Redesigned 2016 Chevrolet Camaro Priced Higher than Mustang

If you've been anxiously waiting to find out how much you'll have to pay for the redesigned 2016 Chevy Camaro, the wait is over. Chevrolet announced in a press release today that the 2016 Camaro will start at $26,695, which includes a $995 destination fee. That is $1,995 more expensive than the 2015 model, which has a starting price of $24,700. The V8-powered 2016 Camaro SS starts at $37,295.
The base 2016 Chevrolet Camaro comes standard with a 275-horsepower, turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. An optional 3.6-liter V6 makes 335 horsepower, though pricing for Camaros with this engine has not been announced. The Camaro SS has a 6.2-liter V8 that produces 455 horsepower. With any engine, the Camaro comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission, while an eight-speed automatic is optional.

Not only is the redesigned 2016 Camaro more expensive than the outgoing model, it is also pricier than one of its main competitors, the Ford Mustang.^Parts The Mustang differs from the Camaro in that the Mustang's base engine is a V6, and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine is optional. A base, V6-powered 2016 Ford Mustang starts at $24,700, which is $1,995 less expensive than a base 2016 Camaro. A V8-powered Mustang GT undercuts the Camaro SS by $4,095, with a starting price of $33,200.

The 2016 Camaro comes with a host of standard features that Chevrolet says were either optional or unavailable on the 2015 model, including a rear view camera, automatic climate control, fully power-adjustable front seats, proximity key/push-button start, the My Link infotainment system with Apple Car Play connectivity and On Star with 4G LTE and a built-in Wi-Fi hot spot. Available features in the 2016 Camaro include leather upholstery, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a Bose audio system, a power sunroof, navigation, rear cross-traffic alert, blind spot monitoring and lane change alert.
As we reported in May when it was first unveiled, reviewers' initial impressions of the redesigned Camaro are favorable. Auto blog said the 2016 Camaro's exterior design helps it look lighter and more agile than the outgoing model, and Cars.com was impressed with the cabin design and materials quality.
Chevrolet says the 2016 V6- and V8-powered Camaro coupes will hit dealers by the end of this year and that convertibles and models fitted with the turbocharged four-cylinder engine will go on sale in the first quarter of 2016.


Source: USNEWS

2015 Tesla Model S 70D

An analyst with Morgan Stanley says the stock price of electric car maker Tesla could soon be worth almost twice as much as it is now largely because of the potential of self-driving cars that consumers can rent on demand, like Uber.

In a research note to clients Monday, Adam Jonas raised his target price for Tesla shares to $465 US. That's more that 66 per cent above his old target of $280 and well above the $243 level the stock closed at on Friday. 

Ride-sharing app?

Jonas' main reason for optimism is a business segment that the company doesn't even do yet, which is a ride-sharing service using driverless cars.

Worldwide, humans drive more than 16 trillion kilometresevery year, most of which is done in cars made by "companies practicing a 100-year-old business model of human-driven, privately owned, internal-combustion vehicles," Jonas said."This is fundamentally changing."

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Tesla is a leader in the electric car world, but sells just a fraction of the hundreds of millions of cars that major gasoline-powered players like GM, Toyota and Volkswagen sell every year. While the company says it is on track to selling a million cars a year within the next decade, it is still a far cry off from the leaders. 

Self-driving cars soon

But Tesla has an advantage in a business area it hasn't even entered into yet, Jonas says, which is self-driving cars in an on-demand mobility service. Jonas' idea would see a new business that works a bit like ride-sharing app Uber, but entirely populated by self-driving Teslas.

He calls the division "Tesla Mobility" and unlike conventional cars, Teslas today already have a leg-up in autonomous driving because their vehicles are fully electric, wirelessly connected to each other and can "learn" on the go via software updates. "No other established automaker can claim this today," he said, which makes it a lot easier for the company to roll out a self-driving vehicle than for other companies to do so.

Jonas expects the entire car business to shift away from the current owner-operator model and toward an autonomous future in which people are driven around by robots in vehicles they can access only when they need them.

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Instead of selling cars to ridesharing companies, Tesla could theoretically take out the middle man and sell the service directly to customers themselves.

"We view this business opportunity as potentially additive to Tesla's existing model of selling human-driven cars to private owners and see potential for this model to conceivably more than triple the company's potential revenues by 2029," Jonas' says.

Although the company officially has no plans to do something similar to the "Tesla Mobility" unit that Jonas' envisions, the analyst " we would be surprised if Tesla did not share formalized business plans on shared mobility within the next 12 to 18 months." The first driverless on-demand Teslas would then hit the road some time in 2018, he said.

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If it happens, it's an idea that could be worth billions. Jonas comes up with his $465 price target because it's the midpoint between the base case assumption that the shares could be worth $319 if the business stays as it is, but as much as $611 a share if these new revenue streams come to pass.

The car company, as it stands now. is worth about $280 per share, Jonas' says, with the recently announced battery division adding as much as $39 per share. But Jonas' optimistic take is that the battery unit increases to $87 a share, along with $244 a share for the as yet non-existent ride-sharing unit, on top of the core electric car business.

"If Tesla wants to make good on its mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable transport, we see the move to a shared mobility model as critical," Jonas said. 

Source: CBC News

Nissan, Honda outpace the market on crossovers, sedans

American Honda^Parts Motor Co. and Nissan North America both showed solid sales growth in July, thanks to brisk sales of small crossovers, midsize sedans and luxury cars, data released today show.

Both automakers, as well as their volume divisions, Honda brand and Nissan brand, outpaced the industrywide gain of 5.3 percent in July.

American Honda’s sales rose 7.7 percent to 146,324 units. Honda-brand sales climbed 6.5 percent to 131,409, while Acura sales shot up 20 percent to 14,915.
The Honda Accord had a robust month, with sales of 34,496 units. That was down 1.6 percent from a year ago, but was still the highest Accord total since August 2014.

The small Civic also performed well, with its sales increasing 3.7 percent to 31,139. But sales of the subcompact Fit dropped 15 percent to 4,332.
The HR-V small crossover, in its second full month on the market, accounted for sales of 5,909 units.

      “You hear reports that car sales are collapsing. Well, ours aren’t collapsing,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda.


The Acura^Parts brand’s total put it ahead of Cadillac’s 14,154 for the month, the tenth time in the last 11 months it has bested its older and traditionally larger rival. Powering Acura higher were the new TLX sedan, with sales of 3,530 cars in July, and the redesigned ILX, up 31 percent last month to 1,613.

Mendel said the new cars add a dimension to Acura on top of its solid footing in luxury sport-utility vehicles, where the MDX and RDX combination is long established among the segment leaders.

Faster-growing Nissan
Nissan North America’s growth outpaced American Honda’s. Its sales rose 7.8 percent to 130,872 cars and trucks. Nissan-brand sales climbed 6.7 percent to 120,439 units; Infiniti had an increase of 22 percent, to 10,433.

For Nissan^Parts brand, the biggest gain came from the Rogue, whose sales jumped 51 percent to 25,081 vehicles. Its larger crossover, the Murano, also posted a gain of 18 percent, to 5,459 units.

                  Nissan’s Altima sedan bucked the downward trend in small and midsize cars, as it sales soared 27 percent to 33,842 units, a July record.
“There’s no doubt the midsize segment is under fire, under pressure, but the Altima continues to deliver for us,” said Fred Diaz, Nissan’s senior vice president for sales and marketing.
He said the automaker did not rely on heavy incentives to drive its sales in July. “We’re not doing anything crazy, nothing special. We’re just being competitive,” he said.
The company is now four months into a sales push that set ambitious growth targets for its dealers, and pays specific bonuses to Nissan dealers who outpace the Honda and Toyota stores in their area.
In contrast to the Altima, sales of the Leaf, Versa and Maxima each fell by more than 25 percent.
At Infiniti, sales of the Q50 jumped 55 percent to 3,807, even as sales of the Q40/Q60 slid 64 percent to 726. Sales of the QX60 surged 68 percent to 3,760.

SOURCE : autonews

2016 Lexus IS Gains 2.0-Liter Turbo-Four Engine In Place of Base V-6

The 2016 Lexus ^Parts IS adds a new turbo-four engine, as well as a lower-powered V-6 option, in a mild refresh for the sports sedan. The IS also receives a few equipment changes, such as a heated steering wheel being offered as a standalone option.

 

The new 2016 Lexus IS200t replaces the former IS250 as the car's base model. Offered only with rear-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission, the 200t's 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four engine offers 241 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. That's up from the 204 hp and 185 lb-ft that the outgoing IS250's 2.5-liter V-6 engine offered. Lexus also expects the new engine to improve fuel economy, which was rated at 21/30 mpg (city/highway) in the rear-wheel-drive IS250.

The 2.0-liter engine is already in use in the Lexus NX200t crossover and is likely to spread to more Toyota and Lexus models in the U.S. The Lexus IS200t was already revealed in Europe earlier this year, with its engine rated for 244 hp.

The Lexus IS350 continues to offer its 306-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 engine with both rear- and all-wheel drive. But to sate drivers who want a more affordable all-wheel-drive sedan, the 2016 Lexus IS also adds a new IS300 AWD model. A detuned version of the 3.5-liter V-6 offers 255 hp and 236 lb-ft; this trim level essentially takes the place of the outgoing Lexus IS250 AWD, as the new turbo engine is not offered with all-wheel drive. The V-6 engines are also mated exclusively to an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Source :  Automobile

65,844 Land Rovers recalled for doors, sunroofs that can fly open

Jaguar^Parts Land Rover is recalling 65,844 Land Rover SUVs for doors and sunroofs that can fly open while the vehicle is in motion, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
The defects are divided into two separate recalls, one for faulty door latches and one for weak sunroof adhesive.

The door latch recall covers 65,352 Range Rover and Range Rover Sport SUVs from the 2013-16 model years. The affected vehicles were manufactured with doors that can remain unlatched with the door is in the “closed” position, without any indication to the driver that a latch is not secure.
Doors that do not latch properly can open while the vehicle is in motion.
Ford Motor Co. has recalled more than 1.5 million vehicles for a similar defect since mid-2014. It is not clear if the two recalls are related.
The Range Rover models covered in the door latch recall were manufactured from July 26, 2012 through March 9, 2015.
The sunroof recall is smaller, covering 492 Land Rover LR4 SUVs from the 2012 and 2013 model years. The adhesive and primer used to attach the affected sunroofs to the LR4 roof can weaken, causing excessive noise and water leakage.
In one case, a consumer reported to NHTSA that the sunroof detached from the vehicle while it was in motion.
The door latching issue is the result of a software glitch that allows doors to come unlatched without warning, Jaguar Land Rover spokeswoman Maria Rodriguez said.
It is not clear if this defect originated at the supplier, Brose Schließsysteme, or if it is the fault of Jaguar Land Rover manufacturers, she said.
In the case of the sunroof defect, the bonding agent used by supplier NSG Group was not up to the correct specifications.

Source :  autonews

BMW Regains Top Spot in USA Premium Sales, Besting Mercedes-Benz

It’s an extremely tight race at the top of the sales charts in the US within the premium segment.

To be more precise, BMW ^Parts sold 32,176 units in the US across the previous month while Mercedes-Benz sold 28,044. Both companies showed growth compared to the same month of last year but while the Bavarians grew by 6.5%, their rivals sold only 5.8 percent more.

Overall, when looking at the figures for the whole year, BMW posted a year-to-date increase in sales of 7.1 percent to a grand total of 168,623 units while Mercedes delivered 164,970. In percentages, the challenger grew more, at 8.8%. As you can see, at the moment, there’s just 3,653 units between the two giants.

The best selling car for the blue and white roundel company was the 3 Series, as usual. What’s surprising is that unlike Mercedes, it’s not its cheapest model. The growth the three-pointed star company is recorded is due mainly to the CLA-Class which is its cheapest FWD model in the line-up. That could also point to a couple of differences in the demographic that is interested in the two brands.

Compared to June of 2014, the X5 SUV posted an incredible 89 percent surge in demand while the 4 Series came in second with a growth of 69 percent.

When it comes to Audi, even if this was yet another month of constant increase in demand, they are still far behind with 93,615 units. Due to the new A3 line-up, they are also starting to cover more ground but with 18,262 deliveries across June, things aren’t looking great for now.

They are overshadowed by Lexus that comes in third in this ad-hoc top, they too reported an 11 percent increase in sales, at a grand total of 26,121. So far, the Toyota-owned brand sold 158,848 units, a 15 percent increase.


Source : autoevolution

Jeep will keep Cherokee's 'spot on' shape, styling

CHELSEA, Mich. -- The popular Jeep Cherokee^Parts departed from the brand's traditional boxy styling, and Jeep strategists plan to keep the polarizing look when the midsize SUV is freshened in mid-2016.

"I think the overall styling, the overall shape, the overall accommodation of that vehicle is spot on," Jeep brand head Mike Manley said at Fiat Chrysler's proving grounds here. "I don't think that there's anything that dramatically needs to change with that vehicle going forward."

Since its introduction in late 2013, the Cherokee has been a top-seller for Jeep, outselling in some months the more established Grand Cherokee and Wrangler.

Through June, Cherokee is Jeep's top-selling SUV in the U.S., with sales up 31 percent over the same period of 2014.

The Cherokee has been plagued by quality and software problems with its transmission. FCA US is conducting a customer satisfaction campaign to reset the transmission software on early Cherokees to improve the nine-speed automatic's operations.

Manley said those efforts should help lift the brand's overall quality.

"We've made significant progress on Cherokee in terms of the transmission," Manley said, "and we are going to continue to look to make quality improvements wherever we can."

Source : Auto News