A rendering of the Ssangyong TivoliSsangyong Motor on Tuesday unveiled the name of its all-new compact sport-utility vehicle, the Tivoli, pledging to make the new car a game-changer in the crowded segment. According to the carmaker, the name Tivoli originates from an Italian resort town some 30 kilometers east of Rome. It also comes from Tivoli Gardens, a theme park located in downtown Copenhagen, Denmark. “It is a famous story that Walt Disney was largely inspired by the Danish theme park befor

U.S. plant supplies 50 percent of energy using landfill gas, saves $5 million per year

Ford Motor Co. said its aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup will get as much as 29 percent better fuel economy than its mostly steel predecessor as the automaker gambles with a new design for its top-selling and most profitable model.When equipped with a 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine, the truck has an estimated fuel economy of 26 miles per gallon on the highway and 19 in the city, Raj Nair, Ford’s product-development chief, said yesterday. Production began earlier this month at Ford’s Rouge factory and it’

LOS ANGELES ― Kia Motors’ U.S. sales chief Wednesday expressed confidence in selling the carmaker’s first luxury sedan, the K900, despite its lukewarm sales over the past year since its debut. “There is a market for the $60,000 Kia car in the U.S.,” said Michael Sprague, executive vice president of sales and marketing of Kia Motors America, at the carmaker’s exhibition booth at the LA Auto Show. “There is a niche market for people who don’t want traditional German and American luxury cars and ar

LOS ANGELES ― Having led the successful debut of the i Series over the past year, BMW sales chief Ian Robertson on Wednesday stressed that sheer driving pleasure will remain the core of the German luxury brand even in the era of electric mobility. “The easiest way to improve CO2 emissions is reducing horsepower, but that wouldn’t be for BMW,” he said in an interview with a group of international reporters on the sideline of the LA Auto Show that kicked off Tuesday. “Concepts like sheer driving p

Mercedes-Benz is reviving the Maybach name for a second time to challenge Rolls-Royce and Bentley for the world’s wealthiest auto buyers.Maybach, a 1930s-era marque, will become the ultraluxury sub-brand of Mercedes, offering more spacious and opulent adaptations of cars like the S-Class sedan. The first vehicle in the rollout will debut later this month.“The customer gets the best our house has to offer,” Ola Kaellenius, sales chief of the Daimler AG unit, said at an event Saturday near Stuttga

Shopping for a car isn’t easy, even for Porsche 911 buyers. The cornerstone of the brand’s lineup comes in 22 variants ― more than its paint options ― and Porsche isn’t alone in offering a plethora of choice.Some BMW AG crossovers and Audi coupes differ by inches, as automakers invent new niches and mix existing body styles at an unprecedented pace. German carmakers alone have expanded their lineups by about 25 percent in the past three years and now offer more than 200 models.That growth may st

Best-selling crossover boasts European look and feel

Three vehicles of same model to be tested for better accuracy

Japanese carmaker to see a record 4,500 unit sales in Korea this year

CEO offers positive 2015 outlook despite costlier labor, falling exports and tighter emissions controls