Auto News 5

Opel/Vauxhall will reveal a coupe concept at the Geneva auto show that will point to its future design language.

The road to the driverless car is fraught with potholes it seems. Despite being given licence to trial autonomous vehicles in California, carmakers and technology companies are falling foul of red tape.

Volkswagen motorsport director Jost Capito has been appointed CEO of McLaren Racing. He replaces Jonathan Neale who has been handed a wider remit as chief operating officer of McLaren Technology Group.

New vehicle sales in Japan fell by 14.5% to 369,460 units in December, from 431,919 units a year earlier, according to registration data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).

Renault-Nissan is prepared to resume vehicle assembly in Iran as soon as international sanctions are lifted, according to group CEO Carlos Ghosn.

The plaintiff's attorney in the bellwether federal trial over General Motors' flawed ignition switches says the automaker's "blame-the-victim" strategy is already on display in the early proceedings.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said an emissions scandal like the one engulfing Volkswagen would not be possible at his company. His remarks were an unusual dig at another carmaker.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said an emissions scandal like the one engulfing Volkswagen would not be possible at his company. His remarks were an unusual dig at another carmaker.

Among those traditional automakers taking space at this year's consumer electronics show (CES) - and stealing much of the limelight - were Audi, BMW, Ford, GM, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Hyundai-Kia and VW. Presentations from new names such as Faraday Future and potential disrupters Google and Apple gave the show an extra buzz. The accent was on personalisation of the driver experience via cloud connectivity, shared autonomous vehicles and even drone technology. In this month's management briefing - the first of two parts - we draw on automakers' plans for partial- and fully-autonomous cars to see what we can learn from it all. Our second part turns the spotlight on supplier ADAS innovations - from Autoliv to ZF TRW - that caught our eye in Vegas and Detroit over the past few weeks.

Acura's latest national ad push will pack a punch. The brand tabbed Michael B. Jordan, star of the hit boxing movie Creed, to do the voiceover for the campaign.

The European Parliament has delayed a vote, due next week, on whether new car pollution testing rules are too lax.

Renault is confirming France's anti-fraud office (DGCCRF) has visited several of its sites, with a view to validating independent technical tests surrounding so-called defeat devices.

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) reported its annual sales for calendar year 2015 and said, despite the lowest petrol prices in five years, sales of its hybrid vehicles have continued their five-year increase to reach 209,000 units, up 17% year-on-year. Sales of Toyota and Lexus-branded hybrid vehicles now represent 24% of the group's sales on the continent, up from 20% a year ago. In western Europe only, hybrids took a third of total sales.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has stopped loans to Volkswagen Group pending an investigation into whether some of its previous funding could been used by the German carmaker to cheat diesel emissions tests.

Hyundai Motor on Thursday said it wants to sell 77,000 of its first dedicated petrol-electric hybrid model globally in 2017, 80% more than its total hybrid car sales in 2015, as it tries to meet emissions regulations in key markets.

News 14 Jan, 2016

Offices of Renault visited by the French anti-fraud police investigating the emissions scandal but no defeat device is present in its cars

Japanese automakers are taking on Detroit's Big Three by trying to expand their share of pickup truck sales in the US as record low petrol prices reduce demand for their once best-selling small and medium-sized sedans.

Renault shares have plunged the most in 17 years after a union said French fraud investigators seized computers from the automaker, apparently as part of a probe into emissions testing.

Renault said fraud investigators had inspected three of its sites in an emissions probe, raising the specter of a Volkswagen-type scandal. Investigations found "no evidence of a defeat device" equipping the company's vehicles, Renault said.

Russia's car sales plunged by 36 percent in 2015 in a disastrous year for Western automakers with operations in the country. The pace of the market's decline is set to slow this year, industry insiders said.