BMW Group Reports Record Global Sales in November, Targets 1.6 Million Deliveries in 2011

Nov become another profitable 30 days for the BMW Collection as international revenue of the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce manufacturers increased to 138,978 automobiles, an improve of 7.7% over the season before (129,001). This was the In german team's best Nov revenue 30 days ever.

From the commencing of the season, international revenue of the BMW Collection increased to 1,510,862 models, 14.5% more than in the same period last season (1,319,808) and another new report for the company.

"We have already marketed more automobiles in the first 12 several weeks of this season than in the whole of 2010 and we have also damaged our revenue report from 2007 (1,500,678)," said Ian Robertson, associate of the Panel of Management of BMW AG. "This places our report revenue focus on for the 12 several weeks of more than 1.6 thousand automobiles well within arrive at," he included.

BMW says that the main force for development came from the new X3, 5 Sequence and 6 Sequence with further impetus from the new 1 Sequence, which went on sale in October.

The BMW brand provided 115,124 automobiles in Nov (+6.4%) and has noted a 12.9% improve from the commencing of the season to 1,252,205 models. Especially, the X3 marketed 106,103 automobiles (+157.2%), the X1 115,185 models (+25.7%) and the new 5-Series 283,065 automobiles (+52.1%).

The Small brand's international revenue increased to 23,534 automobiles (+14.6%) in Nov, while amount increased 22.4% (255,595 units) in the first 12 several weeks of the season.

 

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All-New Ford Ranger is the First Pickup Ever to be Awarded 5 Stars in Euro NCAP Crash Tests

Ford’s new Ranger is the first collection examined by the Dollar NCAP security firm to obtain a five-star top report. The Ranger’s overall report was 89%, which is not only the best ever noted by a collection, but one of the best regardless of training.

Surprisingly, given that it is a collection, it also maintained to obtain the best report ever for people safeguard among the motors examined by the Dollar NCAP since it was well-known in 1997, with an 81% report.

Euro NCAP assistant common Michiel van Ratingen, said: “With such great people safeguard, the Honda Ranger is definitely increasing the bar of security in the type of vehicles, which had until now not well-known to be the best.”

Ford’s primary professional for Japan Hawaiian and The african continent, Adam Ice, mentioned on the Ranger’s results: “On the all-new Ranger we did more failure simulations than any of our before plans to guarantee that all areas of the vehicle’s security were much better.”

In particular, Honda designers began with simulating more than 9,000 online fails to increase the Ranger’s design and security program before going on to screening the collection. There, they carried out 110 real failure screening and 410 program sled screening with real prototypes.

The people safeguard effect was obtained thanks to a entry fender with energy-absorbing products and a new, “hexageneous” under-bonnet design that minimizes the possibilities of a people brain trauma.

EURONCAP SCORES

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Report: New Opel Astra GTC May Make it to the States as a Buick

The sporty-looking Opel Astra GTC was only just introduced in Frankfurt last week, but there are already reports suggesting that it could be one of the compact cars General Motors said it would build at an unspecified plant in the U.S. under the details released Tuesday of its tentative pact with the United Auto Workers (UAW).

According to Auto Observer, in a meeting with journalists and analysts at Opel’s Rüsselsheim headquarters in Germany, the firm's CEO, Karl-Friedrich Stracke, said "I could easily see it as a Buick" referring to the Astra GTC.

It would make sense from a marketing standpoint since Buick would automatically gain a new contender in the small sports car segment against the likes of the Hyundai Veloster, while also widening the reach of the brand to a younger audience.

Furthermore, the fact that the soon-to-be launched in the States new Buick Verano is essentially the sedan version of the Opel Astra series, means that the production costs can be minimized as the two cars will share many common components.

In the European market, the three-door Astra GTC will launch with a choice of five engines delivering between 100HP and 180HP, including a 1.7-liter CDTI exoFLEX diesel available with 110HP and 130HP, both fitted with a fuel-saving Start/Stop system.

But the icing in the cake will be the Astra GTC OPC (VXR in the UK), which is rumored to carry a turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine pushing close to 300-horsepower, and is expected to be introduced in the second half of 2012.

If GM makes the move to sell the Astra GTC as a Buick in North America, then it is almost certain that it will offer the OPC as its flagship GS model.

Story sources: Auto Observer

 

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Report: Skoda planning VW Up-based minicar?

According to Inside Line, Skoda is jumping into the minicar game with a little help from parent companyVolkswagen. The Czech automaker is set to introduce a new model based on the same platform as the VW Up, with production gearing up toward the fall of 2011.

The vehicle doesn’t have a name as of yet, but according to the report, the pint-sized machine is slated to be built at Volkswagen’s Bratislava manufacturing facility. When it rolls off the production line, it will come packing an efficient 65-horsepower 1.0-liter gasoline engine, though a 75-horsepower 1.2-liter diesel mill will also be available at the time of launch.

Later down the line, there’s word that Skoda will bring an all-electric version to the party as well. The baby Skoda is being designed to lock horns with the Toyota iQ and Peugeot 107, and Inside Line is reporting that it will likely carry a price tag of around $9,300 when it debuts.

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Volkswagen Golf MkVII could come by end of 2012

The MkVI (sixth-generation) Volkswagen Golf has been around since 2009, and according to a report fromReuters, the next all-new Golf may be approaching sooner than we thought. According to a spokesperson forVolkswagen, the automaker will have the MkVII Golf ready for public consumption by either the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013.

Golf generational changes typically occur in much larger intervals, but this rapid introduction for the MkVII is a result of the Volkswagen Group’s new cost-savings model architecture called MQB. Different makes and models that share the same underpinnings will be built in a similar manner to save large percentages of money.

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