More than 250,000 Mercedes-Benz B Class units have already been sold since the model’s market launch in June 2005.

“The innovative B-Class product concept impresses our customers with its fascinating design and unique blend of spaciousness and high degree of utility. The strong demand for the Sports Tourer is yet another confirmation of our role as the market leader in the premium compact car segment,” said Dr. Klaus Maier, Executive Vice President Mercedes Car Group, responsible for Sales and Marketing.

The most important market for the B-Class is Germany, which accounts for about one third of the model’s sales worldwide, followed by Italy, France, Japan and Spain. The vehicle is produced in three-shift operations at the Rastatt plant. The majority of B-Class customers chose one of the diesel models: one third has purchased the B 180 CDI, and 20 percent have selected the B 200 CDI.

Australian sales of the popular compact sports tourer in 2007 have grown an impressive 35 percent over the same January – April period in 2006, with the B200 a big customer favourite.

In March of this year, the Öko-Trend environmental institute awarded its Car Environmental Certificate to the B-Class. The Sports Tourer was recognized by the institute in particular for its impressive versatility, spaciousness as well as convincing environmental credentials. The independent institute determined that in addition to its exemplary fuel efficiency and low noise and emissions, the B-Class also stands out with its environmentally friendly production processes, materials and logistics. The Öko-Trend institute had especially high praise for the B 200 CDI’s engine, with an average fuel consumption of less than six litres per 100 kilometres.

In May of this year, the B-Class also was named “Company vehicle of the year 2007” in the “Vans” category in Germany. This honour is awarded to vehicles in nine categories, which are evaluated by fleet managers from medium-size and large companies. The fleet experts conduct more than 1,500 test drives to rank the vehicles on the basis of their handling properties, costs, comfort, functionality and design.

The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria’s (RACV) annual cost of ownership survey has again found that the Honda CR-V is the cheapest compact SUV to own and run.

The RACV’s 2007 Vehicle Operating Costs survey found the CR-V costs an owner $203.86 a week, beating the X-Trail ($207.36), Forester ($208.52) and RAV-4 ($212.69).

Honda Australia Senior Director Lindsay Smalley said Honda had worked very hard to provide value for money on all vehicles across its range.

“The CR-V boasts exceptional value for money and it’s great to see it to come out on top in this survey for the second year running.”
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Suzuki’s popular small passenger car, the Liana, now offers even more value for money with the introduction of a special discounted price.

The Suzuki Liana will be priced from $17,888 plus on road costs for a limited time in order to clear stock for the arrival of significant new models later this year.

Equipped with an impressive line up of extra features and equipment, the Suzuki Liana’s new competitive price point makes it one of the best value for money vehicles currently available in the small passenger car market.
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“Concept to reality” has become a term that epitomises the Chrysler Group design philosophy, and many observers are hoping that it will apply to the company’s concept vehicles for 2007.

Chrysler Group’s latest concept vehicles clearly demonstrate a design tradition that has become a key strength of the company: an ability to design the coolest-of-cool concepts, which are as relevant as they are innovative.

This approach started with the Frankfurt Motor Show reveal of the Lamborghini-engined, cab forward-styled, four-door Chrysler Portofino concept sedan in 1987. Almost 20 years and more than 100 concepts later, this continuous development has helped Chrysler Group reinvent and maintain its reputation as a car company driven by design and engineering.
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Vodafone McLaren Mercedes continued their domination of the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix weekend when Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton claimed the team’s second one-two finish this season.

Fernando crossed the line first with Lewis four seconds behind. Both drivers had lapped the entire field apart from Felipe Massa in third place who was 69 seconds behind Fernando. Both drivers were on a two stop strategy with Fernando coming in on laps 26 (7.5 seconds) and 51 (7.9 seconds) whilst Lewis pitted on laps 29 (8.9 seconds) and 53 (5 seconds). Fernando is leading the World Championship with Lewis second – both on 38 points. The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team extended their lead in the Constructors Championship and now has 76 points.
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Kia’s best seller is about to get bigger and better. Only millimetres bigger but miles better in every way, the face-lifted Picanto is set for a world debut at the Barcelona show on June 7.

Kia’s design teams have updated Picanto to exude glamour while still maintaining its cheeky charm. A rounder nose and deeper rear bumper make the new model 40mm longer than its predecessor. Further changes in Picanto’s looks are a result of all-new panels on the bonnet, front wings and front and rear bumpers. This new ‘rounded’ theme is also reflected in the light clusters and newly designed grille which will be gradually introduced across the Kia range. Fresh new colours and a restyled rounded exterior create a more intimate feel which continues on the interior as well.
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Volkswagen is set to replace the existing Golf Sport and GT trim levels with a single all-new model – the Golf GT Sport.

The Golf GT Sport debuts a purposeful new look as well as additional equipment over the models it replaces to deliver greater value. An all-new darkened grille section is intersected by a set of horizontal fins to forge a visual link with the other sporting models in the range – the potent GTI and R32 variants. Inset into the grille is a new ‘GT Sport’ badge. Framing the new nose are a pair of darkened headlights which visually separate the lenses into four, individual units. They sit above a set of fog lights mounted in the front air dams.

In profile the new GT Sport is distinguished by subtle tints to the rear windows and a set of 17-inch multi-spoke ‘ClassiXs’ alloy wheels fitted with 225/45 R17 tyres.
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Fresh from celebrating 30 years of training drivers around the world, BMW Driver Training is gearing up for a busy second half of the year, in Australia.

Almost 50 driver training courses, aimed at a variety of skill levels, will be offered until the end of 2007.

“The kind of Driver Training offered by BMW makes an important contribution to greater safety on the road,” said BMW Group Australia Driver Training Manager Matt Schmidt.

“Abut 95 per cent of all accidents are attributable to the human factor – that is wrong behaviour at the wheel. Whether it is driving too fast or simply misjudging a dangerous situation.
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Mazda’s all-new, seven seat crossover SUV, the CX-9, has made its local debut, undergoing an engineering evaluation drive in Victoria earlier this month.

Mazda Motor Corporation sent a prototype right-hand-drive engineering mule and a team of engineers to evaluate the V6-powered CX-9 under Australian conditions.

The all-wheel-drive CX-9 was driven on a mix of city and country roads, including tram tracks and gravel.

Australia will be the first market to receive the RHD CX-9. It goes on sale from January 2008.
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After a rare weekend off Marcos Ambrose will jump back into action in the Carquest Auto Parts 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina this weekend.

Ambrose tested the #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion at the 1.5-mile speedway last week as a part of the final NASCAR Busch Series open test of the season.

Ambrose posted top 10 times at the test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, which is situated in Charlotte, the base of much of the NASCAR industry including Wood Brothers/JTG Racing as well as the base for Ambrose, his wife Sonja and young daughter Tabitha.
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Subaru Australia’s ongoing motor sport links have been underlined by its commitment to the newly formed Australian Institute for Motor Sport Safety (AIMSS).

Subaru becomes one of the first automotive industry members of AIMSS, which was recently founded by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), to promote improvements in the safety of motor sport and the relationship with road safety in Australia.

Subaru has many years of domestic and worldwide rallying success and has recently explored a variety of tarmac events in Australia.
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POWER, PRESTIGE and PERFORMANCE are the three key words to sum up this weekend’s third round of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships, to be held at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich.

The Shannons Nationals have so far brought a variety of national level Motorsport entertainment to Oran Park in Sydney and Phillip Island in Victoria and the series now heads to Queensland for the only time this year.

The 16-race program will be highlighted by the Nationals return of Australia’s most exotic racing series, the Australian GT Championship.

The series, featuring exotic cars from Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Lotus and Aston Martin, will hold its fourth round of 2007 at the weekend with Danish driver Allan Simonsen (Ferrari) leading Lamborghini’s Bryce Washington and Porsche’s David Wall in the championship standings.
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Nissan’s new DUALIS model, compact crossover, has been awarded the maximum five-star rating for adult occupant protection from the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the highest ever recorded score for any vehicle.

DUALIS was awarded 36.83 points out of a maximum 37 points by the independent crash test organisation, receiving almost full scores in Euro NCAP’s strict front and side impact tests, as well as a full score for seatbelt reminders.
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Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., inaugurated the Nissan Advanced Technology Center (NATC), its latest state-of-the-art R&D facility, located in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. NATC will spearhead innovations in environmental and safety technologies, allowing Nissan’s vehicle development engineers to work more effectively in one centralized facility.

“NATC has been established to accelerate the research and advanced engineering of breakthrough technologies for Nissan’s next generation products. Future technologies being developed are aimed at environmental sustainability and towards creating a safer mobile society,” said Mitsuhiko Yamashita, executive vice president, Nissan Motor Company.
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Associates at the largest Honda auto engine plant in the world celebrated the 15 millionth engine produced since Honda of America Mfg., Inc. opened the Anna Engine Plant in 1985.

As the milestone engine was finished, a $75 million expansion project at the plant continued toward completion later this year. The project will transfer connecting rod and camshaft production from Japan to Ohio.

“Today we are not only celebrating a production milestone, but the efforts of our associates, past and present, to satisfy 15 million customers,” said Dan Smith, Honda of America vice president and plant manager of the Anna Engine Plant.
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