Price war continues with C-Class
MERCEDES CONTINUED the premium price cuts this week with a 9 per cent drop on the price of its entry- level C-Class models. The C200 CDI now starts at €36,500 while the C180 BlueEfficiency petrol version costs €35,200. Similar price drops have also been introduced across the range.
The move follows price cuts in its E-Class range that now starts at €41,200 for the E200 CDI. That announcement in autumn effectively meant that C-Class sales were being lost to its larger sibling. This latest price cut opens up a price gap again between the two.
Also announcing price cuts was Mitsubishi with several model price drops including a €14,000 drop in the price of a seven-seater Outlander. Previously priced at €39,950, it will now sell for €25,950. There are also price cuts for the Lancer and Colt ranges.The 1.1-litre Colt is €11,950 and the 1.5-litre Lancer saloon is down €3,000 to €18,995.
MG Motor's new family car
THE CHINESE-owned MG Motor has released images of its first mid-range family car since the takeover. It will initially go on sale in the home market in China. Production at parent SAIC Motor’s new Lingang plant in China begins later this month. The car will eventually make it onto European markets with plans for production of the MG6 at the firm’s revamped Birmingham plant before the end of next year.
Speaking at the car’s launch in China Chen Hong, president of SIAC Motor, also confirmed media reports about SAIC’s interest in taking over British light commercial vehicle maker LDV. “The reports are true. We are teaming up with a British partner for the deal,” Chen said, adding LDV would continue to assemble vehicles in Britain using components made in China. SAIC is among a growing number of Chinese automakers hoping to make their name globally.
It became the owner of MG Rover’s 10,000-unit Longbridge plant in Birmingham after a merger with its much smaller peer Nanjing Automobile Group in late 2007.
The facility will serve as a platform for tapping the European market, company executives have said.
India's Tata plans to build Nano hybrids
INDIA’S TATA Group is planning to produce hybrid versions of its Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest car, to join in the environment- friendly trend.
Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, said in an interview with a South Korean paper that low-priced goods would create stronger demand than high-end products in India, and the so-called low-price revolution would continue across the world.
Tata Motors, India’s biggest vehicle maker, saw the car industry’s future lying in economic-friendly models.
The chairman did not elaborate on the possible launch of cheap hybrid versions.
The Nano, at about $2,000 per unit, was first delivered in India in July.
The 71-year-old chairman said he was considering exporting Tata Motors’s light truck, Ace, to South Korea. The Indian conglomerate is also studying investments in automobiles, software and hotel businesses as well as biofuel in South American markets such as Brazil and Argentina.