VW eyes Toyota's top spot after choosing global sales head

VW completed its long search for a top sales executive. Christian Klingler will be VW's chief salesman responsible for driving volumes, boosting customer loyalty and attracting new buyers as the group pushes aggressively to overtake Toyota as the world's biggest carmaker by 2018. Nov. 20 18:46 CET

VW board approves details on Porsche tie-up

VW said its supervisory board approved final details of a 49.9 percent stake in sports car maker Porsche AG and an eventual tie-up with Porsche's parent company. Nov. 20 06:01 CET   

VW to open new car plant at Karmann site

VW said today it will establish a new car manufacturing unit at a Karmann factory in Germany. VW said it will begin vehicle production in Osnabrueck in 2011, creating mor ...

VW appoints Stadler as board member; Klingler to head sales

VW has appointed Audi CEO Rupert Stadler and VW brand sales chief Christian Klingler to its management board. Klingler will become head of VW group sales replacing Detlef ...

Volkswagen to invest 19.9B euros in 2010 to 2012

VW plans automotive capital expenditure of around 19.9 billion euros ($29.55 billion) in the coming three years, half of it in Germany alone, VW said. Roughly 13. ...

VW to export Polo to UK from South Africa

VW will export right-hand drive models of its new Polo to the UK, Ireland and other global markets from its South African plant. VW plans to almost double South African c ...

GM will present Opel restructuring plan in December, Reilly says

GM will present a new viability plan for Opel in December as it aims to reduce capacity across Europe, GM Europe boss Nick Reilly said on Thursday. ...

UK scrappage bonus fails to help local car production

The UK's scrappage incentive doesn't appear to be helping the country's domestic car producers as many buyers are using the bonus to buy foreign-made models. While Britis ...

Former Fiat exec will revive iconic De Tomaso sports car brand

Italian businessman Gian Mario Rossignolo plans to revive the De Tomaso sportscar brand. The former Fiat executive aims to build 8,000 De Tomaso cars a year in a former P ...

China's Geely says it will keep Volvo production in Europe

Geely has told unions that it will keep Volvo production in Europe if it buys the Swedish carmaker. Union leaders at the Ford Motor Co. unit held their first talks with t ...

Volkswagen seeks to steer clear of job cuts

VW raised hopes that the 90,000 workers in its high-wage western German plants could extend their job guarantees a further three years until 2014. VW wants to be able to ...

Ricardo sees lower H1 trading; strong H2 orders

Ricardo said it still anticipates lower H1 trading, but expected a strong order book to help it return to normal levels in H2. Ricardo expects increased orders in the new ...

Ford, Geely hold talks in Sweden on Volvo sale

Geely's management team are in Sweden this week to discuss the company's bid for Volvo. A tough issue is the transfer of Volvo's intellectual property rights. ...

BMW will be partner for 2012 London Olympics

BMW became the latest Tier One partner for the London Olympics on Wednesday, joining an impressive list of major companies already signed up by the 2012 organizing commit ...

EU to host talks with GM, ministers over Opel’s future

The EU has invited GM and European ministers to meet in Brussels next Monday to discuss the future of Opel factories in Europe. GM wants to reduce its production across E ...

Conti plans 1B euro share issue due in January

Continental is poised to issue new shares worth about 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in January to reduce debt taken on for acquisitions. The capital increase will be les ...

Search underway for Ratan Tata's successor

India's Tata conglomerate is looking for a successor to Ratan Tata, the 71-year-old chairman of the sprawling salt-to-automaker group. Local and foreign candidates are be ...

Toyota's 15-month slump ends; October global sales up 5%

Toyota Motor Corp.'s global vehicle sales rose 5 percent in October to about 640,000 units, marking the first year-on-year increase in 15 months, the world's biggest auto ...

Hyundai Motor to sell stake in Hyundai Mobis

Hyundai Motor Co. is planning to sell its stake in partsmaking affiliate Hyundai Mobis, worth 231 billion won ($200 million), to comply with anti-trust rules, the carmake ...

Dealer group D'Ieteren ups full-year profit forecast

Belgium's largest car distributor, D'Ieteren, raised its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday after the decline of auto sales eased in the third quarter and windshield ...

GREEN CARS
Norwegian EV maker Think to open plant in U.S.

Norwegian electric car maker Think Global is preparing to launch its vehicles in the United States and has picked a site in Indiana for its U.S. manufacturing facility, a ...

GM says up to 10,000 jobs at risk in Europe revamp

GM could cut up to 10,000 jobs as part of its European restructuring plan and hopes to finalize the details within three weeks, Nick Reilly, interim head of GM's European ...

Fiat Doblo to help Chrysler battle Ford in U.S.

Chrysler's new Ram brand will sell a version of the new Fiat Doblo compact van in the U.S. The Fiat-sourced Ram van will go up against Ford's Transit Connect, which Ford ...

NHTSA probes Ford minivans over transmissions

Federal safety officials are investigating hundreds of complaints that 2004-05 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans have defective transmissions that can cause the ...

Ford stock hits 2-year high on Soros investment

Ford Motor Co. stock today reached a new two-year high after disclosures that billionaire investor George Soros' hedge fund bought a 7.3 million-share stake in the automa ...

Auto business still GMAC's priority, new chief says

The boardroom shake-up at GMAC Financial Services still leaves the company on course to become a broad-based financial services company serving dealers of all makes. ...

VW set to OK Porsche contracts, sources say

VW's supervisory board is set to approve on Thursday contracts drafted for a merger with indebted Porsche Automobile Holding SE and the partial acquisition of Porsche's ...

Autoliv CEO says Q4 production holding up

Autoliv Inc. said on Tuesday that vehicle production volumes thus far into fourth quarter have held up well. "We have not seen any deterioration in (vehicle) production v ...

Volvo keeps tech rights as part of Geely deal, paper reports

Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo car unit will retain the rights for its licensed technologies, while its Chinese bidder Geely will be allowed to use the technologies, a Geely spok ...

Ford Fusion named Motor Trend 2010 car of year

Ford Motor Co.'s Fusion mid-size sedan today was named Motor Trend magazine's 2010 "car of the year," adding to the perception that changes to the No. 2 U.S. autom ...

Chrysler wins tax break for possible engine plant reopening

Chrysler Group is deciding whether to produce 1.4-liter Fiat-based engines in its unused plant in Dundee, Mich., or in Saltillo, Mexico -- and a Michigan state board vote ...

Hyundai sees 10% mpg gain from its first direct-injection engine

Hyundai Motor Co. today unveiled its first direct-injection gasoline engine, saying it delivers more power with a 10 percent improvement in fuel economy. The 2.4-liter en ...

Acquisition part of A Raymond's diversification plans

Last week's acquisition of Ohio-based metal fastener and stamping supplier Tinnerman Palnut Engineered Products Inc. by French plastic fastener supplier A Raymond Inc. wa ...

Daimler demand leads to job cuts at supplier

Belgian foam maker Recticel said on Tuesday that one of the reasons it would cut 110 jobs at its plant in Wetteren, Belgium, and shift some production to Germany was to m ...

Aabar mulls upping Daimler stake to 15%

Daimler's largest shareholder, Aabar, wants to increase its 9.1 percent stake in the German carmaker to 15 percent after teaming up to jointly acquire a majority of Formu ...

COMMENTARY
Chances dwindle for Chinese companies to buy foreign auto brands

Other Chinese automakers might be keen to follow Geely in bidding for a world-class brand and its technology to up their game in the global market. ...

Autoliv buys Delphi assets; boosts lead in airbags

Autoliv Inc. said on Tuesday it would buy the North American airbag, seat belt and steering wheel assets of U.S. parts supplier Delphi for an undisclosed sum. The deal st ...

JLR gets 170 million pound loan, report says

Jaguar Land Rover wass expected to announce on Monday that it has secured 170 million pounds ($282.5 million) in working capital from GE Capital, the Financial Times

Some good news for VW's Seat brand as sales grow

Volkswagen's struggling Seat brand had some good news after reporting a small rise in its new-car sales in October, helped by government incentives in its home Spanish ma ...

GM can forget past Opel-aid pledges, minister says

Previous German pledges to provide state aid to carmaker Opel no longer apply now that General Motors Co. has said it can restructure its European arm alone, German Econo ...

Europe October car sales rise 11%

European passenger-car sales rose 11.2 percent in October, with a marked contrast between western European markets, which grew strongly, and eastern European markets whic ...

De Molina resigns as GMAC chief, is replaced by Carpenter

Alvaro de Molina resigned today as CEO of GMAC Financial Services after less than two years on the job, as the GMAC board asked the U.S. Treasury Department to delay a th ...

RepairPal, AOL Autos team up on estimates

RepairPal, a Web site that provides free auto-repair estimates for consumers, has landed a deal with AOL Autos. AOL Autos now features RepairPal's estimates on its site. ...

GM's Henderson sees signs of progress, reason to be cautious

GM CEO Fritz Henderson stuck to a theme in announcing a third-quarter loss after exiting bankruptcy and in outlining plans to repay U.S. loans early: Things are looking b ...

GM will launch sale across all brands this week

General Motors Co. will launch a big incentive program for its four surviving U.S. brands this week in a bid to flush out excess 2009 inventory that has been keeping GM's ...

Daimler to offer Smart rental program in Texas

With Smart’s U.S. sales continuing to drop dramatically, Daimler AG is launching a pilot program in Austin, Texas, for short-term rental of the micro car. ...

Akio Toyoda savors flavor of excitement

Akio Toyoda has appointed himself supreme automotive taste tester for Toyota Motor Corp., a kind of master chef overseeing ingredients that go into the automaker's vehicl ...

Road ahead still rocky for suppliers

The coming year will be a dynamic one for the battered auto supply base as the industry comes off its worst year in the post-World War II era. ...

Gulf investment firm Aabar could boost Daimler stake

Aabar Investments is considering increasing its 9.1 percent stake in Daimler AG, Aabar chairman said on Monday. Aabar is the listed arm of an Abu Dhabi state-owned invest ...

Ghosn leads coalition to create U.S. ‘Electrification Roadmap'

A coalition of business leaders, including Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn, today released what they called an Electrification Roadmap, a sweeping report that lays out ...

NEWS ANALYSIS
Hyundai's charge ahead pressures Japanese automakers

Hyundai-Kia's share gains have overwhelmed rivals this year, and the climbing yen and South Korea's export-friendly trade pacts are giving Japanese automakers even more w ...

Serbian Fiat Punto production halts due to fire

Fiat Punto production in Serbia's Zastava factory will stop for about two weeks following a fire that damaged a production hall. ...

Beijing Auto joins China's EV race

Beijing Auto has unveiled its first self-developed electric car, joining domestic rivals to tap potential demand for clean energy cars. ...

Michelin to invest $870 million to open India plant

French tiremaker Michelin SA said on Monday it would invest 40 billion rupees ($870 million) to build a tire manufacturing unit in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu ...

Former Chrysler advertisers face life without agency BBDO

Ad agency BBDO is closing its Detroit office after losing its Chrysler contract. Come February, the branch's 485 employees will plunge into Detroit's struggling economy w ...

Toyota to fix accelerators in U.S. recall, report says

Toyota Motor Corp. will soon offer to fix the accelerator pedals of up to 4 million vehicles in the United States that are subject to the company's largest ever safety re ...

Berlin divided over whether to provide state aid to Opel

Senior members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet sent conflicting signals over the weekend about whether the government should provide aid to Opel. ...

GM pays back another 200M euros of Opel loan

GM has paid back another tranche of a 1.5 billion ($2.2 billion) euro bridge loan advanced by Germany in June to save Opel / Vauxhall from bankruptcy. GM said Friday it h ...

GREEN CARS
Renault will build Fluence mid-sized electric car in Turkey

Renault 's plant in Turkey will produce the Fluence mid-sized electric car starting in the first half of 2011. ...

Fiat plans to boost Italy output 40%, report says

Fiat plans to boost Italian output about 40 percent to 900,000 units a year under a restructuring scheme, la Repubblica newspaper said. Fiat will present the plan ...