#brazil

The Aston Martin brand is known for its high-dollar sports cars but will its lineup ever become more diverse?

AutoGuide’s regular “Under the Hood” segment has already explained the vagaries of octane and the advantages of Top Tier gasoline, but there’s so much more to fuel than that. Ethanol, for instance, is a major component of gas, and something that’s a potential peril for consumers. But what is ethanol? And what is E85? Should you run these fuels in your vehicle?

Infiniti has announced its next step in the brand’s global expansion, with plans to enter the Brazilian market in 2014. Characterized as one of the world’s emerging economies, it’s already the sixth largest economic market.

The updated version of Ford’s low-cost Fiesta sub-compact due Stateside as a 2014 model is on the floor at the Sao Paulo Motor Show in Brazil.

Average people will probably never need an armored car, but that isn’t stopping demand for the fortified vehicles from rising this year.

BMW is pushing forward in the face of what many economists are fervently discussing in the business world: the possible collapse of the euro.

It seems Ford‘s financial health is improving after an announcement that they will reinstate a cash dividend on their stocks at 5 cents a share.

Ford announced that they are investing $446 million into their Sao Bernardo do Campo plant near Sao Paulo, Brazil towards the production of a new global vehicle.

Holland hippie community rejoice! As of last month, Volkswagen‘s Dutch operations has debuted the 2012 model Volkswagen Bus. No, it isn’t the Bulli concept we saw earlier at Geneva, but the original Volkswagen Type 2, commonly known as the Bus or Combi.

Sorry to get your hopes up, but it looks like the 2013 Chevrolet TrailBlazer won’t be coming here after all. Despite teasing us with a preview of the upcoming mid-size SUV, Chevrolet representatives said that there are no immediate plans to bring the TrailBlazer to our market.

A report by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants claims that by 2015, Brazil will be the world’s third largest auto market, with China and the United States occupying the first and second slots respectively.

Toyota is eager to regain its “world’s largest automaker” title back. So by 2012, if things go according to plan, expect to see a lot more Toyota products on the roads: 8 million, to be specific.

Well, there’s good indication that it will at least be heading for ‘South’ America, where automotive tastes tend to run more closely to those across the Atlantic.

From the Adventures in Advertising files come a series of ads for Kia that are evidently too racy for their cars (that themselves aren’t).

The ads hail from Brazil, where you think they would have an eye for this sort of thing. But Kia, a family-friendly carmaker with a full line of family-friendly toddler schleppers, is distancing itself from these cartoons that depict two things: a safe, innocent fairy tale on the left, and a hotter version on the right that leads into the back page of Oui. The ads are supposed to tout Kia’s dual-zone climate controls, which may require a stretch of the imagination that advertising bloggers possess in spades.

Kia Motors America has made it painstakingly clear (through a press release) that they don’t want or have anything to do with all of this sexy sex business, and that their cars do not represent the sort of sexy sexiness that these highly sexual, sex-laden ads are sexily promoting.

“Kia Motors America (KMA) has become aware of an offensive piece of advertising material that was created by an ad agency in Brazil that KMA has no business relationship with and has never worked with,” reads the release. “This ad was not created in the U.S. by Kia Motors America or any of its marketing partners and does not reflect the opinions or values of KMA or Kia Motors Corporation. The ad is undoubtedly inappropriate, and on behalf of Kia Motors we apologize to those who have been offended by it. We can guarantee this advertisement has never and will never be used in any form in the United States, and our global headquarters in Seoul, South Korea is addressing the issue with the independent Brazilian distributor.”

For Kia, it’s back to hamsters—possibly the least sexy of animals—and the fact that these cartoons would break down into cognitive dissonance against the wholesomeness of Yo Gabba Gabba, a children’s show that does not feature sultry schoolgirls with exposed belly buttons. Yet.

Click the jump to get a peek at the titillating ads. But no touching.

Along with other Japanese automakers, Mazda is predicting a drop in operating profit for 2011, due to a strengthening yen and supply disruptions, which continue to affect production output, following the March 11 earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.