According to a report in the Financial Times, BMW has been talking seriously with Renault about sharing a small car platform for future Mini models.
BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer wouldn't offer up any comments on the matter at a shareholder's meeting yesterday, but the FT's report says that industry insiders claim that talks are well under way already.
In addition to sharing a platform for future Mini products, BMW and Renault are also discussing the shared use of smaller parts modules that could be used on BMW's core model lineup.
FT.com: BMW Considers Sharing Mini Platform
Categories: Auto Industry,Hatchbacks,MINI,Peugeot
Considering how many American autoworkers are losing their jobs this year, the reaction here has been comparatively mild. To our knowledge, no one has threatened to blow up a plant. But that's exactly what's going down in France right now.
All 316 workers at the partsmaker New Fabris will be losing their jobs after the factory closed June 16. New Fabris was a parts supplier to Renault and PSA (the Citroen-Peugeot alliance), and the workers are demanding 30,000 euros (almost $43,000) each in compensation from the automakers.
They've set a deadline of July 31, and workers are taking turns guarding cannisters of acetylene and butane once used to power tractors at the plant.
Auto Observer: French Auto Workers Threaten To Blow Up Factory
Associated Press
Categories: Citroen,Peugeot,Renault
Peugeot beat Audi to pole position for the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Saturday, June 13. Both teams had spent much of the qualifying sessions working on race setups, but with ten minutes to go in the second session, Stephane Sarrazin took his no. 8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP onto the circuit with orders to grab pole position away from Allan McNish in the no. 1 Audi R15 TDI.
Sarrazin threaded his way through slower cars on the 8.5-mile track to record a lap in 3:22.888, just 0.8 seconds quicker than McNish, for an average speed of 149.8 mph. This is the third consecutive pole at Le Mans for the Peugeot, while Audi has won the race overall eight of the last nine years. Both the diesel-powered sports cars are slightly slower around the track this year because of new regulations to make the gasoline-powered cars more competitive. The no. 7 Lola Aston-Martin was the quickest of these with a lap of 3:27.704.
Caspar Elgaard drove a Porsche Spyder RS to the pole in the LMP2 class in 3:37.720. The no. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C.6R of Jan Magnussen took the pole in the LM GT1 category with a best lap of 3.54.230, while the Porsche GT3 RSR of Flying Lizard Racing's Jorg Bergmeister took the pole for the GT2 category with a 4:03.202.
Audi's narrow victory over Peugeot in last year's race has revived interest in the endurance contest after a decade of dominance by Audi (and Bentley, its subsidiary), and enthusiasm has also been aroused by access through the Internet. Audi offers coverage through its own site (http://www.audir15tdi.com/) as well as sites on Facebook (fb.audir15tdi.com), Twitter (tw.audir15tdi.com), and YouTube (yt.audir15tdi).
If you've not swallowing the Audi Kool-aid, Peugeot Sport offers its own outlet (lemans.peugeot-sport.com/en) as does Corvette Racing (http://www.corvetteracing.com/). The official Le Mans site (http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/pages/accueil_gb.html) is useful as well.
Continue reading 24 Hours of Le Mans: Peugeot vs. Audi.
Categories: Audi,Chevrolet,Motorsports,Peugeot,Porsche
A race is kind of like a physics test, a high-speed evaluation of automotive machinery. But the best thing about sports car racing is, there isn't just one right answer.
The 12 Hours of Sebring provide a worthwhile reminder, as a surprising number of different exam booklets were submitted for the 57th running of the annual, twelve-hour endurance race in Florida. This road-racing event is part of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), one of the few racing championships that is about cars, not just money. In comparison, Formula 1 and NASCAR look like one-make spec-car series, where the only way to tell the cars apart is by color and sponsorship decals.
The Audi R15 TDI earned the gold medal in this particular physics test by narrowly winning the race by just 22.279 seconds over the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with which it had rubbed fenders for virtually the entire 12 hours. But the Acura ARX-02a, BMW M3 GT2, and Lola B09/86-Mazda MZR-R also came up with some interesting answers.
Continue reading The 12 Hours of Sebring: The Night and Day Physics Test.
Categories: Acura,Audi,BMW,Car Tech,Diesels,Mazda,Motorsports,Peugeot,Sports Cars
More evidence of the world-wide popularity of the Korean auto giant Hyundai-Kia, as they passed Honda in global sales in 2007. Hyundai-Kia is now ranked fifth in terms, which is previously the rank Honda held.
The Korean automaker was ranked 11th place in 1999, but moved up to 5th place in 2007 by out-selling rivals such as Honda, Nissan, PSA / Peugeot, Chrysler and Fiat.
Now Hyundai-Kia's global sales for 2007 were 3,961,629, whereas Honda sold 3,831,000 vehicles. Hyundai-Kia has shot up six places in just eight years, according to Automotive News' 2008 Global Data Book.
Full story here.
Categories: Auto Industry,Chrysler,Fiat,Honda,Hyundai,Kia,Nissan,Peugeot,Trends
In qualifying for the 76th running of the 24-Hours of LeMans this weekend, Peugeot obliterates the lap record with their 908 diesel racer. Stephane Sarrazin, in the No.8 car, lapped 7.8 seconds quicker than last year's pole time with a best of 3:18.513. Teammate Franck Montagny put the No.9 car just one tenth of a second behind, and Nicolas Minassian completed a lockout of the top three.
Full story
here
and
here
...
Categories: Motorsports,Peugeot
Well, I have to admit that this is news to me: A 1938 Peugeot 402 with a folding hardtop. This must be the earliest example of this technology, that is currently all the rage, that I'm aware of. I had always thought that the 1957 Ford Skyliner was the first, but this clearly shows that wasn't the case.
Full story here
...
Continue reading 1938 Peugeot 402 folding hardtop.
Categories: Classic Cars,Ford,Peugeot
Look familiar? Both the Peugeot 4007 and Citroen C Crosser are essentially the Mitsubishi Outlander. Each version has a slightly different nose but inside it looks just like the Mitsu, chevron or lion logo on the steering wheel notwithstanding.
My favorite part is how garish and un-European the large subwoofer and Rockford Fosgate logo look when you open the rear tailgate...
Continue reading 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show: Mitsu Outlander Twin Clones.
Categories: Citroen,Frankfurt Auto Show,Mitsubishi,Peugeot
Here's another French concept car that had us scratching our heads. The Peugeot 308 RC Z is an obvious Audi TT knockoff, but there's some Mitsubishi Eclipse in there along with bits and pieces of Nissan 350Z. If someone told us they were designing a car that mixed that many design elements, we would not be looking forward to the results.
Remarkably enough, this Peugeot looks quite striking, if not a little odd from the back...
Continue reading 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show: Peugeot 308 RC Z.
Categories: Coupes,Frankfurt Auto Show,Peugeot
I'll admit it, I have odd taste in cars. I've even been accused of not liking cars at all because I'd rather spend the day in a Lexus rather than a WRX STI.
I really love auto shows like Frankfurt because there's so much stuff that we never get to see or drive in the U.S. Peugeot's 407 Coupe is a car I'd love to take home...
Continue reading 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show: Citroen and Peugeot.
Categories: Citroen,Frankfurt Auto Show,Peugeot
While not exactly all-new (in fact it's been on sale since 2004), the tiny 2-door Peugeot 1007 is interesting in that it offers minivan-like sliding front doors.
What a great idea! Where is written that sliding doors have to occur only on minivans?
Check it out on the Peugeot International web site
here
. More discussion can be found
here
(if you scroll down a bit) on
Karl on Cars
...
Categories: Peugeot
Okay, I gotta admit I'm not a big fan of Peugeot styling. That goes for all their vehicles. They're French. They're interesting, for sure...
Continue reading Frankfurt Auto Show: Peugeot 308 RC Z 2+2 concept.
Categories: All Auto Shows,Audi,Coupes,Frankfurt Auto Show,Peugeot
The 2007 editiion of the 24 hours of LeMans is history. The anticipated epic battle between Audi and Peugeot came to pass, but the story didn't exactly unfold the way anyone expected.
Because a scheduled business trip coincided with the race weekend, I had the chance to see the race first hand. Of course I simply had to attempt to stay up for the entire event. Spending as much time as possible wandering the infield and taking in as much I could was another goal.
*Spoilers and impressions follow*
Continue reading 2007 24 Hours of LeMans Impressions.
Categories: Audi,Motorsports,Peugeot
Will this year's running of LeMans be again won by a diesel? Don't know, but the top five qualifying racers on the grid are diesel-powered.
The starting grid is as follows:
1. Lamy/Sarrazin/Bourdais (No...
Continue reading 2007 LeMans to be another diesel lovefest?.
Categories: Audi,Motorsports,Peugeot
Last fall Peugeot showed the beautifully butch 908 RC concept in Paris. It got a lot of attention there. And when we saw the car again in Geneva today, it still looked slick.
The RC was sort of a way for Peugeot to play around with styling, but the real purpose of this rear-engine, tubular-framed sedan was to show off the company's prized 5.5-liter turbodiesel V12 -- in an elegant manner.
Rated for 700 hp and 885 lb-ft of torque, this engine was always destined for the Le Mans series, and Peugeot had the racecar, known as the 908 HDi FAP, on display at the Palexpo.
Continue reading 2007 Geneva Auto Show: From 908 RC to Le Mans.
Categories: Diesels,Geneva Motor Show,Motorsports,Peugeot