CR Poll Finds that 40% of U.S. Car Owners Delay Maintenance Due to Financial Reasons

The state of the economy is affecting every aspect of our everyday lives – including cars. And it’s not just the gas prices that affect motorists: a new poll from Consumer Reports shows that almost one in two car owners delay their car’s servicing or repairs.

Lower-income households are more likely to delay necessary work, and younger drivers (18-34 years of age) tend to postpone work on wear items like tires or brake pads – with 21 percent of them admitting that they don’t even pay attention to these items.

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Disconnecting People: NTSB Push to Ban All In-Car Cellphone Use May Hurt Automakers

The National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) and the U.S secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, are both trying to reduce road accidents caused by distracted driving.

So far, their efforts have resulted in 35 states, and the District of Columbia, banning the use of handheld cellphones or texting while driving.

Driving is, indeed, a serious activity that requires all of your attention. According to the Department of Transportation’s December 8 release, distracted driving caused 3,092 fatalities in 2010.

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Two “i”s Can’t Make a Wrong: BMW and Apple Join Forces to Launch iAd in Europe

Looking for new ways to market its new “i” sub-brand, BMW has chosen to launch three new digital channels through foursquare, Mashable.com and iAd. The latter is Apple’s mobile advertising platform used by third-party developers to apply ads into the applications downloaded to the users’ iPad, iPhone and iPhone touch mobile devices. Read more »

Saab Says Warranty Coverage Indefinitely Suspended on All North America Cars [Updated]

Just yesterday, we were telling about the benefits but also the dangers of buying a new Saab car in the U.S. after the company filed for bankruptcy on Monday.

Today we learn that Saab suspended warranty coverage on all of its new vehicles sold in North America effective from December 19, while the company also informed dealers that they must sell any remaining cars "as is", without any coverage whatsoever.

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VW Group Initializes New Parts-Sharing Strategy Across All Brands to Save US$6.5 Billion a Year

Parts and platform sharing has been a common practice in big automotive groups. Volkswagen, which has been pioneering this method among its brands since the early ‘90s, has mastered the art. Still, there is always room for improvement...

The VW Group wants to push the envelope further with a much broader parts sharing program among the various brands and models in its empire, starting with the new Audi A3 that will be launched in 2012.

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Porsche Approves Further Development of 911 GT3 R Hybrid Racer

So far, Porsche has manufactured two hybrid versions of its 911 GT3 R racer. The first one was revealed at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show and it featured two electric motors powered not by a battery pack, as in most hybrids, but by an electric flywheel generator located in the passenger’s seat.

In typical Porsche fashion, the “Version 2.0” of the GT3 R Hybrid was a careful evolution of the previous model, with more power and better fuel consumption while also featuring subtle changes to the cockpit to ensure less driver fatigue in endurance racers.

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Nissan Recalling Near 34,000 Sentra Sedans over Engine Stalling Issue

Nissan has issued a new recall on certain 2010-2011 model year Sentra compact cars because of a battery cable problem that could potentially cause the engines to stall.

In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Nissan explained that the zinc coating applied to the terminal stud bolt may be too thick and as a result, it could lead to a voltage drop the can damage the engine control module (ECM).

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Audi R8 LMS Ultra to Compete in Next Year's FIA GT1 World Championship as Well

Only a month after the introduction of the improved R8 LMS Ultra and Audi has revealed plans to compete in the FIA GT1 World Championship next year with two examples of its latest GT3 racecar, which will be independently fielded by Team WRT. Read more »

Court Approves Saab’s Bankruptcy, Appoints Two Receivers – But is it Really Over?

As expected, the District Court of Vanersborg accepted Saab’s request the same day, Monday December 19, and declared the Swedish carmaker bankrupt.

The company's CEO, Victor Muller, blamed General Motors for blocking every rescue attempt that involved the Chinese company Youngman Lotus Automobile, including its latest offer of a US$5 million funding to continue the restructuring process.

“That, basically, was the last nail in the coffin of this beautiful company”, said Muller only hours after requesting that Saab be declared bankrupt.

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Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: What Saab’s Demise May Mean for Buyers

"If Saab’s future seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
You can buy a heavily discounted brand new car
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just walk into your nearest Saab dealership - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life..."

First of all, we hope Monty Python won’t mind altering their song from The Life of Brian. We'd also like to note that we are in no way making fun of the fact that, unless something unexpected happens, Saab is closing shop – for good this time, leaving thousands of workers unemployed.

We’re just trying to say that, in the event the liquidation of the car company goes through, there are consequences but not all of them are bad for consumers.

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Renault Decimates UK Line-Up Due to Poor Sales, Cuts Laguna, Wind, Espace and More

Something is rotten in the state of Renault: its sales in the UK market. The fall of the pound against the Euro by 16 percent since the end of 2008, which minimized profitability of companies based in euro-denominated countries along with a staggering 29 percent drop in Renault's sales in the first 11 months of the year, forced the French carmaker to make some hard decisions.

Renault spokesperson Caroline De Gezelle announced today that, from February, the company will stop taking orders for no less than five of its models that are currently sold in Europe’s third largest car market.

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2014 Chevrolet Impala wants to be more than America's Favorite Fleet Car, will Share Platform with Cadillac XTS

With more than a decade on its back, the current Chevrolet Impala is well overdue for a replacement. Introduced in 1999, the eighth generation of the Chevy's full-size sedan switched to a front-wheel drive layout with GM redesigning the large sedan in 2005.

According to the Automotive News Data Center, Chevy has sold more than 2.8 million units of current model since 1999, with 2007 proving to be the vehicle's best year with a little over 311,000 deliveries. This year, through the end of November, GM has sold close to 161,000 Impalas.

But as we said, it's time for the current Impala to give its place to a new model. Last week, GM confirmed plans for the development of the 10th generation Impala, which will be produced at both its Oshawa Assembly Plant in Canada and the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant.

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Infiniti’s Mercedes A-Class-based Compact Model to be Built by Magna Steyr

Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Japan’s second biggest automaker, wants Nissan's luxury brand, Infiniti, to have a 10 percent share in the premium segment, which amounts to 500,000 units.

The “Power 88” plan that Ghosn revealed last June calls for the rapid expansion of Infiniti, which is an established player in the U.S. market but almost non-existent in Europe: in 2010 it sold 4,500 units, a tenth of BMW’s January 45,000 sales…

Back in August, we revealed that Infiniti was preparing a small, entry-level premium model to compete with the likes of Audi’s A3 and BMW’s 1-Series, and that it would use another premium carmaker’s help: Mercedes Benz and its newly developed MFA platform employed by the 2012 A-Class.

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VW to Return to Super Bowl with New 60-Second Ad on the 2012 Beetle

There's no doubt that this year's Super Bowl XLV played host to some original commercials but the one ad that stood out more than the rest was "The Force" from Volkswagen, the official YouTube version of which has garnered over 45 million views since it aired on February 2.

Volkswagen actually aired one more commercial during the game, the “Black Beetle”, which has been seen by more than 5 million viewers on the German firm's channel.

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Nissan Pathfinder Concept: First Official Teaser of 7-Seater SUV

While Nissan isn't yet ready to completely lift the covers off its pre-production Pathfinder showcar, the Japanese company has issued the first teaser image of the seven-seater model that will make its public debut at the 2012 North American International Auto Show beginning in Detroit on January 9th.

With a little digital help, we brightened up the picture to reveal the outline of the Pathfinder study, which looks like it will sport a swoopier body than the current model.

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The Company Formerly Known as “Old GM” is Dead at Age 103

It was long overdue, but it was bound to happen: the company lawyers named Motors Liquidation Co. but which we came to know as "old GM" during the 2009 government bailout period, died on Thursday, December 15.

Though it had a very long lifespan of 103 years, no one really noticed its demise. After all, this was just U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerbert signing the death certificate. Giving birth to the “new GM” two years ago was a very painful process – and one that most of those involved would like to forget.

It meant the sacrifice of three of its brands (Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn) and getting rid of another (Saab, which ironically is now in a similar position), closing 13 plants along with 900 dealerships. GM also had to reduce its U.S. workforce from 91,000 to 68,500 employees, which either way, is a far cry from the 525,000 workers it had in the States and another 100,000 outside the country in 1955.

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Honda Starts Production of New European Civic Hatch at Swindon Plant

Honda revealed today the it has begun rolling out the new Civic at its UK plant in Swindon, which returned to its normal production rates after a disruption due to lack of parts caused by the Thai floods. Read more »

Saab Files for Bankruptcy After All Rescue Plans Fail, This Could be the End

It is sad news for the automotive world to learn of the demise of a company. Unfortunately, Monday December 19, will mark the end of the road for Swedish carmaker Saab – and this time it looks like it is final.

Earlier this morning, Swedish Automotive N.V. (Swan) announced that Saab Automobile, Saab Automobile Tools and Saab Powertrain filed for bankruptcy with the District Court in Vanersborg, Sweden.

This comes after Youngman, the Chinese company which last week promised to pay for the carmaker’s restructuring, informed Saab that it cannot provide the funding necessary for the continuation of the process.

Therefore, Swan concluded that, with GM vetoing any proposed plan until now, and without the essential funding, it would be insolvent. Thus, it was better for its creditors to file for bankruptcy.

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Eterniti Preparing Production Version of Hemera SUV as well as Two More Models

To say that your new model is “like an SUV version of the M5” is quite a bold statement -especially if you are a brand-new manufacturer, with no previous record and you intend to compete at the high end of the market.

Nevertheless, that’s exactly what Alastair Mcqueen, chief engineer of London-based Eterniti Motors, which made its existence known at the 64th Frankfurt Motor Show, says about the brand’s first model, the Hemera.

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Court Rejects Saab’s Administrator Resignation, GM Rejects Any Chinese-Related Plan…

There are so many turns and twists in Saab's road to salvation or closure on an everyday basis, that it’s very easy to lose track of what's actually going on with the Swedish automaker.

On Monday Guy Lofalk, the court-appointed administrator who proposed the termination of the carmaker’s restructuring process, quit. Two days later Saab announced the appointment of another administrator, Lars-Henrik Andersson.

On Thursday, after Andersson turned down the job, Saab said that Lofalk would eventually be replaced by Lars Soderqvist.

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