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Iran says its production of automobiles has already seen an increase of around 40 percent over a period of 11 months starting 21 March 2016 compared to the same period last year. Iran says its production of automobiles has already seen an increase of around 40 percent over a period of 11 months starting 21 March 2016 compared to the same period in the previous year.  The announcement was made by Mansour Moazzami, the board chairman of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO) which is the operational arm of Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade. Moazzami did not provide a figure on the number of automobiles that have been produced over the period. However, he said Iran’s total production of automobiles would reach to as high as 1.3 million by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (20 March 2017).  Iran is the Middle East’s largest auto market with a population of 80 million. The automobile industry is seen as Iran’s biggest non-oil sector, accounti

The  Bugatti   Chiron  is being readied for roll-out after a year spent showcasing the hypercar at events around the world, following its launch at the  Geneva motor show  last March. Customers will receive the first cars by next month. Around 70 examples are expected to be made in Bugatti’s so-called Atelier this year — 14% of the production run of 500 models overall. The French car maker, owned by the Volkswagen Group, says the process of making a Chiron to delivering it takes between six and nine months. Each €2.4 million (£2m) 1479bhp supercar, which can reach 62mph in less than 2.5sec and hit 261mph, is assembled by 20 employees by hand using more than 1800 parts. Bugatti claims its Molsheim facility has been “extensively modified” to take account of the car’s higher performance over the  Veyron  and the “generally more complex nature of the new product and its production process”. Here, in pictures, are the production process highlights. The Chiron is built in Bugatti’s ‘At

Long-range all-electric SUV will arrive in 2018 to spearhead Audi’s new EV offensive The 2015 Audi e-tron quattro concept previewed Audi's first dedicated EV model by  Mark Tisshaw Audi ’s first all-electric model, the e-tron SUV, will go on sale next year with a range of more than 310 miles.  A senior Audi executive claims this will be “the first real premium manufacturer doing a premium electric SUV”, even though  Jaguar’s I-Pace  is also due next year. Audi sales and marketing boss Dietmar Voggenreiter said at the recent Detroit motor show that the e-tron project is on track. He confirmed that the e-tron is an SUV sized between the  Q5  and  Q7 , but closer to the Q5, and it is closely related to the e-tron concept from the  2015 Frankfurt show . “That concept is quite close to the series production car,” he added.  Voggenreiter confirmed that the e-tron will be built on a development of the electrified platform Porsche is using for its  Mission E electric saloon .  V

 6 OF THE 14 corners of Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo, the scariest is the hard left-hander at the end of the half-mile straightaway. That’s because by the time you hit it, you’ve had the space to accumulate a triple-digit velocity, and for me, the time to worry about how to drop enough speed and make the turn without losing control of a half-million dollar supercar. The  2017 Aventador S  produces all the skin-tickling sounds and riotous thrust you expect from a  Lamborghini . But this revised version of Sant’Agata Bolognese’s current flagship, which starts at $421,350, promises more than  Sturm und Drang . Lamborghini built this car to make you race through that corner, and love doing it. More Everything Take that corner at speed in the first generation Aventador, which launched in 2011, and anything can happen. That car paired Lamborghini’s trademark alien looks with parent company Audi’s left-brain innovation, but was also prone to imbalanced handling and unders

Compact SUV confirmed as the first model in an all-new Volvo 40-series family by  Mark Tisshaw Volvo ’s crucial new  XC40 compact SUV  will be launched this autumn, R&D boss Henrik Green has confirmed. Speaking to Autocar at the  Detroit motor show , Green said the XC40 will be the first model to use Volvo’s CMA architecture and the base development work of the car has been completed. “There’s a big chance it’ll be one of the most successful cars in our line-up,” he said. The family of 40-series models, which is also set to be sold in the US, will represent “a significant part of growth in the next three to four years”, said Green. The XC40, which will rival the  BMW X1  and  Audi Q3  in the competitive and rapidly growing compact SUV segment, was previewed last year by the Concept 40.1, along with another potential 40-series model, the Concept 40.2 saloon. A V40 replacement will also be spun off the CMA platform, which Volvo has co-developed with Geely, its Chinese parent