Auto News 5

West European car registrations fell 1% year-on-year (YoY) in April according to data released by LMC Automotive. However, the annualised selling rate rose slightly, to 14.3m units a year from 14.1m units a year in March.

Unlike passenger car sales, which declined 4.1% last month, UK demand for new light commercial vehicles (LCVs) grew 4.7% in April, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Autoliv has appointed Frithjof Oldorff as president of its Europe division and member of the executive management team.

Geely's Volvo Cars has launched a paid gender-neutral parental leave policy for all sales company employees in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa), offering six months of leave with 80% pay.

News 7 May, 2019

Home Office reveal one police force cancelled over three fifths of speeding tickets issued in a year, while another upheld 98.7 per cent

PSA and the University of Orléans have renewed the OpenLab Energetics contract for four years.

News 7 May, 2019

The range-topping Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 will sit above the recently-released CLA 35 with up to 416bhp

New vehicle sales in Taiwan were just slightly higher at 34,680 units in April compared with 34,458 units in the same month of last year, according to local reports citing registration data compiled by Taiwan's Directorate of Highways.

Sales of imported light passenger vehicles in South Korea continued to fall sharply in April, by almost 30% to 18,219 units from 25,923 units a year earlier, according to member data released by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).

EC Vice-President in charge of the Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic has hosted the third meeting at Ministerial level of the European Battery Alliance.

The UK new car market declined by 4.1% in April according to data released by the SMMT.

BMW's first quarter 2019 financials were "heavily impacted" by the provision of around EUR1.4bn made in connection with antitrust allegations by the European Commission.

News 7 May, 2019

Investigation compares average annual mileage and economy figures for SUVs against similar saloons, estates and hatchbacks

News 7 May, 2019

Fresh design sketch previews the Skoda Superb’s revised styling as facelifted flagship model prepares for launch

Though April 2019 New Zealand registration figures of 10,640 vehicles were up 2% on the same month in 2018, continuing the fluctuating monthly trend for 2019 year to date, April sales set a record, albeit by five units.

Reports in India say that India's car market dropped sharply in April as elections disrupted demand.

The Volkswagen brand says its first quarter sales revenue grew by 7.1% year-on-year to EUR21.5 billion. Operating profit before special items rose by 4.8% to EUR921m.

Daimler says a joint pilot project between Premium AEROTEC, EOS and Daimler demonstrates huge potential for the production of replacement parts and series production components and has been a 'complete success'.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has reported first quarter adjusted net profit of EUR0.6bn, some 41% below the same quarter last year. Revenues were off 5% on last year's pace at EUR24.5bn for the quarter.

US sales for April surprised a lot of industry watchers this week as volume and SAAR came in below analysts' expectations. Volume dipped again in April, down 2.3% year on year to about 1.33m cars and light trucks. After four months, deliveries were 3% behind the January-April period in 2018. The seasonally adjusted annualised rate (SAAR) slumped to 16.41m units and both total volume and SAAR were well below the predictions.