Heidi Klum appears with Barbie’s life-size New Beetle Cabriolet
Photo: Volkswagen of America/Lisa Rose With Barbie’s 50th birthday, Volkswagen has created a life-size version of her New Beetle Cabriolet, in bright pink, pictured here with supermodel Heidi Klum. The life-size pink Malibu Barbie New Beetle convertible made its début at Barbie’s Malibu Dream House exclusive birthday celebration, celebrating Mattel’s iconic doll’s 50th anniversary. […]
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visits Salon de Genève
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California visited the Salon de Genève to support US automakers exhibiting there, as well as to highlight alternative energies for cars, a cause that he has championed. Although he did venture to the Lamborghini to look at one of its latest models. You may also like Porsche reveals 918 Spyder concept […]
Lagonda returns at Salon de Genève—but will it fly?
We get a lot of information about press conferences and at the Salon de Genève, we have been seeing them come in thick and fast. Renault, Volkswagen, BMW, etc. But the most intriguing was for a brand I never expected to see in an email: Lagonda. Lagonda is a brand that celebrates its centenary […]
Mini E christens power-point for electric cars in Berlin
Another video that came during New York Fashion Week, but which we didn’t want to run as it would have got lost: the Mini E christening an electricity charging-point for cars in Berlin, Germany. For those who feel that plug-in electric cars would be problematic when they run out of juice, BMW and Vattenfall answer […]
Renault revises Clio 3, one of our favourite superminis
One of our favourite small cars—we drove a Renault Clio along the South Island coast in New Zealand, from Christchurch to Aramoana and back (see Lucire no. 26)—is getting a relaunch at the Salon de Genève next month. The revised Clio 3 has a new front end, making it look more purposeful like the new […]
Do US automakers deserve a bailout?
[Excerpted; full post here] Today at the Vista Group luncheon, we’ll be discussing the US auto industry’s desire for a government bailout. My view: of course it’ll be great to protect US manufacturing jobs, since the situation is not of the plant workers’ doing. As mentioned in one of my papers, ‘Saving Detroit’, the troubles […]
New technologies from BMW at LA Auto Show
BMW will present a some of its new technologies at the Los Angeles Auto Show this year. The new shape some BMW fans will want to see will be the 7-series, which will also appear at the show as an Active Hybrid concept. We’ve video of some of the other technologies that BMW will be […]
Kevin Rudd’s stimulus package could be great for green
I congratulate Australian PM Kevin Rudd for announcing a A$6·2 billion stimulus package for the Australian car industry. And before you think I am going to go off talking cars again, this is about the environment—something that many Lucire readers care about with our UNEP connection. Australia has long innovated in the automotive industry […]
South Island by Clio, sans Nicole et Papa
I was interested to find that there were still photographs from my 2007 South Island drive that hadn’t seen the public light of day. These were good shots of the Renault Clio 3 that the company had loaned to me. Outside Carey’s Bay Hotel, the Clio looked more 21st century than the 1990s cars parked […]
Merger, divestiture won’t rescue Detroit’s automakers
[Cross-posted] It looks like the American Big Three are doing pretty much what I warned them against in my ‘Saving Detroit’ piece presented to the Medinge Group in August. GM and Chrysler have had exploratory merger talks, while Ford may sell its controlling stake in Mazda. They have cited dropping sales, caused in […]
