Auto News 5

Magna favors Herbert Demel, one its top executives and former CEO of Fiat and Audi, to head Opel, Germany's WirtschaftsWoche said. Full story...

BMW premiered its new Z4 premium roadster at the 2009 Detroit auto show in January. The Z4 is offered with a choice of three different engines. Full story...

Ford Motor Co. is expected to post a narrower quarterly loss with support from the U.S. government "cash for clunkers" program, but the focus will be on the outlook for the U.S. economy and auto industry sales. Full story...

Ford Motor Co. is expected to post a narrower quarterly loss with support from the U.S. government "cash for clunkers" program, but the focus will be on the outlook for the U.S. economy and auto industry sales. Full story...

Sanyo Electric Co. has agreed with PSA/Peugeot-Citroen SA to supply nickel-metal hydride batteries for the French carmaker's diesel-electric hybrid cars, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday. Full story...

Sanyo Electric said it would supply nickel-metal hydride batteries to PSA/Peugeot-Citroen's hybrid cars, broadening the pool of customers for its green car batteries. Full story...

Volkswagen was looking to become an active player in the small and affordable compact car class. As the import fees on the European Polo are too high, the automaker decided to take a model that had reached the end of the road, so to speak and tweak its style and drop its price. Behold, the Golf City (same story for the Jetta City). A simple, yet efficient and ingenious formula. Full story...

Sebastian Vettel was the first winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the last of this 2009 season. It was a fourth victory for the young German driver who takes the second place in the championship. Full story...

Cypress, Calif. - Nitto Tire announces the release of its all-new D.O.T.-compliant competition drag radial, the NT05R. The NT05R is Nitto's most aggressive drag radial designed for competition use. Nitto will officially debut the tire at this year's SEMA show, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from November 3 to 6, 2009. Visit Nitto at booth #46115 to see the tire. The NT05R will be available for purchase in the first quarter of 2010. Full story...

RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA - Toyo Tire Canada, Inc. has formed a new distribution partnership with Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. and effective immediately, this agreement enables all 182 Canadian Hyundai dealers access to Toyo Tires'® full line of passenger and light truck tires. Hyundai dealers can source tires through a Toyo dealer in their region as a part of the national accounts program. Full story...

LOS ANGELES - Internationally recognized actor Colin Firth will receive the prestigious British Academy of Film & Television Arts/Los Angeles Humanitarian Award Presented by Volvo on Nov. 5 at the annual BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards gala. Full story...

Even vast amounts of money can't buy the things missing from the imposing new Yas Marina Circuit, Lewis Hamilton remarked before starting his last race as reigning world champion from pole position."It's called character, the history of the place" said the Briton. However, it emerges that moves are afoot to add those missing elements to the Yas extravaganza, and money is again the recipe. Full story...

Latest updates on Adrian Sutil, Romain Grosjean, Jacques Villeneuve, the British Grand Prix, Mercedes-Benz and Sauber (Sunday, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) Full story...

Jamie McMurray snapped an 86 race winless drought, but, his victory was overshadowed by Talladega Speedway's usual chaos. This time the famous, "big one," a crash involving multiple cars bunched up due to the nature of restrictor plate racing on the 2.66 mile high banked oval, was also overshadowed by Ryan Newman's frightening crash with five laps to go. Full story...

2009 champion Andy Soucek took victory in last rounds of the championship, this week-end in Barcelona. Canadian Robert Wickens takes second position in final classification. Full story...

Davide Valsecchi and rookie Christian Vietoris won first rounds of the 2009-2010 GP2 Asia championship, this week-end in Abu Dhabi. Full story...