SPECIAL 2-DOOR CHRYSLER 300C FOR SALE

“Mr Padre”, or “Captain Video” Tony Gywnn is a legend in one of America’s favourite pastimes of baseball. The retired left-hander was even inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame, showing how special he was. This custom-built Chrysler 300C with 11 263km on the clock was his. And it’s pretty special too.

RUMOUR: MAHINDRA WANTS SAAB OF THIS

Only weeks after disapproving a Chinese-based takeover of SAAB, supplier General Motors and owner Spyker may be entertaining offers from India, and even Turkey. SUV specialist Mahindra & Mahindra is rumoured to be the main interest bearer. It wants at least some parts of SAAB if not the whole thing.

CHINA LOCKS OUT FOREIGN AUTOMAKERS

For the past seven years China has incentivised foreign car companies building plants in the country by giving them certain benefits, such as smaller tariffs on imported equipment. It now appears that the free ride is over, come 30 January 2012. Companies like BMW, General Motors, Honda and Volkswagen have factories in China.

NEW UPGRADED BMW ENGINES FOR MZANSI

A quick glance at the latest information lists from Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo reveals nothing particularly interesting. At least for everyone but BMW. The following models captured our interest because they are new in the market and have been priced, and therefore are available from your nearest dealership.

BRAND NEW CHEVROLET UTILITY DRIVEN

Replacing a legend is always such a tough ask. For anyone. For General Motors, moving from the Opel Corsa Utility to the Chevrolet Corsa Utility could have turned ugly, seeing as how loved this little ute was. However, things stayed exactly the same, in fact in some cases they even improved, illustrating just how ingrained this worker ant has become in the minds of South Africans. Now GM SA is about to test these loyalties once again by launching the brand new Chevrolet Utility.

NEW BMW 1 SERIES 3-DOOR HATCH PATENT PICS LEAK

A batch of photos showing the BMW 1 Series 3-door has surfaced. These photos are actually patent drawings filed in some country by BMW. The car is a derivative of the new 1 Series hatch, launched in Mzansi a couple of months ago. As you can see, it’s just basically two doors less than the 5-door hatch.

2012 CHRYSLER 300 SHOWS IMPROVED QUALITY

Upgrades afforded the brand new Chrysler 300 take it to another plane in the brand’s history and put it that much closer to the Germans. While it might not yet match the Huns, there are rivals who should be worried. In fact, from what we can see, it now looks like a very close competitor to the Lexus GS.

AUDI ASSAULT CONTINUES WITH MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT

When the world’s second-biggest seller of premium cars starts talking about investing billions of Euros in new equipment, workers and technology, you better believe a major shakeup is on its way. Audi has reported it plans on investing €13 billion (R139 billion) over the next four years in expanding plant presence around the world – especially the booming China market – employing new people, researching and developing new technologies.

MERCEDES-BENZ TO UP PRODUCTION IN 2012

Mercedes-Benz wants to produce about 1.4 million cars in 2012. Automotive News Europe claims to have documents supporting this statement, but no one at Daimler (Mercedes-Benz’s parent company) was ready to corroborate this find. Nevertheless if true it would be quite substantial indeed, representing a 13% rise from 2011.

DESIGNER ISMET ÇEVIK IMAGINES A BMW 8 SERIES

Industrial designer Ismet Çevik who is from Turkey, has been working on two interesting projects for the past few months. One of them is a rendering of a BMW 8 Series. Of course BMW has nothing to do with this project, it’s just a dream design from Çevik who, like many I presume, wishes for the return of 8. Some people believe the i8 is the next 8 Series reincarnate.

R.I.P. DODGE CALIBER AND NITRO

Chrysler Group has put the final nails on coffins made especially for two Dodge vehicles. The Caliber and Nitro sold their last examples over the past few days and will be replaced by two new Fiat/ Alfa Romeo-based models during the 2012 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) that’s coming to Detroit in a couple of weeks.

VOLKSWAGEN BANS BLACKBERRY

Just over 1100 workers at Volkswagen Germany have had their beloved Blackerrys blacklisted. Not in the way you might think. Apparently these workers, mostly management, have been complaining about being overworked even to the point they cannot see a clear line between weekday and weekend. According to Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung daily newspaper, a solution has been found.

NEW PEUGEOT 508 TAKES AIM AT GERMANS

If Peugeot wants to play with the big boys, they need to continue making cars like the brand new 508 sedan. Not only will they push the unsuspecting public towards a more accepting attitude towards these fine cars, but they will also challenge the status quo. And you know what that is right?

KIA LAUNCHES ALL-ELECTRIC RAY EV

Kia has started selling the first ever Korean electric vehicle in the form of the Ray EV. The car, which emits no smoke because it doesn’t have a petrol or diesel engine, can go as far as 139km on a single charge of electricity. It’s based on something called Ray CUV, which was launched in South Korea last month.