Auto Shows

CHICAGO -- The Nissan NV200 compact cargo van made its North American debut at the 2012 Chicago auto show. The smaller utility van will go on sale in early 2013, following the full-size NV cargo van that hits dealerships this spring.
Nissan was looking for a right-size van to bring to market, with a low entry point and a low cost of ownership. The company says the NV200 is just that.
The NV200 currently sees duty in 40 countries around the world. A

BERLIN – Earlier this month, Volkswagen threw a party in New York's Museum of Modern Art to mark a breakthrough year in the U.S. and the highest annual sales in the country since 2002.
The celebration proved to be premature. Two days later at the Detroit auto show, Hyundai beat VW's Passat with its Elantra sedan to win the North American Car of the Year award, underlining the company's status as a major competitor to Volkswagen.
The automaker and its

The beleaguered Tokyo Motor Show staged a comeback this year. When its doors closed Dec. 11, the one-time pre-eminent biennial Asian auto exhibition had hosted 842,600 visitors -- up 37 percent from the last show in 2009 and just about back to the pre-financial-crisis level of 2007. More people attended the 2007 show, but it was seven days longer than this year's 10-day event. The first 10 days of the 2007 show had 852,900 visitors. The trend bodes well for a show that was nearly canceled in 2009 and has been overshadowed by

LOS ANGELES -- Despite minimal sales, Nissan North America will continue selling its boxy, youth-oriented Cube crossover, the automaker's top U.S. sales executive says. Nissan sold just 198 Cubes in October. "It's a niche product that has found its place in the market," Brian Carolin, Nissan North America's senior vice president for sales and marketing, said in its defense at the Los Angeles Auto Show. "It benefited particularly when gas prices were spiking earlier this year, and we were struggling to get a supply of it. We had

BERLIN – Earlier this month, Volkswagen threw a party in New York's Museum of Modern Art to mark a breakthrough year in the U.S. and the highest annual sales in the country since 2002.
The celebration proved to be premature. Two days later at the Detroit auto show, Hyundai beat VW's Passat with its Elantra sedan to win the North American Car of the Year award, underlining the company's status as a major competitor to Volkswagen.
The automaker and its

General Motors is counting on a sportier Chevrolet Malibu -- and a fuel-efficient Eco variant -- to extend the mid-sized sedan's successful run. Last week Chevy unveiled the 2013 Malibu at the Shanghai auto show and followed that at the New York show with an Eco version GM says will get an estimated 38 mpg on the highway, a level that mid-sized cars usually reach only if they are hybrids. Before the current Malibu debuted in late 2007, the previous generation had been rental-fleet fodder. The improved styling and refinement

FRANKFURT -- Audi has begun production of the Q3 compact SUV at sister brand Seat's Martorell plant in Spain.
Audi expects to produce 100,000 units of the Q3 a year in the plant, in which Audi and Seat have invested a total of 330 million euros in infrastructure and production lines, Audi said on Tuesday.
The Q3 compact SUV will compete with the BMW X1 as the two luxury-car makers compete to tap the growing demand for smaller SUVs aimed at urban buyers.

LONDON --Jaguar dealers are keenly awaiting the launch of the XF Sportbrake station wagon.
The car, which will debut at the Geneva auto show next month, will give the brand a competitor to wagon versions of the BMW 5 series, Audi A6 and Mercedes E class.
"I would expect it to give at least another 20 percent to 30 percent of additional sales on top of the XF at the moment," said Matthew Overall, dealer principle for Jaguar Brentwood in Essex, southern

PARIS -- Renault SA will unveil a redesigned Twingo minicar in September, marking the start of an effort to freshen the brand's styling to revive flagging sales.
The updated Twingo, which will go on sale shortly after being shown at the Frankfurt auto show, is the first test of Renault's new design chief to help sales since he joined the carmaker in late 2009.
The Twingo upgrade is a "quick and dirty" mid-life face-lift rather than an all-new vehicle,