Auto News 5

Ford remains open to offers from other potential bidders for its Volvo Cars unit despite a commercial agreement to sell the business to China's Zhejiang Geely, according to Swedish business newspaper Dagens Industri. Full story...

Two key European auto industry chiefs have predicted a tough 2010 lies ahead. Ford of Europe chief executive officer John Fleming said he expected sales to fall by as much as 2m units as countries end scrappage incentive programmes while General Motors' European chief Nick Reilly thought industry-wide sales in western Europe would fall by up to 14% for the same reason. Full story...

A total of 3,745 new cars were sold in Latvia in 2009 an 80.5% decrease on 2008, according to the Latvian Authorised Automobile Dealers Association. Full story...

Russia is to introduce a scrappage scheme aimed at boosting its flagging new vehicle market. Full story...

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...

DETROIT, Michigan -- Lincoln's major news at the Detroit auto show this year, is the mid-cycle refreshening for MKX. Chief engineer, Elaine Bannon, said the revisions are above and beyond what is normally done at mid-cycle, because the Lincoln brain trust realized that the mid-size MKX crossover (cousin to Edge) brings more new customers to the brand than any other Lincoln nameplate -- so it was an opportunity not to be wasted. Full story...