2013 Fiat 500 Abarth 2 Dr Hatch Back (one Owner) on 2040-cars

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European new car sales drop nearly 8% in first half of 2019

PARIS — European car sales dropped 7.9% in June, led by bigger declines for Nissan, Volvo and Fiat Chrysler (FCA), according to industry data published on Wednesday. Registrations fell to 1.49 million cars last month from 1.62 million a year earlier across the European Union and EFTA countries, the Brussels-based Association of European Carmakers said in a statement. Calendar effects resulted in two fewer sales days in most markets, accentuating the decline. Registrations for the first half closed 3.1% lower, ACEA said. For European carmakers, weakening demand at home compounds the pressure from a sharper contraction in China and emerging markets that may yet bring more profit warnings. NissanÂ’s aging model lineup contributed to a 26.6% June sales slump while Volvo Cars, owned by ChinaÂ’s Geely, saw deliveries tumble 21.7%. Registrations also fell 13.5% last month at FCA, 10.1% at BMW, 9.6% at Volkswagen Group and 8.2% for both Mercedes parent Daimler and FranceÂ’s PSA Group. The Peugeot makerÂ’s domestic rival Renault suffered less, posting a 3.9% decline. By the Numbers BMW Chrysler Fiat Nissan Volkswagen Volvo Peugeot Renault

2013 Fiat 500e

A Juice Box With Style And Substance
It happens nearly every day, and as often as not, I'm the guilty party: someone slips an eBay Motors or Craigslist link into the fetid automotive stew that is the Autoblog editors' online chatroom. Typically, it's enough to momentarily derail an otherwise productive dialog about editing a breaking news item or researching an arcane bit of automotive history. Predictably, we've all got our favorites. Once dubbed "Mr. Other Makes" by a former coworker and friend who noticed my penchant for four-wheeled eBay esoterica, I can't help but spend at least a few minutes trawling the online classifieds every night before I go to bed, staring glassy-eyed at some basketcase Bitter SC, Inca-wheeled Saab 99 Turbo, a moonshot Plymouth Road Runner Superbird or resuming my quest to seek out the world's last remaining unmolested first-gen Nissan Sentra SE-R.
Every Autoblog staffer has their peccadilloes, Editor-in-Chief John Neff among them. His classified quests skew toward larger sport sedans that discreetly package big performance. As the former owner of a first-gen Ford Taurus SHO Plus, Neff is a serial viewer of Pontiac G8, Audi S6, Lincoln LS V8 and BMW M5 listings. Yet the current apple of his eye is the 500E. No, not the bubbly electric Fiat shown here that shares its name, but rather the imposing 1991-1994 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, a hand-built V8 monster developed and assembled with Porsche acting as Daimler's skunkworks. A rare car, its values are starting to escalate, a reality that has Neff closer than ever to pulling the trigger.

Marchionne uses racial epithet to describe what must power future Alfa Romeo models

Sergio Marchionne and his Fiat empire have a lot riding on the US return of the Alfa Romeo brand. The endeavor has been in progress for what feels like a lifetime - certainly for as long as Fiat has had the Chrysler brand under its Italian wing.
It's not surprising that Fiat CEO Marchionne needs a perfect first Alfa to mark a return to America. And here's where things get dicey. Nobody would argue with Marchionne's insistence that Alfa Romeo's be powered by Italian engines - as Marchionne himself is quoted to have said at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show, "There are some things that are well done in Italy."
If not what he said, then, it's how he said it that has eyebrows raised. "I cannot come up with a schlock product, I just won't. I won't put an American engine into that car. With all due respect to my American friends, it needs to be a wop engine." Wait, what's that?