eRacings

11/09/2016

04/19/2016

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) recently got a huge surprise when the Ford Mustang was dubbed the most popular sports car in Germany.

This comes as a surprise considering the fact that Germany is the home of popular sports cars such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, and Audi. But this time, the Germans have forsaken their own and taken an interest in the Ford Mustang according to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, KBA.

The revelation is good news for Ford because it means the company made the right decision by redesigning the 2015 Mustang as well as launching global sales. The Mustang’s main market was the US but the car amassed global recognition because it has been popularized by movies and TV shows. Before the company’s decision to launch global sales, it was hard for Mustang enthusiasts in Europe to own a Mustang.

The vehicle carries a higher price tag in the UK compared to the US. The turbocharged four-cylinder version costs €38,000, about $43,000. The same model is priced below $26,000 in the US. The UK price equivalent for the V8 Ford GT model is about $50,000 while the same model costs about $32,000 in the US. The GT is the most popular Mustang in Germany regardless of the higher price tag. Nevertheless, it happens to be the best-priced sports car compared to other vehicles in its class such as the Audi S5 and the Porsche 911.

The base model of the 911 cost €96,000 ($110,000) in Germany. Ford managed to sell 780 Mustangs in March this year while Porsche 911 sold 752 units in the same month, according to a report from the government. The Mustang’s biggest long-term rival is the Chevrolet Camaro which is made by General Motors Company (N

11/06/2015

Las Vegas

05/12/2015

http://www.eracings.com/audi-a3-06-08-projector-headlights-halogen-model-only-not-compatible-with-xenon-hid-model-drl-black-high-h1-included-low-h7-included.html

These projector headlights are designed to improve looks and visibility for your vehicle. They are made by OEM approved and ISO certified manufacturers. They are made with OEM standard quality and are designed for stock lights direct replacement.

02/14/2015

Since debuting to an avalanche of aclaim at the Detroit Auto Show last month, the intensity of the buzz surrounding Ford's ferocious GT has only increased. Add silver paint, and it's front-page news again.

Wisely, the Blue Oval has wasted no time in capitalizing on its halo car's implications for the rest of its product line—and the automotive industry at large.

With its pioneering aluminum F-150, Ford demonstrated its commitment to bringing lightweight tech to the masses. And a just-announced partnership with DowAksa seeks to revolutionize production of the carbon fiber comprising so much of its stunning supercar. DowAksa itself is a partnership—between the Dow Chemical Company and acrylic-fiber giant Aksa—established to make high-volume carbon fiber production more affordable. The new collaboration will be part of America's Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation.

That's a lot firepower focused on cheap carbon fiber.

Obviously, using halo cars to demonstrate technology is nothing new. During production of the LFA, Toyota looked to its weaving heritage to construct a carbon fiber loom—at the time heralded as a breakthrough akin to 3D printing—but the revolutionary loom was as much of design exercise as the rest of the limited production car. Cost wasn't a consideration during development. In some ways, it was art for art's sake.

But the goal of lighter, faster, stronger and more fuel-efficient vehicles at every price point? That's good news for enthusiasts everywhere.

It's almost enough to make us forget the GT is almost certainly going racing.

02/08/2015

Auto World News said they will be exhibited at the General Police Equipment Exhibition & Conference in Leipzig, Germany.

Pictured are BMW X3 and BMW 5 Series Touring police vehicles. (BMW Image)
The 3 Series Touring and the X3 come with the computer system iDrive and several options for LED light and warning devices. The company said in a statement they were developed in close collaboration with public safety specialists.

The 7 Series High Security sedan and the X5 Security SUV are armored vehicle options with less-visible reinforcements, making them ideal for unmarked patrol, and the smaller i3 electric Concept is said to be intended for security operations and checks.

01/14/2015

01/14/2015

2017 Ford F-150 Raptor: The Beast Returns with an Aluminum Body and a Twin-Turbo V-6!
2017 Ford F-150 Raptor: The Beast Returns with an Aluminum Body and a Twin-Turbo V-6!
It's a bird, it's a plane . . . it's the boulder-decimating new Raptor!
JANUARY 2015 BY ALEXANDER STOKLOSA PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL SIMARI AND THE MANUFACTURER
OFFICIAL PHOTOS AND INFO

In one of his last shows as the cocky, right-wing-mocking talking head on the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert made a gleeful, deliciously prescient point about Americans’ short attention spans for cheap gas: “Fuel is cheap this week? Give me a five-year lease on a rolling cargo ship with the aerodynamics of a cinder block!” The statement may have been sarcastic, but there couldn’t be a better climate into which Ford could introduce its second-generation F-150 Raptor.

Hulking on its off-road suspension, widened fenders, and meaty 35-inch tires, the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor is just as outrageously polar bear–mocking and lane-deflowering as its groundbreaking forebear, only now it swills cheap h***h. Not that such a detail matters; since being introduced in 2010, the roughly $50,000 Raptor has had buyers lining up even through the late stages of economic recession and four-buck-per-gallon gas. Naturally, we love the thing. Who wouldn’t, given its huge power, ability to bomb across craggy terrain at 100 mph, and bad-ass visuals?

BUILT ECO TOUGH

Happily, Ford stuck to the script for the new model—almost. There has been some paraphrasing in the engine bay, where, instead of the old truck’s 411-hp 6.2-liter V-8, sits a new twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 engine with direct fuel injection. While it shares a displacement figure with the larger of the two EcoBoost V-6s available in the regular F-150, the Raptor’s mill features a new aluminum block and upgraded internals, revised heads, and tweaked fuel-delivery equipment. Final output figures weren’t available at the time of this writing, but we’re told to count on 450 to 500 horsepower and more torque than the current V-8’s 434 lb-ft. As for fuel-economy estimates, Ford is likely to trumpet efficiency gains on account of the turbocharged engine, but horrible, ignorable fuel economy is part of the Raptor’s charm. We’ll file preliminary EPA estimates under “we don’t care.”

Of course, four-wheel drive will be standard, and the Raptor’s setup now includes a terrain-response function that optimizes the truck for varied surfaces such as snow, rocks, and more. Feeding the transfer case is Ford’s first application of its all-new 10-speed automatic transmission.

YOU CAN’T CRUSH THIS BEER CAN

The new powertrain is bolted to an equally new frame that, while derived from the 2015 F-150’s steel unit, is substantially upgraded to better handle the abuse doled out by full-throttle (sweet) jumps, huge rocks, and whatever else a Raptor can subjugate to its will. Two wheelbases and cab configurations will be offered: a 133-inch-wheelbase, extended-cab SuperCab and a 145-inch, four-door SuperCrew. Following in the F-150’s footsteps, the high-performance truck also switches to aluminum bodywork, shedding a claimed 500 or so pounds in the process. A composite hood and front fenders further reduce mass.

Ford’s stylists somehow managed to massage these fancy new materials in such a way as to imbue the Raptor’s rippling body with even more muscle. The slight upkick to the rear quarter-panels lends the tail a bad-ass stadium-truck look, and the grille once again boasts giant “Ford” lettering and federally mandated marker lights on account of the truck’s width. Colossal Ford lettering also makes it onto the Raptor’s tailgate, and there are vents on each front fender and another one on the hood, in addition to LED accent lighting everywhere.

The most important elements of all, however, are sheltered by the Raptor’s blistered fenders. Those would be the Fox Racing shocks, coil-sprung aluminum front control arms, and the leaf-sprung solid rear axle. To improve on the old Raptor’s impressive suspension travel—11.2 inches in front and 12.1 inches in the rear—Ford upped the Fox shocks’ diameters from 2.5 inches to 3.0. The units still feature internal bypasses that take the edge off of quick, hard impacts. Skid plates in front help protect against meet-and-greets with desert rubble, and shallower front and rear bumpers improve the truck’s approach and departure angles. New 17-inch aluminum wheels are wrapped in BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A K02 tires that practically scream out for raised white lettering.

IT KNOWS IT CAN FLY

Amazingly, another carry-over feature of the 2017 F-150 Raptor is its near complete lack of competition. Dodge offers the 1500-based Ram Runner, but it is available only in kit form through the Mopar catalog. General Motors never picked up the phone when Ford came calling in 2010, and it hasn’t since. Some credit is due to the Ford SVT engineers—who now toil under the Ford Performance banner, hence the absence of “SVT” in the new Raptor’s name—that designed such a product that worked nearly as well on the street as it did in the Baja.

Having sampled several iterations of the new F-150, we can report that the weight loss afforded by the switch to aluminum construction is palpable from behind the wheel. Yet for all that, this Raptor version is the one we’ve been waiting for. With the base price expected to stay around the $50,000 mark, it will continue to be within reach of anyone with desert-runner fantasies. So, yeah, Mr. Colbert? You can sign us up for one of these babies.

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01/07/2015

Mercedes USA will move to Atlanta seeking sales growth, lower costs
Diana T. Kurylko Twitter RSS feed
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Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described when Porsche formally broke ground on a new U.S. headquarters in Atlanta.

Mercedes-Benz USA will relocate its headquarters from New Jersey to Atlanta to cut its costs and to chase sales growth it foresees in the South, CEO Steve Cannon said today.

Beginning in June, Mercedes will move from New Jersey to temporary offices in Atlanta, where it will build a greenfield headquarters complex by the end of 2017.

Cannon said the decision was driven by high costs in New Jersey and by anticipated growth in vehicle sales and dealerships in the South, particularly in Atlanta, Houston and Dallas.

“If you believe the trends that most of the U.S. growth will happen there, this anticipates that growth,” he said in an interview today. “The great migration from north to south continues, and that’s not just companies but our customers.”

Mercedes is the third automaker to announce a U.S. headquarters switch over the past year.

Toyota Motor Corp. is moving its North American sales, marketing and other corporate operations from southern California and the Cincinnati area to suburban Dallas. And General Motors’ Cadillac brand is relocating from Detroit to New York.

Mercedes also is the second German automaker to choose Atlanta. Porsche moved its U.S. headquarters from Las Vegas in 1988 and in late 2012 began construction on a new headquarters near Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Porsche is planning to move employees in to the new headquarters this month.

Cannon said that because Mercedes-Benz has outgrown its current headquarters in Montvale, N.J., staying there would have required a significant investment. Mercedes-Benz has been based in Montvale -- about 30 miles from New York City -- since 1972.

“This represents the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to set up the next chapter of success for Mercedes-Benz USA,” he said.

Lower costs

The Smart small car and Sprinter van brands will also be based in Atlanta. Mercedes-Benz U.S. sales, including those brands, grew 6.7 percent in 2014 to 366,589 vehicles.

Lower costs in the South were a major factor in the decision to relocate, Cannon said: “It will be a lower cost of living and a lower-cost-of-doing-business environment.”

“This is not a story about who offered us the biggest pile of incentives,” he said. “We had to find a location with a brand new headquarters to position us for the next 50 years of growth.”

The cost of living in the Atlanta area is between 20 and 30 percent lower than in New Jersey, he said: “That is just a structural disadvantage of states like New Jersey and New York.”

“It is our job to anticipate where we need to go in the future; this will drive our efficiency significantly, we will reset our cost base by moving from north to south,” Cannon said.

Cannon would not discuss state incentives offered by Georgia because negotiations are still underway on a final site for the headquarters. Mercedes also rejected last-ditch efforts with incentives by New Jersey to stay. Cannon said he met with N.J. Gov. Chris Christie before Christmas.

Other benefits

Atlanta is in the same time zone as New Jersey, which makes it just as easy to deal with headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. It is also close to Mercedes’ biggest import processing center at the Port of Brunswick in Georgia, and its factory in Tuscaloosa, Ala., is only a two-hour drive away, Cannon said.

Another plus is the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a major travel hub.

“We have to become the most efficient company that we can become. We are making massive investments in product, factories in expanding our global footprint and in technology so we can meet a 55.4 mpg requirement in the U.S.” said Cannon.

“Those are huge costs that we have incurred as a manufacturer.”

'Tweak the organization'

Cannon said most of the brand’s 1,000 employees will move but admitted “we will tweak the organization as we move from Point A to Point B.”

“We will make small structural changes,” he said. “I am not ready to talk about those. They are not approved.”

Mercedes-Benz will begin relocating employees in June to a 100,000-square-foot temporary facility. Research into best practices showed it is optimal to move employees quickly after announcing a relocation, Cannon said. Employees were notified this afternoon.

Critical operations including the data and call centers and certain operations dealing with retailers will not move until the new headquarters is complete, Cannon said. Mercedes may set up a new training facility in New Jersey, Cannon said, declining to say whether one of the three buildings Mercedes owns in northwest New Jersey would be used.

The temporary offices and the greenfield site will be in the “center perimeter area,” of Atlanta, Cannon said.

Younger employees will have urban living nearby and those with families and school-age children can live in the northern suburbs, Cannon said. “This straddles downtown and goes to the suburbs to allow variety for our employees.”

Cannon said this is the ideal time for Mercedes-Benz to relocate. “Things are good," he said. "You cannot make a move like this in bad times.”

Cannon said the decision to move was made by U.S. management and approved by the Daimler AG board after Thanksgiving. Mercedes also looked at sites in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Texas, he said.

12/31/2014

America » Audi
Audi to invest 24 billion euros to chase BMW
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Audi
BMW
Rupert Stadler
Axel Strotbek
December 27, 2014 09:34 CET
BERLIN (Bloomberg) -- Audi will spend 24 billion euros ($29 billion) to develop technology and expand production, boosting its five-year investment plan by 2 billion euros ($2.44 billion) as it chases BMW for the top spot in luxury-car sales.

About 16.8 billion euros, or 70 percent of the total, is earmarked for new models like the Q1 subcompact SUV, the company said Saturday in a statement.

Audi expects to sell a record of more than 1.7 million autos this year.

"We are making large investments in the innovative areas of electric mobility, connectivity and lightweight construction," Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said in the statement.

Audi intends to increase its lineup to 60 models or variants by 2020 from 50. Audi, the No. 2 brand in global luxury-car sales, aims to surpass BMW in deliveries by the end of the decade. The race tightened this year. BMW outsold Audi by just 42,600 cars in the first 11 months of 2014 compared with 54,600 a year earlier.

Audi's budget is part of Volkswagen's 85.6 billion-euro investment program to beat Toyota Motor Corp. in global auto-industry sales.

Audi plans to spend the equivalent of 4.8 billion euros a year, an increase from the previous rolling five-year plan that called for investing 4.4 billion euros annually on new vehicles and expanding production capacity.

'Watchful eye'

"Despite the growth in total investment, we will keep a watchful eye on the upcoming challenges and exercise the required cost discipline," CFO Axel Strotbek said.

Audi, which already outsells BMW in China and Europe, is aiming to catch up in the U.S.

In November, it unveiled the Prologue concept car at the Los Angeles auto show to showcase a more aggressive design.

The company also plans an electric crossover for the U.S. in 2017 to challenge Tesla Motors Inc. and is building a factory in Mexico that will start building the Q5 SUV in 2016 for America.

Audi said on Saturday it will hire another 850 workers at the Mexico plant next year.

BMW is seeking to fend off Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which also covets the top spot, with its own expansion, adding cars like the X4 coupe-like SUV and the i8 plug-in hybrid supercar.

Under its previous budget drawn up a year ago, Audi announced investments of 22 billion euros over the 2014-2018 period. Parent VW in November unveiled auto investments of 85.6 billion euros through 2019, slightly more than a year earlier, even as the carmaker is pushing cost cuts at its core brand.

Reuters contributed to this report

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12/08/2014

December 08, 2014 12:01 AM
Jeep drives 25% of U.S. sales gains
Fiat Chrysler outpaces rest of industry fourfold
Nick Bunkley Twitter RSS feed
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The biggest contributor to this year's growth has been Fiat Chrysler, whose sales are up 16 percent in 2014.
Eleven months into 2014, automakers have sold about 780,000 more vehicles in the U.S. than at this point last year. One out of every four of those added sales was a Jeep.

Jeep’s big year has helped Fiat Chrysler grow at four times the pace of the rest of the industry, gaining momentum as the U.S. market shows signs of starting to plateau. Last month, it posted a bigger volume increase than all other automakers combined: 28,884 incremental units for Fiat Chrysler vs. 28,582 for everyone else.

The company has now posted year-over-year sales gains for 56 consecutive months, its market share jumping from 8.7 percent in March 2010 to 13.2 percent now. At the same time, retail buyers account for about eight in 10 overall sales this year, compared with just over half 56 months ago.


Eddy: "A whole different feeling"


“It’s a whole different feeling now,” said Chuck Eddy, a Chrysler dealer in Youngs-town, Ohio, and chairman of the Chrysler National Dealer Council. “It’s not a rental-car fleet anymore. The consumer is buying our product.”

Industrywide sales rose 5 percent in November, and the seasonally adjusted, annualized selling rate hit 17.2 million, the second-highest level of any month in more than eight years. On the year, sales are on track to top 16.4 million, the most since 2006.

The biggest contributor to this year’s growth has been Fiat Chrysler, whose sales are up 16 percent in 2014. The rest of the industry, excluding Fiat Chrysler, has increased 4 percent on the year.

The Jeep brand alone has managed to boost its sales by 44 percent in 2014. Jeep accounts for nearly three-quarters of Fiat Chrysler’s year-to-date sales gain.

IHS Automotive said Jeep has increased its brand-loyalty rating — measured by vehicles registered to buyers who already owned the same brand — by 16 percent this year, third best in the industry behind Maserati and Mitsubishi. In contrast, the average brand has increased its sales to existing customers by just 0.4 percent.

November’s high selling rate was helped by automakers promoting more Black Friday deals and starting their year-end clearance discounts earlier than in the past. But incentive spending fell 2.3 percent from October and 0.2 percent from November 2013, according to TrueCar.

At the same time, average transaction prices rose 0.6 percent from a year ago, TrueCar said.

This is the third consecutive year that the industry sold more cars and trucks in November than October. From 1989 through 2011, October was the bigger of the two months every year except 2005.

Chrysler growth
Percentage of industry sales growth attributable to Chrysler.
2010 13%
2011 24%
2012 16%
2013 14%
2014 33%*

*Includes Fiat
Source: Automotive News Data Center
Automakers sold 1.3 million vehicles last month, the most for any November since 2001.

“The combination of [near] record-high SAARs and record-high ATPs means U.S. consumers are spending more money on new cars than any other time in history,” said Adam Jonas, an analyst with Morgan Stanley. “Far, far more.”

Gasoline prices — at the lowest in four years — are helping to drive sales for Fiat Chrysler and other automakers with product lineups that depend heavily on SUVs, cross-overs and pickups.

Those segments could be even stronger in December, generally a big month for light trucks anyway, with 15 percent of U.S. gas stations charging less than $2.50 a gallon for regular-grade fuel last week, according to GasBuddy.com. Barclays Capital analyst Brian Johnson wrote in a Dec. 4 report that he expects “cheap gas” to strengthen demand for larger vehicles through at least the first half of 2015.

Top segments
Nov. 2014 Rank in 2013
Midsize car 19170900% 1st
Compact CUV 19165700% 3rd
Full-size pickup 17080900% 4th
Compact car 169,572 2nd
Other 578,908

Source: Automotive News Data Center


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