Auto News 5

General Motors is to give up its stake in the New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI) joint venture with Toyota in Fremont, California, the automaker said in a statement. In a separate statement, Toyota said it regretted GM's decision and would consider options for the plant. A Japanese report said a shutdown could not be ruled out, though that option was being viewed cautiously. Full story...

New evolution of the Cee'd shows maker has family buyers firmly in its sights. Full story...

New evolution of the Cee'd shows maker has family buyers firmly in its sights.

Full story...

Investor firm RHJ is reportedly getting close to a deal with GM to buy a stake in Opel as a prospective deal with preferred bidder Magna hits problems. Full story...

Toyota has decided to press ahead with a new 150,000-unit small car factory in Sorocaba, in southeastern Brazil, which will treble its local output. Full story...

Autoparts maker Motherson Sumi Systems booked a one fifth rise in fourth quarter profit as sales rose due to a recovering automobile market, beating analysts expectations and boosting its share price. Full story...

Chery Auto has reportedly reached an agreement with Taiwan's Shengrong Auto, a subsidiary of Prince Motors Co, to assemble cars in Taiwan. Full story...

Toyota Australia has extended the warranty on the high voltage battery packs used in its Prius and Lexus hybrid models to eight years or 160,000km (100,000 miles). This is in contrast to Toyota's UK unit which has reduced the hybrid system warranty from eight to five years for the latest Prius. Full story...

Kamaz has signed an agreement to restructure some 276 million roubles of debt to a steel supplier. Full story...

New car sales in Taiwan are looking perky despite a surfeit of generally poor news on Taiwan's economy lately. Full story...

Suzuki Motor chief executive Osamu Suzuki has denied reports that Volkswagen was considering a 10% stake in the Japanese carmaker. Full story...

GM veteran Andy Carroll is taking over as managing director of Glass's Information Services, publishers of Glass's Guide, the used car dealer's price 'bible'. Full story...

General Motors is expected later today at a key bankruptcy court hearing to present its plan to sell off most of its assets to a 'new GM' free of most current debts and supported by billions of dollars in US government loans. Full story...

Opel plans to use just EUR1.2bn of an EUR1.5bn bridge loan from the German government and is planning to retain the balance as an emergency reserve, according to reports. Full story...

PSA's Peugeot brand has updated its popular 207 line of three- and five-door hatchbacks, wagon and coupe-convertible. Full story...

Peter Sauber, the founder of the Swiss Formula 1 team that he sold to BMW, revealed in his latest column for the newspaper Blick that he tried to employ Jenson Button at the end of 2002. Full story...

The first official shakedown of the new GP3 car took place on Monday at Le Castellet in the South of France. Full story...

The new Audi navigation system plus with MMI (Multi Media Interface) operating logic in the A3, TT and R8 offers improved screen resolution and unmatched route calculation speed. The radio-navigation system, version E (RNS-E), can be combined with the Audi music interface and reads up to 32 GB SD memory cards. The new system is available immediately and costs between 2,270 and 2,565 euros, depending on the model. Full story...

The specialists will tell you, cleaning a car requires extensive care, good products and the patience of a saint. Especially if you're doing it yourself. But mishandle products or use inappropriate ones, and you can kiss the desired results goodbye. Full story...

Preh, a leading supplier of automotive driver controls, sensors and electronic control units, has been awarded contracts to develop and produce the new electronic climate control system for the 2010 MY Ford Taurus and Ford Flex. Full story...