Auto News 5

New vehicle sales in Vietnam jumped by close to 45% to 30,055 units in March 2019 from 20,744 units a year earlier, according to member wholesale data released by the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association (VAMA).

ZF says its planned acquisition of braking control systems company, Wabco will make the company the globe's main supplier of technologies.

Sales of imported light passenger vehicles in South Korea continued to fall sharply in March, by almost 32% to 18,078 units from 26,402 units a year earlier, according to member data released by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).

Mercedes-Benz Cars says it is taking the next step in the implementation of the CASE strategy and is making its supplier network 'even more international'. It is also using Blockchain technology for greater supply chain transparency and to reinforce sustainability aims.

Sales of light passenger vehicles in China fell 12% to 1.78m units in March, according to local reports citing member wholesale data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Faurecia has acquired a majority stake in Swedish company, Creo Dynamics, providing acoustics and Active Noise Control (ANC) solutions.

News 10 Apr, 2019

The new Ford Fiesta ST Performance Edition features weight-saving and suspension tweaks, and will be limited to just 600 units

News 10 Apr, 2019

Ford CEO says company “overestimated” when autonomous vehicles will arrive; reveals expected limitations of driverless car due in 2021

News 10 Apr, 2019

Two official teasers of the upcoming Bentley Flying Spur have dropped online, previewing the new luxury limousine

Opinion 10 Apr, 2019

Editor-in-chief Steve Fowler thinks some car companies might not survive if they don’t adapt to the new world of mobility services

Guangzhou Auto is enduring a tough 2019. While its JVs with Honda, Toyota, FCA and Mitsubishi are strong, the performance of the GAC Trumpchi brand isn't what it could be. Not that that has deterred the company from investing in future models.

Last year was a trying one for Qoros with only 64,200 cars delivered to buyers in China, the brand's largest market. The first quarter has been far, far worse, with wholesale deliveries amounting to a mere 824 vehicles. There has been a cash infusion from the new owner but clearly, new models are an urgent requirement.

Few are noticing the progress being made by Vauxhall - Groupe PSA's ex-GM unit that is UK market only sister brand to Opel. In March it moved closer to Volkswagen and pulled away from fourth place Mercedes with the strongest growth of any top-ten brand. The main reason is a renaissance for the Corsa, yet the Insignia is also doing surprisingly, sales pushing past the 5,000 units mark in Q1.

BYD only just scrapes into the top 20 makes list of the Chinese market but it remains the number one in New Energy passenger vehicles. The brand offers a broad line-up of EVs and PHEVs and with more to be added this year, may remain in the lead even as rivals add ever more electrified models.

Volkswagen brand March sales fell 7.2% to 542,700 vehicles worldwide in March as a 14% rise in the US could not offset falls of 10% in Asia, 3.5% in Europe and 12.7% in South America.

West European car registrations fell 3.7% year-on-year (YoY) in March according to data released by LMC Automotive.

Fastned, a charging company which is building a European network of fast charging stations, said it continued its rapid growth in the first quarter of 2019.

South Korea's LG Chem said it has raised close to US$1.56bn in overseas bonds to finance expansion of its electric vehicle (EV) battery production capacity, according to a report by the local Yonhap news agency.

News 9 Apr, 2019

A test mule for the upcoming Volkswagen Tiguan R has been spotted by our spies ahead of its release later this year