Auto News 5

One of General Motors' Chinese joint ventures, Shanghai GM, has launched the Chevrolet New Sail sedan, claiming it's the first passenger car "created" in China by a Sino-foreign joint venture. Full story...

Mercedes-Benz car sales in China rose 65% to a record 70,100 units in 2009. World-wide the brand delivered 1,012,300 vehicles last year, down 9.7%. Full story...

The 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit kicked off this week with renewed prosperity, indicating a new year with new growth for the auto industry. Though the show is smaller than it was in its heydey, the 21st year of the event featured a number of interesting concept and production car debuts, including the GMC Granite, Toyota FT-CH, Volkswagen NCC, Tesla Model S, Chevrolet Aveo and Cadillac concept, and Audi A8, Honda CRZ, and the third generation Ford Focus

BMW Group sales rose 10.1% to 123,751 last month but fell 10.4% to 1,286,310 for the year with the automaker saying the decrease "was smaller than expected and ultimately relatively moderate". Full story...

Volkswagen Group sales of 6.29m vehicles last year were up just 1.1% year on year but set a new record nonetheless. Global market rose to 11.4% from 10.3%. Full story...

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) forecasts that the Chinese vehicle market is on track to hit 10% growth in new vehicle sales in 2010. Full story...

Subaru will begin selling three Subaru models in South Korea in May. Full story...

In the latest developments on GM's planned divestment of its Saab brand, GM executives have continued to talk tough on closure prospects while reports have surfaced that the new 9-5 production line may be shipped to China for the car to be rebranded as a Buick. Full story...

This 1922 Detroit Electric car is on display in the foyer at show venue Cobo Hall, in Detroit, a reminder that motoring history has a habit of repeating itself. More than 12,000 of them were built between 1907 and 1939. Full story...

OFFICIAL: New Ford Focus, VW's hybrid Jetta, Peugeot's Aston, best winter SOS kits tested

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Mazda is expressing optimism about prospects for its sales in the UK fleet market this year on the basis of its product offering and some improvement in demand in the sector generally. Full story...

Kia Motors Europe (KME) has announced the appointment of Bernard Bradley as Vice President Sales. Full story...

You know things have changed in the motor industry when Ford launches a major European model like the new Focus in America. Full story...

Volkswagen wowed Detroit show goers in 2009 with its Concept Bluesport and this year it also won many press plaudits for its New Compact Coupe, based on the latest Golf. Full story...

Ed Whitacre, the tall Texan in charge of General Motors, told reporters at the Detroit show last night that the company would repay the balance of its US$6.7bn government loan by the end of June. Full story...

The duel between Flavio Briatore and the FIA is undoubtedly the hot soap opera of 2010, one with seemingly no end in sight. How about a little sportsmanship, gentlemen? Full story...

At his second start in this incredibly gruelling event, Montrealer Patrick Trahan has clawed his way up to 60th place overall aboard his Honda, only (Really, this is incredibly tough when you do not have real factory support) 19 hours behind leader Cyril Despres on his factory KTM. Full story...

Carlos Sainz (Volkswagen Touareg) captured victory in today's stage of the Dakar raid event to extend his lead over his VW teammate, Nasser Al-Attiyah. Full story...

Seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher returned to a racing machine cockpit today at the wheel of the GP2 Series development car at Jerez for a three-day testing programme that aims at defining technical solutions for the Series' next generation car which will be introduced in the 2011 season. Full story...

German driver Michael Schumacher came out of retirement to drive for the new Mercedes Grand Prix Petronas F1 team in 2010. Prior to his first F1 test, the seven-time World Champion got to speed driving the developmental GP2 car at Jerez. Full story...