Subaru Impreza, Subaru B4 and Toyota Yaris are the three most reliable used cars in Israel, and the Citroen Xsara is the least reliable – according to data collected by Auto Serve in Israel. The sate refers to vehicles manufactured no later than 2005.

N0 serious survey of the reliability of used cars has ever been conducted in Israel, but some companies can’t depend on just rumors and suggestions. One such firm is Autoserve, which insures second-hand vehicles – a sort of insurance against breakdowns. Monthly premiums billed to customers vary according to the expected reliability of their vehicle.

This time Ford is keeping it simple one car with one name for every market in the world.

Ford unveiled its new Fiesta small car recently.

It goes on sale in Europe this fall, with introductions in Asia, Australia, and North and South America to follow.

The Fiesta nameplate has been a Ford fixture in Europe for more than 30 years, but has not been used in the United States market since 1980.

After losing more than $ 15 billion over the last two years, Ford is planning to follow the Toyota model and cut costs by selling what is essentially the same car in different markets.

It is absolutely imperative that Ford globalize product development in order to compete with the Toyota and Honda of the world, according to auto expert.

The Fiesta was shown as a concept vehicle under the name Verve at recent auto shows in Detroit, Frankfurt and Guangzhou, China. Ford’s chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, said in a recent interview that he expects the automaker to ultimately sell one million of the vehicles annually.

Young people in Japan are forsaking cars for cheaper transport, electronics and other lifestyle goods, forcing the domestic car industry once a talisman of the country’s postwar revival into a long and steady decline.

While the country’s biggest car makers enjoyed a surge in global sales last year, their domestic sales slumped to a 35-year low, partly because of dwindling enthusiasm among financially cautious young people who no longer see cars as a measure of status.

Vehicle sales slid 7.6% to 3.43 million a fall for the fourth straight year. This is the first time this has happened since 1968, when the industry began keeping figures.

Toyota came within 3000 sales of toppling General Motors from its world No.1 position for the first time last year but in Japan its sales fell 6%.

Mitsubishi, which announced the closure of its Australian plant after 27 years of production, enjoyed a 13% rise in global sales for the first nine months of last year over the same period from 2006.

But domestically, it suffered an 11% drop.

Analysts say young men in particular are finding the cost of maintaining a car in Japan where drivers must pay thousands of dollars in check-ups every two years, and where the cost of keeping a car in a parking station can cost hundreds of dollars a week prohibitive. And whereas a set of wheels was once an essential part of a young man’s armory, now he has other ways of conveying status.

“That way of thinking that you need a car to impress people is outdated,” says Oki Takemasa, 29, a computer engineer from Tokyo. He agrees with research by used-car dealership chain Gulliver International that shows young Japanese no longer consider a car essential for dating.

“These days, young people have different priorities: computers, mp3 player’s mobile phones, clothes, rent and education,” says Takemasa uses his bicycle to go shopping and relies on the city’s clockwork train system to get work.

“Most of my friends don’t have cars because they’re too hard to keep in Japan too expensive and too much hassle,” he says. Between 2001 and 2005, the proportion of men in the first half of their 20s without a car rose from one in five to one in three, a Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association survey found. Ownership rates did not change among older generations.

Importing vehicles into New Zealand became that much harder after plans were revealed for even tougher restrictions on new car imports to ensure they comply with current international vehicle emission standards.

Associate Transport Minister Judith Tizard said the Government vehicles must meet the European and Japanese vehicle emission standards within two years of a standards being adopted in those countries.

The draft rule would set out a series of steadily increasing standards that used vehicles would have to meet for entry to New Zealand, and may be ready to be implemented this year.

“In addition higher quality vehicles will also help to improve the fuel economy of the country’s fleet and improve vehicle safety,” Ms Tizard said.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is to give the Prototype-S sport hatchback concept its global debut at the 78^th Geneva International Motor Show which runs from March 4 through March 16 at the Geneva Palexpo exhibition and conference complex (opening to the general public on March 6). Also included in Mitsubishi Motors’ 16-model stand (13 on Press Days) are: the i MiEV (dubbed the i-EV in Europe) and the Lancer Evolution (Lancer Evolution X on the Japanese market). The i MiEV is a new-generation electric vehicle under evaluation for export to international markets and currently undergoing fleet monitoring in Japan; Lancer Evolution is a new-generation high-performance 4WD sedan that allows all drivers to experience enjoy the highest levels of fun-to-drive performance safely and with confidence.