General Motors Corp. said Wednesday it sold 9,369,524 vehicles worldwide last year, up 3 percent from 2006 and making the global sales race with Toyota Motor Corp. too close to call.

Earlier this month, Toyota reported global sales of 9.37 million vehicles, but the Japanese automaker did not release a number down to the last vehicle sold.

“Great products and value drive a volatile market and put the consumer in the driver’s seat,” said Toyota Motor Sales President Jim Lentz. “Toyota, Lexus and Scion deliver on both.”

Detroit-based GM has held the title of world’s largest automaker for 76 years, but Toyota’s strong U.S. growth and GM’s U.S. sales decline helped Toyota move closer to the top spot in recent years.

“We set a record in China with more than a million vehicles sold. We nearly doubled our sales in Russia to an all-time record of more than 258,000 vehicles delivered. And we set a record in Brazil with nearly a half-million vehicles sold,” said John Middlebrook, GM vice president for Global Sales, Service and Marketing Operations. “This is the kind of emerging market growth that fuels our global performance. Customers are responding to our fuel-efficient and dynamically-designed product lineup around the world.”

The 2007 tally was the second-best global sales total in the GM’s 100-year history and marked the third consecutive and fourth time ever that GM sold more than 9 million vehicles in a calendar year.

North American Car, Truck Of Year Awards Given

The 2008 Chevrolet Malibu and 2008 Mazda CX-9 were voted as the 2008 North American Car and Truck of the Year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The winners were chosen by 45 automotive journalists who represent newspapers, magazines, television, radio and Internet outlets in the United State and Canada.

“This award is the result of our intensive efforts to put a renewed emphasis on design, execution and craftsmanship into our cars and trucks,” said Bob Lutz, GM vice chairman. “We’re honored that both automotive journalists and consumers are recognizing our efforts.”

The Malibu picked up 190 votes, edging out the Cadillac CTS (165 votes) and the Honda Accord’s 95 votes to win top car honors.

The CX-9 had 201 votes, outdistancing the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid’s 140 vortes and the Buick Enclave, with 108 votes.

“This truly is an honor,” said Jim O’Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda North American Operations, upon receiving the award. “Since we brought CX-9 to market, its been a hit with media, customers and dealers alike. Today’s award is proof that says we just might be on to something special.”

The awards recognize the most outstanding new vehicles of the year based on innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value.

“Our goal with the 2008 Malibu was to give customers a stylish, uncompromising package that can challenge even the most formidable competitors in the midsize segment,” said Ed Peper, Chevrolet general manager. “Customers are getting that message, because the new Malibus are selling faster than we can put them on dealers’ lots.”

The jurors narrowed the field down to 15 cars and 13 trucks, which were voted on in December. The three finalists in each category were voted on last month.

Last year’s top car was the Saturn Aura, and the truck of the year was the Chevrolet Silverado. The Malibu, which is made by General Motors, is built on the same platfrom as the Aura.

Domestic automakers have won the Car of the Year honors eight times, Japanese automakers three and European automakers four times.

Japanese automakers have won truck of the year four times, compared to nine times for American automakers and twice for European automakers. Hybrids have also won three times.

A new survey said the price of gas has dropped nearly a dime and dipped below the $3 mark over the last two weeks.

Oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said the average price of a gallon of regular was $2.98.

The cheapest place to fill up, according to the survey, was Tulsa, Okla., where a gallon cost $2.70 on average.

The most expensive gas was in Honolulu, where prices average $3.35 a gallon.

Used Cars for sale at Volcars.com

Ford Motor Co. said it will offer buyout and early retirement packages to 54,000 U.S. hourly workers in an effort to cut more jobs and replace workers with those making a lower wage.

The new round of buyouts was negotiated with the United Auto Workers union, CEO Alan Mulally said Thursday. The first round will be offered immediately to workers who had been employed at already closed plants in Atlanta, St. Louis, Edison, N.J., and Norfolk, Va.

Ford reported Thursday that it is narrowing its losses in the fourth quarter and for all of last year, but the outlook for sales in the U.S. remains grim.

Ford lost $2.8 billion, or $1.30 per share, in the fourth quarter, narrower than a $5.6 loss in 2006. The full-year loss of $2.7 billion, or $1.35 per share, was also significantly better than in the previous year.

Excluding special items, Ford lost 20 cents per share for the quarter and 19 cents per share for the year, in line with Wall Street’s expectations.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had predicted a loss of 19 cents per share for the quarter and 17 cents per share for the year.

So long, SMG. The M3 droptop will get BMW’s long-rumored, seven-speed double-clutch transmission—as will the M3 coupe and sedan.Like any good discount shopper, we appreciate the value of a good two-for-one deal, and BMW just gave us a whopper of a blue-light special. Besides the skinny on the BMW M3 droptop, the Bavarians have also graced us with a bevy of details on their new transmission, the long-rumored dual-clutch automated manual.Double the Clutches, Half the Broken VertebraeSince the M3 convertible has been on our radar for some time, let’s first dive into the transmission, which BMW calls M Double-Clutch Transmission (M DCT). In addition to placing the fancy new box in the M3 convertible, BMW confirms that it will simultaneously debut in the M3 coupe and sedan, too. Possessed of seven forward speeds—equal to the number found in the herky-jerky single-clutch SMG currently used throughout the M portfolio—the M DCT is similar to Volkswagen’s DSG gearbox in that it operates with two clutches on separate output shafts in order to facilitate lightning-fast shifts with no interruption in power delivery. One clutch handles even gears; the other, odd.The new transmission is engineered to handle up to 9000 rpm, so the M3 V-8’s 8400-rpm limit won’t present a problem. The driver can select from 11 shift programs—five for automatic mode, and six for manual mode. When in automatic mode, the transmission acts like a conventional auto, shifting to the most appropriate gear for the situation. In manual mode, however, the box shifts sequentially, moving up and down through the gears in reaction to inputs from either the gearshift or steering-wheel-mounted paddles.Manual mode also features a launch control program, which will allow the M3 coupe, sedan, and convertible to hit 62 mph from a stop in a claimed 4.6, 4.7, and 5.1 seconds, respectively, 0.2-second quicker in each case than their manual counterparts. But, given that a manual-transmission M3 coupe we tested hit 60 in 4.3 and that dual-clutch transmissions shift faster than conventional sticks, we’re going to say those estimates will prove more than a little pessimistic.BMW claims this new gearbox weighs about 45 pounds more than the manual, but improves the M3’s fuel economy by 3–5 percent on European tests.This all sounds great, but the thing we’re most looking forward to is being able to drive an M car without wearing a HANS device. The old SMG box—still found in the M5 and M6, although we expect the M DCT to supplant the SMG in those cars soon enough—features notoriously rough shifts, snapping necks even when placed in its least-aggressive setting.M3 Loses Its Roof, Breaks the ScalesThe third body style of the latest M3, the convertible completes the lineup, unless BMW sees fit to offer an M3 wagon—a variant it has never done but one we probably wouldn’t get Stateside, anyway. The recipe is mostly the same: a high-revving, tech-heavy 414-hp, 4.0-liter V-8; a whole mess of aggressive aero bits tacked onto the body; and a standard six-speed manual transmission.The new M DCT box, of course, will be optional, and the requisite brake upgrades and optional adjustable shocks are there, too. MDrive—the method by which an M3 owner selects their favorite transmission, steering, engine map, stability control, and suspension settings—is available at an additional cost.As mentioned, BMW predicts 0-to-62-mph runs of 5.1 seconds with the M DCT transmission, and they claim cars with standard manuals should perform the task in 5.3. We’ve weighed an M3 coupe at 3571 pounds, which is heavy enough, but the droptop will pack on an additional 400 or so pounds, likely topping 4000 pounds when equipped with the M DCT.Accounting for most of the extra weight is the three-piece retractable steel hardtop and its attendant mechanism. It opens and closes in 22 seconds and can be actuated via the car’s remote. Like the regular 3-series convertible on which the M3 ’vert is based, the automatic A/C system features a top-down mode that sets itself according to some sort of wizard hoodoo involving outside temperature and the amount of sunshine.We love top-down driving, but the M3 convertible has always been somewhat of a poser-mobile. It’s traditionally been way heavier, way flexier, way slower, and way more expensive; we don’t expect the latest iteration to drastically improve on any of those fronts when it arrives in the U.S. this May. Oh, well—at least that sweet V-8’s bellow will come through loud and clear with the top dropped.

Classic cars were the true winners in a series of automobile auctions that took place in Arizona Friday and Saturday.

RM Auctions Managing Director Ian Kelleher said the sale of a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT long-wheelbase California Spider for $3.3 million dominated the trio of auctions where many cars sold for more than $1 million, The Arizona Republic reported.

“The classics are stronger than ever,” Kelleher said.

The Ferrari commanded the top price among all the vehicles sold at the auctions and newcomer Gooding & Co. took home the bragging rights for the profitable sale.

The company also parted with a 1932 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport Spider for more than $1.5 million and a 1963 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Coupe for more than $1.3 million.

“We were thrilled by the exceptional turnout and results,” the auction site’s president, David Gooding, said.

The Republic said classic cars also were on the block at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event, where a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette concept car, called the Rondine, sold for $1.6 million.

AUTOMOTIVE giant General Motors Corp (GM) will launch its new Chevrolet Aveo Notchback and improved Chevrolet Optra by year-end to capitalise on the good demand for compact cars in the country. 

General Motors South-East Asia operations president Stephen Carlisle said the local small and compact car segment offered promising growth potential for GM. 

“It is a high volume segment and the success of the Myvi is a good reflection of that market,” Carlisle told reporters at a media conference in Chiangmai last week. “The small and compact car segment in Malaysia also provides the best opportunity for non-national carmakers to grow,” he added. 

The Chevrolet cars would be distributed through Hicom-Chevrolet Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between GM unit General Motors Asia Pacific LLC and DRB-Hicom Bhd, which holds a 49% stake. Hicom-Chevrolet Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Yukontorn Wisadkosin said the success and popularity of the previous models of Aveo and Optra was one reason to re-launch the cars. 

“We already have these products which were popular and well received when we first launched them in Malaysia,” Wisadkosin said. 

She added that with the Chevrolet models being assembled in Thailand, GM could further take advantage of the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA), which under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff would see a reduction in import duties. 

On GM’s sales target for the models, Wisadkosin said: “Of course, we would like to sell as many models as possible, but our ultimate goal is to sell 4,000 to 5,000 units a year.” 

GM’s latest product in Malaysia, the 7-seater Chevrolet Captiva SUV, has already had about 50 gistered purchasers and over 100 bookings since its launch in November last year. 

Wisadkosin also said that having the proper distribution channels would be the key for GM to achieve its annual sales target. 

“We need to have the right distribution network as well (to achieve our targets). We need to ensure that our dealers are up and ready,” she said, adding that GM was targeting to have 15 dealers nationwide by year-end.  

GM currently has four dealerships in Malaysia. Wisadkosin said it planned to have 20 to 25 dealers locally by 2009. 

Apart from the small and compact car range, GM is looking to establish its presence in a different segment as well. 

“It is inevitable for us to have a luxury brand in a market like Malaysia. It is just a matter of when the circumstances are right,” Carlisle said. 

Regardless of segment, Carlisle said, GM would endeavour to add value to its products with a prime emphasis on technology. 

“One of the confidence factors that people have in a brand is technology. If you can bring technology to the market, it is an indication that you are very capable and going to be around (for a long time),” he said. 

Three cars sold for more than a million dollars each at the premier US car auctions, with a one-of-a-kind 1963 Chevrolet Corvette from Italy’s Pininfarina pulling in 1.6 million dollars, the auctioneer said Sunday.The week-long annual Barrett-Jackson sale of collector cars in Scottsdale, Arizona also saw buyers put out one million dollars for a brand new 2009 Corvette ZR-1 — the first to hit the market — before the 10-12 percent commission charged by the auctioneer.

And another one million dollars was bid for one of the sale’s oldest cars, a 1928 Duesenberg dual cowl Phaeton, a favorite of Hollywood stars of the time.

Legendary race car builder Carroll Shelby, 85, was on hand at the sale to see his own personal 1969 GT500 Ford Mustang bring in 675,000 dollars, three times the estimate.

A second GT500 once owned by Shelby’s son earned 330,000 dollars — a handsome gain for the seller who paid 24,000 for it in 1991.

They were among some 1,100 collectible cars up for sale this year at Barrett-Jackson’s 37-year-old sale. The week-long auction closed Sunday.

Highlights also included the 1966 Ford Thunderbird used in the iconic film “Thelma and Louise,” which the two stars drive over a cliff into the Grand Canyon in the film’s last frames.

That earned 65,000 dollars, 50 percent above the estimate, but far behind another well known Hollywood car, the 1969 Dodge Charger “General Lee” from “Dukes of Hazzard,” which sold for 450,000 dollars.

Sales generally appeared weaker this year than last, though final figures won’t be known until Monday. In 2007, 16 cars topped the half-million dollar mark, while this year only 11 reached that figure.

Industry figures had earlier described the market as soft in the face of a sharp US economic slowdown, especially for muscle cars popular with US collectors, but had expressed hopes that buyers from abroad, especially Russians and Middle Easterners, would drive the action.

“The Russians are becoming real players. A lot of bling, they love Mercedes and Corvettes,” said Mark Hyman of Hyman Ltd. Classic Cars.

“The market for the quality, the best cars, is strong,” said Tom duPont, who publishes the duPont Registry, which specializes in fine cars.

“There’s a limited number of supplies, a fairly significant number of bidders or buyers, and on top of that you have the impact of the imbalance of the US currency, which is making these cars very attractive to European and Middle Eastern buyers.

Three cars were set on fire outside a home early Wednesday morning and Hickory police are searching for the person who did it.According to Libby Grigg, spokesperson for the Hickory Police Department, Peter Sanders heard banging on the door of his home on Seventeenth Street, SW, at about 2:30 a.m.

Sanders looked out the front door, but didn’t see anything, she said, so he looked out the windows.

Grigg said Sanders saw one of the vehicles in his driveway, a Saturn, on fire.

Sanders went to get something to extinguish the fire, and by the time he went outside to the vehicles, two other cars in the driveway, a Toyota Camry and a Honda Civic, also  were on fire.

The fires caused a total of $4,000 in damage to the vehicles, and Hickory police are calling it arson, Grigg said.

Havana is a potent mixture of the old and the new. Modern office buildings punctuate the skyline alongside deteriorating Eastern European residential towers.Ancient vehicles, some with more rust than paint, share the road with newer, shinier models, while horse-drawn carts mingle with motorcycles. Flea markets display Cuba holiday mementos - wooden models of cars built in the 1950s, which are still seen on Cuban streets. “Yank tank,” “máquina” “cacharro” ans “bartavia” are all words used to describe the American classic cars in Cuba. It is the only place where history and circumstance have combined to enable a whole society to preserve these amazing vehicles and turn them into a national treasure.

About 150,000 classic cars existed at the time of the 1959 Cuban Revolution when the U.S. imposed a trade embargo on Cuba. After this, international trade was made very difficult, so the cars that were present at the time have been nurtured and cared for ever since.

Of the 60,000 classic cars in Cuba, about half are from the 50s, another 25 percent from the 40s and a similar number from the 30s. Brands include Chevrolet, Ford, Buick, Plymouth, Chrysler, Dodge, Willy’s, Oldsmobile and De Soto – vintage models of all of these can be seen on Cuba’s roads today.

 Care & Attention

While classic cars are still used for daily transportation , often as taxis, they have also become cherished heirlooms handed down from generation to generation within families, in some cases going all the way back to the 30s.

Most owners of classic cars spend hours applying waxes and polishes and basking in the praise and admiration of passers-by. Some even reminisce about a time when their cars were new, and life itself seemed brighter and as inviting as an open highway.

To own one of these vintages defines who you are, how you spend your time and how you wish to be known, and Cubans will go to incredible lengths to keep their classic cars running. 1950’s bumpers and  tailpipes are recreated and myriad other parts are adapted. Steering wheels carved from wood, hub cabs made from aluminum cans and plastic sheets for windows are common. While such shortcuts would be frowned upon in the United States, classic car lovers admire the Cubans’ ingenuity and their ability to keep the cars running.

 

The Future for Classic Cars in Cuba

Each day these cars get closer to extinction. They are now outnumbered by boxy Russian Ladas, Volga sedans and more recent Eastern European and Japanese imports. But the biggest threats to Cuba’s classic cars are the scarcity of parts and lack of original factory literature to maintain them with uniform standards.

Hopefully they will still be preserved for years to come, even if they become increasingly temperamental with all the alterations they go through. If you’re thinking of hiring a classic car on your Cuba holiday make sure to make a ceremonial splash of rum on the car’s floorboard for good luck!