Where To For Mazda From Here?

Mazda has always been a relatively small player in the Japanese car industry. Most of its cars are made in Japan, beneficial with the Yen always cleverly undervalued. It has had to be a little different, even quirky, to get noticed. The rotary engine is a classic example of that. For the last three decades, Ford has owned up to a third of Mazda in a tie up beneficial for both car makers.

Jaguar vs Lexus

Here are two makers of quality vehicles. Both are at the top of reliability studies and Jaguar in particular top of customer satisfaction surveys. The ranges are similar, so in many ways appeal to similar customers.




Lexus (apparently meaning Luxury Export US) gives the idea of what the marque was all about, the USA. Indeed, it sells very well there; otherwise popularity is muted. Which is a

Finding A JLR Dealer In NZ

I thought I would check out the Jaguar and Land Rover dealers in New Zealand.



I 'Googled' Jaguar and up came this at: http://tiny.cc/uxj4kw

There we see at a glance that there are eight dealers, seven in the North Island and one in the South Island. A person could decide which one was the best one for their location.

I did the same for Land Rover. I couldn't find anything, so I added the

Jaguar F-Type Photos Released

 Jaguar needs to expand its range of cars. It is doing just that with the new F-Type, bringing the range to four models. That is a minimal offering in today's market, but at least Jaguar is going in the right direction. It will slot below the current XK sports car. The F-Type will be relatively cheap, and bring new buyers to the Jaguar marque.

Some say it is the equivalent to the E-Type, but

Are You Confused By All The MINI Variants?

I have to say that German car makers know a thing or two about niche segments. They get models into every cranny they can find, then invent new ones to cram new variants into. It can get confusing. The original Mini had different models but the BMW MINI of the 21st century is getting so many different variations, perhaps a clarification is in order:

In 2001, the basic hatch model arrived, in One

Should PSA & Mitsubishi Cosy Up?

PSA (Peuget/Citroen) are not doing well. Factories underutilised, share prices crashing and sales well down. Meanwhile Mitsubishi sales are also quite weak, with the brand surely possessing the worst range of cars of any car maker in the developed world. I mean you wouldn't buy a new Mitsubishi car, would you? I didn't think so. The SUVs/Pick Up they make are better, but still outclassed.

Ford Focus TDCi vs Hyundai i30 CRDi

I have in front of me the 09/12 copy of NZ Autocar. It did a comparison between the above mentioned hatchback diesel motored cars. Now I am not one to refer to magazine articles, but the result was striking. Before I read any 'head to head', I pick the likely winner, then see if it's as I thought. This time I decided on a narrow win to the Ford. However, while I was correct about the result, the

The Jaguar S-Type History

The S-Type was built between 1999 and 2007 (some say 2008). Was it successful? I don’t really know if it was, but I think production figures were modest. I liked the look of it, somewhat retro but classy. The only part I didn’t really like was the rear end treatment. In 2002, a supercharged R version was released, which gave it some needed power as it was quite a heavy car by all accounts. To

Car Workers Told To Stay At Home

In Europe, car workers have a vacation in August, and usually return to meet orders and bolster supply. For some workers not this year. They are being told to continue their break and expect production cuts for the foreseeable future as well. This affects Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Renault Ford and General Motors plants. All these brands make volume brands, not premium marques.

The problem(s):