Monthly Archives June 2014

You may still remember several months ago Jim McDowell, VP of MINI USA, told US media that BMW management is considering stop making several models that do not sell well.

Today we got insider news indicating the departing models in the plan: the Paceman and also the Coupe (including the Roadster).

The decision is based on BMW’s current cost cutting initiative, and also MINI brand’s not-so-satisfactory sales performance this year (for 2012, MINI USA achieved a 15% growth; but it only saw a 0.5% enhancement in 2013). The MINI models being cut will be those with extremely low sales volume...

Our source told us the news that, Toyota is working on the hybrid powertrain for the latest hot-selling Corolla, and the new Corolla family member will be officially announced in 2015 as a 2016 model.

We are not sure which market will get the Corolla Hybrid, but it has been confirmed from our source that Chinese customer will see it and Toyota’s China factory is now preparing its equipments for production.

Stay tuned for more information.

For some MINI customers who want to provide easy access for the second-row seat passengers, the only choice is the Countryman, which has individual doors for the second-row.

Now, for those MINI lovers who want the same layout but do not want a CUV shape, a new choice is here: MINI provides the 5-door version of the Cooper model. Below is the 2015 model pricing:

MINI Cooper 5-Door:       $21,450
MINI Cooper S 5-Door:    $25,100

And here is the 2014 price for the 3-door version for your comparison:

MINI Cooper 3-Door:       $19,950
MINI Cooper S 3-Door:    $23,600

Today marks the beginning of the Mercedes-Benz W205 C class production in the company’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant.

The C class produced in the plant is mainly for north America markets. Previously the W205 C class sold in US are made in either Germany of South Africa.

At this moment, the Tuscaloosa plant not only builds the C class, but also assembles the M-class, R-class (not sold in US) and the GL-class. The W205 C-class offered in US market will initially comes with two models: C300 and C400, powered by a 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder engines respectively, both are turbocharged.

With Mercedes-Benz’s plan to lower production cost and boost profit margin, we will see more fu...

Today Audi announced more models of the newly designed A3 sedan product line: the S3 sedan, the A3 Cabriolet and the A3 TDI.

Only the hp rating of the S3 engine is known at this moment: a 2.0L 4-cylinder turbo making 292hp, and it is mated to a 6-speed dual clutch transmission with Quattro AWD. The base S3 starts at $41,000.

The diesel version A3 can only be front-wheel-drive, the 2.0L diesel engine will output 150 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque. Price tag of the A3 TDI starts at $32,600.

There are two powertrain choices for the A3 Cabriolet: one is the 1.8L turbo 4-cylinder engine paired to FWD, another is the 2.0L  turbo-4 paired to the Quattro AWD system. The 1...