Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Lamborghini wants to sell 20% more cars without creating a third model]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2007/12/04/lamborghini-wants-to-sell-20-more-cars-without-creating-a-third/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/12/04/lamborghini-wants-to-sell-20-more-cars-without-creating-a-third/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/12/04/lamborghini-wants-to-sell-20-more-cars-without-creating-a-third/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Lamborghini's pushing to ring up 3,000 sales per year, about 500 more than they currently move. Were they to drop a new Miura, revived LM002, or some other new model, they'd likely reach that target without any problem. Lambo Capo Rupert Stadler isn't in favor of spending the considerable development dollars it would take to bring a new model to market. Before coming out with a new car, it's more prudent for Lamborghini to sell its capacity of Murcielagos and Gallardos first.

So, if you're not coming out with a new car, but you want to move more units, what's an automaker to do? We somehow doubt that LP640s and Reventons will be showing up in rental fleets, and there's no such thing as incentives when it comes to supercars, so that strategy's out, too. Extra-special editions of the already special Italian cars, like the Murcielago SV and Superleggera versions of both vehicles should entice more buyers to pony up. If that doesn't work, they could always have a "push, pull or tow" event.

Follow the read link for a Google-translated version of the original story.

[Source: Caradisiac]


Lamborghini wants to sell 20% more cars without creating a third model originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There have been periodic rumors of a United States assembly plant for Volvo cars since at least the early 1980s. There was a North American construction arm of the Swedish carmaker, situated in Nova Scotia, but that plant has been shuttered for several years now. Volvo CEO Fredrik Arp has told Automotive News that an American plant would take an unacceptably long time to pay for itself, according to the automaker's studies. A weak dollar doesn't help the economic argument for a plant in the States, either. Volvo can currently handle its goal of 600,000 units worldwide, which they have yet to meet. Current plant capacity is good for 590,000 vehicles, so it goes building any new plants, Volvo would be wise to fully utilize its current capacity. The automaker is looking to markets other than North America to drive growth in the coming years -- China, India and Russia all look to be emerging soon as major Volvo buyers.

Arp would not be pressed regarding rumors of Volvo being put up for sale by parent Ford, but he did comment that the historically green-minded automaker has its finger on the pulse of viable alternative powertrains for the US market. Diesels and alternative fuels are big in Europe, but Volvo's not going to just forge ahead in the US with those technologies. Rather, what they intend to do is watch and see what green platform takes off here, and follow on quickly with their own version of whatever that turns out to be. Volvo is too much of a niche player in the US market to risk developing something that may be met with a yawn by the US consumer. Up for sale or not, it looks like Gothenburg's Rollers have their eyes on the brass ring.

[Source: Automotive News - sub req]


http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070626/ANE01/70626009/1116/rss03&rssfeed=rss03

Volvo says it won't be building in North America originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>alternativeassemblycapacityfactoriesfactorygreennorth americaNorthAmericaplansplantplantspowertrainsalesalesusvolumevolvoWed, 27 Jun 2007 17:34:00 EST<![CDATA[New VW chief to create PAG-like group for luxury marques]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/11/13/new-vw-chief-to-createh-pag-like-group-for-luxury-marques/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/11/13/new-vw-chief-to-createh-pag-like-group-for-luxury-marques/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/11/13/new-vw-chief-to-createh-pag-like-group-for-luxury-marques/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

The latest news in the regime change at Volkswagen is that incoming group chief Prof. Martin Winterkorn is planning some big changes in management structure across the entire corporate spectrum.

Although several don't operate in the US market, Volkswagen AG has grown to GM-like proportions in the number of marques under its umbrella. However, rather unlike GM and other auto-making conglomerates, Volkswagen group members don't cooperate as much in the development of new products. (The Volkswagen and Audi brands, for instance, will often develop separate vehicles with different engines, sometimes even competing against each other, but which could be combined into one project.) As Audi chief, Winterkorn can't have been happy to see Volkswagen stealing any of its market share.

Winterkorn plans on changing all that, placing the group's marques into two categories: volume and premium. Like Ford's Premier Automotive Group (which includes Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston Martin), VW's new "premium" group will include Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti, while the "volume" group will include Volkswagen, Seat and Skoda. All this should mean better products offered in more packages at lower costs with reduced development times. And that's something any car buyer could appreciate.

What else can we expect from Winterkorn? It's doubtful he'd be willing to throw as much resources behind Bugatti as did his predecessor, but as we can see from Audi's diesel-fueled domination at Le Mans, he evidently believes in the benefits of racing.

Related posts:

[Source: Motor Authority]

New VW chief to create PAG-like group for luxury marques originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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