A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Toyota testing its new Celica
TOYOTA’s FT-86 concept is inching closer to production and testing is well under way in Germany. While the car is still camouflaged, we can see the production model will attempt to strike a balance between the original FT-86 concept and the more aggressive show car revealed earlier this year.
The company has been quiet on specifics, but the rear-wheel drive car will be powered by a 2.0-litre boxer engine that develops approximately 200bhp. It will be paired to either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic transmission. Set to be unveiled later this year, the FT-86 is likely to be sold under the Celica model name. Subaru will also sell its own version of the car.
Saab plant restarts after hiatus
Struggling Swedish carmaker Saab restarted production last Friday, in time for a first visit by would-be Chinese partner Pangda and after a seven-week shutdown due to a cash crunch.
Loss-making Saab was pushed to the brink of collapse after running out of cash to pay suppliers in early April, halting production on April 5th and leaving Dutch owner Spyker Cars scrambling to line up new financing.
“Production has restarted. Saab will make 100 cars on Friday and will reach a normal level of production of 218 cars on Monday,” Spyker chief executive Victor Muller said.
Spyker said that as Saab’s assembly line was fired up, the total number of outstanding orders worldwide for its Trollhättan factory amounted to more than 6,500 cars.
Jaguar Land Rover boost
Jaguar Land Rover is celebrating a turnaround in fortunes after the British car maker reported pre-tax profits of more than €1.3 billion. The company, which is owned by Indian firm Tata Motors, said revenues increased 51 per cent to €11.3 billion.
Sales were up 26 per cent to 243,621 cars as its new Jaguar XJ and Land Rover ranges proved popular and demand strengthened, particularly in emerging markets such as China.