NHTSA Announces 2009's Most Stolen Vehicles, Audi S8 Tops the List, Sort Of...

An Audi S8 is a rare sight indeed in the U.S.A. Yet the A8 range-topper is also on top of the list in NHTSA’s recently published theft report for 2009.

As they say, there are lies, greater lies, and statistics: the S8’s number one position is somewhat misleading, however, since only two of the 227 cars that were sold that year were actually stolen. Statistically, though, this figure represents a theft rate of 8.8106 per 1,000 vehicles sold.

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Ford’s Reliability Suffers in Consumer Reports Survey, Japanese Brands Rule and Europeans are a Mixed Bag

Consumer Reports has published its 2011 annual auto survey in which the main point of interest, as the report states, is a sharp decline in Ford’s so far “solid reliability record”: the Detroit carmaker dropped 10 places in the overall reliability ranks.

According to CR's survey, which is based on responses from 1.3 million vehicles owners, Ford’s drop from 10th to 20th place among 28 carmakers can be attributed to two main factors. The first is that all three of Ford’s new models, i.e. the Explorer, Fiesta and Focus, scored below average in reliability in their first year on the market.

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Volvo Takes Pride in Reducing its CO2 Emissions the Most Among European Manufacturers

According to the data collected from the European Federation for Transport and Environment for its annual analysis, the European car manufacturer that has managed the greatest reduction in average CO2 emissions across its range in 2010 is Volvo.

The study shows that last year, Europe’s eight biggest automakers reduced their average CO2 emissions by 2 to 6 percent. Volvo, on the other hand, managed a 9 percent reduction topping the relative charts thanks to models such as the 99 g/km V50 DRIVe and the 119 g/km V70 DRIVe.

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Toyota Maintains World’s Number One Spot in Global Value Report

Toyota may have lost the first place in global sales to GM, one of the reasons being the lack of supply after the March earthquake, and it has seen the VW Group relegating to third place, but it still has a number one position to brag about.

Branding consultancy Interbrand has placed the Japanese carmaker in the top spot among carmakers, and sixth overall, in its latest global value report that was released today.

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