Auto News 5

With Jaguar registrations finally heading in the right direction thanks to the addition of the XE, the two-year old F-TYPE is also beginning to sell better. It's been a slow burn for this supercar, but its abilities have never been in doubt.

Having seen the enormous and ongoing success of the Qashqai in European markets, Renault has at last entered the segment which was more or less invented by its Alliance partner.

It's a conundrum for Toyota Motor Europe - how to justify staying in the declining D segment? Volkswagen, Opel-Vauxhall and Ford leverage their rival models across global markets and/or multiple brands but the Avensis is more or less a Europe-only car.

Like many chief executives, Martin Winterkorn was a demanding boss who didn't like failure. But critics say the pressure on managers at Volkswagen was unusual, which may go some way to explaining the automaker's crisis.

Massage seats and a perfume diffuser aren't features you'd expect on a mass-market compact car. But they're available in Europe on the redesigned Opel Astra, at the directive of the brand's marketing maven, Tina Mueller.

Facing a costly possible strike, FCA agreed to a revised new contract with the UAW that includes a path to nearly full pay for Tier 2 workers.

The scandal surrounding Volkswagen's fraudulent diesels threatens to end the career of one of Germany's auto engineering titans -- Audi product development boss Ulrich Hackenberg.

Ferrari will be valued at as much as $9.82 billion in an initial public offering when owner Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sells a 9 percent stake in the Italian supercar manufacturer.

It has no rich parent; no manufacturing plant in Europe; sells no hybrids, EVs or PHEVs. Plus, a new roadster has just been added to the model range of this non-premium brand. A recipe for disaster, then. Not at all: Mazda is outselling Toyota, Peugeot and Fiat in Germany. And, it's closing on Nissan.

Two Volkswagen models with 2.0-liter diesel engines are slightly slower and thirstier with their emissions systems active, according to road tests by Consumer Reports.

California is giving VW until November 20 to come up with a plan to fix diesel models affected by its rigging of emissions tests, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board said.

A new tentative agreement between Fiat Chrysler and the UAW provides a wage progression that will get lower-paid Tier 2 workers to the same rate of pay -- $30 an hour -- as Tier 1 workers after 8 years on the job.

The 200,000th French made Toyota Yaris hybrid was produced this week. The milestone car, a Pure White High grade, was for a French customer.

The emissions-cheating scandal shaking Volkswagen has not affected the price of used VW diesel cars in Europe, a car valuation firm said, while warning that this could change later in the year.

VW's core autos division will likely plunge into a loss this year as it is set to shoulder the bulk of the costs from the fallout of the company's rigging of diesel emissions tests, two company sources told Reuters today.

Elon Musk called Apple a 'Tesla Graveyard' where his fired employees go to work. The Tesla CEO, in an interview with a German newspaper, dismissed the notion that Apple hires top engineers away from his company.

Volkswagen's core autos division will likely plunge into a loss this year as it is set to shoulder the bulk of the costs from the fallout of the company's rigging of diesel emissions tests, Reuters reported, citing company sources.

We'll permit ourselves a small 'told you so' this week after Jaguar Land Rover finally confirmed it would build the Range Rover Evoque in Brazil from early 2016, as well as the previously confirmed Land Rover Discovery Sport - which Our Man in Brazil first reported last May. JLR had said earlier it would only do 'new' models at the plant, but our sources said otherwise, and it makes sense to do the country's top selling JLR model locally as it (a) gets the price down, increases supply and frees up capacity at the Halewood, England, mother ship. And the high local content encouraged in Brazil allows local variation to suit market needs. JLR also now makes the Evoque at a joint venture in China (again, this gets the price down in a tax-protected market) and also assembles some models in India (ditto). All of which frees up UK capacity.

News 9 Oct, 2015

New research finds that 53% of new car buyers in the UK are considering a hybrid or electric car as their next vehicle

News 10 Oct, 2015

Motor Show madness descends on Tokyo at the end of the month, and we've got all the details of the cars we'll be seeing there