youngster Dies In collide

A YOUNG man died in a road crash close to Gourock yesterday.

The 19-year-old was driving a Peugeot 206 car which left the A770 Cloch highway and hit a tree.

crisis services were called around 9am to the confrontation on the road between Cloch Lighthouse and Cardwell Garden Centre.

The man died at the prospect. No other vehicles were involved and no-one else was hurt. Family and friends have left flowers at the scene.

Police said today that the victim's family have asked for his individuality not to be released.

Constable Wendy McNeil from Dumbarton highway Policing is attractive for witnesses to the crash. She can be contacted on 01389 822089.

Police congested the highway at the roundabout at the A78 Inverkip and at the junction for Faulds Park, Gourock, until approximately 2pm.

Holden Inks agreement to Ship Commodore ‘Muscle Cars’ To America

Holden will hit American roads again after more than 15 years of absence in the region, GM Holden report on Friday, and the North American incarnation will come in the form of Australia's venerable sedan, the Commodore.

According to Holden's engineering chief, Greg Tyus, the Australian carmaker will assemble the VF Commodore on its South Australian factory and will start shipping out early 2013.

The United States will welcome the Aussie vehicle as General Motors' Chevrolet SS high-performance sedan, which initially will be deployed on the race car circuits of America's hugely popular and lucrative NASCAR.

Commodore, according to Mr Tyus, will compete in the Daytona 500 if plans push through.

Then, further units will be assembled to mass marketing, with General Motors reportedly planning to sell each Commodore unit as a new generation muscle car, an automotive market segment that Holden said lately has been seeing resurgence in the United States.

Europeans see U.S. market for new small luxury cars

As head of Mercedes-Benz USA in the late 1990s, Mike Jackson was determined to keep the clumsy, expensive A-class small car out of the United States.

The original A class, you would say, 'Oh, my God. I will never be capable to sell that to anybody. What can I do to keep it out of the U.S. so I don't have to deal with it?'" Jackson recalls.

Americans were unwilling to pay premium prices for little cars then, even if the cars wore luxury nameplates. And sales of such cars remain low.

But European luxury brands aim to change that noticeably in the next few years. Eager to increase sales and meet strict government fuel economy standards, they plan to roll out new small cars with premium prices and luxury content.

Now Jackson's on board. Mercedes-Benz unveiled a concept version of the redesigned A-class coupe in April at the New York auto demonstrate. Jackson, on the other side of the fence as CEO of AutoNation, the country's biggest automotive retailer, calls it completely beautiful.

Putin rides first Russian hybrid car to see Medvedev

(Reuters) - Avid car lover and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin herd Russia's first gasoline-electric hybrid car on Friday to visit supporting partner President Dmitry Medvedev.

Called Yo-mobile, the car is a personal project of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who has said it could bring Russia a spirited edge in the global automotive industry, where the country is better known for its boxy Lada cars.

I would like to drive your Yo-mobile to Dmitry Anatolievich (Medvedev), and demonstrate it to him ... I hope your Yo-mobile will not fall apart on the way, Putin told Prokhorov at a meeting just outside of Moscow.

About 5 kilometers (3 miles) detach Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo country residence, nestled in a pine forest exterior Moscow, from Medvedev's home in Gorki.

The car, whose name is a play on a Russian swear word, drives both on petrol and ordinary gas.

It has a rotary engine and uses ultra capacitators, an energy-storing device seen as an choice to lithium-ion batteries, which are installed on all other hybrid cars presently in production.

1 dies in 3-car crash in North Andover

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. -- A three-car collide in North Andover killed one person and sent two others to the hospital on Monday morning.

The crash occurs on Route 114 near Route 125.

A reconstruction team was on the scene on Monday morning trying to figure out how the collide happened. The accident is causing delays to the morning commute in the vicinity.

Tata Chairman Says U.S. Car Will Cost ‘$7,000 or $8,000’

Tata Motors struck headline gold in 2008 with the 100,000-rupee price tag ($2,172) for its Nano city car. But if the Indian automaker succeeds in bringing a vehicle to the United States, the car’s window sticker will forfeit a good deal of its shock value.

Last week Ratan Tata, the Tata Group chairman, discussed sales and pricing prediction for a United States city car after a symposium at Cornell University’s College of Art, Architecture and Planning. Mr. Tata is an alumnus. The symposium was held in concurrence with an exhibition that explored the design and development of the Nano.

It won’t be a $2,000 car; it will be a $7,000 or $8,000 car, Mr. Tata said during the Q&A session. But it will still be, in proportional terms, a car that the U.S. would accept.

The ultimate vehicle, he added, would be produced with the same design philosophy and frugal engineering that informed development of the Nano.

Mr. Tata was not asked whether the Pixel, a scissor-doored runabout that was exposed in concept form at the Geneva auto show this month presaged neither an American Tata nor whether the company still intended to bring the Nano in a few form to the American market.

The Mini Seven turns your kid into the envy of the whole school

If you have a kid who is into cars and racing, the Mini Seven from Micro Electric Vehicles will most likely make his/her dreams come true. It’s no Ferrari, but it will allow you kid to experience the joys of driving before the lawful age. The Mini Seven is hand-built and proportionally accurate to a real car and is powered by a little petrol Honda HP motor. It can hit a top speed of 19 mph (30 km/h) and seats 2 children. The seats are equipped with a 4-point harness seat belt system to keep the driver and passenger secure, wand all moving parts are fully enclosed in the vehicle, ensuring nobody will get their small fingers or hair caught in such situations. The car even has an adaptable engine and hydraulic disc brakes that parents can customize to make sure their kids don’t drive a car they can’t handle. With a starting price of $11,305 (£6,995) it won’t come cheap, but you can be attractive sure you’ve bought your kid one of the best presents of his/her whole life. Head here to find out more about the Mini Seven.

Pixel: Tata's new pocket-sized concept car

Tata Nano's newborn cousin is three meters long, gives 29 kilometers per liter, has four full-sized seats and can turn approximately in as much space as your office cubicle. And it's too attractive to boot

Don't get all excited yet Ratan Tata says -- it's just an idea -- but last week his company introduce a concept car for the most "package efficient" four-seater in the world at the 81st Geneva Motor demonstrate.

The Tata Pixel, a cousin of the pioneering Rs 100,000 Tata Nano, is just over three meters in length and has a turning circle radius of just under that amount.

There is an chance in Europe for a city car, which is optimal in space, maneuverability and environment-friendliness. The Tata Pixel is a reflection of Tata Motors' idea of what such a car should be, says Carl-Peter Forster, managing director and group CEO of Tata Motors.

When the Hindustan Times asked Forster's boss, Ratan Tata, if the Pixel could meet the demands of Indian customers, he said, it may.

Indian auto blogs reckon the Pixel may feature in New Delhi's Auto Expo in 2012 and transform into a production model between the Tata Nano V2 which is due for open this year and the Tata Indica Vista.

SUBARU SHOWS SPORTS CAR 'ARCHITECTURE CONCEPT'

While Toyota grabs the headlines with its second-generation of the FT-86 concept, Subaru has, er, a glass model that doesn't actually depict what its version of the shared sports coupe project will seem like at all.

In fact, apart from the common dimensions of the car, the only real significance of this unveil is the visual proof that Subaru's version of the car will be rear wheel drive - and how the drive train layout really looks.

This is a shame: while Toyota bathes in the generated excitement, Subaru admits that its more meagre budget is being spent on really engineering the thing. The firm is leading the partnership, and it will be building the dissimilar cars for both companies as well.

Spyshots: 2012 Mercedes-Benz SL Roadster

The Mercedes-Benz engineers are testing fairly a lot these days. After seeing spy shots of the next generation S-Class and C-Class Coupé AMG the 2012 SL Roadster was currently spotted road testing in Spain.

The Mercedes-Benz team took it rather gravely, as they were out with convoy of camo’ed SL prototypes, which were accompanied by numerous other products from Stuttgart as well as an example of the current generation SL hardtop roadster model.

Although Mercedes has complete its best to disguise the SL by covering it with tons of black tape, we can see that the new generation model keeps its predecessor’s two-piece folding hard top. Beside that the 2012 SL roadster will come with a more aggressive looking front grill.

Information regarding the engine are still clandestine, but buyers can expect a entry-level V6 and the customary lineup of V8 units including the newly developed 5.5-litre bi-turbo V8 for the AMG model. Or will we see the 6.3 liter AMG again?

Government BMWs: good car, not a good look

It was predictable that when the National government came to fulfill a contract for new BMWs to replace the ones ordered by Labor, there would be some fallout.

In light of high unemployment and the struggle-street on which a lot of us are travelling at the moment, it's easy to criticize a government when it's ordering a nice fresh fleet of what many would call flash German luxury cars.

But what they are doing is common business practice, something that many fleets have to do as fraction of their contract with a supplier.

Fleets do not change their cars when they are worn out. It is excellent practice to do so within a pre-agreed timeframe, with the distance travelled also factored in. That way the cars have plenty of life left in them and are a better-looking proposition when they re-enter the market as a used car.

Few people are privy to the deal that the Labor government inked with BMW New Zealand when the first BMW 7-series diesels came on to the fleet, but it must have been a sugary one. At the time some pundits in the automotive industry opined that the price could have been as small as $100,000 - but that was pure assumption.

Renault Captur concept car (2011) first pictures

Renault today whisked the covers off the latest Captur concept car. It’s a compact SUV akin to alliance partner Nissan’s Juke – and the Renault Captur will be the French brand’s star at the 2011 Geneva motor demonstrate in March.

It’s surely a welcome look at a clean-sheet proposal for an SUV. We’ve never fully warmed to the bigger Koleos, a short-cut gleaned from the innards of Renault’s Asian partners.

McLaren Automotive's First Major Milestone of 2011 As MP4-12C Enters Production

WOKING, UNITED KINGDOM – February 3, 2011: Following a winning public world debut at Good wood Festival of Speed, and a series of elite presentations to prospective customers and media across the globe in 2010, the first McLaren MP4-12C high-performance sports car has begun production at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Working, England.

McLaren Automotive plans to build up to 1,000 12Cs in 2011. Most will be manufactured in a bespoke new £40m McLaren Production Centre, which is due for completion in May on a site neighboring to MTC. However, ‘Chassis 01’ is being built in the accessible MTC production facility, where outstanding quality and highly competent production methods have been fine-tuned since the Foster + Partners-designed building opened in 2004.

The innovative 12C was first presented to the public at the famous Good wood Festival of Speed in southern England in July 2010, prior to a North American debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August. 12Cs were then presented at exclusive events to potential customers and media around the world as McLaren Automotive toured many of the cities that will form a network of 35 retailer launch locations.

Good start to 2011 for the auto industry

The automobile industry has started 2011 on a well note, with sales of 10 leading car manufacturers rising by approximately 14 per cent to 245,664 units, owing to burly demand in the domestic market. A total of 216,002 units were sold in the year-ago period.

Exports, however, remained a concern for both Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL)and Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), who jointly account for nearly 65 per cent of sales in the Indian market.

MSIL, which accounts for almost one of every two cars sold in the country, posted sales of 109,743 units, a 14.7 per cent rise. While the company's domestic sales grew by 23.8 per cent to 100,422 units, exports dropped to the lowest in the previous three months at 9,321 units. MSIL is the first in the country to cross the 1-million sales mark in the first three quarters of the economic year. MSIL had recorded sales of 1037,408 units in April-December, 2010.

Toyota Prius cedes Japan car market leadership to Honda Fit in Jan.

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius hybrid surrendered its leadership in Japan's passenger car marketplace in January for the first time in 20 months, with Honda Motor Co.'s subcompact fit probable to capture the top slot, industry sources said Tuesday.

Overall vehicle sales in January, excluding mini vehicles with engines of up to 660 cc, tumbled 21.5 percent from a year former to 187,154 units, falling for the fifth successive month, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said the similar day.

While sales of the Prius began falling year on year following the government subsidy program to promote eco-friendly car purchases ended in September, Fit sales have been robust due to the launch in October of a hybrid model with a preliminary price of 1.59 million yen, the most inexpensive in Japan amongst vehicles powered by electric motors and gasoline.

US consulate car had fake number plate

LAHORE: The US consulate vehicle, a car, which was used in Mazang Chowke occurrence in Lahore, carried a fake number plate, Geo News report Friday.

Sources said the car, which knocked down a youth to kill the deprived who was identified as Abadur Rehman, had a number LZN6970.

As par investigation, the real car registered under this number, was owned by Sufi Munawwar Hussain, a occupant of Sahiwal district.

Car Insurance Claims Increase Due to Bad Weather

Statistics have shown that the terrible weather in UK, last December has led an increase of 23% on car insurance claims. This event caused a rapid enlargement of insurance firms in the country, making drivers and car owners to subscribe for an wound firm, even if they have not suffered from any car damage.

According to AA research, UK’s car insurance premiums have increased at about 6% to an regular of £843, wherein, home insurance premiums have only increased at approximately 7% for a £143 average. The biggest augment in car insurance premiums was caused by teen drivers, aged 19-22, who pay at about 60% more to an average of £2,251 for their car insurance.

In addition, the company stated that the cause of boost was also due to the increasing number of injury claims, which also comprise frauds, such as; “cash for crash” schemes, exaggerated injury claims, uninsured driving and poor savings returns.

McLaren Automotive Prices McLaren MP4-12C for US

A couple of month ago, McLaren Automotive announce the pricing for the MP4-12C for the European and UK markets. Now the automaker is reverse in the news, and has announced the US pricing of the super car. The company has price the MP4-12C at $231,400 in the United States, which include a $2,400 in shipping fees.

The company said it has plans to build up to 1,000 12C’s in the car’s first full year, with production set to augment down the line. The McLaren MP4-12C will be obtainable through 11 dealerships in the North American market.

The McLaren MP4-12C will come prepared with a 3.8 liter V8 engine that can deliver power of up to 600-hp and a torque of 443 lb-ft. The supercar is believed to be intelligent to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds, while achieving top speeds in excess of 200 mph. The car is also expected to weigh in lower than similar supercars at 2,867 lbs.

The company has plans to offer an extensive range of personalization options to the vehicle, which is offered in 14 interior trims that can be particular inside the cabin. Performance upgrades in the McLaren MP4 12C include a sports exhaust system, carbon ceramic disc footbrake, polished-finish calipers and two lightweight forged wheel options.

VAT Free Offers

It is still possible to beat the VAT amplify as many manufacturers have some implausible VAT free offers.

It is still possible to beat the VAT increase as many manufacturers have some extraordinary VAT free offers. Huge savings are currently available, Skoda’s ‘we’ll pay the VAT’ deal can save up to roughly £3000 on some of the dearest cars. Citroen have cut £2000 from the list price of the popular Citroen C3 super mini.

Suzuki is extending their VAT gratis offer on the Suzuki Alto SZ3 and SZ4 models until the end of March. In addition to the VAT free present Suzuki has introduced further affordability options with low rate PCP schemes on the Suzuki Alto and Suzuki speedy models. Hyundai have a implausible offer for 2011, they have decided not only to freeze the VAT but actually pay the 20% VAT on selected Hyundai i10, i20 and i30 console models as part of a range of VAT offers for 2011. Hyundai’s 20% contribution will be valid until the ending of March.

Toyotathon Deals on a New Toyota in Irving, Dallas, Hurst and Grapevine Ending Soon

Toyota of Irving wants to let you know that Toyotathon 2010 will be ending soon. If you’re looking for a fresh Toyota in Irving, a new Toyota in Dallas, a new Toyota in Hurst or a new Toyota in Grapevine be convinced to visit Toyota of Irving.

Toyotathon is here and Toyota of Irving hopes you’ll come by and purchase a latest or used vehicle during this special savings event. Specials include 0% financing on nine dissimilar Toyota models including the 2011 Toyota Camry and Tundra, 2010 Toyota Corolla, Highlander, Prius, Rav4, Tundra, Venza and Yaris. Every latest car purchase or lease also comes with Toyota Care a special two year/twenty five thousand mile preservation plan that includes roadside help.