In just over five years since production started, Kia has built its 1,000,000th car - a white, diesel-engined cee'd SW.
The car was immediately handed over to a Slovakian children's charity. The cee'd is also the 600,000th version of the Zilina factory's first car. The factory now also produced Sportage and Venga.
Kia Motors Slovakia launched a third shift this year and increased the number of employees to 3,900. The company is currently preparing for production of the second generation of the cee'd model during the second quarter.
The Fiat Punto Van and Volkswagen Amarok have been named Category Winners of the Continental Irish Van of the Year 2012 title by the Irish Motoring Writers Association (IMWA) Van Jury.
All nine voting members of the IMWA Van Jury took part in the vote. In deciding on these category winners, the jury members took into account such attributes as load capacity, reliability, overall versatility, cost of ownership and drive comfort.
Presenting the awards to Adrian Walsh, Fiat Ireland (above); and Paul Burke, Volkswagen Ireland (below), Paddy Murphy of Continental Tyres (on right) said they were 'two great vehicles' which have won the valuable endorsement of the Irish Motoring Writers Association. "I am sure that winning this Continental Irish Van of the Year Category Award will be a huge boost for both the Punto Van and Amarok," he said.
Michael Moroney, Chairman of the IMWA van jury, said the Continental Irish van category awards are of particular interest to Irish van/commercial drivers and fleet managers, as they highlight the niche models best suited to the particular requirements of the Irish market.
The Commercial SUV and Car Derived Van of the Year titles are category awards under the umbrella of the Continental Irish Van of the Year. The overall Continental Irish Van of the Year award for 2012 was won by the Volkswagen Crafter.
Car spares retailer Halfords in Ireland has seen a jump in sales of light bulbs, following the reveal of new penalty points offences which include faulty vehicle lighting.
Halfords offer a free lights inspection to motorists, and the company says it is been 'inundated' with requests for the service.
“Defective lights are one of the most common car faults and a frequent cause of NCT test failures," says Halfords Ireland Area Manager Phil Barr. "They can also cause accidents, but it is a problem which is easy and cost-effective to fix."
Halfords provide brake lights, indicator lights, fog lamps and interior light bulbs and sell replacements, all of which can be fitted at what the company claims is up to 50 percent less than average dealership fitting prices.
Mazda Ireland is targeting the top players in the supermini segment with a special price offer that sees its basic Mazda2 coming in €2,306 less than the top selling Fiesta in basic spec.
At €13,995 the Mazda2 Comfort comes in strongly cheaper than similar competitors from Toyota, VW, Kia, Opel and SEAT. A 3-door entry Mazda2 is available at €13,495.
And the best selling version of the Mazda2, the 5-door Sensu grade, is up to €2,250 cheaper than its main competitors.
The promotional price offer represents a €1,300 cut across all versions.
The Mazda offer runs through February-March, and has a 5.9% Finance facility available up to 48 months with only 20% deposit required.
In addition, one lucky customer who buys during the promotion period will win the price of their car back.
The new Mercedes-Benz B-Class has been launched on the Irish market, writes Trish Whelan.
It fits into the range ahead of the A-Class.
The model likely to account for the bulk of B-Class sales is the 109bhp entry level B180 CDI priced at €29,330 with road tax of €160 a year. A second diesel with common rail, direct-injection, is a 2.0 with 136bhp whose price will be announced later.
The first petrol version to go on sale is the 122bhp B180 Blue EFFICIENCY selling at €29,890 with a yearly road tax of €255. A 2.0 156bhp BlueEFFICIENCY version will be added to the range at a later date.
Driving the new B-Class is a new 6-speed manual transmission. A 7G dual clutch transmission system is also available.
The new B-Class comes with a vastly improved range of standard specifications and an entry-level price that the brand say is 11 percent lower than the model it replaces. It features a reduced height, and lower centre of gravity.
Ciaran Allen of Mercedes-Benz said the new car 'ticks all the boxes' with its lower price, reduced running costs, interior spaciousness and high range of comfort. Safety features on board include adaptive headlamp, blind spot, lane keeping and speed limit assist systems along with parking assist, hill hold brake function, reversing camera and distance control.
A world-first in the compact segment is the provision of a new radar-based collision prevention warning with adaptive brake assist as standard to reduce the risk of rear-end collisions.
The new Honda Civic pictured with the previous and first generations behind it.
With what is claimed as the highest level of standard specification in its class, Honda in Ireland are directly targeting the mainstream players in the compact family car arena with their new generation Civic, writes Brian Byrne.
And on a first run in the car on Irish roads, it looks like they have a fairly potent weapon in their arsenal to do just this.
It's the ninth generation of the Civic, a car that accounts for half of all Honda sales in Ireland at the moment. In style terms it has evolved from the very high-tech look of the outgoing car to something a little smoother, but still highly distinctive.
Interior upshifts in quality—an element where Honda was always at the high levels anyhow—will also help the distributor to extend market share, it hopes to around 750 units this year despite the delayed arrival of the car.
In powertrains there has been a shift too, in efficiency and improved refinement. The engines are 1.4 and 1.8 petrol, both Band B, and a Band A 150hp 2.2 diesel which is being competitively priced against the 1.6 diesels of its competitors from VW, Ford and others. That will be maintained until a new 1.6 diesel with 120hp is made available this time next year.
We're the first country in Europe to get the new Civic. After a rough year for Honda production because of the devastating effects of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the subsequent floods in Thailand, a source of key components for the company's cars.
There's a solid base of loyalty to the brand and the model on which the Irish Honda network can build. In almost 40 years of selling Civics, more than 42,000 copies of the model in its various generations have been sold.
Although the Irish market has been swung strongly to diesel under the current road tax systems, with four in five cars using diesel powertrains, Honda in Ireland reckon they'll sell the respective powertrains on a fifty-fifty split. Not least because the petrol offerings are so efficient anyhow.
A few relatively short drives in and around the drumlin county of Cavan this weekend showed me a car that is arguably the best built in its segment, certainly it feels that way. The improved interiors also challenge seriously the so-called 'prestige' brands. Honda has always considered premium to equate with quality and engineering rather than bling and swank.
In both versions experienced, the new Civic handled very well indeed—Cavan is a good test area for such things. The diesel is certainly the punchier of the two, but I was quite happy with the performance of the 1.4 too.
It was just a taster, and I'll be lining up opportunities soon to give the car a more extensive trial. I don't expect to be anything except further impressed.
Prices from €21,395 in petrol and €25,445 in diesel.
Fiat is expanding and enlarging its 500 range, the car that successfully revived an iconic nameplate for the brand, writes Brian Byrne.
The 500L will debut at Geneva and will go on sale in Europe in the summer. Built on a widened version of the Punto platform, it will look the same as the current 500 from the front, but will be big enough to hold five people. A 7-seat version is planned for sale two months after the first.
The 5-seat will be 4.1 metres long, about 60mm longer that the current 500, and taller.
The ninth generation of Honda's Civic has gone on sale in Ireland at a starting price of €21,395.
The car is available with 1.4 and 1.8 petrol engines and a 150hp 2.2 diesel. In manual form the petrols are B rated for Irish road tax, and the diesel is rated A. A 1.6 diesel with 120hp will arrive in 2013, but the €24,445 pricing of the 2.2 in the meantime is priced at the 1.6 equivalents in competitors from VW, Ford, Toyota and Opel.
Ireland is the first market in Europe to get the new Civic, as the car's arrival was seriously delayed because of production problems due to the tsunami in Japan and the subsequent floods in Thailand.
Honda Ireland expects that the sales split between petrol and diesel will be 50/50, a departure from the 30/70 ratio that currently happens in this market.
Audi Ireland will begin delivering the first units of its A1 Sportback at the end of February, priced from €19,910.
The 5-door 5-seat version of the brand's supermini segment car has more headroom and shoulder space and will come with Sport and S Line versions.
Four engines will include a 1.6 TDI with CO2 emissions below 100g/km.
Audi expect the majority of buyers to select either the petrol 1.2 TFSI with 85hp or the diesel 1.6 TDI with 90hp. Diesel customers can also choose 105hp and 143hp whilst petrol buyers can upgrade to the 1.4 TFSI available with either 125hp or 185hp.
The future market for hybrid and electric cars looks good, if the conclusions of a global survey of so-called Generation Y consumers turn out to be correct, writes Brian Byrne.
The survey of those who were born between 1980 and the early 1990s suggests that 57 percent of them prefered 'an electrified vehicle' for personal transportation.
According to the consultants who conducted the questioning, Deloitte LLP, the motivation for the EV/hybrid preference is not an altruistic wish to save the planet, rather to save the money in their wallets by lowering fuel costs.
The survey also showed that Generation Y welcome the growing trend to 'connected' cars, and a touchscreen is the most important item on a dashboard for them.
In America, it is estimated that Gen Y consumers will buy one in four of all cars sold there this year, and 40 percent of all cars sold in the US over the next 10 years.
On the other side of the coin, fewer American young people are taking out driving licences, and they are driving less, according to other research. According to Mark Fields of Ford Motor Company, the number of 16 year-olds getting a licence declined by 16 percent in the 30 years up to the end of 2008. He said the smartphone has replaced the car as 'the ultimate mobile device'.
While there's growing concern that the increased amount of gadgets and entertainment or communications technologies in cars are adding to driver distraction, writes Brian Byrne, Ford Motors boss Alan Mullally says his company has solutions in train that will 'absolutely remove' distraction as an issue.
He says that no matter what happens, 'drivers will not allow themselves to be disconnected in a connected world'. From Ford's point of view, he highlights the company's growing implementation of voice actuation technology for managing communications and entertainment systems, 'which allows the driver to keep hands on the wheel'.
There are still concerns, though, about how much information streaming a driver's mind can handle without distraction, even though his or her hands may still be on the wheel.
Ford is also big into driver assist technologies, both for safety and convenience. These include the Active Park Assisit and anti-collision systems which are available on cars like the current Focus.
While companies like Google have been developing cars that drive themselves, Mullally said that while self-driving modes are possible in cars, that capability is unlikely to materialize except for niche applications. He added that technology is getting better at assisting human drivers with situational awareness, using cameras and sensors.
Owen Murphy / James O'Brien, the current Valvoline National Forestry Champions, won't be at the start ramp this weekend in Donegal for the first round of the 2012 Valvoline National Forest Championship.
All had been going well and preparations were at an advanced stage when Owen hurt his back.
He has been seeing a chiropractor since and it's a case of one day good and the next day in a lot of discomfort. His chiropractor has said that he wouldn't last the day in the car. Owen said "I went to get into the car the other night and had a lot of trouble getting back out. I am really sick about this but stuff happens and my chiropractor is confident that with a little time, it will sort itself out.
He will be back for Round Two in Carrick-on-Suir.
Hankook are back on board as main sponsor for another season and Owen and James are confident of some good results later in the year. (Photo: Ger Leahy Photography).
A number of American cities are building 'smart' parking systems as a way of applying new technologies to end 'parking rage', and massive wasting of fuel and time by people trying to find parking space.
The most advanced of these has been set up in San Francisco, writes Brian Byrne, which has installed magnetic sensors under 8,200 street parking spaces.
Drivers can use their smartphones to find in real time vacant spaces, which saves time and frustration, the latter of which can lead to motorists becoming less safe and hitting pedestrians and cyclists or other road users in their search for space.
A €19.8 million grant from the US Department of Transportation was used to help set up the system, which will be extended to provide information on off-street parking.
Los Angeles is working to set up a similar system. Researchers in the city found that cars circling for just three minutes to find parking in a 15-block neighborhood totted up over 350,000 miles of excess driving every year.
The 2012 Valvoline Forest Championship roars into life on this Saturday's Abbey Hotel Donegal Forest rally, writes Austin Shinnors, PRO Valvoline National Forest Championship.
Hosted by the Donegal Motor Club, and based in Donegal town, the Clerk of the Course Michael Kelly has planned a route of 65 competitive kilometers spread over 10 stages. The first car leaves Parc Ferme at 8.30am to head to the Pettigo area where two stages will be done twice. In the afternoon, there are three stages repeated in the Barnesmore Gap area.
The forty five strong entry includes a mixture of forestry regulars and newcomers. The list is headed by Vincent McAree (Evo 9) who was Valvoline Championship runner up in 2011. Enda McNulty (Impreza) is next in line, ahead of Pat O'Connell (Evo9) who won this series in 2010. The next seeds include Martin Cairns (Impreza), Ian Cochrane (Evo9), Colin Britton (Evo9), Stephen Wright (Evo9) and Ger Lucey (Evo8). Next up are the all-singing and dancing rear wheel drive cars, with Frank Kelly, Adrian Hetherington, Seamus O'Connell (Escort Mk2) seeded ahead of the Toyota Starlet RWD of Shane McGirr.
Honda's worldwide hybrid car sales surpassed 800,000 units as at the end of December last.
This milestone was reached 12 years and two months after the start of sales of the first generation Honda Insight in Japan in November 1999, which delivered fuel economy of 35km/litre then the world's highest fuel economy among all petrol-powered vehicles.
Honda introduced the first generation Insight, Civic Hybrid and Accord Hybrid equipped with its original lightweight and compact IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) hybrid system.
More recently, following the introduction of the second generation Insight in 2009, Honda introduced a total of six new hybrid models in the last three years to expand the hybrid vehicle line-up and sales.
Honda's annual worldwide hybrid sales for 2011 was around 200,000 units (up 30 percent compared to 2010), and its total hybrid sales during the last three years topped 500,000 units.
As of today, Honda sells seven hybrid models in around 50 countries around the world.
The 80th Rallye Monte-Carlo drew to a close yesterday with victory going to Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, driving their Citroen DS3 WRC, their sixth win in the Principality.
The pair are pictured as they secured their win and below, following the presentation.
The eight-time World Champions enjoyed a clean sweep as they also picked up the three bonus points awarded to the winner of the Power Stage.
Fourth overall in the rally, Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen also collected two points for their performance on the final stage. This result means that Citroen Total World Rally Team takes the lead in the Manufacturers' World Championship.
After four long days' racing, the final day of the Rallye Monte-Carlo was the shortest ever seen in the history of the World Championship: the 5.16km of the eighteenth stage, on a route between Ste Agnes and the Col do la Madone, were covered in under 3m30s by the leading WRC cars. Loeb and Elena also picked up three additional points in the Drivers' World Championship.
The next event in the World Rally Championship will be held in Sweden between 9th and 12th February.
The 5008 is Ireland's best-selling compact 7-Seater MPV with 391 cars registered last year to take 28 percent of its segment ahead of its nearest competitor, the Ford Grand C-Max at 299 units, writes Trish Whelan.
Des Cannon, Peugeot Sales and Marketing Director said the 5008 people carrier had attracted many new customers to the brand in 2011.
Two engines are offered: a 1.6 HDi 112bhp 6-speed manual and a 1.6 HDi 6-speed electronically controlled Ecomatique. Both are in Band B of €225 annual road tax.
The 5008 has a bright, spacious cabin with easy access to the third row seats. These very back two seats have more legroom thanks to footwells. Curtain airbags protect all three rows of passengers and three ISOFIX child seat fixtures are houses in Row 2. Standard safety equipment also includes ESP, ABS, AST, electronic brake force distribution, dual front airbags, automatic electric parking brake with hill assist, and a fasten seat belt warning on all seats.
The load area ranges from 758 litres to 823 litres with the third row seats folded. It increases to 2506 litres with the second row seats folded away.
The 5008 retails from €27,690 plus dealer deliver related charges.
Citroen has announced a Free Fuel Offer for customers who order their 2012 Citroen this month, with Free Fuel Cards ranging from €250 up to €1,000 credit, available on selected models across the range.
Customers who receive €1,000 Free Fuel with selected models of the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso, will have over 7,000 miles of free fuel courtesy of Citroen.
Leading the range as the most fuel efficient diesel powered car and delivering a combined cycle of 83mpg (3.4 L/100kms) is the new C3 e-HDi 70 Airdream EGS VTR+.
There are now some 21 models in the lowest road tax Band A and all new Citroens now come with 3 years' manufacturers' warranty. The C4 Picasso and Grand Picasso are pictured above.
At the launch of a new efficient driving campaign by Topaz, Director Paul Candon it is clear that motorists want value for money, especially in light of the recent Budget and VAT increases on fuels.
He said not all fuels are the same.
"The additive in Topaz fuels makes them up to 3 percent more efficient when compared with fuels with no additive. So if drivers use Topaz AA quality checked fuels and follow the driving efficiency tips outlined on our website, they can cut costs by up to 20 percent."
He said the company also intend to highlight the rise in fuel laundering in Ireland and the daners this illegal trade poses for motorists.
A recent report estimated that 12 percent of the diesel market is now being supplied from illegal sources.
"Laundered fuels pose a high risk to motorists and their engines," Candon warns. "While low prices may seem very appealing in the current environment, consumers should always purchase their fuels from trusted retailers as the costs of repairing an engine damaged by laundered fuels can run into thousands of Euro."
He urged the authorities to clamp down on this illegal trade. "Every tanker of illegal fuel costs the Government €20,000 in lost taxes and if they eliminate fuel laundering, it would raise up to €200m in taxes from licensed and law abiding retailers." He said it is worth comparing this figure to the new property tax which is generating a lot of headlines and which is estimated will raise €160m.
Boyzone's Shane Lynch has launched a new efficient driving campaign by leading fuels and convenience retailer Topaz.
To mark the new campaign, Shane visited the Topaz site at Glasnevin in Dublin, just down the road from where he worked previously in his dad's garage as a mechanic. He is pictured there with Anna Zukowska. He is also pictured, below, with some toy cars at Glasnevin.
Shane also visited the Topaz site at Cashel at Junction 8 on the M8 Dublin Cork motorway. The award winning site has become the main stop off point for motorists requiring fuel, a bite to eat or a short break.
A keen driving enthusiast, he says motorists could knock hundreds of Euro off their motoring costs by adapting their driving styles and making key changes.
"Accelerating smoothly, removing unnecessary weight, avoiding tailgating and driving at a moderate speed are just some of the ways you can save money," he advises.
