Ram, large SUVs boost Chrysler's May sales 11 percent

Rising demand for Ram pickups, large SUVs and cars helped Chrysler Group's sales increase 11 percent in May. The company's car sales rose 16 percent while light truck deliveries advanced 9 percent, Chrysler said Monday. It marked the 38th consecutive month that the automaker's U.S.

Mercedes launch new 9G-Tronic gearbox on E350 BlueTec

New Mercedes E350 BlueTec (pictured) gets 9-speed 9G-TRONIC auto It’s not exactly a million years ago that automatic gearboxes offered poorer performance and economy than manual gearboxes, and came as standard with just three gears. But now, automatic gearboxes are so good they can  change quicker than any driver and, with the proliferation of eight-speed auto ‘boxes, offer improved economy and performance too. The next logical step is even more ratios in an auto ‘box, and Land Rover has already revealed they’ll be fitting the Evoque with a 9-speed ZF ‘box from 2014, and the new Jeep Grand Cherokee gets a nine-speed auto ‘box too.

Nissan rekindles Almera with new Golf rival

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 08 April 2010 09:26 Nissan plans to re-enter some of the heartland markets it departed with the loss of the Almera and Primera, CAR can reveal. It's a U-turn from a strategy that saw Nissan desert mainstream models in favour of crossovers and niche cars such as the Qashqai and Note. In an interview at the signing of the Daimler-Renault-Nissan cooperation yesterday, the Japanese firm's global product chief told CAR a new Golf rival to replace the unloved Almera was underway.'There's a live, upstream project,' Andy Palmer confirmed.