To all extents and purposes the show of solidarity this week by the plethora of unions involved in the potential General Motors/PSA alliance has been impressive.
Interesting comment tweeted by a UK car magazine editor from Geneva this week: the year of cars mere mortals can buy. And it was quite a new model fest.
Toyota's Philippines unit has rolled out the 500,000th vehicle assembled in its Laguna facility and is aiming to get sales back on track to kick-start a year which started with a 26% decline to 3,127 units in January owing to continued parts shortage from a flood-hit Thailand.
Geely Automobile said its parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, and Volvo have signed a technology transfer deal that will allow the Chinese carmaker to enrich its product portfolio and boost its competitiveness.
Toyota is considering ramping up production of its Aqua [Prius C for export] compact hybrid in Japan to reduce a long backlog of orders.
Ford is cutting production at vehicle factories in Cologne and Saarlouis, German unit head Bernhard Mattes said.
Toyota plans to make parts for hybrid models in China from 2013, according to Tadashi Yamashina, president of Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing (China) R&D Centre.
Toyota plans to sell 1.6-1.8m cars a year in China in 2015, double its 2011 volume.
February car sales in China rose 26.5 percent to 1.21 million from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said on Friday.
Volkswagen Group increased vehicle sales by 15.1 percent to 642,300 in February, but the automaker said the ongoing uncertainty in global car markets remained a matter for concern.
Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Argentina has started production of the latest European Sprinter van line at its Centro Industrial Juan Manuel Fangio plant near Buenos Aires.
New-car sales in western Europe fell 11.4 percent in February, as declines were seen across all of the top five markets. LMC Automotive forecasts full-year sales will fall 6.1 percent to 12.03 million.
Plastic Omnium is to diversify into composite materials among other bodywork pieces building on the existing launch or construction of 11 new factories around the world this year.
Chrysler has created a separate unit inside the company to handle sales and marketing in California treating it almost as a separate country to the rest of the US, according to sales chief Reid Bigland.
Toyota Europe President and CEO Didier Leroy tells just-auto that Toyota Europe has become profitable ahead of schedule after last year's reorganisation and that he is expecting higher profits and sales in 2012, despite a 'difficult' market.
Wheels India, a supplier for cars, trucks and tractors will spend over INR700m (US$14m) this year on expansion.
Volkswagen group global vehicle deliveries in January and February rose 7.7% to 1.29m units, ahead of a world market up about 6%. February sales rose 15.1% to 642,300 units.
New vehicle sales in Indonesia increased by 23.3% year on year to 85,824 in February, from 69,590 units a year earlier, according to automotive industry association Gaikindo.
China's Chery Automobile has started recruiting executives for its planned joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover, a business publication reported. The two automakers hope to form a 17.5 billion yuan ($2.
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