Saab is hoping to entice English Professors loyal fans of the brand and Saab owners to return to the fold by providing them with an unspecified “loyalty bonus” for Saab owners who purchase an all-new 9-5.

Saab didn’t announce terms of the loyalty bonus, but the Swedish assembly plant is already cranking out 250 cars per day in an effort to ship the new vehicles rapidly. 9-5′s are expected to hit North American shores in a matter of weeks. Consumer financing for the new cars has also been secured through Ally Financial, formerly known as GMAC.

[Source: Edmunds]

Toyota is looking to shift production of the Prius hybrid to its Mississippi assembly plant when the next variant of the car arrives – in 2016.

Toyota was planning on building the car at the site originally, until GM exited the NUMMI plant in California, forcing GM to move Corolla production to their Deep South facility.

“The main components for the Prius — such as the motor and battery — are not mature enough for local production,” Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi told Reuters. “We expect that they’ll be ready with the next remodelling.”

Technology issues aside, Toyota also feels that the U.S. economy has yet to fully recover, and that it won’t be prudent to launch a new vehicle any time soon.

“If you look at unemployment, housing, and other economic indicators there’s not much good news. I think it will take time for the market to recover,” Niimi said.

[Source: Reuters]

Kia‘s Soul compact car has a commanding lead over the Nissan Cube and Scion xB, outselling the Cube by a near 2:1 margin. But Kia is hesitant to expand the Soul’s lineup by spinning off variants of the boxy small car in the quest to increase sales.

Speaking to Ward’s Auto, Orth Hedrick,  director of product planning at Kia, the Soul “tends to be a niche vehicle.”  “There is very high appeal to a very narrow group of buyers.”

Kia introduced the Soul’ter convertible concept at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, but so far there has been little push to build it. Structural changes as well as design considerations would necessitate a substantial investment that would be hard to justify.

On the other hand, Kia’s 88% rise in the geographic market that covers New York City and Boston is largely attributed to the Soul, and Hedrick knows this well. “We’re very fortunate the product is relevant in all parts of the country, but clearly the Northeast is a success for us,” he said.

The Soul is due for a re-fresh in 2012.

[Source: Ward's Auto]

Ferrari announced its financial results today, and the company has wasted no time in gloating that sales in the USA are up 10% while Chinese sales are up 20%, a number that is “likely to rise further still in the coming months”.

Ferrari credits the California, 458 Italia and 599 GTO with some of their sucess, but surely the real credit goes to their Ferrari boutiques which sell branded merchandise, a license to print money venture that comprises the bulk of their profits. Merchandise sales are up 40% this year, proving that while the wealthy still have money for cars, there is always a demand for upper-middle class folks to associate themselves with upscale brands.

[Source: Ferrari]

What do you do to celebrate a job well done? Sit down to a good meal at a nice restaurant? Go out for a couple of drinks with coworkers? Do you treat yourself to a new pair of shoes? If you’re Porsche, you celebrate by designing a new chronograph.

In honor of their first overall victory at Le Mans 40 years ago, Porsche Design has released the limited edition Porsche Le Mans 1970 Dashboard watch. This new chronograph is a tribute to #23 – the red and white Porsche 917 K, driven by Porsche works drivers Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood , which won the prestigious Le Mans.

This timepiece in an exquisite balance of function and purity of form, and it encompasses the values of Porsche Design perfectly. With a nod to the 917’s dashboard instruments, the watch features light-colored numeric indices against a black background. White luminous material light up the black hour and minute hands, while the seconds stop hand is red with a white tip.

Reminiscent the Porsche 917 K’s steering wheel, the timepiece’s strap is made from black calf leather and adorned with red stitching. To show how exclusive it really is, its sapphire crystal, titanium case back shows the limited edition number along with the inscription “Winner Le Mans 1970″ and “917-023,” – the chassis number of the winning car. The limited edition Porsche Le Mans 1970 Dashboard watch also comes with self-winding ETA 2894-A2 movement, which offers a power reserve of 42 hours.

Only 917 pieces will be released to retail outlets in September 2010 and no price for the watch has been announced.

[Source: Born Rich]

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but for Rays Engineering it’s a thorn in their side. Their most popular wheel, the TE37, is quite possibly the most copied wheel in the world. We have seen so many variants of the 6-spoke design, some virtually identical to the TE37 and some adding a little spice to the design but still sporting the same decals. We’ve always been very anti-imitation, so we figured we’d continue spreading the good news and help preserve the beauty of the TE37 wheel.

Rays Engineering (manufacturer of Volk Racing wheels) has updated their 17- and 18-inch TE37 models to mimic their 19-inch model with the engraved stampings on the lip of the wheel. These engravings include the Volk Racing logo, Made in Japan, Rays Eng., VIA/JWL, Forged, and Monoblock. Rays Engineering states that this is just another step of precaution to show the difference between the original and copied wheels.

We all know the TE37 is quite possibly the world’s most famous wheel. It also has a rich background on race cars, proving that its lightweight and ingenuous design does work. So for those out there fakin’ it around with imitations, we point, laugh and mock you. It’s ok though, we’re sure you’re pointing back, laughing back and mocking at our empty wallets.

[Source: Farm of Minds]

In an echo of eras past, Jaguar is recalling their XF sedan and XK coupe for a faulty fuel pump that may cause the engine to unexpectedly die.

The problem occurs only on cars with the 5.0L V8, and is caused by the fuel pump not activating due to the fuel pump relay not properly coming on after the vehicle starts up. Jaguar will begin remedying the problem on August 30, 2010. About 5,000 Jaguars are affected.

For owners of Jaguars from the 1960s, this kind of glitch would be chocked up as another daily annoyance that comes with owning a Jag-you-are, but the British luxury brand is looking to gain a solid foothold in the fickle premium car market, and this recall is not the path they want to go down yet again.

[Source: Left Lane News]

General Motors has announced that their Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid will be priced at $41,000 when it goes on sale later in November 2010. The Volt is also entitled to a $7,500 tax credit given to buyers of electric vehicles, which brings the price down to $33,500. The MSRP includes a $720 destination charge. Fully loaded, the Volt will cost $44,600, or $37,100 with the tax credit.

Customers can also lease the Volt for $350 per month with $2500 down payment. The lease lasts 36 months. Dealers in California, Washington DC, Michigan, Texas and New York will be taking orders starting today, with delivery expected in November, 2010. The Nissan Leaf, the Volt’s main competitor, has the same monthly lease payment but requires only a $2,000 down payment.

With standard features like Bluetooth connectivity, a hard-drive based audio system and a navigation system, a backup camera, leather interior and rear parking sensors the Volt can be had with some fairly premium equipment. We’ll have ours in the pun-tastic Viridian Joule Tricoat.

BMW is recalling 6,080 5-Series and 5-Series GT models for a malfunctioning fuel tank sensor. The vehicles manufactured between January 12 and July 1, 2010 are prone to the problem, which can wedge itself against the fuel tank and cause an incorrect reading.

Drivers could conceivably run out of gas at the side of the road, and NHTSA’s website shows that BMW has yet to establish a fix for the problem. Worse yet, drivers might see you by the side of the road and catch a glimpse of the 5-Series Gran Turismo.

[Source: NHTSA]

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Several weeks back we reported on the very first Porsche Panamera race car, built by N.Technology. Now the team has unveiled the completed Panamera S touring car, ready to compete in the Italian Supercars series. Making 450-hp from its naturally aspirated 4.8-liter V8 engine and weighing 2,900 lbs, the N.Technology car driven by Fabrizio Giovanardi was on pole for its first ever race, and even managed to place at the top of the podium, two seconds ahead of the nearest competitor – a BMW M3 race car.

For those not familiar with the amazing Italian Superstars series see the video after the jump for some action from a previous season, with plenty of V8 heavy metal gunning for the checkered flag:

[Source: Ntechnology via JonSibal]

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