Audi has announced its net profit numbers for the first half of 2007 and it's on the positive note with $679 million euros ($926.9 million dollars), a growth of 67 percent. The recent splurge of new models from the four-ring automaker gives a promising outlook for the second half of this year. The R8, A5, and the upcoming A4 and Q5 has yet to arrive in showrooms and it will only add to the growing success Audi really needs and deserves.
The Swedish lad in the General family has announced the official US pricing of the facelifted 2008 9-3. Starting at $28,385 for the base 2.0T Sedan, it marks a considerable $2135 boost from the $26,250 tag of the 2007 model. The 2008 model heralds new changes made extensively to the exterior, while interior changes are minimal to the best. Spanning the Aero-X Concept cue, the front fascia departs from the clean design of the 2007, but its new sleek design does its job nicely.
Volvo has announced that they have issued a recall affecting 42,000 of their flagship sport-utility vehicle, the XC90. The culprit being a faulty battery switch, only the North American models are affected. The switch is prone to create short circuits if the jack handle comes in contact with it. Note that only the MY2005 models are affected.
The leaks are becoming a regular pastimes for automotive journalists like us. Following the official teaser images of the HM which revealed the headlight, grille, and wheels, we've obtained the first official images of the interior in hand. Verdict: We are mighty impressed.
The folks over at Inside Line have some explaining to do with this. Albeit taking into the fact that the Clubman has been spotted virtually undisguised long before today, the official images are up and we're 50/50 now. Along with the three images came some notable specs.
Zagato is a famed Italian design firm known for some of its quirky modifications on conventional sports cars. Ferrari and Maserati are frequent customers and styling is love it or hate it. First shown in Geneva, Zagato's reincarnation of the Diatto marque resulted as the Diatto GT Ottovu. Zagato will put the Diatto into production with a mere 99 units.
Fiat's 500 should be titled the most successful car launch of the year for 2007. After being on sale for only 3 weeks, the cute little bug has blew off Fiat's sales projections. Fiat planned to build 58,000 units of the 500 for this year with annual build capacities planned for 120,000. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne prompted a boost to the annual build capacity to 140,000 after the mind-blowing success.
Last year, Kia pulled the wraps off the pro_cee'd Concept in Paris. The concept previewed the three-door iteration of the popular cee'd range. It gained copious amount of praises in the media and garnered lots of attention for the Korean automaker. The Pro-Cee'd joins the line-up consisting of the 5-door hatchback and the estate. A fourth model was planned to join the family. The ex_cee'd Concept, unveiled in Geneva, was Schreyer's first shot in Kia and the proposed cabrio variant. Kia later axed the plans for a production version.
You gotta hand it to those who legally acquire information as important as this and post it up. A member over at Cheers and Gears, the forum that brought us shots of the Dodge Challenger and a little tale along with it, posted up the official pricing for Cadillac's 3-Series fighter, the CTS. 
This doesn't come directly from Subaru's own mouth, but courtesy of a hullabaloo Subaru dealer, we bring you the leaked official pricing of the new Impreza and the WRX. The base 2.5L Impreza is set for a starting suggested MSRP of $16,995, a grand less than the outgoing 2.5i model. The higher-end WRX, which comes standard with a turbocharged 2.5L boxer-four with 224hp, will start at $24,350 for the sedan and $24,850 for the better-looking hatch. The base 2007 WRX Sedan cost $24,995, which means its replacement is $645 less.
Following the heels of Honda's popular subcompact car hitting the 2 million sales milestone, the next-generation Fit was recently confirmed to debut in Tokyo this October. In his regular mid-term speech of what's going on at Honda, Takeo Fukui (CEO of Honda) confirmed the arrival of the next iteration of the aging Fit. The current Fit, sold as the Jazz in the European market, was introduced in 2001 and continues to generate strong sales to this date. The Fit was launched in America and Canada last April and Honda deems it a success.
The successor of the famed 360 Challenge Stradale (which happens to be the piece de resistance on our banner) looks to have done its job right. We've seen spy pics of prototypes running around the Nurburgring since wizard fans were (and still are) on their knees waiting for the seventh Harry Potter book to come out. This is our Deathly Hallows and the waiting has paid off. The Scuderia joins the Coupe and the Spyder in the F430 line-up. The newbie is the more track-oriented variant of the trio. Its engine is modified to churn out 27 more horsepowers than the conventional F430, to an impressive 510hp. The Scuderia weighs 220lbs less than the F430 and therefore, the horsepower to weight ratio is a mind-blowing 1hp per 5.4lbs.
This one is added to our huge list of European Fords that we want, but we don't get. I think we have enough to start a petition. Ford unveiled the Iosis-X Concept in Paris last fall, which was a preview of Ford's future crossover for the European folks. The Frankfurt Autoshow is right near our door and Ford released some teaser information along with an attractive sketch of the vehicle.
No, that is not the official name. Kia released a preliminary press release of their anticipated two-door coupe concept. Along with that came an official teaser image and we can sum up that this will be one heck of a car. Back in March, we posted an article of Kia's Audi TT-rival's upcoming debut in Frankfurt. The project 'Snowflake' sounds redundantly similar to the project code name for the Audi TT, 'Raindrop', when it was in developmental stages. But wait, Peter Schreyer, the head-designer of Kia in Europe and the head of project 'Snowflake', has an impressive design portfolio with one example being the MKI Audi TT. Schreyer has been responsible for the designs of some iconic vehicles such as the TT and VW's New Beetle.
The Fit, introduced in 2001, was Honda's attempt in the hot subcompact segment in Japan. At that time, the Fit was portrayed as near-revolutionary with its Magic Seats and modern design. Maybe that is why Honda thought the 5 year old design would face no problems when the Fit was scheduled to go on sale in April of 2006 for us folks. Surprisingly enough, the Fit exceeded demand and since its launch, more than 77,000 Fits were sold in the US. Last week, we rambled about the dealer shortages expected for Fits in the US.
The Chevrolet Aveo, a rebadged GM Daewoo Kalos, was The General's answer to the rising popularity of the subcompact cars in North America. The Aveo Sedan and Hatchback were unveiled in 2004 and sales were going strong. The cars offered sub-par fuel economy and poor driving, but offered the features for a relatively cheap price and that was enough to win over the hands of many Americans. By 2006, the Aveo was lagging behind its competitors and made the move of redesigning the vehicle, only 2 years after the predecessor was shown. While the sedan received the new design, the more popular hatchback model stayed as is and continued on for 2007.
Information on Hyundai's anticipated RWD successor of the Tiburon have been subtle for the past couple of days. We posted up an article of a focus group's recount of the new Tiburon, confirming that the Tiburon will be a serious player in the market. Today, we got a couple of amateur spy photos of the BK caught testing in a freeway in South Korea. Thanks to a little traffic jam the engineers encountered, the photographer managed to snap some quality shots of the BK in near idle.
The Hyundai Veracruz stirred copious amounts of attention when it was unveiled in Detroit this January. Albeit being targeted at the Toyota Highlander and the Honda Pilot, Hyundai went further and benchmarked the Lexus RX350. A Hyundai versus a Lexus? Motor Trend took a shot at it and surprisingly the Veracruz surpassed the Lexus.
Opel released the full press kit of the Agila subcompact car, slated to debut in Frankfurt this September. What's funny to note is that its showroom date is set for next spring which seems like an eternity to us. The Agila will be only available in Europe as of launch, and there are no reports that indicate the Agila's arrival in the States as a Saturn in the immediate future. At launch, the Agila will be available with two petrols, 1.0L 65hp 3-cylinder and a 1.2L 86hp 4-cylinder. Also in the list will be a 1.3L common-rail turbodiesel producing 75hp.
