Mazda has just announced the pricing for the new Mazda6. The 2009 Mazda6 starts from $18,550 for a Mazda6 i SV with 170hp and 2.5 4-cylinder mated to a 6-speed manual gear. Mazda6 s is more expensive but has 273hp 3.7L V6 engine mated to a 6-speed automatic gear. This one starts from $24,130. Mazda6 will one by offered as a four-door sedan in four trim levels, the Touring and Grand Touring, the SV and the Sport. The car will hit showrooms starting this August.

Mazda6 is the highly anticipated 2009 car and is the first of Mazda’s “Zoom-Zoom Evolution” second-generation vehicles, builded on a heritage of sports sedans and sports car that no other automaker can boast. It combines a sports sedan with sophistication like no other car that cand be found in the market.

President and CEO of Mazda North American Operations, Jim O’Sullivan said ““This is the most important new vehicle Mazda has launched in a decade”.

As it has been since the first MAZDA6 launched in 2002, all North American MAZDA6s will continue to be built at AutoAlliance International, in Flat Rock, Mich, a joint venture with partner Ford Motor Company.
Read More: "The new 2009 Mazda6 to have a good price"

Hummer just announced the pricing for the pickup truck version of the H3, the smallest SUV from Hummer. This was confirmed by General Motors at Shreveport, Louisiana. The pickup will begin production in the third quarter of 2008 and the project is getting a $73 million investment.

Does anyone care about this? GM has problems and not long ago told that wants to sell many of its brands, including Hummer. Not to mention that the current Hummer generation sucks. I mean, the first one was cool, the second one is ok, but this one…no thanks!

The H3 has been revealed first time in 2004, at the Los Angeles Auto Show, as a concept. The president of GM Norts America described H3 as “the brand’s first true pickup”. This four-door H3T shares its midsize chassis with the Chevrolet Colorada and GMC Canyon and its been described as “larger than a midsize truck, smaller than a full-size”. H3T is basically a modified version of H3’s basic architecture with a 3.7L 5-cylinder or 5.3L V8 available.

The H3T comes with 32″ tires, four-wheel drive, 5-speed manual or four-speed electronically controlled automatic, dual front airbags and side impact air bag, 5-year warranty starting at $31,495.
Read More: "2009 Hummer H3T pricing revealed"

The new sports sedan from Mitsubishi will have an interesting impact when it will be launched this fall. For less than $27,000 you can get a hot ride after it hits the showrooms in September. A fully Ralliant will come with Recaro seats, Sirius Satellite Radio, upgraded headlamps and a GPS system for near $30,000. Some officials already confirmed the pricing. Before the final price will be public, Mitsubishi weighs the impact of fluctuations of the dollar and yen.

The Ralliart aka WRX competitor develops from the Lancer lineup and it fits abobe the base model but is a step below the 291hp Evolution. Also the Ralliant shares considerable engine and body parts with the Evo. The car will get 237 hp and 253 lb-ft of torque out of its turbocharged 2.0-liter four, and retains some driving characteristics of the Evo-one. The Ralliart shares a twin-clutch SST transmission with the Evo. The Mitsubishi officials point the Ralliart as a potential green option for drivers looking for a good performance.

Mitsubishi expects five to ten percent of all US Lancer sales for the Ralliart and around 300-350 sells per month. In the meantime Mitsubishi is working on some electric vehicle technology, a project called iMiEV, and we all espect a nice small car. “I think we’re very serious about the technology,” said Bryan Arnett, product strategy manager for Mitsubishi Motors North America.

Also, the Concept-cX that debuted at the Frankfurt auto show last fall is also being considered for this market, possibly as early as 2010.
Read More: "The new Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart for less than $27k"

The german car maker, BMW, is planning on bulding about 500 electric versions of MINI Coopers for California. The cars will be build at MINI’s Oxford, England plant but without egines, gearboxex or fuel tanks. They will be shipped to Munich, Germany to be fitted with electric powertrains.

10 MINI Coopers will be used as show cars for advertising and the rest, 490, electric MINIs will be making their way to California for selected customers. A source from BMW said that the electric MINIs will be painted silver with a yellow roof.

This program is a part of Project I established by BMW to test and develop low-emission cars. This project will focus on dealing with strict smissions requirements and restricted access to town and cities.

Soon, BMW will announce if they are going to build electric vehicles or not later this year.
Read More: "500 electric MINI Coopers for California"

The italian car maker, Fiat and the German car maker, BMW, are working togheter to develop new platforms for small cars,according to Automotive News Europe magazine. They are also considering a new family of gasoline and diesel engines, says the report from Automotive News` website.

The report came because Sergio Marchionne, the Fiat Chief Executive Officer, told reporters that it would sign an industrial alliance in the car sector but he did not identify the partner. “We’ve been working on it for a good while. It’s something simple” said Sergio Marchionne. Fiat and BMW press officers declined to comment on the report but everyone knows that car makers are involved in many alliances to share production and other costs.

Marchionne also said that FIAT’s target for this year includes a higher trading profit of 3.4-3.6 billion euros. “From what I can see, there is no reason to postpone the 2008 targets,” said Marchionne.
“We are about to close the quarter and the results are all in line with the targets and we don’t see anything coming up for the rest of the year, barring any disastrous events in the next six months”. “What’s important is to see how the third and fourth quarters will go,” he said. Marchionne also added: “2008 and 2009 will be exceptional years.” and thats because “Brazil and Latin America continue to go strongly and we don’t see any dark clouds on the horizon”.

In the US, other car makers are not doing it so well, like General Motors Corp are having a hard time. The US giant is considering in selling brands like Dodge, Buick, Pontiac, and Hummer. But that doesn’t affect anything at FIAT because “Fiat is not interested in any of the American group’s brands.”
Read More: "Fiat and BMW to work together"

Now you can have one. Yes, just one, one Ferrari, custom made, just for you.

Let’s face it, if you have money you can say “Why not? I’ll take one”. There were some rumors about this project but now they’re not only rumors because in the july issue of the EVO magazine, the Ferrari “one off” project has been revisited - a project that creates real and unique models. We know that Ferrari was interested in launching new projects with the best international automobile signatures, and this news confirms the rumours.

If you want to be a Ferrari customer, or you already are one but want something new, you can choose finishes, colours and accessories, planned for the entire Ferrari range in the future and you will also have the possibility of having your own custom series. You need to be armed with at least 2 mil euros and you will have to choose from a model currently in production and from this basis your car will evolve and become one of a kind. Chassis, engine and airbag will have to remain the same, but the rest of the car can be changed and can be exclusively designed and created.

Think about a Ferrari SUV, that is also possible. What would you choose?

Overfinch is an expert company in customising Range Rovers. Established in 1975, Overfinch was an UK division of the German vehicle manufacturer Schuler. A decade later, the founder of Schuler formed Overfinch. Today is a prestigious brand and they are spanning nine continents. They say “If Land Rover had ever built them like this, every other 4×4 manufacturer in the world would have sat down and cried.”

These Rage Rover specialists had announced a pair of new models of the Sport version and a £144.000 “Country Pursuits” vehicle. With a TDV6 HSE SuperSport and a 10-pice styling kit, unrated wheels and tyres (22-inch option), vents, mirros and assorter trim, what can you ask for more ? Well, for an extra £4000 Overfinch offers a bespoke nappa leather interior. Of course, in some places you get the Overfinch logos and also tread plates, an ECU upgrade, tailgate lettering and bonnet, and a sports instrument pack with red needles.

However, the most interesting car from Overfinch is the Country Pursuits Concept. According to Overfinch this cars is “the most sophisticated and impressive Range Rover in our 33-year history”. Inside you can find a hand-made olive ash veneered centre console, drinks tray, a fridge and a removable gun box. Another stylish thing is the crystal glass drinking set.

The diesel SuperSports model costs £66,495 and the supercharged version £69,995. If you think about the Country Pursuits, then you will find a scary price of £123,495 for the diesel version and £143,950 for the supercharged variant (including VAT).

More photos after the jump.
Read More: "Overfinch takes Range Rover over the top"

Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group joins ranks of Global Top 5 Automakers. Since 1999 when the Automotive Group was in 11th place has climb on 5th place in 2007. Kia motors has a continuous improvement in quality, design, eco-friendliness and brand innovation.

According to Automotive News’ 2008 Global Data Book, published on July 1, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has emerged as the world’s fifth largest automaker moving up from sixth place in 2006 and with a number of 3,961,629 units in 2007 of global sales.

“We are extremely proud of having achieved this goal in such a short period of time,” said Ik-Hwan Kim, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Kia Motors. “We have been stressing the value of our products over the last few years and our efforts have not gone unnoticed by the public or the industry, neither quantitatively or qualitatively. Kia will continue to focus on producing a new generation of quality vehicles with distinctive design for those who are young-at-heart to keep the momentum of our brand growing. As a top global automaker, we are set to move in new directions with continuous improvements in quality, design, eco-friendliness and brand innovation for years to come.”

Since 1999 the group has moved steadily up the rankings ladded under Chairman Chung’s leadership and pushed to globalize operations by building manufacturing plants in countries like US, Slovakia, Czech, RUssia, Brazil or even China and India.

Here are the 2007 Global Sales Rankings :
1. Toyota———–9,366,000
2. GM—————-8,902,252
3. Volkswagen—–6,191,618
4. Ford————–5,964,000
5. Hyundai-Kia—–3,961,629
6. Honda————3,831,000
7. Nissan————3,675,574
8. PSA/Peugeot—-3,428,400
9. Chrysler———-2,676,268
10. Fiat—————2,620,864
Read More: "Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group now Top 5"

Everyone knows about the Toyota Prius, the hybrid car, but not everyone knows very much about it. Well, in short terms, if everyone would have a Prius then the world could cleaner, dryer, relaxed, more silenced, and many more. But imagine the next generation of Toyota Prius, with a larger engine, more efficient, faster, cleaner and greener. This car will have a big launch at the Detroit auto show in January 2009.

Even America has fallen for this car and in a big way. There’s no doubt about that and through an extraordinary combination of style and engineering, this hybrid car remains the absolute gold standard for eco cars.

The next generation will have a bigger impact and that’s because it will be a touch bigger and offering more space and it will be stronger with a 1.8 liter hybrid performance.

January 2009 will mark the point at with Prius will change gear and moves up to the next level. Till now, this hybrid car was just one of its kind, just one model, but Toyota plans to spice up the action and will come with different Prius models as it closes it on its bid to be making over 1 million cars pers year till 2010.