The Stig is Michael Schumacher?
The most recent episode of Top Gear the Stig was revealed as non other than Michael Schumacher- Is this reveal a joke or is it true? Michael Schumacher donned the Stig outfit as if he has worn it before-perhaps he has.
On the programme the Stig completed a lap of the Top Gear circuit in 1 minute 10.7 seconds in a £1million Ferrari FSX – seven seconds faster than ever before.
But despite the big unmasking motoring fans are sure to still be wondering just who the real Stig is.
So who do you think the real stig is?
Categories: Breaking News, Car Pictures, Vehicle / Road Safety, Videos Tags: Michael Schumacher, revealed, the Stig, Top Gear, £1million Ferrari FSX
Genral Motors South Africa-Official Statement
General Motors South Africa statement from Steve Koch, President and Managing Director, GM African Operations
Today, General Motors announced that it would continue the rebuilding of its U.S. operations under a court supervised process. This is a progressive step which will position the company to succeed in an increasingly competitive and challenging U.S. automotive industry. In this regard, it is important to note that this code provides for reinvention – as opposed to liquidation – of the company in the U.S. during which business operations continue while the company works with Creditors to arrange a solution under Court supervision.
GM South Africa is not part of this filing in the U.S. and will not be affected by the measures announced today.
Creditors of GM in the U.S. would have no claims on GMSA as we have not guaranteed any U.S. obligations nor are any of our assets used as security for their obligations. We continue to generate our own cash and are responsible for our own viability. We are a self-sustaining operation and as such will continue to operate as normal.
Fortunately, since early 2008, GMSA has taken the tough but required actions to align our business in a manner which will make us globally competitive and allow us to sustain our operations at these low industry levels while putting us in a strong position to gain volume profitably when markets recover. We have successfully stabilised our cash balance, reduced inventory levels and continue to make progress reducing our structural costs, all directed at ensuring profitable growth in South Africa.
General Motors South Africa and our distribution partners will continue to provide full sales and aftersales backing for all our vehicles including honouring all warranties, service and maintenance plans, parts supply and all other areas of aftersales support for the Chevrolet, Isuzu, Opel, HUMMER, Saab and Cadillac brands.
We will soon break ground on our all new R250 million Pan-African Parts Distribution Centre, and we recently welcomed the first shipment of the highly anticipated Chevrolet Cruze to our shores to begin local validation testing prior to the start of sale later this year. These are simply two tangible examples of a company focused on the future with confidence and resolve.
We have operated in South Africa since 1926 and are proud of our long standing history of involvement and support in our local communities. We remain committed to the ongoing investment in our South African operations and together with our dealers have invested R4 billion since 2004, leading to a strong product portfolio backed by excellent distribution and after sales support. Our plans for investment in future product programs for assembly at our production facilities in Port Elizabeth remain on track.
Categories: Breaking News, Car Pictures, New Vehicle Prices Tags: bankruptcy, Cadillac, chevrolet, General Motors South Africa, GM South Africa, GMSA, HUMMER, Isuzu, official statement, Opel, Pan-African Parts Distribution Centre, saab, USA
New vehicle market has bottomed, says Wesbank
Wesbank, the vehicle and asset finance house, believes the new vehicle market has bottomed.
But Chris de Kock, the executive head of sales and marketing at Wesbank, stressed that it was difficult to make predictions in this market, adding that the new vehicle sales figures in March and last month “surprised a lot of us”.
Total new vehicle sales last month plunged year on year by 43 percent, following a 30 percent decrease in March.
“The extent of the downturn in the global and local market was underestimated,” he said last week.
Wesbank believed the new vehicle market had bottomed after the release of the results of its vehicle sales confidence indicator for the first quarter.
The indicator for the second quarter, released last week, showed the confidence levels of vehicle dealers had dropped from 4.4 in January to 4.2 on a 10-point scale for the second quarter – its lowest level since the indicator was launched six quarters ago.
De Kock said the fall to 4.2 was indicative of the very depressed and difficult times vehicle dealers were going through.
“An index score of between 4 and 5 is very low in terms of confidence levels and leads us to think it’s the lowest it will get in this cycle,” he said.
Sourced via mirror.co.uk
Categories: Breaking News, Car Pictures Tags: Chris de Kock, new vehicle market, new vehicle sales, vehicle and asset finance house, vehicle dealers, wesbank
Subaru launches new Legacy, eyes emerging markets
* Sees global Legacy sales averaging 15,000 units/month
* Legacy sales in 2009/10 seen up 28 pct at 157,000 units
* Aims to launch clean diesel, hybrid cars in 2-3 years
TOKYO, Japan – Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru cars, launched its revamped Legacy series on Wednesday, saying it was counting on the flagship model to push further into emerging markets as demand falters in the United States and Japan.
The niche maker of sporty, all-wheel-drive cars said its sales in developing car markets centred on Russia and China have been concentrated so far on the Forester SUV, but that the new Legacy, remodelled with a bigger, 2.5-litre engine, would help it appeal to more consumers globally.
“The Russian market is tough right now, but we think the new Legacy will be more competitive in emerging markets,” Chief Executive Ikuo Mori said at the car’s launch in Tokyo.
Mori said he expected the Legacy’s global sales to average 15,000 units a month, with roughly half of that in the United States, a fifth in Japan and the rest in Europe and other markets.
For the financial year to March 2010, Fuji Heavy aims to boost Legacy sales by 28 percent to 157,000 units globally, making it the top-selling model accounting for about 30 percent of its total sales forecast.
‘”Based on prices already announced in the United States, price competitiveness looks good and we see little risk of a weak reception,’” UBS auto analyst Tatsuo Yoshida wrote in a report.
The Legacy will start at $19,995 in the United States, or $800 lower than its predecessor.
Analysts say expectations are high for the Legacy’s contribution to Fuji Heavy’s bottom line after the company improved per-vehicle profitability on its mainstay cars in the past few years.
As a maker of cars popular with enthusiasts and in the U.S. snowbelt for its flat-four all-wheel-drive technology, Fuji Heavy has been relatively shielded by a broad-based shift towards smaller, cheaper cars.
But Mori acknowledged the need for Subaru to improve its mileage further, saying it continued to work on a clean-diesel car for launch by 2011 or 2012, and a hybrid vehicle around the same time with the help of top shareholder Toyota Motor Corp.
Fuji Heavy has forecast a sixfold increase in its operating loss to 35 billion yen ($366 million) this financial year – a projection many analysts say is excessively pessimistic.
Brokerages surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the loss to be about half that.
Already, brisk sales of the revamped Forester have helped Subaru’s U.S. sales stay roughly flat in the year to date, bucking a 37 percentage fall in the overall market.
The new Legacy, which marks the fourth remodelling since the series debuted 20 years ago, goes on sale in Japan on Wednesday, followed by the United States this summer and later in other markets.
It is available in three body types: the sedan, the mainstay touring wagon and crossover SUV.
Shares of Fuji Heavy, held 16.5 percent by Toyota, were down 0.9 percent in afternoon trade, slightly underperforming Tokyo’s transport sector.
Sourced via motoring.asiaone.com
Categories: Breaking News, Car Pictures Tags: car market, forester, Fuji Heavy Industries, hybird vehicle, subaru, subaru cars, subaru legacy, suv, the russian market, toyota
