World Auto News & Reviews

Taking valuable marketing lessons from Fiat and its highly successful Nuovo 500 mini, Citroen is constantly finding ways to promote its new DS3 hatchback. This time, the French carmaker dressed up several DS3s with a black rooftop featuring the “YSL” (Yves Saint Laurent) logo and other special trim options.
The special edition DS3s, which won’t go on sale, were used to charter special guests at the opening of the retrospective exhibition of Saint Laurent’s entire body of work at the Petit Palais museum on Wednesday.

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Geely may still be on track to purchase the Volvo brand from Ford, but the Chinese automaker could be struggling to source the necessary capital to keep the Swedish brand up and running once the transaction is complete.

According to sources familiar with the situation, Geely will need “an absolute minimum” of $1.4 billion following the acquisition of Volvo in order to continue future vehicle development, support marketing functions and fund production and distribution operation. The $1.4 billion would be in addition to $2 billion Geely is expected to pay for the Volvo brand.
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As mentioned yesterday, FoMoCo will unveil its replacement for the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor to a bunch of cops in Las Vegas later today – well, here are the first pictures of the Taurus based Police Interceptor you might end up seeing in you’re rear-view mirror in 2012.

The Crown Victoria will end production in Sept. 2011 and will be replaced by this Ford Taurus turned Police Interceptor.

We don’t have all the tech specs yet, but we’re pretty sure that the V6 EcoBoost and the AWD system will all be part of the game.
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General Motors Vice President Bob Lutz, who is scheduled to retire his position on May 1, recently said GM will keep making big trucks and SUVs because U.S. buyers demand them, but a major portion of them will be gasoline-electric hybrids. He also said that the Detroit automaker will pay back its bailout loan at a profit for U.S. taxpayers without lowering the quality in vehicle development.

Speaking to Detroit News, Lutz said that GM will apply hybrid technology to more vehicles in order to satisfy the fuel-economy standards that will rise 40 percent to an average 35 mpg by 2020. He said that the cost of going hybrid will increase cost for GM, since charging the customer for a hybrid system would make the vehicles too expensive. GM currently has seven hybrids in its lineup.
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Nissan Motor (Thailand) Co., Ltd. NMT) today celebrated the start of production for the all-new Nissan March, a global compact vehicle. More than 200 guests and employees were at the kick-off event, which included representatives from the Thai government, including Trirong Suwanakiri, deputy prime minister.

Officially launching March 26 at the Bangkok International Motor Show 2010, the Nissan March will be the first model offered for sale under Thailand’s “eco-car” program, created to encourage the development of energy-efficient vehicles.

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The Alfa Romeo MiTo is already a global success story. Sold in 34 countries and on five different continents, it has won wide acclaim for its unprecedented fusion of head-turning high end style, engineering flair, dynamic performance and driving pleasure.

And now, Alfa has moved the game on again, bringing revolutionary MultiAir technology and a raft of technical innovations to the world’s sportiest compact car. The evolution underlines the company’s on-going commitment to reconcile lower emissions and fuel consumption with higher performance and driver satisfaction for an increasingly extensive, smart and environmentally aware audience.

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March 12 — Lynch Hummer (http://www.lynchhummer.com/) is giving away a Browning Citori White Lightning Shotgun with every new Hummer purchased. Lynch Hummer, who first made headlines for “Guns and Hummers” when they added Adventure Shooting Sports (http://www.adventureshootingsports.com/) to their Hummer showroom, has teamed up with Browning to make this offer. The Browning Citori White Lightning is a premium over and under shotgun with a retail value of $2,000. “There is now real reason to believe that the current inventory on hand at dealers may be the last of the new Hummers, we wanted to send them off with something memorable,” says Hummer dealer Jim Lynch. “Browning and Hummer are prestigious brands and American Icons – bringing them together is a natural fit.”

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