Auto News 5

Our spies catch a glimpse of what could be Vauxhall's hot new drop-top flagship

Also in today's show: GM spends big-time on factories and will add eight-speed transmissions, Volkswagen has a Europe-only GTI special, and NASCAR doles out penalties.

Johnson Controls, the world's largest supplier of automotive batteries, has broken ground on a new 400,000 sq ft distribution centre in Middletown, Delaware. The company is spending over US$75m on the facility, which will perform the charging, packaging and distribution of automotive batteries for the northeast region of the United States.

Toyota Motor Sales, USA (TMS) has marked the opening of the first hydrogen fueling station in the US fed directly from an active industrial hydrogen pipeline. The station is a collaborative effort between Toyota, Air Products, Shell, South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and the Department of Energy (DOE). The facility will provide hydrogen for the automaker's fuel cell hybrid demonstration program vehicles as well as other manufacturers' fuel cell vehicle fleets in the Los Angeles area.

Porsche is planning to move its North American headquarters from a suburb north of Atlanta to the site of a demolished Ford Motor Co.

CIE Automotive has achieved a new company record for sales, EBITDA and net profit in the first quarter of 2011. Revenue rose 26.8% to EUR488.8m, EBITDA was up 29% to EUR63.3m and net profit surged 79% to EUR18.9m.

Ford Motor Co.'s probable boost to an investment-grade credit rating puts the automaker in position to reach more investors and lead a pack of auto-industry companies back out of junk-bond territory.

There was a time not so very long ago when Toyota's financial results were pretty predictable.

General Motors' Europe unit Opel/Vauxhall is adding production shifts at two of its factories to meet growing demand for the Astra model, an Opel spokesman said.

International Business Advisory Firm BBK has run the rule over the fall-out from the recent catastrophic events in Japan and their effects on the supply chain.

Porsche is reportedly set to move its North American headquarters from a suburb north of Atlanta to the site of a demolished Ford Motor Co. assembly plant that once built the Ford Taurus and the Mercury Sable next to the Atlanta airport.

Aston Martin and Italian design firm Zagato are joining forces to craft a modern car that recalls the iconic DB4GT Zagato from 50 years ago.

With Toyota Motor's quarterly profits hit harder than expected, as a result of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, there have been renewed calls for the government to do more to support the automaker's pledge to keep building large numbers of cars at home.

French construction material maker Compagnie de Saint-Gobain's automotive glass unit Saint-Gobain Sekurit is to build a second factory in China in the Shandong province of Qingdao, close to the group's flat glass production site.

The impact of Japan's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami two months ago continues to reverberate well beyond the country's borders as the ripple effect of supply chain challenges continue to make themselves felt.

Tata Motors-owned luxury car and SUV maker Jaguar Land Rover has launched a GBP1bn (US$1.6bn) bond to refinance its debt and for what the company describes as "general corporate purposes".

The U.S. may require annual fuel- efficiency improvements of 2 percent to 7 percent from 2017 to 2025 for cars and light trucks, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

INTERACTIVE ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAKE LINGEMAN: I walked out to the lot and wasn't sure this was our Scion. The 19-inch custom wheels, Toyo tires and carbon-fiber trim aren't things we normally find on loaner cars.

Hyundai unveils its Ford Mondeo-rivalling i40 saloon ahead of the 2011 Barcelona Motor Show.

Vehicle production at Toyota Australia's Altona (Victoria state) manufacturing plant will return to normal levels during the week commencing 6 June 2011, the automaker said on Wednesday (11 May 2011).