• ROLLS-ROYCE CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes said in Beijing that the company would probably post a fifth consecutive year of record sales, helped by demand in China and Japan. The Rolls Royce chief predicts sales in China would rise to a new all-time high, while he said deliveries in Japan have surged under the economic policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration. Sales may rise in Russia this year as buyers look for investment vehicles to hold their value amid a slumping ruble, he added. “The world economy is much stronger than it had been before,” Mueller-Oetvoes said before the Beijing auto show. “You always see certain countries which are puzzling but Europe is coming back now, the US is also back strongly. I think China is still a very sustainable economy in the years to come.” The UK-based manufacturer delivered 3,630 cars globally last year for a fourth consecutive annual sales record, buoyed by a rise in Middle Eastern deliveries and gains in China. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has meanwhile unveiled the Pinnacle Travel Phantom, a new Bespoke Collection motor car, at the Beijing Motor Show. The car has been conceived both to celebrate the Chinese love of travel and the success of the Bespoke program in China.
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•AUDI has presented the TT offroad concept at the Beijing International Auto Exhibition. The new model breaks the mold and combines the sporty characteristics of a coupe with the practical lifestyle utility of a compact SUV. The new four-door model uses plug-in hybrid technology. “The Audi TT offroad concept provides a glimpse of how we might imagine a new model in the future TT family,” says Prof. Ulrich Hackenberg, member of Audi’s Board of Management for Technical Development. “It combines the sporty genes of the TT with the strengths of a compact Audi SUV. Its plug-in hybrid drive with the option of inductive charging is a major step toward the mobility of the future. We chose to present the Audi TT offroad concept in China, our second domestic market, because it represents the urban mobility of tomorrow: It is sustainable, dynamic, intelligent and connected.”
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•RENAULT will invest 240 million euros ($331 million) to build additional vehicle models and a new logistics center in Brazil. The company’s Curitiba plant will begin production of two new vehicles at an investment cost of 162 million euros in 2014-19, Renault said in a statement. A further 78 million euros will be spent on a new parts distribution center to support Renault’s sales network in the region. Renault Group Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn announced a new investment cycle in Brazil to the value of €162 million over the 2014-2019 period. This investment will be channeled into the development of two new cars at Renault’s plant in Curitiba. “Since 2011, Brazil is the brand’s second largest market after France and it is a priority in the Group’s global growth strategy,” says Carlos Ghosn. Renault Brazil successfully completed its previous investment plan and is now pursuing the ambition of expanding its domestic market share”. Renault has been producing in Brazil for fifteen years now. With a market share of 6.7 percent at end-March, Renault is reaffirming its position as the fifth largest carmaker in Brazil. The Group is targeting an eight percent market share in the country by 2016.
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• To celebrate MUSTANG’s 50th anniversary, Ford organized a parade in Dubai in which over 300 Mustang owners and enthusiasts gathered to show their love for the original muscle car in an impressive parade down Dubai’s key locations, led by the famous Dubai Police Ford Mustang Roush patrol car. The parade was also attended by enthusiasts and owners from the region who came from as far as Saudi Arabia and as near as Oman to mark this milestone. The parade ended with a Mustang festival which included displays of hundreds of Mustangs ranging from classics to customized, and various activations including competitions for Best Customized and Best Restored Mustangs.
Ford also recently revealed a Mustang 50 Year Limited Edition. Created to honor five decades of Mustang heritage, only 1,964 examples of the 50 Year Limited Edition will ever be built when it goes on sale this fall.
Rolls Royce predicts 5th year of record sales
Rolls Royce predicts 5th year of record sales
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Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
