Auto News 5

In 2015 the European car market totalled 14.2m new registrations, an increase of 9.3% over 2014 full year results; the highest since 2009. The market benefited from the last two months of double-digit growth with December setting the highest positive monthly change of the last three years at 1.16m units. Therefore, the last quarter volume increase was the highest of the year, standing at 10.2% more than in Q4 2014, representing 3.42m cars sold in total. The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate, SAAR, came in at 16.52m units.

Jim Palmer is out as CEO of Campbell Ewald, the Detroit ad agency known for its longtime ties to General Motors. The agency's parent company said today it terminated Palmer, effective immediately.

Swedish car safety products supplier Autoliv predicted sales growth of 5 percent this year, but analysts expected more because of potential new business Autoliv could win amid the Takata airbag crisis.

German politicians will discuss creating incentives worth up to $5,500 to boost sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars, and may consider whether automakers could co-finance the new subsidies.

Nissan said it will recall about 870,000 Nissan cars in the United States and Canada for potentially faulty hood latches, marking the third time since 2014 the automaker has recalled vehicles to address the problem.

The last Land Rover Defender rolled off the production line, 68 years after output of the iconic offroader first began.

The last Land Rover Defender rolled off the production line, 68 years after output of the iconic offroader first began.

Started the week with, shock horror, driving an actual car for once, in fact several - old Kia Sportage as a means of transportation to the airport and then several variations of the new one, which made its debut at Frankfurt last year. I had never got around to a pedal in the outgoing model, which has been with us since 2010, and facelifted in 2014, and was wondering if they really needed a new one yet but, of course, the redesigned crossover is quite an improvement with new engines and transmissions (hello, in-house-developed twin clutch automatic) and connectivity among many items Kia had to shout about. Fourth generation, already; anyone remember the first?

Opinion 29 Jan, 2016

Global car production and sales have skyrocketed, with Jaguar Land Rover doing particularly well for Britain, says Mike Rutherford

News 29 Jan, 2016

Toyota will take full control of Daihatsu as part of a plan to improve tech and small car production

Honda Motor operating profit for the fiscal third quarter to 31 December, 2015 fell 22.3% to JPY163bn yen due, the automaker said, "to profit-reducing factors such as an increase in selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses that include quality-related expenses and unfavorable currency effects". This would include considerable expense related to ongoing Takata airbag recalls.

PSA Peugeot Citroen says a condition of its US$436m joint venture deal with IKCO is it must source 40% of components in Iran.

Toyota said it will buy out the rest of Daihatsu in a deal worth about $3 billion as part of its strategy to strengthen its push into small cars for emerging markets.

David Lee Roth's potent vocals in the Van Halen classic "Runnin' with the Devil" proved irresistible for the creative team that developed the Super Bowl spot for the Acura NSX supercar.

Aluminium rolling and recycling operator, Novelis, says Pierre Labat will be its new vice president, Sales and Marketing, Global Automotive.

News 29 Jan, 2016

A new study finds the number of whiplash claims in the UK is among the highest in the world

Takata said its CEO Shigehisa Takada had no intention to resign "as of now" as the airbag maker struggles with a long-running safety recall crisis.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool (MAT), a Group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, (MHI) and Fuji Oozx, are to integrate their automobile engine valve businesses.

Daihatsu Motor, currently owned 51.2% by Toyota Motor Corporation, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMC by way of a share exchange expected to be completed in August 2016, the pair announced on Friday (29 January).

Getrag has opened its new sales and product development office in Munich.