Auto News 5

VW's core autos division will likely plunge into a loss this year as it is set to shoulder the bulk of the costs from the fallout of the company's rigging of diesel emissions tests, two company sources told Reuters today.

Elon Musk called Apple a 'Tesla Graveyard' where his fired employees go to work. The Tesla CEO, in an interview with a German newspaper, dismissed the notion that Apple hires top engineers away from his company.

Volkswagen's core autos division will likely plunge into a loss this year as it is set to shoulder the bulk of the costs from the fallout of the company's rigging of diesel emissions tests, Reuters reported, citing company sources.

We'll permit ourselves a small 'told you so' this week after Jaguar Land Rover finally confirmed it would build the Range Rover Evoque in Brazil from early 2016, as well as the previously confirmed Land Rover Discovery Sport - which Our Man in Brazil first reported last May. JLR had said earlier it would only do 'new' models at the plant, but our sources said otherwise, and it makes sense to do the country's top selling JLR model locally as it (a) gets the price down, increases supply and frees up capacity at the Halewood, England, mother ship. And the high local content encouraged in Brazil allows local variation to suit market needs. JLR also now makes the Evoque at a joint venture in China (again, this gets the price down in a tax-protected market) and also assembles some models in India (ditto). All of which frees up UK capacity.

News 9 Oct, 2015

New research finds that 53% of new car buyers in the UK are considering a hybrid or electric car as their next vehicle

News 10 Oct, 2015

Motor Show madness descends on Tokyo at the end of the month, and we've got all the details of the cars we'll be seeing there

Texas joined the Volkswagen litigation bandwagon, accusing the company's U.S. unit of violating state consumer protection laws and clean air standards by using rigged software in some of it diesel vehicles.

VW Group will conduct a voluntary recall of vehicles in Australia fitted with devices designed to cheat emissions tests, as it increased the estimated number of affected cars to nearly 100,000.

Hitachi Automotive Systems said it had started to supply Nissan Motor with the high-output lithium-ion battery pack used in the Murano Hybrid launched in August in China.

Nissan Europe is launching the redesigned Navara pickup truck line at its Barcelona plant.

Around four years ago, Renault-Nissan alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn visited Brazil and said the French automaker had no plans to make a Renault (Dacia) Duster/Logan/Sandero-derived pick-up. In fact, he just seemed to be deliberately fooling everyone and, more than that, hiding his plans for a planned compact four-door pick-up for the local market.

News 10 Oct, 2015

DfT to trial signs on the M5 between Exeter and Bristol that should end high service station fuel prices

New vehicle sales in the Philippines rose by over 29% to 27,040 units in September, from 20,924 units in the same month of last year, according to data released jointly by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA). The associations' data do not include sales of some key importers, including Hyundai, Chevrolet and Subaru, which together typically account for around 15% of the total market.

The Saudi new car market is set to take a big hit following reports that the government has introduced unprecedented austerity measures due to the recent fall in the oil price. All government departments are understood to have been instructed to cease purchases of major items, including vehicles and furniture, according to sources quoting an internal memo issued by King Salman to the Ministry of Finance.

Vietnam's new vehicle market continued to steam ahead in September, with the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association reporting a rise in deliveries to dealers of almost 49% year on year to 19,256 units compared with 12,948 units a year earlier. Sales in the first nine months of the year increased by close to 61% to 144,674 units, from 90,139 units previously, reflecting continued strong economic growth - driven by buoyant domestic consumption and manufacturing investment.

Volkswagen has guaranteed a 4.2 billion euro ($4.8 billion) investment in its Seat brand and VW plants in Spain despite saying the company faced "painful cutbacks" to meet the cost of its emissions-cheating scandal.

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus has appointed Al Habtoor Motors as an additional distribution partner in Saudi Arabia. This multi-distributor approach is a well-established practice in highly competitive markets like the GCC region, and will help the Fuso brand to expand its customer base and market share in the Middle East.

As the autonomous car movement barrels ahead, Chris Gerdes is raising questions about ethical choices that must inevitably be programmed into the robotic minds expected one day soon to be driving along the nation's highways.

South Korean steelmaker Posco has signed a preliminary agreement with local automaker Renault-Samsung to enhance collaboration in high-performance steel products for passenger cars. The agreement creates a framework for the two companies to develop synergies at a number of levels, including technology development, production and marketing.

Features 10 Oct, 2015

We look at how Bentley has pushed new boundaries to go from 500 sales a year to over 11,000 while remaining exclusive