On October 31 2006, Orange County teen Nikki Catsouras had an argument with her father. When Mr. Catsouras left for work, the his daughter “borrowed” his Porsche 911. Approaching a tollbooth, Catsouras rear-ended a Honda at 70 mph. The California Highway Patrol took photographs of the gruesome results. The photos hit the net and went viral. Catsouras sued the police for invasion of privacy. Lost in the shuffle: why was Miss Catsouras–a young, inexperienced driver— legally entitled to drive the Porsche?

Tags: Bmw, Chrysler, daihatsu, Ford, Honda, Mercedes, Nissan, Pontiac, Porsche, Smart, Suzuki, the, video

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German automaker Volkswagen reportedly is seeking a partnership by or stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp., various global media outlets are reporting.

The buzz is Volkswagen would take a 10 pecent stake in Suzuki, which has seen its stock rise dramatically in recent days on the news.

Suzuki did have a union with bankrupt General Motors, which once owned 20 percent of Suzuki on the contrary sold its remaining jeopardize in the automaker in November. GM and Suzuki also had a joint run the risk in Canada, and the two continue to cooperate put on hybrid and fuel-cell development.

Tags: canada, cars, daihatsu, global, Honda, india, mini, Suzuki, Volkswagen

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Suzuki Alto Lapin – Click above for high-res gallery

According to reports from Reuters and Manager Magazin in Germany, Volkswagen is keen to purchase a 10 percent stake in Suzuki in order to cooperate in succession future small cars for emerging markets. In its home market of Japan, Suzuki is the second-largest automaker (behind Toyota) and dominates the tiny Kei car market alongside Toyota-owned Daihatsu.

These miniature 660cc vehicles are extremely popular in Japan’session dense urban settings and Volkswagen reportedly believes this class of automobile holds great promise for emerging markets. In India, for example, Tata Motors has seen a great dispense of success with its small Nano, which is billed in the same manner with the cheapest car in the world.

Tags: daihatsu, mini, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen

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For the first time since the launch of the study in 2002, Daihatsu has claimed the top sully in J.D. Power and Associates’ redesigned 2009 Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study (VOSS) in Germany with a total score of 843 put on a 1,000-point scale. The Japanese brand was followed by Alfa Romeo and Mercedes-Benz that tied in second place with 835 points, BMW was third with 834 points and Audi and Toyota that tied in fifth place through 831 points.

Tags: Audi, Bmw, Chevrolet, daihatsu, Fiat, Ford, Kia, Mercedes, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, Skoda, Smart, Toyota

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Click above to enlarge

At the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show, Subaru introduced the latest version of its Justy subcompact for the U.K. market. Little more than a rebadged version of the Daihatsu Sirion, the Justy is the Japanese automaker’s entry-level model abroad and doesn’t offer much to separate itself from the rest of the econoboxes battling it confused in the segment. To spice things up a bit, Subaru has created a new package for the Justy called the 1.0 Twin Cam Special Edition.

Tags: daihatsu, mini, Subaru

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Yesterday, after Daihatsu Motor Company announced it is not renewing between 500 and 600 contracts, it became official: All 12 of Japan’s automotive companies trimmed a total of 17,000 jobs, signaling just how widespread the automotive industry crisis has become. Most of the cuts have been among contract and temporary workers.

Japan’s auto industry employs about 34,000 contract and temporary workers, reports the Nikkei business journal, meaning that the domestic automakers have shed about half of their contract and temporary workforce.

Tags: daihatsu, Suzuki

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Lascelles Linton
Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, AutoblogGreen Exclusive

I recently wrote about a company called Spark EV that plans to sells Zotye, a $20,000, highway speed, electric SUV soon. Unfortunately, the order page says the company is not taking new orders even though it seemed the cars were for sale. What’s going on? Too much demand! Michael Papp of Spark EV tells me his “back of my mind” goal for Zotye sales for this year was 250-300. Michael soon found demand would be a tad higher.

Tags: daihatsu, Ford

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Simona Alina
Filed in: Subaru | UK | Subaru Justy

Subaru’s new Justy supermini is now on sale, offering outstanding fuel economy, equipment and space plus ultra-low exhaust emissions which should make it exempt from the proposed new London Congestion Charge. In fact, with a 64.2 mpg Extra Urban figure, ultra-low 118 g/km exhaust emissions and annual £35 Road Fund Licence, the new Justy 1.0 R promises to be one of the cheapest petrol-engined cars to run on UK roads.

However, the five-door body offers interior space from the next class up while the efficient, 69 PS three-cylinder 1.0 litre engine offers sufficient power for long-distance driving. Top speed, for example, is almost 100 mph and the 0-60 mph time is 13.5 seconds.

Tags: daihatsu, mini, Seat, Subaru, Toyota

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Sebastian Blanco
Filed under: MPG, Subaru, European Union, UK

Back in March, we talked about Subaru’s intent to bring back the Justy. This highly-efficient vehicle is now available for sale in the UK, and it’s got some great stats: 64.2 mpg (UK) in the Extra Urban cycle and CO₂ emissions of just 118 grams per kilometer (that should beat the London congestion charge). Subaru is saying the new Justy 1.0 R “promises to be one of the cheapest petrol-engined cars to run on UK roads.” If you’re interested in buying one of these, you should probably know that Subaru (which is based on the Japanese-built Daihatsu Sirion) will only offer about 6,000 units a year throughout Europe and 1,000 in the UK.

Tags: daihatsu, mini, Peugeot, Seat, Subaru, Toyota

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Filed in: Mitsubishi | industry news | crossover

Mitsubishi Concept cX first unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show will go into production, the company announced at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The production version will be powered by a 1,8 turbodiesel common rail engine with a maximum power of 136 hp. With a total length of approximately 410 cm, the cX will be the one of the smallest in the segment of the cross-country vehicles (like the Daihatsu Terios or Fiat Sixteen).

The Mitsubishi cX will be a competitor for the Toyota RAV4. Production version is expected to debut in 2009.

Tags: daihatsu, Fiat, Mitsubishi, Toyota

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