of any renewed ratification push in the US Congress – with the auto sector being a key focus.…