Auto News 5

Kia says it is looking for "substantial increases" in its share of the the UK fleet sector as its upgraded range starts to penetrate further into the British market.

Fiat will display the 2012 500 Cabrio at next week's New York auto show. The Cabrio's styling takes inspiration from the Nuova Cinquecento (500).

Federal regulators are investigating a motorist's report that the airbags in his 2008 Toyota Corolla failed to deploy when the vehicle hit a deer at 55 mph.

Our first quarter of slip-sliding through the snow and ice of a Detroit winter in our long-term Infiniti QX56 was not without incident.

The European Commission has approved an application from Belgium for assistance from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF). The EUR9,593,931 requested by the Belgian authorities is to help 2,834 workers made redundant by General Motors Belgium - and four of its suppliers and downstream producers - back into employment. The application will now be sent to the European Parliament and the Council (the EU's budgetary authority) for approval.

VW Group set a new record for global sales by delivering 1.97 million vehicles in the first quarter, the company said Friday. Sales were particularly strong in China, where VW Group reported deliveries of 548,500 vehicles, a 19.

Edmunds.com is predicting an April SAAR in the range of 13.3m to 14.1m and a possible 700,000-unit hit to the full-year tally if earthquake-related Japanese supply problems last through the summer.

Defunct British van maker LDV's Maxus van has been revived by new owner SAIC in time for the Shanghai motor show next week.

National carmaker Proton has secured GBP270m (US$440m) to fund a five-year turnaround at its loss-making British-based unit Group Lotus.

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's biggest carmakers, are running full shifts at their U.S. plants with overtime, unscathed by parts shortages that are curbing local output for Japan-based competitors.

General Motors chief executive Dan Akerson has said the automaker is working through the Japan 'quake-related parts shortage and also is facing a shortage of engineers in the US.

Tata Motors Group global wholesale sales, including Jaguar Land Rover, rose just 1% year on year to 110,785 in March 2011.

Jaguar and Land Rover sales rose 2 percent to 24,101 units last month, driven by an 8 percent rise in Land Rover sales.

Left-wing metalworkers union Fiom will appeal to a Turin court to try to annul automaker Fiat's plant-level accords on working conditions approved in workers' referendums, Fiom leader Maurizio Landini said on Friday.

Volkswagen Group has set a first-quarter record with almost 2m vehicles delivered between January and March.

Geely-owned Volvo Car Corporation has appointed Toscan Bennett as head (VP) of product planning.

Mitsubishi Motor suspended production at its Okazaki and Mizushima plants in Japan on Friday but operated at Pajero Manufacturing Company (PMC).

Russian financier Vladimir Antonov -- who is trying to buy a stake in Saab -- expressed optimism on Friday that a deal with Sweden's Debt Office to solve a cash crunch at the automaker was close.

Toyota Motor Corporation on Friday said vehicle production in Japan from 10 May to 3 June would be at about half the usual rate.

Toyota said it would keep building cars in Japan at half of original plans at least until June 3 in a move estimated to cost the world's biggest automaker another 120,000 vehicles in lost production.