Mazda Motors UK announced that its first year as headline sponsor of the London Triathlon, the world’s largest swim-bike-run event, has been a huge success. This year’s event, held on 9 and 10 August at ExCeL in London’s Royal Victoria Dock, was bigger than ever with over 13,000 competitors.

“Mazda wanted to add to the experience of taking part in the Mazda London Triathlon,” explains Mark Cameron, Marketing Director for Mazda. “So we introduced a theme to the event, ‘Heroes’, and created activities as part of that theme, which we hope made the weekend even more memorable for competitors and their families as well as other spectators.”

“We aim to launch our new compact vehicles at 800 things gone wrong per 1,000 vehicles,” said Bennie Fowler, Ford’s group vice president, Global Quality. “That’s more than 500 TGWs less than the predicted industry average — and we believe these levels will ensure our upcoming small cars will achieve industry-best initial quality.”
As part of its product-led transformation, Ford has announced plans to convert three light truck plants to small vehicle production, paving the way to sell several European-designed small vehicles in North America.
Ford said today its Ford Focus compact car built off a global C-car platform will debut in North America in 2010 with best-in-class quality. In addition, Ford expects other small vehicles derived from Ford’s global C-car to achieve similar initial quality levels.

The Volvo museum in the company’s headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden has re-opened after being extensively refurbished and extended with a new restaurant, gift shop and conference centre.

Visitors now enter through an all-glass façade and everywhere the old is contrasted with the new. The museum’s latest acquisition - a huge Volvo VN780 truck built in Virginia - stands side-by-side with the very first Volvo truck, an LV40 that rolled out of the plant in 1928.

The brutal car market isn’t hurting just Detroit’s Big Three automakers. Add Toyota Motor Corp. to the list.

The Japanese giant Thursday reported a 28 percent decline in net income for the first quarter of its fiscal year, having earned $3.2 billion, compared with more than $4.4 billion in the year-earlier period.

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) — Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third- largest automaker, may expand its partnership with Chrysler LLC beyond a current agreement to supply the U.S. company with small cars in exchange for pickups.

“We continue to explore opportunities to work with Chrysler, but have nothing to announce at this point,” Pauline Kee, a Tokyo-based Nissan spokeswoman, said today by phone.

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) — Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus ranked as the most dependable auto brand in the U.S. for a 14th straight year while Ford Motor Co.’s Mercury won back the No. 2 ranking in a study that shows vehicles are becoming more reliable.

Lexus logged just 120 complaints for every 100 vehicles, down from 145 last year, according to the annual Vehicle Dependability Study from J.D. Power & Associates. Mercury tallied 151 reported problems, 17 fewer than last year. The survey tracks consumer complaints for 3-year-old cars and trucks.

DEARBORN, Michigan: Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it will introduce its new blind-spot mirror this fall on the 2009 Ford Edge crossover.

The automaker had planned to bring the mirror to market next year but moved up the date after getting so much positive feedback, said Kelly Kohlstrand, a member of Ford’s advanced product marketing and technology planning team.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 6, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — Pro Motors Group, Corp. (Pink Sheets:PMGU) www.ProMotorsGroupCorp.com announced today its purchase of a brand new Ford Edge from Capistrano Ford for the purpose of installing a Hydro Assist Fuel Cell on a V6 Crossover Utility Vehicle. The Hydro Assist Fuel Cell system has the capacity to increase a vehicle’s fuel efficiency by 30-300%. Pro Motors Group, Corp. previously installed the system on a 2006 standard Ford Fusion which resulted in an average of 55 miles per gallon highway.

Win a 2008 Mazda CX-7 from Delray Mazda!

Enter to win today.

Test Drive the Cx-7 from Mazda, by watching the video on the right. Enter your information into the contest form, and tune in to Fox 29 on August 30.

Fox 29 and Delray Mazda are proud to bring you SEC Football action. Our first matchup will be the Florida Gators vs Hawaii on Saturday August 30, at 12 noon. If any kickoff is returned for a touchdown during this game, one lucky winner will get a brand new Mazda CX-7 from Delray Mazda!

This year the Mazda London Triathlon, the world’s largest swim-bike-run event, sees the new headline sponsor, Mazda Motors UK, aiming to enhance and demonstrate its commitment to the event by introducing new elements for participants and spectators to enjoy.

The event, on 9 and 10 August at ExCeL in Royal Victoria Dock, will include a new Mazda area in this year’s Mazda London Triathlon Expo. Located on the finishing straight of the triathlon race course, this area will feature: