When there’s blood in the water, sharks start to bite. If the automotive industry does nothing else, it fosters ruthless competition and a winner-takes-all mentality akin to professional sports.

That’s exactly why reporters were peppering Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne with questions about his company wanting to buy GM’s struggling German subsidiary, Opel.

Outside scheduled announcements, Marchionne told the Detroit News that ”there’s a willingness on the part of Fiat-Chrysler to listen,” going on to say that ”this is an industry that is in evolution.”

Despite his affirmation that Fiat would be willing to consider the idea, there doesn’t seem to be any plan being cooked up. GM vice chairman Steve Girsky said he and Marchionne had dinner last Sunday and that Marchionne wasn’t interested in Opel.

“Opel is not for sale,” Girsky said. “We’re going to make Opel work.” GM is “committed to returning our European business to sustained profitability. There’s a lot of work to do.”

For better or worse, the business world is sensitive to such discussions. The notion that something like that might happen drove speculation that Fiat might also be eyeing Peugeot. Once again, it seems the rumor mill is churning out little more than hot air, though Marchionne maintains that he is open to opportunities.

For now it seems the dinner discussions that spurred these questions were little more than meals, though we’ll stick to Marchionne’s philosophy and refuse to rule anything out, especially considering his original plan after buying Chrysler was, in fact, to take Opel as well.

[Source: Detroit News]

Writing about cars all the time can do some funky things to your taste in wheels, invariably automotive journalists flock to the best of the best. The funny part is that those parameters get warped pretty easily, leaving one writers idea of an ideal car miles away from another.

The same thing goes for enthusiasts, which is why there’s a little storm brewing right now on VWVortex, an enthusiast forum for all things Volkswagen. Interestingly enough, that tempest isn’t about a Volkswagen at all, it’s a 1992 Peugeot 205 GTi. It’s OK if you’re not sure what that is, they aren’t legal in the U.S. and can rarely be found as an import in the wintry Canadian north.

That being said, a member on VWVortex posted a link to someone selling one in Ontario, Canada asking if the seven grand asking price was reasonable marked down from a previous $8000.

Here’s the skinny on these cars: they look an awful lot like the VW GTI, in fact you might not know the difference if one went speeding by, but they can be crazy fun on the road. They have super-nimble handling that lets you toss them into corners like Dan Marino throwing touchdown passes, it’s tight.

They get a 5-speed manual with a 1.9-liter inline four under the hood, good for 120 horses. Sure, you’re not going to show up any Mustangs or Camaros, but damn it if they aren’t a hoot to drive.

Upkeep is their biggest enemy and it’s pretty close to impossible in North America for a couple reasons. First, they were never sold here, so you’re in for a tough time finding parts. Second, these things are sure to break. The 205 was Peugeot’s first small car. They built them for 15 years with the last unit rolling off the line in 1998.

The early models came with the same engine as the Peugeot 104, but later models got either the XU and TU-series engines— which as one forum member eloquently wrote, are “crap.”

Realistically, a 205 GTi is more of a collector’s piece than anything considering their poor reliability and scarcity. You’re not going to find too many girls swooning over them, but they have a well-deserved place in car culture for those who appreciate them.

See the ad out for yourself here.

GALLERY: 1992 Peugeot 205 GTi

[Source: VWVortex forum]

As part of a $1.1 billion cost-cutting effort, PSA, the parent company of both Peugeot and Citroen, will shed 6,000 jobs in Europe, with 2,500 white collar jobs, 2,500 contract worker jobs and 1,000 blue collar jobs expected to be cut in 2012.

PSA claimed that their car-making operations would barely turn a profit in the coming year and that the company’s cash flow would be negative. ”The competitive environment has become more challenging due to pricing pressure, which has intensified in Europe since September, and the unfavorable impact on the country mix of the falloff in demand in southern Europe,” the company said in a statement released to Automotive News.

One bright spot for PSA was that sales outside of Europe have risen 41 percent, with China in particular acting as a bright spot for the company.

[Source: Automotive News]

The only Japanese manufacturer to ever win the prestigious 24-Hours of Le Mans so far has been Mazda with its 787B. Toyota has been wanting to change that for nearly two decades now. Their last effort in the LMP1 class failed, but next year they’ll be back with a vengeance, using a hybrid racer.

Not that the French will make it any easier on the Japanese, as Peugeot has just put some testing miles on their new race car, the 908 HYbrid4. First shown at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show in March, this new race car just completed its first test at the Estoril circuit in Portugal on October 11th. The car went through 300 km of testing in the hands of Nicolas Minassian, Stephane Sarrazin and former Formula 1 driver Alex Wurz.

Peugeot Sports technical director Bruno Famin said, “Our aim wasn’t to put a lot of kilometres on the clock, but to verify that all the chief functions performed.” He added, “It was important to analyse the data of each run to be sure we understood the results before moving on to the next step. The system functioned well and responded as predicted, which was very satisfying. At the same time, we started to make a few adjustments to the car’s basic set-up. It worked well, so that’s very positive.”

Peugeot has been working on the 908 HYbrid since 2008 and the car is only now coming close to becoming a reality. However, Peugeot is not the only European car company trying to compete with a hybrid racer, as Porsche is also aiming to enter with not only their 911 GT3 R Hybrid, but also the 918 Hybrid race car.

In recent years, sales of Mitsubishi vehicles have been on a global decline. Some feared that this Japanese automaker could one day be forced to close its doors for good, if demand does not increase.

In recent years, Mitsubishi has been given a lifeline by the PSA group, which owns Peugeot and Citroen. Both of these French companies have made their own versions of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and the Outlander SUV.

Now is the turn of the Outlander Sport to put on some new clothes. For 2012, buyers in Europe will be able to pick up a Peugeot 4008 (pictured) or a Citroen C4 Aircross. Both these French models are identical to the Mitsubishi under the skin, but the skin is radically different, and also quite attractive.

Hopefully this continued partnership with the French will keep Mitsubishi afloat for a long time, so it can work on bringing us the next Evo model.

[Source: Car and Driver]

Gallery: Mitsubishi Outlander

It’s that time of the year again as Car of the Year begins the laborious task of whittling down new Car of the Year contenders for 2012.

A total of 59 journalists, representing automotive authorities across 23 European countries, have been recruited for the task of choosing top car. The number of journalists to represent each country is based on the relative size of the said country’s car market. Countries like Spain, Germany, Italy, and Great Britain have a well established market, and each will be represented by six journalists.

As for cars, only completely redesigned new models that have launched within the twelve months before the contest are counted. Each car must be available in at least five European countries and must have an expected sales volume no less than 5,000.

Categories considered include design, safety, performance, and price. This year, says the judging committee, technical innovation and value will be especially influential. What also makes Car of the Year unique is the absence of separate genres for its candidates. Rather than selecting the best of the compacts or the best trucks, vehicles with all sorts of engine size and body types will be vying for the same allotment of points.

Comparison testing of the vehicles will be performed in Sweden.

The following 35 candidates selected for the 2012 Car of the Year award include:

Continue Reading…

When it comes to bizarre concept cars, the Tokyo Auto Show might be the traditional winner, but when it comes to production time, often things end up looking like a Camry. Not so for those baguette-loving Frenchmen (and women). From Citroen, to Renault, to Peugeot, their production cars are plenty strange and the concepts that inspire them look straight out of science fiction.

Just back from the Frankfurt Auto Show, we’ve assembled a gallery of snap shots of some of the strange and very strange production and concept cars on display by French automakers there. Enjoy the originality, scratch your head or just have a good chuckle at the pictures below.

GALLERY: French Cars of the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show

OK, so they don’t sell it here, nor are they ever going to, but you have to admit the Peugeot RCZ is a pretty cool ride … for a French car. For 2012 Peugeot will be hosting its own one-make racing series, allowing teams to field their own race-prepped Peugeot RCZ car.

Just what the car will look like is no longer a mystery with Peugeot finally released photos of the RCZ. Starting with the standard RCZ, Peugeot has gutted the interior and outfits it only with lightweight racing seats and a roll cage, saving around 550-lbs from the factory model. Upgraded suspension dampers and AP Racing brakes ensures the RCZ is meant to perform the way it should on the track.

Under the hood, Peugeot teamed up with Magneti Marelli to tune the car’s 1.6L THP engine from 200-hp to 250-hp and 214 lb-ft of torque. The 1.6L will be paired up with a six-speed paddle-shift sequential transmission.

Teams interested in campaigning in Peugeot’s RCZ Racing Cup Series will have to cover around $77,500 in costs for one of the race cars in order to participate in the seven races scheduled for the 2012 inaugural season.

GALLERY: Peugeot RCZ Race Car

Toyota seems to be getting more and more serious about electric vehicles. Recently it announced that it will start producing an electric version of the Rav4 in Canada, and now comes news that it wants to conquer the Nurburgring electric car lap record.

Currently this record belongs to Peugeot and its EX1 prototype vehicle. It managed to go around in 9:01.338 seconds. Toyota plans to not only beat it, but demolish the old record with a car based on the Radical SRF.

In testing, this vehicle has achieved a top speed of 162 mph and can sprint from 0-60 mph in a scant 3.9 seconds.

With green-energy getting more and more popular, the future for electric racing cars is getting closer and Toyota hopes to be at the cutting edge of such technology.

Will Toyota capture the Nurburgring lap record for electric cars? We’ll find out on August 29th.

When Peugeot first unveiled the EX1 to the world, we all knew it would be one awesome electric car. Its sleek and futuristic design clearly screams race-inspired and now Peugeot has put it on the track just to prove how awesome it is.

Living up to expectations the EX1 has set the record lap time for an electric car on the Nurburgring with a time of 9 minutes and 1.338 seconds. The vehicle averaged an impressive 85.9-mph on the 12 mile course.

To put it all into perspective, the EX1 shattered the former electric car record by over 50 seconds. Its time also puts it on par with a Chevrolet Cobalt SS Turbo and slightly quicker than a Ford Focus RS. There’s no doubting how rigorous of a test the Nurburgring is on a car and for Peugeot’s EX1 to turn in such an impressive time proves that future electric cars may not be as boring as we all think.

GALLERY: Peugeot EX1 Electric Car Concept

[Source: Worldcarfans]