Auto News 5

Ford Motor Co. was the top-selling automaker in the U.S. last month for the first time in five years, outselling General Motors by 936 light vehicles. Fleet sales made the difference, with Ford's rising 39 percent and GM's dropping 13 percent.

Strong U.S. sales of SUVs, pickups and minivans pushed Fiat Chrysler sales up 8.1 percent last month. The automaker said it sold 213,187 vehicles in the U.S. in March.

The Model 3 is a handsome machine that looks every bit like a smaller version of the company's Model S.

Tesla shares surged to their highest in six months early today after the electric car maker said orders for its new Model 3 sedan, its first car aimed at the mass market, reached 198,000.

Today, Friday 1 April, saw a management reshuffle at Mazda Germany as Bernhard Kaplan (42) took over as managing director.

Today, Friday 1 April, saw a management reshuffle at Mazda head office in Germany and European national sales companies.

Nissan, Fiat Chrysler and Ford Motor chalked up solid U.S. sales gains in March as higher spending on incentives and strong demand for light trucks were projected to lift the industry to another monthly advance.

U.S. light-vehicle sales rose 3.1 percent in March, but the pace of deliveries slowed considerably as retail growth slackened during the month, even with a spike in discounts.

Kia expects its new Niro hybrid crossover and Optima station wagon to help give the brand a big sales boost in Europe while attracting new customers to the brand. Kia is targeting a 9 percent sales increase to 420,000 units in the region this year.

Is there light at the end of a long, dark tunnel for Russia? After more than a year of catastrophically plummeting light vehicle sales, last month saw a real brake on the runaway falling numbers. Oil prices - on which Russia is so heavily dependent - are at last showing some real depth to their rise and have now surged 50% since January. The recent Russian Automotive Forum in Moscow provided a barometer of where the industry is - and where it might go. Here are some of the quotes which resonated.

Opinion 3 Apr, 2016

After a weekend in the UK's most economical car, Mike Rutherford wonders why other manufacturers can't catch up in the economy race

Where on earth did the first quarter of 2016 go? Time to disappear soon under the usual avalanche of financial results - first quarter for most of the Americans and Europeans; fiscal full year for most Japanese and Indian companies. In the meantime, Matthew Beecham's Q&A with Bosch on the Internet of Things (aka IoT), connectivity, sensors and cameras drew a lot of eyes this week, second only to Ford's announcement music streaming app Spotify is to joins McDonald's, 7-Eleven and BP as a partner in the FordPass membership service that the automaker is pitching to its customers and potential future customers.

SKF has opened a sealing solutions factory in Zapopan, Mexico, located near the Group's existing plant in Guadalajara, allowing for continued production increase, mainly for automotive OEMs in North America.

Volkswagen will recall 3,877 Vento sedan cars in India after tests by an automotive body found that carbon monoxide emissions were sometimes exceeding the threshold limits.

Volvo will recall 3,316 vehicles built this year on possible faults with the cars' electronic systems, the country's technical safety watchdog said today.

Daimler announced the Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen would produce the new GLC Coupé, just launched at the New York show, with the C-Class Cabriolet to follow. By then, the factory will be building 10 different models and taken on 200 current temporary workers as permanent employees.

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has resigned from his position as chairman of Proton Holdings and chairman of the company's UK sports car subsidiary Group Lotus.

Supplier Robert Bosch is spending MYR140m (US$36m) on its car multimedia plant near Georgetown on the Malaysian island of Penang.

Tesla Motors has unveiled its Model 3 electric car and started taking orders for the car, which comes with a lower price tag than previous models and is planned to reach much higher volumes.

Progress-Werk Oberkirch (PWO) has unveiled fiscal 2015 net income up EUR200,000 to EUR7.5m (US$8.5m), as well as Group revenue rising from EUR381m to EUR405m.