• Audi has driven home two overall wins in the “Best Cars 2017” competition. The Audi A1 triumphed in the “Small Car” category in the reader survey conducted by “auto motor und sport” magazine and the Audi A3 won the “Compact Car” class. The Audi Q2 has also won gold in the German Design Award. At the award ceremony the compact SUV secured the highest award for “Excellent Production Design — Transportation.” Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management of Audi AG said: “The double victory in the ‘Best Cars 2017’ gives us momentum for the new year. This success shows that the enthusiasm for our cars continues to hold true. This gives us confidence for the future.”
• The Cadillac XTS has arrived for sale in the Middle East. Tailored to provide roominess, it offers more interior space than midsize luxury cars and is comparable to full-size sedans, particularly in the rear-seat area, where it has 1,016 mm (40 inches) of rear legroom. That is about 4 more inches than that of competitors. The XTS also offers 509 L (18 cubic feet) of trunk space, exceeding both midsize and full-size competitors. For XTS customers, the cargo advantage means room for five or more suitcases. The Cadillac Twin-Turbo 3.6L V-6 headlines the XTS’s powertrain lineup and is standard on Vsport models, delivering 410 bhp (306 kW) and 498 Nm of torque — making it one of the most power-dense six-cylinder engines in the segment.
• Following on from a sixth consecutive record-breaking year, sales at the BMW Group achieved their best-ever start to the year with January figures showing increased deliveries in all world regions. With its three premium brands, BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group delivered a total of 163,288 vehicles worldwide, an increase of 6.8 percent compared with January last year. “We have started the year well, building on the success of 2016,” said Dr. Ian Robertson, member of the BMW AG board of management. “We are confident that the new models we are bringing to the market this year, especially the new generation BMW 5 Series, which is about to arrive in dealerships, will ensure further momentum as the year goes on. We continue to focus on profitability and sustainable levels of growth distributed around the world,” he added.
• The Renault-Nissan Alliance delivered significant growth in 2016, with global sales of 9.96 million vehicles. The group also reinforced its leadership in zero-emission vehicles with cumulative sales of nearly 425,000 electric vehicles since the introduction of the Nissan LEAF in 2010, followed by the Renault ZOE. The alliance sales figures include Mitsubishi Motors sales of 934,013 vehicles globally. Mitsubishi Motors joined the alliance last fall with Nissan’s acquisition of 34 percent equity stake in the company. “The combination of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi creates a new force in the global auto industry,” said chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn.
Audi wins multi German awards
Audi wins multi German awards
Price cuts drive sales of Saudi-owned electric car
- Lucid delivers more vehicles than expected as it prepares to launch luxury new Gravity SUV
RIYADH: The majority Saudi-owned electric car maker Lucid delivered more vehicles than expected in the past three months as price cuts helped boost demand.
The company delivered 2,394 cars from April to June 30, above analysts’ predictions of 1,940.
Lucid produced 3,838 vehicles in the first six months of 2024 and needs to make more than 5,162 cars by end of the year to meet its annual output forecast of 9,000. It made 8,428 cars in 2023.
“I think at this point everything is shaping for them to achieve that,” said Andres Sheppard, senior equity analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. Lucid will produce and deliver more cars in the second half of the year because of the usual seasonal effects on the industry, he said.
Demand for electric vehicles has grown more slowly than expected pace in the past year, under pressure from high borrowing costs, economic uncertainties and consumer preference for hybrid alternatives.
Lucid and the market leader Tesla have responded by slashing prices and offering incentives such as cheaper financing options. Lucid, which is 60-per-cent owned by the Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, cut the price of its flagship Air model by 10 percent in February.
Its new Gravity SUV model, a rival for Tesla's Model X, goes into production this year and will cost about $80,000.
