The past few years have seen a re-emergence of a long-dormant trend – for mainstream brands to launch dedicated sub-brands. The most recent example of this trend is Seat’s new Cupra sub-brand, which is heading to Geneva with the Cupra Ateca, a Seat Ateca with the Volkswagen Golf R’s 4wd drivetrain, and the Cupra Ibiza Concept, [Read more…]
News broke today in Autocar that Porsche quietly stopped producing diesel cars, making the Macan S Diesel and Panamera 4S Diesel the last diesel models produced by the German manufacturer (it seems they stopped producing the Cayenne Diesel a while back). While this news is hardly surprising, given the backlash Porsche and the [Read more…]
After discussing the what’s hot and what’s not in Detroit this year, let’s also bump heads on the prototypes and concept cars. Of course, these are all in different stages of market readiness, with the RDX and Insight virtually production ready, the Enverge and Xmotion merely hint at what could be, and the Q Inspiration and LF-1 Limitless [Read more…]
Like every year in January, Detroit shows off its resilience, its working-class glamour and its vitality when the doors open of the Cobo center, showing all the latest toys on wheels. Hundreds of auto executives, thousands of journalists and tens of thousands of potential car buyers assemble to look at shiny chrome, kick tires and listen to each [Read more…]
Two weeks before the Detroit Auto show Honda has revealed the third-generation Honda Insight, and even though the model is still described as “Prototype” I think it’s fair to say it is pretty much exactly the car consumers will be able to buy before long. Prototype or not, the immediate question that comes to mind is whether Honda has finally [Read more…]
The new Subaru Ascent may well be one of the most overlooked debuts from the LA Auto show at the end of November. The reason for this is not hard to find – to many people it is yet another predictable entry into the mid-sized SUV segment, which predictably looks like an inflated Subaru Forester or Outback, with little of the flourish of the Viziv-7 concept that preceded it remaining. But is it right to dismiss the new Subaru as another also-ran?
Warm welcome or cold shoulder is a new series here on CarSalesBase.com, where we discuss the sales performance of new models in their first year or so on the market. How have they performed in terms of sales: above or under expectations? What could be the reasons for their success or failure? And what do we expect for their future – will it improve or get worse?
First we tackle the Alfa Romeo Giulia, simply because it’s one of the most talked-about launches in recent years and by far the most popular car here on CSB in terms of pageviews. As always, feel free to join the discussion by commenting below or answering the poll at the bottom.
To me one of the biggest surprises of the LA Auto Show was Nissan’s announcement that the Kicks will replace the Juke in the Subcompact SUV segment. Is this a copout for the once-bold manufacturer, or an astute business decision?
After one of those annoying slow-revealing image launch campaigns, today we saw the final reveal of the new Polestar 1, the first car from Volvo’s new brand dedicated to electric cars. However, despite its stunning looks and an exciting combination of existing technology and bespoke components, the model’s launch has me questioning whether the brand is off to the best possible start with the 1.
Just yesterday Volvo finally took the wraps off its latest model, the new XC40. Aimed squarely at the premium compact SUV market, and models like the Audi Q3, BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA and Range Rover Evoque, the XC40 is the first all-new model line the Swedish automarker has introduced since it launched the XC60 in 2008. Seeing as the XC60 did rather well in the European (figures) and US (figures) markets, the question on everyone’s minds is: has Volvo done it again?
