A round-up of today’s other stories in brief
BMW engines for Saab
BMW has agreed to supply Saab with four-cylinder 1.6-litre petrol engines.
The engines will initially be used in Saab’s upcoming new 9-3 model (pictured), due for release in 2012. The two firms said they are open to exploring further opportunities.
The deal will help Saab’s Dutch owner Spyker, with its target to sell 120,000 cars per year. The deal is a move away from dependency on Saab’s former owner US car maker General Motors, which currently is Saab’s only supplier of petrol engines.
The birth of the automobile
January 29th: mark the date in your diary, for Mercedes claims it as the birthday of the automobile as we know it.
On that date 125 years ago, Carl Benz registered his patent and so the three-pointed star was born. Kudos goes to Guinness, for one suspects the template of Arthur’s Day is being used by the car firm.
In a rally cry for the impact of the car in modern society, Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche (pictured) said: “Before Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz invented the automobile, the ‘average European’ travelled only 20 kilometres per year. Today it’s at least the same distance per day – and most of it by car.”
The Paris Motor Show was used as the start of a countdown to the 125th anniversary. On January 29th next, Mercedes says it will mark the occasion just with another patent registration, which it claims will be as innovative in the motoring world as the one by Gottlieb Daimler in 1886.
"Launching new products in a market that is so structurally weak makes no sense."
- Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne at the Paris Motor Show
Fiat has postponed the introduction of the third generation Panda and several other models as part of an investment freeze. A replacement for the current model was due on Irish forecourts next year but it’s now likely that it will not come to market until 2012. The current model was launched in September 2003, with a facelifted version introduced in 2007.
Listen up!
On this week’s podcast we discuss the growing disparity between the race to low-emission vehicles by manufacturers and the challenges it creates for a Government eager to protect its tax income from motorists; we review the best of the Paris motor show; and take the microphone in-car for a spin in Suzuki’s new Swift. irishtimes.com/motors/podcast
You can also follow the latest news and views on our motoring blog, along with catching up with our coverage of the Paris motor show – including videos of some of the star cars from the show.
irishtimes.com/motors