The Sesto Elemento concept was conceived as a design study, technology and previewing the styling we might expect to see on the next generation of Lamborghini supercars.A few months back, shortly after it was revealed at the Paris Motor Show, reports began to become apparent suggesting that the Italian automaker could put it into production, however limited.
Now the car is listed for sale by an exotic car dealership in Germany. Although the reported original listing on the mobile.de online marketplace is no longer there to be found, it is still up on Auto Salon Singen's website with an approximately €2 million ($2.63M USD) list price – €1.9m before tax, €2.3m after.
Autoweek reports that Mitsubishi will wade into plug-in electric waters in 2013. The automaker's head of electric vehicles, Yoshikazu Nakamura, said the vehicle will be an SUV similar to the 2009 Px-MiEV Concept and that the production version is already nearing the final stages of development. The concept got its pep from a tiny 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine working in coordination with two electric motors and a battery pack. Mitsubishi pegged the Px-MiEV as being able to travel for up to 30 miles one pure electric go-go, so there must be some pretty hefty battery technology onboard as well.
Whether or not the production SUV will use a similar drivetrain remains to be seen. We can say with some certainty that Mitsubishi is likely to simplify the vehicle's name considerably. The automarker has already scrapped the i-MiEV moniker for the somewhat more palatable name of "i powered by MiEV" in the States. We can't wait to explain that one to the fine people of the DMV.
Here it is, the first full month of sales after the government's popular Cash for Clunkers has ended. The expected result – that auto sales would plummet once the feds stopped handing out free money in exchange for clunkers – didn't exactly happen. Nine brands posted positive sales in September versus the same period in 2008 with another three posting single-digit losses.
Of course, there were automakers that dropped right back into the cellar, including General Motors (-44.98 percent) and Chrysler LLC (-42.06 percent). General Motors, however, is in the process of shrinking, shedding brands and dealers left and right, so its sub-par performance will be par for the course for a while. Chrysler LLC, however, apparently just can't compete with its dated products.
The Koreans have once again remained remarkably popular, with Hyundai sales up an incredible 27.24 percent and Kia enjoying a 24.39-percent rise. Subaru, which can usually be found on the sales podium along with the Koreans, fell back a bit but still managed a 0.70 percent increase. Ford, meanwhile, continues to out play its cross town rivals and delivered a decent -5.08 percent drop for the entire company and -4.06 percent fall for the Ford brand itself. The Blue Oval's September sales performance even bests its competition from Japan with Toyota (-12.65 percent), Honda (-20.07 percent) and Nissan (-7.0 percent) all down more.
Check out how the rest of the industry performed in the chart below.
NOTE: Audi not yet reported.
Brands and companies are both displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 25 selling days in September 2009 and 24 selling days in September 2008, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in the average daily sales rate for each brand/company.
Is the tide turning? Do all those green boxes below indicate that the sweeping current of auto sales ennui has subsided? That's a tough question to answer considering that the government's Cash for Clunkers rebate program began late last month. Normally an incentive program wouldn't have that much effect on monthly auto sales with only a week to work, but C4C was wildly more popular than anyone expected.
While Subaru posted a remarkable 34% sales gain last month versus July 2008, the big news, of course, is Ford's return to green. Ford Motor Company was the only multi-brand automaker to report a sales increase last month (2.0%), thanks to four of its five brands posting positive numbers (only Lincoln was down, -24%). The Korean brands also continued their strong performance in 2009, with Hyundai up 12% and Kia right behind at 5%. Sure, Volvo deserves mention for being up 26%, but it's a lot easier to move the needle when your brand is selling less than 10,000 units/month. Chrysler Group LLC also gets a kudos for clawing its way into the single-digit loss range with a 9% dip on good showings from Jeep and Dodge. General Motors, however, lagged behind the upward trend of its cross-town competitors with a smaller improvement that left it down 19% versus the same month last year.
So has the tide turned? This is the first month in a LONG time that more than two or three brands have earned green cells in our chart below, so perhaps it is a signal that Cash for Clunkers is working and/or shoppers are slowly returning to showrooms.
Check out the rest of the numbers below. Brands and Companies are both displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 26 selling days in June 2009 and 26 selling days in June 2008, so the change in average daily sales equals the change in monthly volume.
