Auto News 5

News 21 Mar, 2016

We visit Ford's Cologne design studio to take a look at the Ford S-MAX Vignale - the brand's efforts to take the MPV to new heights

Volkswagen Group Rus says it supports efforts by Moscow to provide financial incentives to the automotive sector and particularly backs any efforts for the supplier sector.

Renault named veteran executive Yves Caracatzanis as head of its Dacia low-cost brand in Romania.

Renault named veteran executive Yves Caracatzanis as head of its Dacia low-cost brand in Romania.

BMW Group is testing self-driving vehicles on its factory floors in the form of suitcase-size robotic trolleys as part of an automation drive that the automaker expects will help cut costs by 5 percent per car annually.

The European car market was up 13.8% to 1.09m units in February, with SUVs again outperforming the overall market according to JATO data.

Volkswagen's Dresden manufacturing facility - the 'Transparent Factory' ("Gläserne Manufaktur") is to be realigned as a showcase for 'electromobility and digitalisation' following the ending of Phaeton manufacture there.

One of the many things I enjoy about covering BMW's annual financial results press conference (reports here, here, here and here) is the 'show and tell' side trips - such as the Leipzig i3 'factory within a factory' in 2014. This year, rather than travel to the former east Germany, we needed only to cross the road from BMW Welt in the northern outskirts of Munich to the company's oldest factory - built 'out in the country' in 1922 (to make aero engines, with an airport across the road on what became the 1976 Olympics site), and now landlocked by the much-expanded city, requiring ingenious solutions for further expansion, such as the new paint shop (of which more later).

GM's president Dan Ammann and GM China president Matt Tsien have announced jointly the company's strategy for Chinese market growth in the next five years.

GM is pressing ahead with its investment plans in China, the world's largest auto market, where it expects car demand to grow 3 to 5 percent a year on average until 2020.

The Indonesia new vehicle market showed signs of stabilising in February, after sales fell by just 0.5% to 88,300 units from 88,740 units a year earlier, according to data collected by industry association Gaikindo.

General Motors is aiming to boost South Korean sales by one-fifth and attain market share of more than 10 percent, part of efforts to revive output at one of its key Asia production bases.

Magna Automotive Rus says it is looking for reliable and flexible suppliers in the domestic market and uses a strict set of criteria to find what it is looking for.

New vehicle sales in Malaysia plunged by over to 25% to 37,876 units in February, from a revised 49,477 units in the same month of last year, according to registration data released by the Malaysian Automotive Association.

News 21 Mar, 2016

Unveiled at the Australian Grand Prix, only 10 to be made specifically for Australian and New Zealand markets

Articles 26 Mar, 2016

As the Bloodhound SSC team gears up to crack the world land speed record, we take a look at some astonishing car world records