BMW builds new city car:BMW is to build a new city car, and has formed a team called Project "i" to develop "completely new car and mobility concepts for megacities," according to BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer.
The letter "i" stands for innovation and the development team have a free-ranging brief to examine all kinds of technology, although BMW has said that one of these will be battery power.
"This project is fully independent and even free to act beyond BMW structures if necessary," says Reithofer. "The task of the Project i team is to present specific solutions already in the first half of the next decade. Whether this will require a fourth brand or not, will be decided at a later date." The city car could also become an extension of the BMW or Mini brands. BMW has considered city cars in the past.
A decision on this project's future "will be taken this year", he said. Reithofer also reported that the company is creating 500 entirely new jobs to further its research into alternative propulsion, fuel and mobility systems.
GM look towards the alternatives
General Motors Corporation's US product line may have to be 80 per cent hybrid for the world's largest automaker to meet fuel-economy requirements for 2020, vice chairman Bob Lutz said.
GM "can't possibly" achieve federal requirements that cars and light trucks average 35 miles per gallon of gasoline with its current autos, Lutz told reporters at the New York International Motor Show this week.
Of 3.8 million vehicles sold by GM in the US last year, 8,400 were gasoline- electric hybrids. Chief executive officer Rick Wagoner has said hybrid systems are part of a broader GM strategy to cut reliance on foreign oil.
US lawmakers agreed to raise fuel-economy standards by 40 per cent for cars and light trucks in November to cut US oil consumption and curb global warming.
X Prize entries on show
More than 60 teams from nine countries have lined up to chase a $10 million prize for making a green supercar that smashes records for fuel efficiency. The initial list of teams signed on for the X Prize competition range from California-based Tesla Motors to Cornell University.
The goal is to create a commercially viable car that gets at least 100 miles to the gallon. In late 2009 qualifiers will criss-cross the US in a race designed to test the vehicles on speed and the distance they can travel. None of the major car brands have signed up to join the competition.
Fiat looks at sharing Alfa production
Fiat is talking to Detroit's carmakers about sharing production of Alfa Romeos in the US as part of a three-pronged assault on the world's largest market for vehicles.
The Italian industrial group, fresh from a turnaround from near-bankruptcy, is also preparing to return its Iveco trucks division to the US and offer the relaunched Fiat 500 to the Americans as well.
Sergio Marchionne, Fiat chief executive, said he planned to start North American production of Alfa cars by 2011 or 2012. "I've always had the view that we had to produce in America," he said. "Nobody making anything in Europe is going to make profits in the US. You can't. So we need to localise."
Marchionne said Alfa would distribute and sell cars in the US from next year, absorbing losses until production started with a partner.
No one from Chrysler, Ford Motor or General Motors would comment, but Marchionne said: "You don't even need a full hand to count them, so let's assume that we know them all and we talk to them from time to time about a variety of options."
The big three carmakers are scaling down their US operations. Fiat withdrew Alfa from the US in 1995, a year in which its sales in the country were just 400 cars.
Fiat plans to export its 500 model to the US, Marchionne said. "We need to replicate the Mini phenomenon in the US." The Fiat boss also reaffirmed his interest in working with Tata Motors if it buys Jaguar and Land Rover.
Bentley buys HR Owen shares
Bentley Motors is poised to become the largest shareholder in HR Owen, the British car dealership that sells more Bentleys than any other.
HR Owen confirmed that Volkswagen-owned Bentley had agreed to buy 27.9 per cent of the company, which owns the Jack Barclay franchise in Mayfair's Berkeley Square, the world's oldest and largest Bentley dealership. Founded in 1932 by Captain Harold Rolfe Owen, HR Owen is also the UK's largest dealer of Lamborghinis and Bugattis.
Bentley had its best ever year in 2007, selling upward of 10,000 cars worldwide. HR Owen's eclectic list of shareholders includes singer Phil Collins and Nick Mason, the drummer with Pink Floyd.