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Pininfarina family stake to be sold - Tata potential suitor

Pininfarina Blue Car EV production version

Pincar, the company owned by the Pininfarina family may sell its majority stake in troubled design house and coachbuilder Pininfarina. Through Pincar the family holds a majority stake of 50.7%. Selling the piece is a decision taken at a board meeting last week and was part of a debt agreement made with the banks in 2008. The end result would be that Pincar would no longer be the majority owner but at the same time the family would not leave the business completely.

Pininfarina Blue Car EV production version

A number of well-known industry names have been touted as possible new partners. One of them is Tata which owns the Tata Motors, Jaguar and Land Rover brands. The Indian company has an existing alliance with Fiat and was mentioned as an investor last year. Being closely related to Pininfarina, a company that has designed some of the most striking Ferraris and Maseratis in the past would certainly give Tata a boost in its design department.

Pininfarina Blue Car EV production version

Another possible partner is said to be Bolloré, the French industrial company. Pininfarina is working with them to develop an electric car dubbed, Bluecar. In 2008 founder Vincent Bolloré expressed an interest in becoming one of the shareholders at Pininfarina.

Pininfarina Blue Car EV production version

Could Ford also be in the mix? The Italian brand builds the Focus Coupe Cabriolet for the blue oval while another agreement sees it producing the Volvo C70 at a plant in Uddevalla, Sweden.
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Fiat back in the mix as Bertone manufacturing unit goes up for sale

You could say that Fiat's on a bit of a spending spree lately. While everyone else is struggling to trim expenditures and sell off divisions, Fiat's been buying them up. So after moving in at Chrysler's headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and making offers for GM's European and Latin American operations – including Opel and Vauxhall – it should come as no surprise that the Italian automaker is at it again, this time placing a non-binding offer to acquire Carrozzeria Bertone.

The offer is one of five currently being entertained by Italy's oldest coachbuilder and the courts administering its bankruptcy. Among other bidders reported are Domenico Reviglio (the Gruppo Prototipo chief who was slated to buy the company last year), former Lancia CEO Gianmario Rossignolo, Chinese automaker FAW and an additional unspecified Spanish concern. It is also not the first time Fiat considered rescuing Bertone after a previous attempt failed over two years ago.

Although the reports remain somewhat ambiguous, it appears that the unit in question is only the contract manufacturing division Carrozzeria Bertone SpA, a separate unit from the Stile Bertone design house under the Gruppo Bertone umbrella.

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Fortwo 4 Less: Smart offers first incentives in U.S.

So far this year, Smart USA has sold just 7,451 Fortwos, which is down nearly 16% over the first five months of 2008. May sales, though, were down an alarming 56.6% to 1,169 units. To stem the rushing tide of order cancellations and slow sales, Penske has decided to offer its first-ever incentives on the Fortwo. From now until the end of July, buyers may qualify for 4.2% financing through Daimler Financial Services for the purchase of a new 2009 Smart Fortwo.

Penske Automotive Group, distributors of the Smart Fortwo here in the United States, recorded an impressive 24,622 total sales of the diminutive city car in 2008 and dealers widely reported that they could have sold even more had they been available. With that in mind, the nascent company set what seemed at the time like a realistic sales target for 25,000 units in 2009. That may have been a bit optimistic.

If this incentive has a positive impact on sales, expect it to be extended a bit longer. Further, Penske is considering making it possible for dealerships to order new cars without accepting the refundable $99 reservation from a customer that's currently required, which could have the desirable effect of placing more new vehicles on dealer lots for buyers to choose from.
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Sweden car firm Koenigsegg to buy Saab: report

Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg is to buy Saab Automobile from US giant General Motors with support from Norwegian investors, a broadcaster reported on Thursday.

The buyers have signed a letter of intention to buy Saab, Swedish television station SVT reported on its website, citing anonymous sources and naming Koenigsegg. It said negotiations to wrap up the deal would last months.
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Greek court rules against Daimler on China SUV

There's an old saying that "justice is blind," an adage which has taken a literal meaning thanks to a Greek court's decision to dismiss Daimler's lawsuit against a Chinese copy of the Smart fortwo.

Shuanghuan Noble

Although the case looked promising for Daimler early on, a Milan court ruling in mid-December 2008 in favor of Shuanghuan in the BMW case seemed to have put the nail in Daimler's coffin. The court found that visual and price differences between BMW's X5 and Shuanghuan CEO were enough to prevent consumers from confusing the two. After winning the case against BMW, Shuanghuan resumed the sale of its CEO SUV in Italy.

Shuanghuan Noble

The Greek court determined that "an informed buyer would not confuse the Noble with the Smart Fortwo." They also stated that because the two vehicles offer different technical specifications, any exterior styling similarities are irrelevant and almost inevitable because they're both mini-cars.

Shuanghuan Noble

Chinese auto makers reportedly have 'borrowed' inspiration from BMW's X5, Daewoo's Matiz and the Mercedes-Benz SLK. Various legal challenges have been mounted, some successfully and others less so.

Shuanghuan Noble

Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd. started to sell Smart Fortwo, the classic low-emission car under Daimler's Mercedes-Benz brand, in China on April 8 this year.
Source: gasgoo via World Car Fans

Ssangyong given go-ahead to reconstitute, debars liquidation

A South Korean court just approved a plan to keep SsangYong Motor (SYMC) out of liquidation. In granting its approval the court agreed with a recent report that showed SsangYong is worth more alive than dead. After entering their version of Chapter 11 back in February, the company was faced with liquidation unless they came up with a convincing argument that they could turn things around.

Press Release:

SSANGYONG MOTOR GETS GO AHEAD TO RESTRUCTURE

SsangYong Motor (SYMC) today cleared a significant hurdle in its restructuring plans when a South Korean court gave its approval to put the plans into action.

The court confirmed a recent Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers assessment that the manufacturer had a greater value as a going concern than its liquidated value, and ordered SsangYong to submit its full restructuring plan by mid-September. Much of this is already in place, including a vital new model programme and a reduction in the workforce by over a third.

Paul Williams, managing director of distributor Koelliker UK Ltd. said: "This is the news we were hoping for and it means that SsangYong now has the lifeline it needs to implement major changes. The future will continue to be difficult, as it is throughout the auto industry, but the result should mean a leaner, much more efficient SsangYong. We already know that there will be a broader range of passenger cars using the latest petrol, diesel and hybrid technology, and the first – the C200 – will go into production later this year. Our dealers can now go forward with renewed confidence."

SsangYong applied for, and was granted court receivership in February after the fall-out of the international credit crunch, a drop in demand and even higher raw material, oil and energy prices. Court receivership is similar to US Chapter 11 status, giving the company protection fromcreditors and time to formulate and implement a corporate resuscitation plan. Under the arrangements, the court appointed former Hyundai Motor president Lee Yoo-il, and SYMC vice-president in charge of finance, Park Young-tae as co-legal administrators.

Despite these uncertainties, SYMC has forged ahead with the development of the new C200 'compact urban vehicle,' showing it at the Seoul Motor Show and most recently at the Barcelona Motor Show earlier this month. Styled in Europe, the C200 is a new monocoque design engineered for both front and four wheel drive, with advanced petrol, diesel and diesel hybrid engine options. It is scheduled for production later this year.

In the UK, the SsangYong line-up of Kyron, Rexton and Rodius passenger cars starts at £14,995 with light commercial versions of the Kyron and Rexton also available. SsangYong is fully participating in the government scrappage scheme which offers £2,000 off of a new car when an old (10 years old or more) car or van is traded-in for scrap.

www.ssangyonggb.co.uk
via:autoblog

Dodge Viper & Jeep Wrangler to be Axed

Doom and gloom are written in the sections of the bankruptcy filing documents that deal with Chrysler's Viper and Jeep Wrangler brands. These documents refer to two Chrysler entities, one called OldCo and the other is the New Chrysler. OldCo assets would not be affected by the recently-announced Fiat/ Chrysler tie up and would ultimately be closed down by 2010.
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