It turns out that owning a Rolls-Royce isn’t rare enough on it’s own for the majority of people buying these ultra-luxury cars.

No, the people willing and able to shell out for the best of the best seem to be afraid the valet will confuse their Ghost with the others outside the country club. According to the company, 56 percent of Rolls-Royce Ghosts and Ghost Extended Wheel Base Models featured a bespoke design in 2011.

The Ghost is actually a late-comer to the bespoke game as far as the Rolls-Royce family is concerned. The company sells a healthy chunk of their cars to the Middle East, where 99 percent of Phantoms sold featured bespoke designs.

“It is always our goal to exceed our clients’ highest expectations and fulfill their innermost desires,” said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Rolls-Royce CEO. “With highly bespoke Phantom and Ghost models, we are able to achieve this. The passion with which our bespoke craftspeople create these beautiful cars is reflected in some truly outstanding examples delivered across the globe last year.”

The company is on an upwardly bespoke trend: demand increased an average of almost 35 percent over the last six years worldwide. North America actually represents the most rapidly increasing demand, increasing 54 percent over that time period, though the Middle East is the highest overall with 99 percent demand for bespoke vehicles.

So what’s all this fuss about? Well, Rolls-Royce makes it their business to bend over backwards to ensure client satisfaction. Your new Rolls can come with paint of your choice, tread plates, champagne sets or even a picnic set for those balmy Sunday afternoons in the park.

GALLERY: 2011 Rolls-Royce Ghost

Cutting costs these days seems to be all about building factories in the country meant to buy your products. Audi is following that mantra by announcing designs to build a plant in North America.

Doing so would help the brand avoid the pitfalls of the European economy and make the actual act of bringing vehicles to market much simpler.

“It’s not a matter of if we will do a plant in North America, but when,” Audi of America president Johan de Nysschen told WardsAuto. “The decision to do a plant, technically we’ve reached that conclusion. It’s a matter now of waiting to pull the trigger.” So that means we, and most everyone concerned with the auto industry, are asking just that— when? Though there isn’t a date settled, Audi might be motivated to move quickly in an effort to meet their 150,000 U.S. unit sales goal by 2015.

“One advantage of Mexico is that you could support the growing markets down in South America, Brazil,” said De Nysschen. “More so, you have the benefit of exporting cars into Europe duty-free.” Despite that, Mexico isn’t a definite destination. He also said there are definite advantages to building the plant in the U.S., though using Volkswagen‘s Chattanooga, TN plant isn’t an option because it is expected to be running at maximum capacity.

“Getting a plant allows us to have a higher degree of U.S. content. It allows us to have a natural hedge against that,” he said.

Even with such discussions, the fact remains heavily on Audi’s radar that their sales don’t currently justify building such a plant.

“We’ve got to build our business to get to the point where, with a combination of production for the U.S. and some exports to other markets, we can get the economies of scale to make that factory work.” In other words, the company is looking for much greater sales before staking out territory for their North American plant.

[Source: Wards Auto]

Automobile manufacturing is a big part of the Canadian economy. 10 percent of the country’s manufacturing output is related to the auto industry.

Things have been changing for a few years already, and the future is not looking good for Canada.  Thanks to their lower labor rates and production costs, more and more car companies are looking to move their operations down to Mexico.

Currently, Canada accounts for 16-percent of production for North America, but since 2008 Mexico, has accounted for 20-percent, and that number will likely grow.

If the trend continues, Canadians might lose their jobs well south of their border. However, not all is doom and gloom for our northern neighbors as vehicle production increased in 2011 by 2-percent to bring a total of 2.1-million units produced.

General Motors is supporting the Canadian economy by announcing that the new Cadillac XTS sedan will be built in Oshawa, Ontario (where vehicles like the Camaro are already built), and Toyota Motor Corporation has announced that it will invest C$545-million to upgrade Toyota production facilities in Ontario.

[Source: Automotive News]

Behold, the new bar for fuel economy: 126 highway miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe). Which car is championing these figures? The Mitsubishi i electric vehicle.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Fuel Economy Guide ranked the Mitsubishi i electric vehicle at the top for fuel consumption. The competing Nissan Leaf stacks up 13 MPGe lower at a still impressive 99  MPGe. The Mitsubishi i beats the Leaf in city and highway fuel economy, making it the most efficient car on the road.

Yoichi Yokozawa, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA) said the company was pleased to be rated at the top of the EPA’s Fuel Economy guide.

“With 17,000 i-MiEV-based units produced for various international markets, we look forward to providing North American consumers with an exceptionally well-engineered electric vehicle that has proven itself to be reliable, safe, efficient and very affordable in overall price and cost of operation,” he said.

The Annual Fuel Guide, published in cooperation by the EPA and  Department of Energy, offers consumers information far beyond what appears on a car’s window sticker. They also offer advice on how to improve fuel efficiency.

The Mitsubishi i isn’t available at the moment, but MMNA expects to start releasing them in North America late this month.

Audi drivers across the pond are getting the short end of the stick, or to be more precise: no stick at all.

What’s all this stick business, you may ask? The new version of the Audi S4 and S5 will only be available with an automatic transmission in Europe, cue the snickers and sneers from North American driving enthusiasts. It’s an unusual move, considering we’re usually the ones getting shafted with an auto-only option in cars where Europeans get a choice, but sure enough according to an article on Fourtitude, and Audi news blog, the decision is made.

This still may be a signal of things to come, but at least for the upcoming generation it seems the S4 and S5 will be available witha six-speed manual.

Barry Hoch, product planning manager for Audi of America confirmed that Europeans will lose the manual while North Americans will keep it. 100 percent confirmed, although I don’t know what other markets also get to keep it,” he said in an email to Fourtitude.

The move to S-tronic transmissions does make sense from a performance standpoint. Shorter shifts, better straight line performance and friendlier fuel economy sweeten the package in theory, but try telling that to someone as they slash through a manual gearbox on a winding road. You’re better off trying to debate Socrates.

Debates aside it’s hard not to see the future creeping in. Lamborghini and Ferrari have already adopted “automatic” dual clutch transmissions as their current standard. If the decision seems to be trickling down from the supercar market into Europe, we may expect to see similar changes in the future.

That, however, is conjecture. Focus on the positive for now, manual S4s and S5s are still available to those in North America who want them.

[Source: Fourtitude]

Toyota has announced today that the made in the U.S.A. Toyota Sienna minivan will soon be sold in South Korea.

Produced at Toyota’s Princeton, Indiana plant, the Sienna has long been a top seller in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Now, scheduled early this November, South Korea will mark the Sienna’s first distribution outside of North America.

Toyota has been exporting U.S. built vehicles since 1988 and the addition of South Korea bumps the number of countries that will receive U.S. built Toyota vehicles to 19. Models that are currently exported included the Toyota Avalon sedan of Georgetown, Kentucky, the Sequoia SUV of Princeton, Indiana and the Tacoma/Tundra pickup of San Antonio, Texas.

Yoshimi Inaba, president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Inc. is optimistic of Sienna’s success in South Korea, “Toyota’s North American operations are constantly working to identify and expand new export opportunities for the vehicles we produce here, building on our extensive investments in auto production, research and development in the U.S. and helping to maintain a strong, stable base of jobs… With this development and other possible achievements in the future, we hope to continue boosting exports from our North American operations.”

Toyota North America has exported about 100,000 units for calendar year 2010. Initial sales of the Sienna in the South Korean market is a modest 600 units annually.

GALLERY: 2012 Sienna

Click here to read AutoGuide’s 2011 Toyota Sienna SE Review

There’s a new kid in Los Angeles, BYD. The Chinese battery and electric car manufacturer opened its California office today.

BYD says it will bring 150 green-collar engineering and management jobs to the city. The event highlight, however, is a deal between BYD and Hertz to provide airport shuttles to the rental agency. This could prove to be a key time for the company to move into the California electric car market.

Their opening is hot on the heels of the California government deciding to limit HOV lane benefits to electric cars in an effort to encourage greener transportation. BYD has a chance to get a jump on the electric car market considering the only EV’s available to consumers are the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Roadster.

Things may not all be bright though, BYD saw their profits drop by just over a third between 2009 and 2010 and lackluster sales in the first half of this year aren’t boding well either.

Their financial woes are largely due to poor car sales in China, where they failed to meet even half of their projected numbers.

Their push into the North American market could prove to be a good source of revenue, but BYD Vice-President Michael Austin admitted earlier this year to the Glendale News-Press that “the paradigm of driving a Chinese car in the U.S. is going to be hard to break.”

[Source: Auto Observer]

Toyota officially launched the all-new Camry last week, and Nissan took advantage of this situation in a very 21st century method of subterfuge.

When the sedan was unveiled, Toyota found that the word “Camry” had been acquired on social media service Twitter by rival Nissan North America. Anyone searching the Camry on Twitter during the launch, would receive a tweet regarding product news from Nissan.

Nissan took advantage of the fact that it knew Toyota would launch the Camry with special attention to Twitter. Nissan discovered that the key word Camry had not been locked up so it purchased what Twitter terms a “Promoted Tweet” allowing the automaker to acquire a selection of search terms for 24 hours that included “Camry”, “Toyota Camry” and “mid-sized car”.”Toyota blew it,” crowed one Nissan manager. “They simply didn’t protect their intellectual property.”

Nissan has become increasingly competitive especially against Toyota. U.S sales of the Altima are up more than 18 percent through July, compared to Toyota’s 8 percent Camry fall. The decline was primarily a result of inventory issues stemming from the March 11 earthquake. The Camry has been America’s top selling passenger car for 13 of the past 14 years. The Camry vastly outsells the Altima, but Nissan has been making up ground in recent years.

Check out our full review of the Camry here!

GALLERY: Toyota Camry

[Source: Automotive News]

The next-gen Suzuki Swift Sport will debut at the 64th Frankfurt Auto Show on September 13.

Compared to the standard Swift, the Sport model has a more aggressive exterior and promises a “high-quality” interior with, “features that heighten excitement about the driving experience.”

Powering the Swift is a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine that produces 134-hp, with better fuel consumption than previous models. The engine will be mated to a specifically developed six-speed manual transmission.

The Swift Sport also offers better handling thanks to larger wheels and low profile tires, as well as a new suspension setup with custom spring and shock settings.

Safety features include seven airbags and a stability control system.

It has been rumored that the Swift may come to North America, and if it does, hopefully the Swift Sport will also be offered. More information will be known at the Frankfurt auto show so stay tuned!

Today, Nissan North America announced U.S pricing for the 2012 Versa Hatchback, a model that is carried over from the previous year, despite the fact that the 2012 sedan is all-new. Continuing on the popular first-generation design, it is available in 1.8 S and 1.8 SL models.

The 1.8-liter S hatchback model has been priced at $14,380 with the 6-speed manual and $1000 extra for the 4-speed automatic transmission($15,380). The 1.8-liter SL version with the CVT transmission will be priced at $18,390. The 1.8-liter  DOHC 4-cylinder engine produces 122-hp, with fuel consumption rated at 28 mpg City /34 mpg Highway and 30 mpg combined for the SL with the Continuously Variable Transmission. The 6-speed manual and 4-speed automatic models offer 26/31/28 mpg and 24/32/27 mpg respectively for City/Highway/ Combined ratings. The Nissan Versa is already on sale in either the hatchback or sedan platform offering amazing bang for your buck.

Check out pricing for the all-new, and significantly cheaper 2012 Versa sedan here!