USA - Mitsubishi unveils the visually refreshed 16 Model year Lancer Compact Saloon, looks better than ever.

• The 2016 Lancer showcases a new design while boasting enhanced features and technology
• With a starting MSRP of $17,595, the ES trim marks the most comprehensive standard equipment package ever included on an entry-level Lancer

Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) today announced the fun-to-drive 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer, featuring a new design and a standard features list more impressive than before. With a starting MSRP of $17,595, the Lancer is strongly positioned as a value leader in the compact sedan segment.

"The 2016 Lancer not only looks good with its updated styling, but it drives and performs at a level well beyond its value-oriented price point," said MMNA executive vice president, Don Swearingen. 

"The new 2016 Lancer builds upon the legacy of challenging what a compact car can be in terms of design, technology and performance, all at an affordable price."

Beyond its new design, the 2016 Lancer boasts an updated list of standard features at the ES trim level such as FUSE Hands-free Link System®, automatic air condition climate control, fog lights, alloy wheels and new LED daytime running lights, further enhancing the compact sedan's value story. 

The SE trim level features all-wheel control, heated front seats, rearview camera and display audio with HD radio, while the new SEL trim level adds leather seats, rain sensing wipers with auto on/off headlights, auto-dimming mirror and more. 

The GT trim level is even more fun-to-drive with sport-tuned suspension, larger disc brakes, 18 inch two-tone alloy wheels, sunroof and rear spoiler, and is available as a 5-speed manual or with the new generation CVT8. Sportronic Steering wheel paddle shifters are available for the GT trim.

Other additions for the 2016 Lancer include new seat fabrics, a newly designed center console with built-in USB port, and two new colors—Diamond White Pearl and Alloy Silver. 

Mitsubishi's All-Wheel Control system is now more readily available at the lower ES trim level, and a new generation CVT8 transmission improves performance and fuel economy.

Known for its commitment to safety, the Mitsubishi Lancer has been named an IIHS "Top Safety Pick" for seven years running in 2015, and continues its record of excellence with a comprehensive list of safety features/technologies in each Lancer model, such as Mitsubishi Motors advanced Reinforced Impact Safety Evolution (RISE) safety body construction system. 

Additional piece of mind is offered by the brand's industry-leading warranty that includes a fully transferable 5-year/60,000 mile new vehicle limited warranty; 10-year/100,000 mile powertrain limited warranty; 7-year/100,000 mile anti-corrosion perforation limited warranty and a 5-year/unlimited mile roadside assistance.

FIAT Launches all new Saloon, the first in a new range for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

• Conceived from the outset as a three box sedan, it combines harmony and stylistic balance with a highly efficient use of space.
• Italian style and "made in Fiat" technology for a global vehicle, designed in Italy by the FCA Style Centre, developed together with Tofaş R&D in Turkey, and manufactured in the Tofaş plant in Bursa, one of the most innovative industrial sites in the world as proven by its Gold Medal awarded by World Class Manufacturing.
• Hence the name of the project - Fiat Ægea - pays tribute to Turkey, which has always played a strategic role for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and represents a symbolic bridge between East and West.
• On sale from November in Turkey, it will gradually reach over 40 countries of the EMEA region.

A global model for a global brand: Fiat presents its new Compact Sedan, designed in Italy at the FCA Style Centre, developed in Turkey together with Tofaş R&D and manufactured in the Bursa plant to be sold in over 40 countries of the EMEA area. 

Hence the name of the project - Fiat Ægea - which pays tribute to Turkey which has always played a strategic role for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and represents a symbolic bridge between East and West.

For its début, the brand has chosen the Istanbul Motor Show, thus reiterating the importance the Turkish market holds within FCA strategies and sealing the equal share joint venture first begun in 1968 between what was then the Fiat Group and Koç Holding.

It stands to reason that FCA should assign a primary role to this model with which it aims to increase its presence in the EMEA region, as well as reinforcing its unrivalled leadership in the Compact Sedan segment in Turkey, thanks to its excellent interior roominess and load capacity, a very complete range and a style that allows no compromises.

The new Fiat model comes into the world as a unique combination of comfort, efficiency and technology. With the added touch of the exclusive Italian design that delivers a quality project with the proportions of a pure and powerful sedan.

The car will be produced in Turkey in the Tofaş plant in Bursa - one of the best industrial automotive sites in the world as proven by the awarding of the Gold Medal according to the assessment of World Class Manufacturing - and sold at first in Turkey, from next November, and then gradually in the other countries of the EMEA region.

Italian style

Designed in Italy at the FCA Style Centre and developed together with Tofaş R&D, one of FCA's largest research and development centres, the Fiat Ægea project was conceived from the outset as a completely new three volume sedan, created by a team of over 2000 people, who worked on the project during its three year development period.

Often Sedan vehicles are a spin off of the hatchback with a third volume added, which can lead to overall shapes that are not always coherent. The new Fiat car, on the other hand, was "Born to be a Sedan" and therefore features a design project that integrates the various sections by means of natural flowing lines which create a real, uncompromised, vigorous compact sedan.

Seen from the side, a distinctive line runs from the headlights to the rear light clusters and the glazing creates a dynamic appearance conferring an idea of airiness and ample access spaces for driver and passengers. Exclusive Italian style is finely expressed in the rear where the harmoniously proportioned third box hosts bright light cluster surrounds. 

The front end is characterised by a captivatingly shapely bonnet with central ribbing stretching up to the roof to create a continuous line. Similarly, the grille is a single element with the light clusters. Intercalated chrome-effect accents which form an original, unmistakable graphic pattern on which the Fiat logo is proudly sported.

Top in class liveability and load capacity

A perfect marriage of beauty and function, the new Fiat Ægea project knowingly brings together great load capacity and compact dimensions of a sedan 4 and half metres long, 178 centimetres wide and 148 cm high with a wheelbase of 264 cm that heightens its excellent interior space. 

All this is confirmed by the very appreciable size of the passenger compartment, large enough to seat 5 well built passengers comfortably with a load capacity of over 510 litres.

Reliable and fuel-efficient engines

The new Fiat car offers a wide range of power units, all reliable, high performing and economical in terms of fuel consumption and emissions - two Multijet II turbodiesel engines and two petrol ones, with manual or automatic transmission - with power ratings of between 95 and 120 HP.

It is also worth noting that the diesel engines are particularly fuel-efficient: less than 4 litres of diesel fuel for 100 km, comparable to that of a city car like Fiat Panda.

Uconnect ^TM: state-of-the-art technology

In the true Fiat style, the new sedan is provided with a number of ingenious solutions that improve the life of both the driver and the passengers. The proof of this lies in the many standard features and the availability of the Uconnect ^TM system equipped with a 5" colour touch screen, a hands-free Bluetooth system, audio streaming, text reader and voice recognition, AUX and USB ports with iPod integration, steering wheel controls and, on request, a rear parking camera and TomTom sat nav.

Tofaş, a world famous manufacturing centre

The new Fiat Compact Sedan will see the light at the Bursa site where for the past half century Fiat has been building its cars and commercial Fiat Professional vehicles. 

Stretching over a surface area of 934,000 square metres and with an annual production capacity of 400,000 units, the plant currently produces vehicles for the Turkish market and large volume Fiat models for export: these include the Linea, the Qubo, the New Doblò, the Fiorino and the Doblò Cargo.

The Tofaş company employs as many as 6,500 staff, has about 2,000 supplier companies and a distribution network that boasts about 120 sales outlets and 140 service centres in Turkey. 

A paragon of excellence therefore, that is currently the sixth largest company in the country and one of the first three companies in Turkey in terms of its investments in research and development, besides being one of the market leaders with an 11.6% share of the car and commercial vehicle market.

Toyota may approve first Mexico car plant in weeks, reports say

Toyota Motor Corp. is finalizing plans for its first passenger-car assembly plant in Mexico that could be approved by its board as early as next month, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

The plant would make the popular Corolla compact sedan and begin production in 2019. Based on recent investments by rivals, including Volkswagen, a new assembly plant would represent an investment of over $1 billion for Toyota.

A green light for the plant would signal an end to a three-year expansion freeze imposed by President Akio Toyoda, who has blamed aggressive expansion a decade ago for contributing to quality lapses and a 2009 recall crisis.

Toyoda last year asked planners scouting for a site in Mexico to hit “pause” and review the rationale for the project, executives familiar with the matter said then. He urged executives to squeeze more production from existing factories.

Toyota is the last mass-market automaker without a major production hub in Mexico, which has lured car makers and suppliers through its low labor costs and tariff-free access to the U.S., Toyota's largest single market. The automaker has a plant in Mexico's Baja California that produces the Tacoma pickup, but it has no passenger-car plant.

Last year, Mexican officials pitched half a dozen potential sites for a new plant, and Toyota executives have zeroed in on a site in the central state of Guanajuato, two people with knowledge of the deliberations said.

A delegation of Toyota executives recently spent a week in Guanajuato and remain in talks with local government officials over a potential plot of land that would give the automaker a big enough footprint to expand in the future, a source said.

"We are always evaluating our production capacity in Mexico, and in North America generally, to keep it in line with local market demand, but no such decision has been made at this time," Toyota spokesman Itsuki Kurosu told Reuters.

An official at Mexico's economy ministry had no immediate comment on Toyota's plans in the country. A spokesman for Guanajuato's economic development department declined to comment.

The Mexico plant would produce a new generation of the Corolla, which will also be made at a factory in Japan, people with knowledge of the company's plans said.

Toyota said it sold close to 340,000 Corollas last year in the U.S. alone.

Mazda Motor Corp. opened an assembly plant in Guanajuato early last year, which will also produce vehicles for Toyota under an agreement between the automakers. In June last year, Daimler AG and Nissan Motor Co. announced plans to build a new small-car joint-venture plant in Mexico at a cost of $1.4 billion.

The wave of new investment by automakers has brought hundreds of Japanese auto parts suppliers to Mexico over the past few years. Auto production in Mexico doubled to more than 3 million vehicles a year in the five years to 2014.

Toyota's Corolla plant in Blue Springs, Miss., which opened in 2011, was the automaker's most recent assembly plant to come on line in North America.

With production capacity in Mexico, Japanese automakers avoid the risk of a stronger yen cutting into profits on exports and minimize the risk of a disruption to sales from events like the labor dispute that slowed trade through the U.S. West Coast earlier this year.

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Fiat launches Ottima hatchback in China

Fiat S.p.A. started selling its second China-made model, the Ottima compact hatchback, in China last week.

The Ottima is derived from the Viaggio compact sedan, Fiat's first locally produced vehicle, and is priced from 108,800 to 158,800 yuan ($17,740 to $25,890).

The Ottima is 4,545 mm long, 1,850 mm wide and 1,476 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,708 mm.

The car is powered by a 1.4-liter turbocharged engine combined with a five-speed manual or eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.

The Ottima is built at GAC Fiat Automobiles Co., the Italian automaker's joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.

GAC Fiat, established in 2010 in the central China city of Changsha, can produce as many as 140,000 vehicles a year. Last year, the company sold 11,288 vehicles.

GAC Fiat also wants to produce the new Jeep Cherokee in China. But the two partners have yet decide whether to build the Jeep in Changsha or at Guangzhou Auto's assembly plant in the south China city of Guangzhou.