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BMW brand sales rose 6 percent last month, its highest-ever November sales. The result beat Audi and Mercedes, but the two rivals remain on course to narrow BMW's 2014 lead as the No.1 global luxury brand.

BMW brand sales rose 6 percent last month, its highest-ever November sales. The result beat Audi and Mercedes, but the two rivals remain on course to narrow BMW's 2014 lead as the No.1 global luxury brand.

News 10 Dec, 2014

New JCW is most powerful MINI ever with 228bhp, covers 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds and costs from £22,865

A Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell vehicle (FCEV) built in Ulsan, South Korea, has arrived in Australia. It is the first hydrogen-powered car to be permanently imported into the country.

News 10 Dec, 2014

Our drink-drive campaign, in association with IAM, calls on drivers not to drink anything before driving

Magna International has relocated its Shunde mirrors manufacturing facility in Guangdong province and renamed it Guangdong Magna Automotive Mirrors.

BMW's designated CEO Harald Krueger is seen as an executive who commands respect among colleagues as a "straight shooter, a good motivator and a good speaker," according to one analyst, and by another as likely to start "a new era" at BMW.

Mercedes-Benz will launch its rival for the BMW X6 - the GLE - at the Detroit show in January. It will enter production at Daimler's US plant in Alabama from 2015.

Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port factory - opened in 1964 to build the HA Viva - has built its five millionth car, an Astra.

Nissan has announced a global recall of around 470,000 vehicles to check for possible fuel leaks.

Nissan has started production of the redesigned X-Trail at St Petersburg as the company boosts manufacturing in Russia.

News 10 Dec, 2014

A sleeker, more stylish three-door Hyundai i20 called the i20 Coupe will go on sale in the UK next year

News 10 Dec, 2014

Hyundai’s i40 gets updated styling, revised chassis and engines, and the latest in-car tech

News 10 Dec, 2014

Hyundai’s i30 Golf-rival gets a facelift, a new auto ‘box and a range-topping 183bhp i30 Turbo version

News 10 Dec, 2014

Hyundai has cut the Veloster from its UK line-up just three years after it went on sale

BMW Group said deliveries of BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce cars rose 8 percent in November, thanks to a continued strong demand in China and a 20 percent rise of its BMW and Mini sales in the UK.

European sales of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas could grow tenfold by 2020, benefiting Fiat, VW and Mercedes. CNG sales are forecast to grow as automakers add more low-CO2 emission vehicles to their lineups.

European sales of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas could grow to between 10 million and 12 million by 2020. CNG is promoted as a low-CO2 fuel that costs about half the price of gasoline.

European sales of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas could grow tenfold by 2020, benefiting Fiat, VW and Mercedes. CNG sales are forecast to grow as automakers add more low-CO2 emission vehicles to their lineups.

From GMM

As the McLaren wait rolls on, the British team is continuing to take criticism for leaving Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen in the lurch.

"What is happening at McLaren is unworthy of such a team," Mika Hakkinen, who won both his titles with the Woking outfit, is quoted by Blick newspaper.

At the same time, it is obvious that there is more to the situation than simply the dithering of McLaren supremo Ron Dennis.

The McLaren-Honda laboratory in Abu Dhabi. (Photo: WR2i)

Spain's AS newspaper claims McLaren wants its driver decision to coincide with announcements about two new sponsors, and the "negotiations with one of them is complicated".

The report cited sources in saying one of the sponsors could be Movistar, to complement the Fernando Alonso deal, while another is "a major company from the United Arab Emirates".

But there are other authoritative reports that suggest the hold-up could even be related to Alonso's contract.

Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed on Tuesday that the Spaniard's contract, although not yet announced, contains a unilateral exit clause.

The news will re-fire speculation Alonso still sees his future at Mercedes in 2016, particularly after the less-than-smooth track debut of Honda's new V6 engine recently.

And the latest rumours do not stop there.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said Alonso could be so alarmed by the recent Honda test in Abu Dhabi that he might simply choose to sit 2015 out altogether and focus instead on a Le Mans campaign with Porsche.

Another theory is that Alonso is waiting on the outcome of Ron Dennis' wrangling with McLaren's other shareholders, which could mean a new boss is installed for 2015.