SL vs. SL

Compare and contrast.  It's not hard to spot the exterior differentiation on Mercedes' latest SL hardtop-roadster.  Other differences can be found under the hood, inside the cockpit, and underneath the bodywork.  We all know that, despite the SL's greatness (#1 High-End Grand Tourer here at GCBC), Mercedes-Benz SL buyers are entranced by the 3-pointed star and the look of the vehicle.  So, how do they compare?

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NEW

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1,500,000 NEW BMW'S IN '07

Regardless of profits, capital, environmental impact, and styling strength, BMW sales are skyrocketing.

The group, including Rolls-Royce and Mini, engineered and marketed their way to a 9% increase in vehicle sales last year.  Whatever way you shake it, that is serious, serious growth.  Revenue was up 14%, although the business-savvy have been concerned for some time that BMW is lacking the ability to make money in line with their production growth. After all, say they, it takes three brands and extra plunges into niche markets to deliver the increases.  Success has been aided, however, by associations with PSA on small engines and General Motors & Daimler for hybrids.  

FOR SALE: F1 TEAM - PRICE?

Extra! Extra!  Breaking news.  Check your local Classifieds; scan every section.  A more detailed rundown of the inclusions will be forthcoming, but for now, get your wallets ready.

Super Aguri, a nearly brand-new Formula 1 team, can be your's for $1.00 + ........ the payment of the team's debt.  That'd be $47,000,000.  But who's counting?

Super Aguri runs Honda engines and attempts to field Japanese drivers, despite their England-based garage.  

ISUZU ESCAPES

7,906 cars were sold by Isuzu in the United States last year.  That's not enough to support the rebadging costs of the Chevrolet TrailBlazer and Colorado.  

There isn't enough commission earned off 7,906 Ascenders and i-Series' to keep food on the tables of Isuzu sales consultants.  Ya know what? Companies who endeavor to pursue just 5000-10,000 American sales each year list their MSRP's at double, triple, or even quadruple the MSRP's shown on Isuzu windows.

What are we saying?  Isuzu is bowing out of the American market.  GM's replacements are not suitable for Isuzu redo's; Isuzu won't be importing to or developing vehicles for their American dealers.  Speaking of dealers and other Isuzu "infrastructure" on the ground in the States, Isuzu will spend close to $40million to shut it all down.  Isuzu parts and service will continue in one form or another.

Sales dropped by a half from 2006 to 2007.  Worse than that, sales in the latter portion of the last decade were at least ten times stronger.  Isuzu commercial vehicle and diesel operations will continue to play a role in North America.  Check out The Good Car Guy's Isuzu impressions, relfective of this outcome, back in August.

Fare thee well, Isuzu.  Unfortunately, a large percentage of potential buyers on this continent could never get hold of that s and z combo, but don't play that name game.  The product didn't catch. Let that be a lesson to the rest of y'all - Saab, Lincoln, Mercury, Mitsubishi, & Jaguar, especially.

ASTON DB9 IN MOTION

Laying hold on second place in GoodCarBadCar's Top 5 Most Beautiful Cars for the company CEO garners you a showcase video on the main page.  The Top 5 Most Beautiful Cars for your boss are on their way, followed by the Top 5 Most Beautiful Cars for you.  To learn more about the car who finished first in yesterday's Top 5 - click here.

BMW 1 - NUMBERS - ACROSS THE POND

Two GoodCarBadCar features merge to compare and contrast the BMW 1-series.  This smallest-of-all current BMW's generates a lot of opinion; divisive and passionate. That started with the X Coupe (seen left) which BMW debuted as a concept years ago  For those of us on the left side of the Atlantic Ocean, diesel 1-series derivatives aren't available.  Europeans see every possible 1-series engine, from the 113bhp (and even more torqueless) 116i to half of today's comparo, the 301bhp 135i coupe.  Yowza.  Here are your Numbers from Across The Pond.

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1995 - engine capacity, in cc's, of the four-cylinder turbodiesel in the BMW 123d coupe

2979 - engine capacity, in cc's, of the twin-turbocharged gas-fired engine in the BMW 135i coupe

201 - horsepower generated by the 2.0L diesel, exactly 100 less than the almighty petrol 1-series, the 135i

295 - torque, measured in pound-feet, produced by the 2.0L diesel and 3.0L gas engines

1420 - weight of the BMW 123d in kilograms, 65 kg's less than the BMW 135i

40 - weight advantage of the 135i compared to its larger sibling, the equivalently engined 335i

155 - top speed, in miles per hour, of the 135i, seven mph greater than the top speed of the 123d

138 - C02 emissions, measured in grams per kilometre, produced by the 123d; 82 fewer grams than the 135i produces each kilometre.

24 - extra miles the 123d can travel on a gallon of fuel, over and above the 135i, as measured on the EU cycle

3455 - fewer British pounds sterling required to purchase a 123d, as opposed to the 135i

14766 - expected value of the 135i in the UK after three years, £1,044 more than the 123d

100.75 - horsepower per litre figure of the 2.0L diesel in the 123d

72 - horsepower per litre figure of the 7.0L naturally-aspirated V8 in Chevrolet's Corvette Z06

101 - horsepower per litre figure of the 3.0L petrol in the 135i

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Data provided by CARmagazine.co.uk

NISSAN.CO.JP

In case you hadn't yet figured it out, the North American automotive information source - as a whole - is Nissan GT-R obsessed.  To further the obsession, check out Nissan's Japanese GT-R page.  This link will take you to an index where you want section 2 above the content.  This would be so much easier if we both knew Japanese, but watch "On Slippery Road" for a neat little GT-R vid.  Why "On Slippery Road"?  It's a great little Japanese-site-going-English title.

MERCEDES CLC

Well it ain't comin to North America.  The continent of big butts will not receive the four-wheeled, big-butted Benz.  You may've been desirous of a small Mercedes hatchback; and if so, I'm not speaking to you.  I'm speaking to the other 330,000,000 people in Canada and the USA who'd rather not be exposed to such Mercedes heresy each time we walk into a Mercedes-Benz dealer.

To put it lightly, the previous C-class-based coupe wasn't a "hit" on this side of the pond.  To put it honestly, much of this new C-class-based coupe is the same as the old one.  The exterior is more suitable for an '09 model, the interior is upgraded, and Mercedes says their engineers have newly developed or enhanced 1100 components. Thanks for taking care of that. But no thanks.

The C-class will be available with the typically wide array of four and six cylinder engines in Europe. Horsepower will range from 122 to 272.  The CLC's main competitors include the BMW 1-series and Audi A3, but stretch across its own showroom to the A and B-classes as well as the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus on the bottom end.

BEST NISSAN GT-R QUOTES

What's the automotive world saying about the new Nissan GT-R? Car&Driver, MotorTrend, evo, and Road&Track reporting.

"At 300km/h (186mph), gentle autobahn curves become serious turns, and the driver begins wishing he coild see farther down the road.  At no point, however, did this driver find himself worrying about the car's stability....  The dartiness that afflicts some cars at speeds north of 150mph is conspicuous in the Nissan GT-R only by its absence."  Tony Swan, Car&Driver

"Spear through another chicane and you're climbing up a hill, revs building toward the 7000-rpm peak - V6 thundering in front of your toes, and you'd swear you were in a specially honed track racer - and there's a series of fast corners, swish-swish through them with no hint of body roll." Gavin Green, MotorTrend

"There's no trick to launching the car: Put the shifter into 1st gear, and as you lift off the brake pedal, mash down on the throttle. You'll hear a slight chirp from the rear tires, and before you know it, you're gritting your teeth, as the g-forces squeeze the air from your lungs." Sam Mitani, Road&Track

"By now I'm utterly keyed in to the GT-R way of doing things.  Brake late, brake deep, flick the left-hand paddle, turn in hard, spot the exit, back on the power, catch the back end with a quarter turn but keep the throttle pinned and let the car magically straighten itself out before you hit 7000rpm and flick the right-hand paddle."  Henry Catchpole, evo

BIDS CLIMBING ON PONTIAC STREAMLINER

eBay Motors is hosting a sell-off of a Pontiac Streamliner, built around the time soldiers were found safe at home after WW2 but designed long before.

This very attractive 1947, four-door, eight-cylinder, 3-speed, Californian-based Pontiac is on sale thru February 5th but already bidders are driving up the price.  31 bids have been placed, and if you want to lay claim to highest-bidder status as of.... right now; eBay needs to see $5,200 USD or higher. Pontiac built almost 90,000 eight-cylinder Streamliners in 1947, pushing on double the production of '46 eight-cylinder Streamliners but about 36,000 less than were produced in the final year, 1948.

Pontiac's contemporary replacement is Aussie-derived, a couple hundred pounds heavier, and just started reaching the left coast.

PRETTY BECOMES UGLY

Automakers take risks, some major; some minor. With paint technology accelerating at a furious pace, and with "all new" frequently denoting five new colour choices, the risk involved with offering nasty colour combos, or even boring combinations, isn't overwhelming.

  

We understand the simple concept of wide, horizontal stripes equating with the exaggeration of girth. We know that the delivery of those same stripes in bright colours hurts the cause more substantially.

So why do stylists sometimes fail to follow the light as it falls on the fenders of their automobiles?  I know not, but Porsche's Cayman in Dark Olive Metallic; Mazda's RX-8 in Crystal White Pearl; Ford Mustang convertibles in Vapor; and the Saturn Sky in Forest Green are four very good-looking cars made very bad.  

SUPERCAR QUIZ

One of the UK's prime supercar clubs is offering a chance for prizes to be won.  The catch? Achieve high scores on the ecurie25 quiz.  Follow this link to the quiz or check out the methodology behind the supercar clb - where average drivers receive 40 days and 4,500 miles in cars as varied as the Aston Martin DBS, Nissan GTR, and Range Rover Sport.  Even the lowly Porsche Cayman S is available.

JCW = M

Mike Cooper's pa tuned his first Mini in 1961.  John Cooper is an iconic name in Formula 1 design, and his impressive touch and know-how had a positive, lasting, and serious impact on the similarly iconic British small car.  

Now Mike, CEO of John Cooper Garages, has a strong affiliation with BMW, owner of the Mini brand. Along with the run-out edition of the previous-gen Mini - the outrageous GP - Mike Cooper and BMW have also teamed up to offer upgrades on the run-of-the-mill Mini's and the supercharged S.

BMW has realized the strength of branding.... duh, and decided to push the John Cooper Works idea a little farther.  The new logo that you see will hopefully become a strong enough performance connection that JCW will be to Mini what M is to the parent brand.  BMW's M3 and M5 have taken what was a cult following and made it into the major factory performance group in all of autodom, perhaps with Mercedes AMG a close second.

The newest JCW package on the Cooper S provides an extra 20bhp.  An aero pack, sports suspension, upgraded brakes, and cosmetic differentiation are all there for the taking, too.  

BEST VID ON THE WEB

If you love cinematography, Subaru, the WRC, winter, snowboarding, or any combination of these things, follow this link to what may be the best new clip on YouTube.

TESLA'S TEMP TRANS TROUBLES

Who killed the electric car? Or who couldn't get it started? Tesla's troubles to get their roadster into production will have a serious affect on customers after the purchase - and we know that. Not in a 1980's Hyundai kind of way, but as an acknowledged solution to Tesla's transmission issues.

The Roadster's first day of production is now slated for March 17th.  More problematic than the delays will be the need for owners to refurbish their Tesla Roadster's with the company's DriveTrain 1.5, since the early production models will be fitted with a 2-speed transmission. 

What would the auto world say if Toyota demanded that your purchase of a new Camry came with a temporary engine, and the dealer would refit you with a V6 later on? How would you feel if your new Armani suit came with unsuitable buttons, but Giorgio could reapply classier buttons a few months on?

To read about Tesla's personnel issues on GoodCarBadCar, click here. To visit the company's official site, here's the link.

SLR RECALL

Recalls skyrocketed in 2007.  Cars.com reported a 30% increase over 2006, although 2007's numbers were below this millenium's average.  With Ford's heavy contribution of 5.5million vehicles and the artist formerly known as DaimlerChrysler's tossing another 1.4million into the mix, consumers watched as 14.5million vehicles were called back to the garage over a twelve month span.  General Motors and Toyota are newsmakers, too; but in the opposing direction.  Fortunately for the world's two #1's, recalls were way down.

There's your background for this story.  Windshields on Mercedes SLR McLaren's are likely to be unsecure in the event of a shunt.  Mercedes-Benz will install new windshields on each and every SLR affected.  All three of them.

On a side note, GoodCarBadCar.net is recalling the Mercedes SLR McLaren as well.  The plan is to break down each SLR, sell the carbon fibre, aluminum, steel, cloth, leather etc. and use the proceeds to buy the owner a brand new SLK350.  GoodCarBadCar.net believes the SLR may induce crashes - the ones where the windshields won't hold - by striking passing pedestrians with horrifically ugly visual stimuli and causing a deer-in-the-headlights effect.  

 

ROLLS - FERRARI - GM

Compare and contrast.

Rolls-Royce sales in 2007? That'd be 1,010 examples of the four-wheeled typification of Gross Excess.

Ferrari sales in 2007? Count'em, 6,400 vehicles - priced no lower than $173,000 USD - from one Italian town.

General Motors worldwide sales in 2007? 9,369,524, which; when rounded up to 9,370,000, equals that of Toyota's preliminary totals for last year. But who's counting anyway.......?

What do the three companies have in common? The British limo builder, Italian supercar maker, and American-based conglomerate can all thank the burgeoning Chinese market for their big numbers. And yes, all three companies generated huge numbers. Forget the fact that BMW-owned Rolls-Royce would need to increase sales by 9000x to equal that of the General, and forget that Toyota sells more Camry's in America each week than Ferrari sells total cars worldwide in a year. Ignore Chrysler as it makes more Dodge Challengers available to North America in its first year of production than Ferrari builds cars. Why?

Because Rolls-Royce sat back and watched as 2007 sales increased 25% and, for the first time, crossed the 1,000 barrier. Rolls-Royce's China sales rose 50%.

Ferrari, on the other hand, operates twelve dealerships in China. Fiat-run Ferrari watched excitedly as sales soared past 5,000 in 2005. In each of the last two years, Ferrari gained approximately 700 extra registrations.

POPULAR STUFF @ GOODCARBADCAR

We are creatures of habit and prone to caving in to peer pressure. With that in mind, I give you two excuses to review previous GoodCarBadCar.net material. You've been there before? Who cares, you're a creature of habit - form a new one. That's what everybody else is doing? Exactly - cave to the pressure, already. The top five most popular GCBC pages EVER are as follows:

1. Ford Diesel Recall - December 06/2007: The massive truck recall took in vehicles built over a six-year span.
2. Same Old But Better Than Ever - April 24/2007: Honda's very popular Civic fell into the hands of The Good Car Guy.
   
3. Dodge's Journey Must Make Inroads - September 10/2007: Analysis of Chrysler's Journey introduction.
4. The Good 12 - December 19/2007~January 1/2008: Look here for the twelve cars you should consider in 2008.
5. Top 5 Cars The Police Should Be Driving - July 18/2007: Forget Crown Victoria's, look to the Acadia, Ridgeline, xB, Suburban, and G8.

THE GENERAL'S NEWS

Conventional thinking and official General Motors releases would lead you to believe the upcoming Corvette ZR1 will be priced like an inexpensive supercar (or a very expensive Chevy sports car), but conventional thinking is wrong this time. The first ZR1 sold for 10x the MSRP. The Barrett-Jackson produces big numbers every time this year, and a Corvette ZR1 for a cool million bucks is one of those big numbers, indeed.

Overt, startling, and distracting to the point of appreciation - the Cadillac CTS coupe concept will become a production car in 2010. Expect Cadillac to build 15,000 at the Lansing Grand River facility every year.

The port at Benicia, California is about to accept four ships full of Pontiac G8's from Down Under, mate. By launch time, Pontiac hopes to have 7,000 G8's in America. This first batch is near equally split between V6 and V8 models.

Speaking of Oz, a blue police-liveried Hummer H3 is on active duty at community events in Australia. Police hope to 'foster relationships between police and local youths.' The Australian Conservation Foundation's Phil Freeman sounds disappointed in Victoria's police. "We would much prefer to see Victoria Police encouraging kids to ride bikes both for their environment and their health."

Forget the Volt - Saturn wants to sell you a full-on plug-in hybrid in SUV form in 2010. (December 31st of 2010 is 35 months away.) The Vue plug-in would recharge at your home's electrical outlet in less than five hours and would achieve twice the fuel economy of any SUV on the road today. Well, well, well; we shall see.

As described here on GoodCarBadCar, the previously mentioned Pontiac G8 sportwagon will not be sold in North America, but the genuine Australian article, Holden's Commodore wagon, will be offered in seven versions.

SALT-INFUSED FITS RECALLED

Honda is announcing a recall of its popular (and award winning) Fit subcompact. The Fit, a GoodCarBadCar Good 12 winner, can potentially suffer from salty driver's shoes.

?

Yes, for those in snowy, cold climes - especially those places where salt is used in place of sand - the salty moisture from the driver's footwear can leak through the carpet; eventually corroding wires. That corrosion affects sensors whose main duty is to control the on/off control of the airbags. In other words, the airbag could still release; even with a small child is seated therein.

The recall includes 34,000 Fits, but don't be surprised if more are eventually included. Considering that Fits do cross borders and sometimes relocate, Honda could be in for the sight of bigger numbers. Fret not. Honda's super small car is still a highly recommended purchase.

CAR with the 8c, 430 Scuderia & Maser GT to Monaco

CAR magazine, a less performance-oriented car mag than you'd wish it to be but still full of great features and opinion, had the privilege of driving an incredible selection of Italian V8 two-doors. One of the world's most beautiful - Alfa Romeo's 8c Competizione. One of the world's highest-performing production cars - Ferrari's 430 Scuderia. And, the least expensive way to find most of that beauty and plenty of that performance - Maserati's GranTurismo.

Ironically, three of Italy's great and historic brands are wrapped up under the Fiat Group, and all three of these cars share basic V8 architecture, with engine capacity varying between 4.2L in the Maser to 4.7L in the Alfa. The Ferrari's 4.3L is the highest-strung, and wound very tight indeed.

Enjoy the scenery.

BENZ DIESELS RECALLED

BMW, Honda, and Volkswagen are amongst the group of automakers bringing diesel back. Mercedes-Benz has rarely left the North American marketplace completely forsaken when it comes to the high-torque engine configuration, but it appears their latest (year 2007 ML320 CDI, GL320 CDI, and E320 Bluetec) suffer from a potentially faulty crankshaft sensor. Don't let it taint your opinion of diesel and its future on this continent.


After all, this Recall tab will enlighten you as far as typical gasoline-burners break as well. For now, about 9,000 Benz diesel owners should soon be heading to their dealer.

Speaking of Mercedes, the beautiful CLS will be available as a CLS280 soon. Its 3.0L V6 produces 231 horsepower and a torque figure twenty down on that. McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, a rookie sensation and an almost-champion, has been signed to drive for the team for another five years.

MALALTICAMRACCORD - by MT

MotorTrend magazine recently put North America's top family sedans through the ringer. Chevrolet's recently introduced - and much heralded - Malibu took on the similarly new Honda Accord (a Good 12 member), the perennial best-selling Toyota Camry, and the vivacious Nissan Altima. Here is their story by the numbers.

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4 - finishing place of the vivacious candidate, directly behind the Accord, which followed the Malibu, which gave place to the Camry.

0.3 - the amount of extra time required for a '91 BMW M5 to reach 60mph over the startlingly fast Camry V6.

112.3 - wheelbase of the Chevrolet Malibu, longest in the test.

3684 - weight, in pounds, of the Malibu.

14.6 - pounds which each of the Malibu's 252 horsepower are forced to carry, the worst ratio in the group.

5 - speeds in the automatic transmission of the Honda Accord, fewest in the test. (Nissan's is continuously variable.)

62.2 - front track of the Accord, widest in test.

137 - feet required to stop the Accord from 60mph, 13ft more than the best-in-test Camry found necessary.

0.83 - lateral grip, measured in g's, of the Altima, best in test.

0.86 - pounds of C02 emissions per mile of the Altima, lowest (cleanest) among the four competitors.

14 - cubic feet available for cargo in the Altima, fewest in the group.

1000 - cost, in USD, of the JBL premium sound system found in the Camry.

1,000,000 - approximate total combined annual U.S. sales of Camry, Accord, and Altima.

189.2 - total length of the Camry, stubbiest of the lot.

38.3 - rear seat legroom in the Toyota, most of any of the four combatants.

Important Links:

MotorTrend
Toyota Camry
Honda Accord
Nissan Altima
Chevrolet Malibu
GoodCarBadCar.net Numbers

DETROIT DEBUTS - Part V

THE GERMANS

Volkswagen Passat CC - VW bosses clearly think highly of the Mercedes CLS, but unfortunately the inspiration wasn't enough to induce perfect execution.


VW subsidiary Audi, with aspirations to become the luxury brand of the next decade, will finally introduce an "S" badge on the back of a TT. Audi has given us the S4, S6, S5, and even an S8, but the 265-bhp TT (itself a Good 12 member) will be the most stunning example of Audi's sporting heroes.


Expect to see production of the Mercedes-Benz GLK before long. This X3/LR2/RDX competitor will likely be introduced in a manner more akin to the GLK Freeside (below) rather than the GLK Townside, but you just never know what niche-happy Benz will do.

AUTO NEWS VIA QUOTES

"Mercedes-Benz is the taxicab of choice in Germany, which shows if you have the right products, being the airport car won't hurt you." Ford President of the Americas, Mark Fields, speaking to the fact that Lincoln could attain limo+cool status.

"America has never been more ready for a car like this." smart USA President, David Schembri, speaking at the delivery to one of smart's first American customers.

"I think Chrysler has cut a lot." United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger believes that new labour agreements should be enough to stave off more cutbacks at American automakers.

"...we know what we're doing when it comes to combining industry-leading safety with industry-leading value." John Krafcik, a Hyundai VP, after noting that Hyundai produces more IIHS Top Safety Picks than BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or Toyota.

"I feel more than happy with today." Former two-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso after his first day of testing back at Renault.

"We are in discussion with Tata Motors on dealers and distribution of these brands. We are looking at an interesting set up." Alfredo Altavilla, Vice-Chairman of Fiat India speaks of Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and Ferrari being introduced in the world's second-largest nation.

"Everyone wants to pollute less; that's a no-brainer. What we've heard from our customers is if Bentley can be socially responsible that would be a positive.'' Bentley spokesman David Reuter figures the ultra-rich are about as socially conscious as the rest of us.

"Everybody at Rolls-Royce is delighted with this tremendous result which marks our fifth anniversary in the best possible way." Rolls-Royce's CEO, Ian Robertson, appears to ignore the multiplicity of decades prior to BMW's Rolls-Royce, but is happy with a worldwide sales increase of 25% and total Indian sales of eleven.

"We don't look at this as a car ad as much as we look at it as a statement." Scott Keogh, VP of Marketing at Audi, plays up the importance of Audi's Paramount Pictures-produced Super Bowl ad.

QUICK AUTO BITES

General Motors has decided not to import the Holden Commodore VE Sportwagon, projected to be sold as the Pontiac G8 Sportwagon. So says GM product boss Bob Lutz. He figures the interest isn't present in the American marketplace and the cost of meeting regulations would be too great, anyway.

Daimler, better known for its Mercedes-Benz brand, owns 40% of racing outfit McLaren, the maker of the Benz SLR supercar. In order to gain full control of the company, Daimler could buy out Ron Dennis (15%), Mansour Ojjeh (15%) or Mumtalakat (30%). Expect them to find the perfect formula soon, ending up with 55, 70, or 100% of the company before long.


Once-great F1 drivers who've packed their bags and headed for other series': Juan Pablo Montoya & Jacques Villeneuve in NASCAR. Once-decent F1 drivers who've packed their bags and headed for other series': Ralf Schumacher, DTM. Apparently, Michael doesn't think Ralk should bother with the German touring car.

Dirk van Braeckel has won the award for top Euro design; the European Automotive Design Award. Dirk is the head of Bentley's design team, a Belgium native, and inspired by Ralph Lauren. Good inspiration, I say.

This week's nod to excellent linguistics goes to Volvo's contrasting seats available in C30's, S40's, and V50's with the R-Design package. Says Volvo Canada's press release: "...seats will be in off-black Vulcaflex with the seat cushion and backrest in contrasting cream-colored leather." Vulcaflex.

Although the German auto market stumbled in 2007 (largely due to a sales tax increase), overall European sales rose. BMW and Fiat are largely responsible, as is the nation of Italy as a whole. Fiat's sales rose 7.1% to 1,250,000 automobiles, while BMW sales climbed 6.7% to 848,080. Germans still buy more new cars than any other national purchasing group in Europe, but Italy took hold of the number two slot, just in front of the UK and leaving French sales a half-mil cars abaft.

TRANSPORT CANADA PROPOSALS

Lawrence Cannon, Canada's Minister of Transport - Conservative Member of Parliament from Quebec - has announced that fuel economy standards for new vehicles in Canada will quickly accelerate. At least he hopes. There will be a period of discussion and consultation before the federal goverment hopes to base their standards on the latest American bill... or perhaps even further them.

Cannon wishes to meet the American's 35mpg-by-2020 average (6.7L/100km) standard at a minimum. Transport Canada says today's averages work out to 8.6L/200km. With enviromental groups attacking the US law for not insisting on more immediate changes, the Canadian goverment hopes to begin applying some form of new standards by 2011.

Who will face the consequences? Everybody - from General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, and Toyota - straight through to you the customer. Will you save money? After all, great efficiency equals less fuel consumed equals less money, right? If regular gasoline rises to $1.50/L in parts of Canada this summer as economists expect; and if the cost of technology in new cars is high enough to generate noticeable premiums in your monthly payment, the only words 'less' will affix itself to are emissions and consumption.

CHINA'S TOP SALES TANDEMS

Shanghai Auto continues its dominance in the Chinese marketplace - with the help of two massive outsiders. Shanghai GM ("importers" must participate in joint ventures to gain permission to sell and build in China) tops the list of China's top ten with sales of 500,000 automobiles.

The story of General Motors claim to the number one spot in China is undercut by news of two Volkswagen joint ventures nailing the podium as well. In fact, Shanghai Auto and VW team up for third place, 34,000 units behind Shanghai GM and just 8,000 units behind FAW Volkswagen.

Chery wass China's most successful auto exporter in 2007. They sent 120,000 vehicles out of China and sold 381,000 inside the Great Wall, as well. Total Chinese production reached half the volume of Built-in-the-USA product during the twelve months of 2007.

Read the original mention of China sales on GoodCarBadCar

Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, and Ford were also involved in joint ventures with sales in the top ten. BMW sales topped 51,000. Honda sold 30.6% more vehicles than they did in 2006.

8,790,000 new motor vehicles were sold in 2007, twice as many as China saw leave showrooms in 2003. Vehicle ownership per 1,000 people is still about two-thirds less in China than in the rest of the world. For per capita ownership to reach that of the USA, the figure would have to rise 17x's. There are still approximately 956 million people in China without a vehicle. (Feel free to check my math.)