Flybrian

VOLKSWAGEN REPORTS DECEMBER 2006 SALES Volkswagen brand posts year-to-date increase of 4.9 percent AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Volkswagen of America, Inc. today announced calendar year 2006 sales results of 235,140 units. This represents a 4.9 percent increase over the 2005 total of 224,195 vehicles. Overall brand growth can be attributed to gathering strength in Jetta and Passat models, and market acceptance of the revived Rabbit. December sales of 19,942 decreased 23.2 percent from December 2005 totals. Year-to-date, the safe and sporty Jetta and Passat sedans were up 3.2 and 15 percent, respectively. The combination of fun-to-drive handling and performance, with class leading safety, at affordable “Volks-pricing” has driven the growth of these models. The iconic New Beetle coupe ended the year with sales of 18,166 units, a healthy 6.8 percent over 2005 sales results. Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest producers of passenger cars and Europe’s largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Rabbit, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, GTI, Jetta, GLI, Passat, Passat wagon, Eos, and Touareg through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. Visit Volkswagen of America online at vw.com.

Kia Motors America Announces 13 Consecutive Years of Record Sales IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 3 -- Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced a record thirteenth consecutive year of sales increases and its best month ever. Year-to-date sales for the company in 2006 totaled 294,302 units, 6.7-percent ahead of the record sales pace set in 2005. The Kia Spectra sold more than 70,000 units in 2006, totaling 72,557. Both the Kia Sorento and Kia Sedona models sold more than 50,000 units in 2006, totaling 57,018 and 50,672 units respectively. December sales was the best month ever for the company, totaling 30,004, a 60-percent increase over 2005. "The continued sales growth of Kia over the past thirteen years has been nothing short of remarkable," said Len Hunt, executive vice president and COO of KMA. "The confidence and integrity that we exude is shown through the quality of vehicles that we are bringing to market. And we will continue to build upon that foundation, instilling a sense of pride and passion for our products with our customers." Kia Motors America -- the sales, marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corp. in Seoul, South Korea -- offers a complete line of vehicles through more than 630 dealers throughout the United States.

Agreed. The color alone makes a huge difference. The wild colors are too foreign, too retina-scarring.

C'mon, guys, deadline is coming up!

NASCAR is no more about production automobiles than the WNBA is and GM should treat it just the same - a marketing opportunity. Period.

Mercedes E260

NOS is an American hero.

So, we should expect this is five/six years, too?

MagnaRide?! That was unexpected.

The XP2000 was hot.

For the unfamiliar, Proton was set up by the Malaysian government in 1983. Historically, their cars were rebodied/rebadged on Mitsubishi platforms with a Citroen or two thrown in the fix. Their first completely indigenous car (design and engineering) was introduced in 2004, the Proton Gen-2. Aside from Malasia, Proton markets cars in nearby New Zealand, England, Australia, and Singapore. By purchasing Proton, GM would also gain Lotus (again), makers of the Elise, Exige, and Europa.

95% of the people who mock the Bonneville's interior have never been inside one, much less driven one. Its more ergonomic than most of these 'international'-designed cars with perfectly symmetrical layouts. That's what I mean. Plus, foreign color combinations on midlevel vehicles leave nothing to be desired. This Holden is no exception. The orange is disgusting but the fact that its not broken up by an easily-placed chrome/black/whatever strip between the upper and lower dash is confounding. And, again, console window switches are junk. They signify cheapness and partsbinitis.

Good luck with that. Half of the G35 coupes out there are owned by under-30 punks with more downpayment than brains. They don't take care of them.

Lincoln Mark VIII

Hey. The last Bonneville only had twelve counting the rear vents. Get it straight! *Better interior color combos. I know it looks especially bad just because its orange, but that much bright-cheap red, blue, or whatever would be equally bad. Break it up with stainless trim and two-toning of classier shades of red, blue, etc. *Window switches are garbage. Relocate them to the door where they belong. *Color-matched trim needs to flow onto the door panels. They look plain and empty without it. *Dash binnicle is too Five-Hundredy. Don't know what can be done to that without changing everything around. I know this is a foreign-market car and alot of my gripes have to do with it being easy-adaptable to the two markets where its mainly sold, but I for one would like to see a more dynamic, driver-oriented cockpit. In fact, all Pontiacs should have controls that wrap around the driver's seat (something very, very few cars do anymore) to give it that controlled, purposeful feel. Its also a boon for ergonomics. Even the current Grand Prix looks more driver-oriented and sporty than this dash due to its cant, especially if you take away the drilled pedals and scarring color scheme.

The hood creases are soooo mid-90s Buick. You can see them on the Riv, Park Ave, and preceeding XP2000 concept.

What he said.

Curious. By the way, know what else weighs 4101lbs? + '07 CTS - 3509-3850 (V-Series) DTS - 4009lbs

The Amanti ruins any desire I may have ever had for the Thesis.

I'd like to see a 3.6l VVT V6 with 260hp as the base with two V8s (350hp & 400hp) available. GT - 260hp GTP - 350hp GXP - 400hp GXP G8 tops out at around $38k. You'll sell every one of them.

New Impala won't be shown until next year Posted Jan 8th 2007 2:44PM by Alex Nunez Sketch by C&G Member Yellowjacket894 Link to original article @ Autoblog We interviewed Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper at the Detroit Auto Show earlier today. While we won't have the full interview up for you until sometime tomorrow, there was one tidbit of information that we wanted to share with you straightaway, and it relates to the next-generation Impala. Many of us presumed that we'd get to see the car sometime during this auto show season. That's not the case. The enormity of GM's new product onslaught was such that we simply assumed that we'd be seeing an Impala this year, an assumption that Ed corrected us on. He couldn't give us any specifics about timing, but if the Impala turns out to be one of the stars of '08 Detroit show, let's just say we wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

Fix parts of the interior, too.

The interior is still junky. The original Escalade had real Zebrano wood, but it didn't make it any nicer inside. Same here. Where's the seamless integration of radio/HVAC controls everyone loves? Instead, we get this array of buttons compacted into a rectangle stuck inside a piece of recycled silver Monte Carlo dash trim. Actually, I think the MC's metallic trim has better texture. The analog clock adds a touch of class appreciated by the cup of Sprite in the console because that's the only thing that can see it since its randomly jammed far, far down on the stack. Another obnoxious hazard lamp button is asymmetrically placed below an air vent. The downmarket parts bin steering wheel is just the icing on this cake of hillarity. And the vehicle as a whole is garbage. For the price, you can have the ride quality of a Navigator, the refinement of a GL, or the brute power and bling of an Escalade. The QX has always looked horrible, especially from the rear with its clunky, detached bumper and obnoxiously-protruding single exhaust outlet. Plus, for all the "effort" invested in that elephant grille, absolutely zero was spent on a simple relocation of the rear door handles. Not only is the pillar-mounted handle an unergonomic throwback (Beretta much?), but furthermore its a styling cue that's very Nissan, dating back to the first four-door Pathfinders and meant to give the illusion of its two-door predecessor. Its acceptable on the Armada because a)its at least a Nissan and b)that vehicle itself was originally a spinoff of the Pathfinder (Pathfinder Armada). It lives on the QX because Nissan is cheap and lazy. The Armada on which is based is a pig in and of itself - worst-in-class fuel economy with low build-quality and horrible road noise. The QX is heavier because Nissan had to stuff sound insulation to quiet it down for the luxury buyer. It, too, is horribly inefficient and an incohesive styling nightmare marred by the mediocre donor platform. I just think it was - and still is - an abomination that the same company who designed the G35 and FX somehow justifies foisting this juggernaut of vomit-inducing wretchedness on the public. They can do better, they just don't think its worth the effort. And somehow, they find tasteless people with too much money (or rather, credit) that somehow like this beast. And even if this had a world-class interior, its still ugly as sin. Its like furnishing your crackerbox shack with an Ethan Allen living room set.

Razzi makes better ground effects.

Hey, guys...guess what. The 300hp V6 runs on REGULAR unleaded. Lexus doesn't do that. Acura doesn't. I don't think Infiniti does either.