Auto News 5

NHTSA has failed to make a number of safety improvements agreed to in 2011 in areas including staff oversight and the training of vehicle defect investigators, a federal audit released today said.

Honda car and truck production worldwide rose 11.3% year on year to a January record 404,259, the automaker announced.

News 26 Feb, 2016

Competition terms and conditions for the Auto Express WIN a Ford Mondeo Vignale competition

Opinion 27 Feb, 2016

Trying to buy cars as appreciating assets is doomed to failure, says Mike Rutherford

Nissan, boosting earnings on rising sales in the U.S. and China, will acquire up to $3.5 billion of stock in a bid to shore up its share price after a 24 percent decline this year.

News 26 Feb, 2016

Leaked document exposes manufacturers' plans to reduce CO2 emissions with low resistance roads paid for through tax

Ford said it was spending US$145m to upgrade its Cleveland engine plant - claiming to be "creating or retaining" 150 jobs due to strong demand for the second generation 3.5-litre EcoBoost engine options for the 2017 F-150 pickup truck range.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne has put his money where his mouth is.

Magna has posted sales down 7% to US$32.1bn for the year ended 31 December, with the weakening of certain currencies against the US dollar reporting currency, in particular the euro and Canadian dollar, having a significant negative impact.

Ford is investing $145 million in its Cleveland engine plant to support the production of an 'all-new second-generation 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine family.'

I have to admit to being a little surprised at how much interest a new pickup truck attracted on just-auto this week. OK, a new segment for the automaker, Fiat,  a little ingenuity in the barn-door, flexible configuration tailgate but, initially, only for South America. Perhaps the fact the name Chrysler is also appended to the word Fiat these days? And, given that South America is from where VW lobs the Amarok to the world, and the Renault-Nissan-Mercedes-anyone else want a rebadged LCV-alliance is working on several variations of the Japanese partner's Navara/Frontier truck for the globe, with some production in Argentina, I'd not be suprised to see this new Toro on sale, also in RHD, pretty much worldwide at some point. Fiat Brazil has exported light commercials widely before, including neatly packaged van and pick-up versions of the Uno it kept in production for decades.

With 1.09m units sold, January 2016 marked the 29th consecutive month of year-on-year registration growth in Europe, according to data released by JATO.  

News 28 Feb, 2016

New Ford Fiesta ST200 gets a power boost up to 197bhp, plus fresh paint and alloy wheels for the Geneva Motor Show

Subaru expects its new Levorg station wagon to have success in Europe that eluded the vehicle it replaces, the Legacy, which was pulled from the region in 2014 because of weak sales.

Volkswagen Brazil has launched its second update of the fifth generation Gol compact hatchback, Brazil's sales champion for 27 consecutive years (1987-2013). The Gol is also the country's production record holder with over 7.8m built since 1980, and the export leader with over 1.3m units shipped to 60 countries.

Canadian supplier Magna reported a rise in fourth quarter sales, excluding the impact of a strong U.S. dollar, helped by healthy vehicle demand and output in Europe and North America.

Features 26 Feb, 2016

All you need to know about the stunt driver and “Hoonigan” Ken Block ahead of his eighth blockbuster Gymkhana stunt video in Dubai