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News 15 Feb, 2015

Toyota has revelad images of its 2015 makeover of the Avensis large family car, with a front-end redesign and new engines

Toyota's Blue Springs, Mississippi plant, once mothballed while the automaker dithered over what to make there after the 2007 financial crash, has now built its 500,000th Corolla sedan since the plant finally opened in 2011.

This month marks nine years since the second generation S80 entered production, and by February 2016, its S90 successor will likely have appeared. Nonetheless, Volvo continues to tweak its largest sedan, with the Model Year 2015 S80 now on sale.

Honda and Toyota plan to cut back production or adjust overtime at several North American plants because of labor disputes that have snarled shipments at 29 ports on the West Coast.

General Motors of Canada said it would spend C$560m to ready its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario to make the next generation Chevrolet Equinox.

Pirelli has posted 2014 EBIT of EUR838m (US$957m), which it it says is in line with its target for last year of around EUR840m.

News 13 Feb, 2015

Aston will bring a mystery new hypercar to the Geneva Show, in and effort to outdo the Mclaren P1 GTR

News 16 Feb, 2015

DS is going it alone and the new facelifted DS 5 is the first car to shed the badge of parent company Citroen

Daimler's supervisory board has extended the contract of Hubertus Troska, head of the automaker's China unit, by five years. The 54-year-old executive has helped reduce Mercedes' sales gap with BMW and Audi in the world's largest auto market.

TRW Automotive Holdings, which is being acquired by German supplier ZF Friedrichshafen AG, today said fourth-quarter adjusted earnings grew 26 percent from last year.

Analysis-r-us so let's start there this week, shall we?

News 13 Feb, 2015

Volvo's Polestar performance arm is already breathing its magic over the new Volvo XC90 SUV

Volvo Cars, the Swedish Transport Administration and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration are cooperating on a project to enable cars to share information about conditions that relate to road friction (such as icy patches).

Elon Musk is known for his ambitious projects and visions, but even he has raised a few eyebrows this week with remarks suggesting that Tesla Motors can become as big as Apple.

TRW has reported fourth quarter sales of $4.3bn (-3%) and record full year sales of $17.5bn, up 1% on last year.

TRW has revealed fourth quarter 2014 financial results with sales of US$4.3bn, a decrease of 3% compared to the same period a year ago.

Though Jaguar Land Rover executives involved with the automaker in Brazil have learned not to divulge details of future new models or details of launches, some news does slip out.

Honda said it has scrapped its target of selling 6 million vehicles annually by 2017 because the pressure to reach the objective contributed to the quality lapses that led to record recalls last year.

News 13 Feb, 2015

Citroen unveils an off-road adaptation of its Berlingo Multispace MPV for Geneva, with striking body add-ons and snow chains

Yokohama says 2014 net income rose 15.7% to JPY40.5bn (US$340m), while net sales increased 3.9% to JPY625bn