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Filed under: Car Buying , Economy , Euro , Hatchbacks , Renault , UK If Britain follows Germany's lead and adopts a scrap-your-old-car incentive, it looks like the first company to pounce will could be Romania's Dacia. Renault, which owns Dacia, had planned to launch its brand in the U.K. last summer, but then backtracked. Thankfully, the bargain brand's fortunes improved when Germany's car scrapping incentive took effect yielding an industry-wide 21 percent jump in February sales. But Dacia didn't just manage to achieve that increase, their sales mushroomed by something like 900 percent, going from less than 100 Logans per week to more than 1000. According to Autocar , the company thinks it may be able to realize similar results if Britain, making outsized returns on its plucky, cheap-as-chips Sandero - but only if Britain's politicians green-light the initiative. [Source: Autocar ] REPORT: Dacia could sell in UK after all... if Cash For Clunkers legislation passes...
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Filed under: Time Warp , Convertibles , Economy , Auction Action 1990 Yugo Cabrio - Click above for an image gallery The Yugo , once the cheapest car offered in the United States, is most remembered for being the punchline of every late night comedian's opening monologue. That said, this author doesn't actually remember the Yugo being quite as bad as its detractors painted it out to be, especially in its later years when it was equipped with a 1.3L OHC engine hooked up to a 5-speed manual transmission. The ultimate expression of fine Yugoslavian automotive design would have to be the extremely rare droptop version of the classic Communist-era machine, and there just so happens to be one in pretty decent shape right now on eBay. We're not sold on this particular car's yellow over gray color palette, but it only has 53,000 miles on it and seems to have been owned by an enthusiast (of sorts). If you love classic wedge-like hatchback designs from the '80s but feel a VW Cabrio...
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Filed under: Economy , Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Toyota Toyota Yaris Liftback - Click above for high-res image gallery The speculation can finally end. After weeks of hearing rumors regarding an impending low-cost hybrid from Toyota, Automotive News is reporting that the Japanese automaker is working on getting a hybrid drivetrain installed in the Yaris platform. The new car will use the same Hybrid Synergy Drive technology as the Prius but will cost considerably less when it goes on sale, which could take place as early as 2011. This new development is a direct response to the new Honda Insight , a hybrid five-door that ostensibly competes with the Toyota Prius but costs thousands less due to its slightly smaller size, including a downsized engine and battery pack. When Toyota's Insight-fighter hits the market, we'd expect it to carry an engine that roughly matches the Insight's 1.3 liters, a full half-liter smaller than the powerplant in the 2010 Prius . Gallery: In The...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , Convertibles , Economy , Etc. , Green , Tech , Daimler , Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz F-Cell Roadster - Click above for high-res image gallery Times may be tough, but that isn't stopping Daimler from having a bit of expensive-looking fun with its trainees... so long as there's an educational bent to it. What you see before you isn't an artful series of renderings, it's an actual time-warping fuel cell concept dubbed "F-CELL Roadster." It took a year and more than 150 trainees to create, but the entire project involved using "junior employees", giving the company's up-and-coming employees a creative way to learn how alternative-fuel systems come together. The F-CELL Roadster marries Benz Patent Motor Car stylings with 21st century tech wonderfully, including that legendary vehicle's general aesthetic and proportions, along with old-meets-new technologies like carbon-fiber buckets capped in hand-stitched leather and a...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , Frankfurt Auto Show , Spy Photos , Economy , Euro , Green , Paris Motor Show , Hatchbacks , Mazda When we were told that the Mazda Kiyora concept unveiled at last year's Paris Motor Show would influence Mazda's coming city car, it looks like we overestimated the word "influence." At least, that's the case if the little Mazda caught in Evo 's spy shots is actually the Mazda1. Evo makes a compelling case for the car actually being the Mazda1 - not merely a revised Mazda2. Save for the ascending shoulder line (now moved to shoulder height, way above the rocker panels as on the Kiyora) the prototype has almost nothing in common with the design of the swoopy Paris beastlet. At the very least, we hope this car comes with the concept car's tech, but we won't know for certain until the car's expected launch at September's Frankfurt Auto Show . [Source: Evo ] Spy Shots: If this is it, the Mazda1 looks nothing like Kiyora concept...
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Filed under: Economy , Videos , Ford Click above to watch video after the jump So, applications for Ford's Fiesta Movement closed last night, and AutoblogGreen got its entry in just under the buzzer. We're nothing if not slackers waiting for a deadline. With a few Lego props (our models didn't go into this much detail , though), a camera and iMovie, we thought we'd make some promises to Ford on how we'd treat their car should they give it to us for half a year as part of the Fiesta promotion . We think we covered everything: pirates vs. ninja, paparazzi, Yoda. Yup, that's about it. Check out the video after the jump and then watch more video entries for the competition over on YouTube . Gallery: Chicago 2009: Fiesta Movement 01 Continue reading VIDEO: AutoblogGreen tries out for the Fiesta Movement VIDEO: AutoblogGreen tries out for the Fiesta Movement originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read ...
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Filed under: Economy , Green , India , Tata , Rumormill Click above for a high-res gallery of the Tata Nano Could an extremely inexpensive, minuscule little car like the Tata Nano actually sell in America, a land historically enamored with powerful V8 engines surrounded by as much sheetmetal as possible? According to the Financial Times , Tata Motors may be about to find out, as the Indian automaker is said to be looking at an introduction into the U.S. market by 2011 or 2012. What makes Ratan Tata, chairman of the automaker that bears his name, think that his diminutive rear-engined machine might sell in the United States? The economy, of course. Americans may be willing to accept some of the sacrifices that would go hand-in-hand with owning the World's Cheapest Car, though the version likely to sell in the States would surely differ in major ways from what is now on sale in India. If the Tata Nano were to hit the U.S. market, it would need to pass the same safety and emissions regulations...
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Filed under: Economy , Green , Hatchbacks , Volkswagen Volkswagen Golf Mk VI GTI - Click above for high-res image gallery We've been hearing rumblings about a new variant of the Volkswagen Golf and Rabbit for several months now, ever since a reader sent in what appeared to be an order form for the new sixth generation model for the U.S. market. This new model was dubbed the Rabbit GTD, implying that it's a sporting variant like the GTI, but powered by a TDI diesel engine. Volkswagen of America has only confirmed that the U.S. will get a new Mk VI GTI this summer followed by a new Rabbit in the fall that will offer TDI power. It now appears that the Golf GTD will at least be unveiled in April at the AMI Car Show in Leipzig, Germany. If the reports are correct, the GTD will use the more powerful 170-hp version of the 2.0-liter TDI that we already get here in the Jetta. This is the same unit used in the Jetta TDI cup race cars as well as the European market Audi TT TDI. The Golf/Rabbit...
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