The local distributor of Volvo cars in New Zealand has welcomed the confirmation that Chinese manufacturer Geely has completed the purchase of Volvo from Ford.

Stefan Jacoby, the chief executive of  Volkswagen Group of America, has become president and chief executive officer of Volvo Cars, which has been bought by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd.

The Geely Holding Group, is one of the fastest-growing car manufacturers in China.

“Volvo Cars in New Zealand is delighted by the ownership change,” says Volvo general manager at distributor Motorcorp, Steve Kenchington.

Motorcorp Distributors has seen some chairs being moved around their offices with a shuffle of management across some of their brands.

Mark Paterson has been appointed the general manager for the Renault brand. Paterson had held the same position with Volvo.

Stephen Kenchington has succeeded Mark as the Volvo general manager.

Gary Upson and Paul Ricketts continue as the Land Rover and Jaguar brand managers respectively.

One in ten adults intend to buy a car in the next three months according to a survey released this week.

The Fly Buys 'consumer spending intentions survey' - which asked 1000 adults their buying intentions for August, September or October - says that, overall, Kiwis plan to save more and spend less in coming months.

39% say they are planning to save more than in the previous three months, with one in four (26%) intending to put money either towards a bank term deposit or into Kiwisaver and other superannuation schemes.

Japanese production is improving, according to the latest Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association figures.

Total vehicle production in Japan during June totalled 861,045 units, up 25.9% over June 2009.

Passenger car production - at 739,953 - was up 23.7%. Production of standard size vehicles was up 36%.

Mitsubishi has launched its entrant into the small Kiwi SUV/CUV market, and according to the company the ASX has already caused a stir, with just over 40 retail sales in the first two weeks on sale in New Zealand.

This, according to Mitsubishi head of sales & marketing strategy, Daniel Cook, is something that he has not seen in his nine years with the company: “We’ve had people coming into the dealerships to pick up their ASX’s as soon as they get a call from the dealer.”

Certainly there’s been plenty of hype surrounding the ASX, which Mitsubishi New Zealand first revealed several months ago as part of a campaign to raise early awareness of the vehicle.

Private buyers and the popularity of SUVs has made for a healthy market across the ditch.

Official VFACTS data released by the Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) showed that 82,376 passenger cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles were sold in July, up 9.3%(or 7043 vehicles) on the same month in 2009.

“This is a very solid result for July with the start of the new financial year usually resulting in slower sales,” FCAI chief executive  Andrew McKellar says.

Earlier this week we ran a blog from Graeme Macdonald in which he took exception to an item run on last weeks Fair Go. The reporter concerned, Gordon Harcourt, read the piece and asked for the opportunity to respond.

The following is that response. Click here for more from Macdonald on the issue.

We get some silly emails at Fair Go.  My favourite – by a long shot – is the bloke who complained about his broken dishwasher.

Because of its “unbeatable cleaning power” he’d tried using Caltex Techron petrol in his dishwasher.  No, I’m serious – I talked to this guy.  He asked “do I have a valid case against the fuel companies for false advertising?”  Um, that would be “NO”.

However, my dishwasher man now has a rival.  It’s not as funny, but seems to come from a similar planet.  It’s Graeme Macdonald’s recent post on AutoTalk, wittily entitled “Fair Go issue a lemon”.  Well, I guess we invited the lame puns.  The lame content was a surprise.