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New 2.3-litre turbocharged EcoBoost engine could power third-generation Focus RS, says top engineer

Nissan Motor Thailand hopes to sell over 100,000 vehicles in Thailand during the 2012 fiscal year, equivalent to a 10% market share, new company president Takayuki Kimura said.

Scandinavian supplier body, FKG, says Saab's new electric vehicle venture will directly recruit 200 engineers although uncertainty remains as to the future of any naming rights.

Redesigned Rocketman concept has been built as a showpiece for the London Olympics

Car production in Poland fell 28% year on year in May while the tally made in Tychy, Gliwice and Poznan in the first five months of the year fell almost 20% to 303,000.

Jaguar Land Rover has won a European Union court challenge over limiting its sales network, after a dispute with Auto 24 SARL, which had sought unsuccessfully to distribute JLR's vehicles in France.

The new government in France is considering reviving state aid for local automakers after Renault asked for help.

Audi will reveal a hot Q5 SUV at Le Mans this weekend – and a new line-up of other fast SUVs is expected too

Audi will reveal a hot Q5 SUV at Le Mans this weekend – and a new line-up of other fast SUVs is expected too.

Audi reveals hot diesel Q5 SUV at Le Mans – and a new line-up of other fast SUVs is expected too

General Motors European unit Opel is talking with union IG Metall and works councils about extending a deal to avoid compulsory layoffs from 2014 to 2016 and delay a 2012 wage rise agreement.

It's like stepping through the movie screenand#8212;or the looking glass, or maybe the windshieldand#8212;and right into your favorite animated car movie.

The 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster once owned by Baroness Gisela Josephine von Krieger will be offered for sale by Gooding and Co. at its Monterey auction in August.

If Mazda produced a coupe version of the MX-5 Miata, we'd imagine it being similar to

GM, moving toward the first shuttering of a German auto factory since World War II, is only addressing a fraction of the European supply glut.

Takanobu Ito took the helm of a teetering Honda Motor Co. in June 2009 with a curious mixture of pride and angst.

BMW says it is sticking to plans to sell the i8 hybrid supercar for more than 100,000 euros ($125,400) when the model reaches customers in about two years.

Daimler will offer a high-powered AMG version of the Mercedes A-class compact in a bid to attract younger customers and boost sales of the high-performance models by 50 percent.

Global suppliers, attracted by stunning growth prospects, are shrugging off this year's slowdown in auto sales in China and investing heavily in the world's largest auto market.

Toyota Racing press release

Toyota Racing drove into the night at Le Mans for the first time in the first qualifying session of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking provisional top-six starting positions for the 24-hour race.

Wednesday's 120-minute qualifying session, which is followed by two more on Thursday, saw the TS030 HYBRIDs participate in their first competitive action after an intense period of testing and development.

When the chequered flag fell at midnight, the No. 7 TS030 HYBRID of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima was fourth. Nicolas set its best time of the session; 3m27.191.

Photo: Toyota Racing

The No. 8 TS030 HYBRID of Stéphane Sarrazin, Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi ended the session in sixth, although traffic severely disrupted its fastest lap. Anthony set its fastest time of 3m28.295.

Earlier in the evening the No. 8 car lost most of the practice session after an engine failure left Anthony stranded on the track after only five laps and 34 minutes. The engine was changed in time for qualifying.

“First of all it's great to be back in competition; this is what we have been dreaming about for many months and finally the big event is here," said
Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President.

"In terms of performance, we appear to be on a reasonable level and this meets our expectations following the test day. Unfortunately we lost the practice session for the #8 car due to an engine failure, which is the first time we have suffered this problem. The engines have regularly completed more than a Le Mans distance without trouble on the dynos and the track, so this looks like a one-off problem. Finally at the end of qualifying, a minor hybrid system error prevented Alex finishing his stint, which is frustrating. Therefore we still have work to do tomorrow when we aim to improve in terms of pace and reliability.”