Canada is not normally a country that enters in to conflict, but we are now seeing a battle starting to emerge. Toyota Canada Inc. has now taken the fight to Honda Canada Inc. in their battle with its new 2010 hybrid cars. We recently reported that the 2010 Toyota Prius was primed for big sales, and the news that the Prius has outsold Honda’s latest insight by 350 to 85 in June proves just that.

Toyota is trying to maintain its leadership in the hybrid market against the new Insight, which is seen as its biggest challenge. Looking at these figures thanks to The Globe and Mail, it looks as though Toyota has no worries with its sales of the Prius, in Canada anyway.

Honda has been working hard with a major redesigned of its Hybrid vehicle, in the hope of taking the fight to Toyota’s hybrid vehicle. Since the 2010 Honda went on sale in April this year, the vehicle has not managed to reach Honda’s expectations.

Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of Audi; August Horch had founded the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH company 100 years ago in Zwickau, Germany. Horch had left his company Horch & Cie. Motorwagen Werke after a dispute with the supervisory board.

Horch did not spend too long waiting around; he renamed his company with a variation of his last name, which translates to Audi in Latin, coming up with Audi Automobilwerke. Audi certainly had some great cars on the roads all those years ago; one of the most memorable has to be the 1919 Type C.

Back in 1921, Audi showed that they could be a trendsetter, coming up with its first left-hand drive car, the Audi 14/50 hp Type K. Then in 1928, Audiwerke AG became part of the DKW family and in 1931 developed the small front-wheel drive DKW car.

100 years ago, Audi were showing their innovations of to the autoworld, things have not changed in 2009. The German automaker is now laying the groundwork for an entirely new line and a new way of developing them.

Read the brief history of Audi by visiting GlobalPost

Bob LutzGeneral Motors Co. marketing chief seems to have changed his mind yesterday, following this announcement that the automaker would not continue to build the Pontiac G8 sedan. Lutz said that GM would turn it the sedan into a Chevrolet.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Lutz had said on Monday that they will be phasing out the Pontiac brand, but they would still offer the rear-wheel drive car, but under the Chevrolet Caprice. This is just the latest move that GM have made as part of its restructuring plan.

Since then, Frederick “Fritz” Henderson, the GM Chief Executive has said that this move is unlikely. This reversal shows that Henderson has not been able to get GM to run as smoothly as he had hoped. Henderson took over from former CEO Rick Wagoner, who has now received a pension package worth $8.6m.

Following on from Nissan’s launch of its new Dual Injector System, Nissan has said that they are now planning to sell hybrid vehicles with its own technology in Japan in 2011. Nikkei English News have reported this news, but have not offered who their source of information was, so it is not certain how much truth there is in the story.

The article states that they expect the hybrid vehicle to be based on its Serena minivan, if this is true, then Nissan is all set to end its partnership with Toyota Motor Corp. Nissan was using Toyota Motor Corp. hybrid technology up until now.

Update: Upon further investigation, we have found that Reuters have also been reporting this story. Reuters did add that by Nissan coming into the Hybrid market years after Toyota and Honda, it will put the automaker at a huge disadvantage.

Nissan have been very busy of late, they recently announced the launch of its new

Tata Motors has made the decision to cut 300 jobs at Jaguar as well as killing off the X-Type. This is the latest in a line of layoffs for the automaker. These layoffs for Jaguar Land Rover will affect its Halewood factory, the news of the job cuts and the killing of the baby Jag will come as a huge shock to the industry.

Tata Motors is blaming its decision on the current weakness in the market, which still shows no signs of recovery. Along with the layoffs, between September and December, the Merseyside plant will have three weeks of non-production.

JLR chief executive, David Smith said that this move was vital so that they could protect their other investment plans. Jaguar Land Rover sales have dropped 28 percent since September and a loss of 2,200 jobs. JLR had hoped to get help from the UK government, but according to Business Week, Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson has said that the help should come from parent company Tata Motors.

Rick Wagoner, the former CEO of General Motors (GM) has now received a pension package worth $8.6m (£5.2m); this was part of his deal after being fired by the Obama administration back in March. This deal took a while to negotiate; we wonder if Wagoner will be happy with the amount?

The Guardian reports that Wagoner will receive $1.64m annually for the first five years of his retirement, then he will then receive $74,030 yearly. Some may say that this is a small entitlement as Wagnor has been with the company for 32 years.

Pension deals usually come with a range frills from large companies, but this case is a little different, he will not even get a free car from General Motors. Fritz Henderson has now replaced Rick Wagoner, he has already started to make some deep cuts within the company. These cuts are needed if GM has any hope of working their way out of bankruptcy.

Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche Chief Executive has said that he will continue to fulfill his contract with the German automaker. According to The Wall Street Journal, he is very happy in his role; his contract will run until 2012.

After being asked if he would voluntarily step down at CEO of Porsche, Wiedeking did comment, asking why anyone would want to step down if they still have a few years left to run on their contract.

Christian Wulff, the Lower Saxony Governor has said that a decision will be made as to the fate of both Volkswagen AG and Porsche. This decision will be made in Stuttgart on Thursday night.

Both German automakers, Porsche and Volkswagen have wanted to build an integrated car company since May 2009, but that deal was halted. As you would expect something like this has been meet with a huge power struggle behind the scenes. We now wonder if we will see an end to all this in fighting come next Thursday.

AutoBlog have been talking about the moment that they took a vehicle back after reviewing it; often they see another vehicle that catches their eye. This was the case when they saw the 2010 Camaro 2LT RS, this model is different to the older model that they reviewed, as this has, the new OEM accessory ground effects package, along with 21-inch two-tone wheels.

The first thing that AutoBlog thought was, how ridiculous the car looked as the dubs+1 hoops looked a little on the large side and the fact that the body kit was not color coded. AutoBlog thought that they would call General Motors up, just to take the car out for a test drive.

AutoBlog has now spent a week with the new 2010 Chevy Camaro RS, which you can read the review of here. The website has also been running a poll, asking Hot - It looks better with the accessories, Not - It looks worse with the accessories and Undecided. The top answered at this moment is Hot - It looks better with the accessories.

The best model so far has to be the Chevy Bumblebee Camaro.

Much has been spoken about the new 2010 Acura RDX, but now AutoBlog is reporting at what they believe are the first shots of the new vehicle. If these photos are in fact genuine, then you will see that the 2010 Acura RDX features the controversial corporate shield-shaped grille.

There are a number of other changes, some of which include a restyled nose, bumper air inlets, reshaped fog lights and much more. The rear of the car sees hexagonal exhaust outlets and a new more aggressive rear bumper fascia, this helps to set off the new exhausts.

The new 2010 Acura RDX will also get some new features mechanically, such as a new two-wheel drive version. This should offer greater fuel-efficient compared to the All-Wheel Drive model. The new car is also expected to weigh around 200 pounds less.

For more information and to view the photos, visit AutoBlog

According to reports from Reuters, Chrysler Financial has become the first auto company in the U.S. to pay back its loan of $1.5 billion, which they had received from the U.S. Department of Treasury. The loan, which was taken out in January, was to help the company fund vehicle loans, as well as offer incentive programs to Chrysler customers.

Chrysler Financial, previously the lending arm of Chrysler received this loan as part of its bailout package, in the hope of providing incentives and consumer loans. Chrysler Financial now looks to GMAC to provide loans to finance inventory for Chrysler dealers.

These recent changes have left Chrysler Financial with a reduction in its scope of operations. The company, now owned by Cerberus Capital Management will continue to offer insurance to dealerships, as well as alternative financing for those who wish to purchase a new vehicle.

We all know that the internal combustion engine is not doing the environment any good, but there is still a lot of life in the old polluting engine. It is no secret that electric cars are the future, but for now, we have to make do with what we have. This has lead Nissan to try to improve the efficiency of its engines, and the new Dual Injector System is a step in the right direction.

This latest improvement for the ICE will offer an increase in fuel millage, by at least 4 percent. This does not sound a lot, but 4 percent is a huge amount from just one advancement. AutoBlog explains that this new Dual Injector System splits the fuel that is injected through twin intake ports. As a result, the diameter of fuel droplets are reduced by up to 60 percent, this helps to improve vaporization.

Nissan are also reporting that this new system cost 60 percent less compared to standard direct injection technology. This system also means that there is a 50% reduction in the rare precious metals used in the catalytic converter.

Honda’s new president Takanobu Ito has announced that he will draw upon the legacy of Honda’s founder to try to ride the current storm in the auto industry; he will do this while trying to offer an aggressive strategy with its hybrid green technology.

The founder, Soichiro Honda was known for his love of cars as well as his boyish personality; sadly, he passed away in 1991. Ito has stated that Honda is to speed up its hybrid vehicle plans, the next vehicle is to be its CR-Z sporty hybrid, this should be released in February 2010 in Japan.

Honda also has plans for a Hybrid Fit subcompact before the end of 2010. Honda are also in the planning stages of offering a CR-Z for the North American and European markets, but it is not known if there will be hybrid versions for these reasons.

Source

BMW have only been making the new Mini since 2001 and already they have introduced some great models, such as this sexy convertible version. BMW are also working on yet another new model, a Cooper Crossover, which has been spotted by KGP Photography in the deserts of California.

AutoBlog inform us that there are two prototypes, and despite Cooper’s efforts to try to disguise these Mini’s, we can clearly see that it is a small soft roader. Looking closely at the two vehicles, they do not have the same front end.

There is a good reason for this, one is turbocharged and the other is naturally aspirated. The Cooper Crossover prototype that is running behind has a standard Mini grille as well as horizontal slats and those distinctive fog lights on each corner.

The Mini prototype in front has a newly designed mesh grille and you can clearly see that its air intake is lower with two inlets.

View all the images over at AutoBlog

We can now tell you that the new 2010 Jaguar XJ has now been revealed, and as you can see, it has borrowed a number of the design features from the XF. The difference with the all-new XJ is that it has been designed from that sexy C-XF concept and not the production model of the XF.

The 2010 Jaguar XJ is a huge departure from previous XJ designs and that is a good thing, as that model was starting to look old and it needed something new injected into it. The older XJ design was just seven years old, but looks about 15.

AutoBlog have a number of videos, nine in total. These cover many aspects, such as general driving and those sexy beauty shots that we all know and love. There is also video footage of the interior as well as an interview with top Jaguar exec, Ian Callum.

View all nine videos here.

Recent sales figures of the Lexus IS250 C and IS350 C convertibles have given the Japanese carmaker great optimism. As a result, Lexus is thinking of offering a convertible version of its IS F sports sedan. This is according to reports from Wards Automotive.

Wards also states that models of the IS250 C and IS350 C folding hardtop convertibles are selling faster than Toyota can make them. The automaker has now told the Kyushu plant to increase production to 1,200 units per month.

Scott Wracher, general manager of Lexus in the eastern area has said that 85 percent of the convertible IS models will offer 204hp from its 2.5-liter V6. Just 15 percent will have the more powerful 306hp 3.5-liter V6 engine.

Prices start from $38,480 for the 250C with manual transmission and $43,940 for the IS 350 C with auto transmission.

Volkswagen are set to concentrate on building new electric vehicles, the first step was to work up a deal worth 10 million Euros with Karmann GmbH to keep the company alive by reorganizing it into a new company. AutoBlog explains that this is according to reports from Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.

In another report, it states that this new electric vehicle deal is worth 20 million Euros and these cars should go on sale by 2011. Earlier this year, Karmann gave us a sneak peak at its EV concept, which they called the E3 Limosine.

One of the most popular electric vehilces at the moment is the Peapod, get more details here
Oldenburg Energy Group (EWE) helped co-develop the vehicle; Karmann added that they would help to build some parts DuraCar’s Quicc! DiVas EVs. Once we no more on this new EV, we will give you an update.

Ever since I can remember, the Ford F-150 has been the best-selling light-duty pickup truck in the U.S. However, looking at the recent J.D. Power Information Network, it looks as though General Motors have sold more of its Chevy Silverado 1500 pickups.

PickupTrucks.com explains that 119,959 GM Chevy Silverado 1500’s was sold compared to 107,778 Ford F-150’s. There are no details as to which models have been sold, this is because Ford have always added sales of all its F-Series together to lay claim to the best selling pickup.

All three American automakers improved its sales of pickups against Nissan and Toyota. The latter had the worse sales with its Tundra; sales fell from 76,516 to just 36,106 units by the end of July 2009. For a full breakdown of full-size truck sales, click here

Way back in February, AutoBlog reported that there was to be a production version of the Hyundai Veloster, it was thought that the new vehicle would hit the market around late 2011 or early 2012. It was hoped that the new vehicle would offer us a newer insight into the classic Honda CRX, and the Hyundai CEO looks to have done just that.

John Krafcik, Hyundai of America’s President and CEO has said that the final production model of the Veloster will look 70% to 80% like the concept model, which we first say back in 2007, at the LA Auto Show. The new car will be much smaller than the Genesis Coupe (read review) and the Kia Forte.

The Hyundai Veloster will come with a 1.6-liter engine with direct injection, offering 140hp and giving you 40 miles per gallon. Inside Line did ask Krafcik if Veloster will be the final name, he said either that or Tiburon.

According to reports from Autocar, MG Rover directors have slammed the government in a recent statement after they had launched a Serious Fraud Office investigation following the collapse of the company. Lord Mandelson had ordered the investigation, following a four-year report into the collapse of MG Rover; the cost of the report was $16 million.

According to Autocar, the statement from MG Rover directors said that they were mystified as at no stage during the four year investigation had there been any suggestion that MG Rover had been involved in “fraud or criminal activity of any kind.”

PWC, who were the MG Rover administrators and the National Audit Office, carried out an investigation into the company’s affairs, and they both reached the conclusion that there had been no evidence of any wrongdoing.

Brammo launched its new Enertia electric motorcycle a few days ago, the motorcycle is not being sold at dealership. Although this makes for an interesting story, it is the stats of the bike that is grabbing all of the attention, and for good reason.

The Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle comes with an 18 horsepower electric motor and pushes it to an astonishing 55mph; a three-hour charge offers a range of 45 miles. Coolhunting explains that this is the first feasible electric motorcycle with zero emissions.

This electric motorcycle is designed as an entry-level two-wheeled vehicle, made from lightweight extruded aluminum it weighs just 280 pounds. These makes it ideal for inexperienced and expert riders, but remember to plan your route, you do not want to run out of charge.

The Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle has a price of $12,000. If that is too expensive, then how about an electric scooter instead.