Auto News 5

The key word of Barack Obama's election campaign was 'change'. And that's what GM and Chrysler are about to experience - big style. Mark Bursa assesses the prospects for what's left of the US auto industry. Full story...

Kia Motors Corp's U.S. sales unit has raised $305 million in an asset-backed loan from six U.S. banks to refinance maturing debt, officials at South Korea's No.2 automaker said today. Full story...

Kia Motors Corp's U.S. sales unit has raised $305 million in an asset-backed loan from six U.S. banks to refinance maturing debt, officials at South Korea's No.2 automaker said today. Full story...

US total light vehicle sales (adjusted for selling days) may have been down 34.2% to 855,358, as calculated by WardsAuto.com, but that was nonetheless well up on February's 687,356 and rather better than Edmunds.com's (unadjusted) forecast of a 42.7% plunge to 774,000 units or JD Power's 798,000 prediction. Full story...

Toyota Motor Corp. is going for the jugular with its upgraded Prius, setting a 2.05 million yen starting price ($20,750) in Japan that is on par with the newly released Honda Insight. Full story...

Antonov, the UK-based vehicle transmission specialist, has strengthened its relationships with the Chongqing and Sichuan governments to create what is said was a firmer and broader platform for the possible formation of a joint venture in China to produce its proprietary TX-6 automatic transmission, which has the major innovation of eliminating the traditional torque converter for a more efficient planetary gearbox. Full story...

V10-engined LFA will be star of Japanese expo.

Full story...

Clearest-look yet at VW's GTI-beater with 270bhp

Full story...

Home of the best New York Motor Show coverage on the web. Full story...

From: The editors of Britain’s major motoring magazines. Help Britain’s new car buyers – NOW!

Full story...

France's three domestic car brands increased new-car sales in their home market by 14.6 percent in March. Full story...

Heavily indebted German bearings maker Schaeffler Group has broadly agreed with its banks on interim financing worth 500 million euros ($661 million), a German newspaper said on Thursday, citing financial sources. Full story...

GM Daewoo, the South Korean unit of General Motors, is optimistic it will be able to overcome a "critical" period for its cash position in the second quarter, its head said today. Full story...

GM Daewoo, the South Korean unit of General Motors, is optimistic it will be able to overcome a "critical" period for its cash position in the second quarter, its head said today. Full story...

Chrysler Canada extended its production shutdown to a second Ontario plant today as a parts shortage forced the automaker to idle assembly operations at its Brampton car plant. Full story...

A Russian car assembly plant will shut down indefinitely this month in the first major auto failure of the economic crisis. Full story...

Chrysler LLC stopped production at its Windsor, Ontario, minivan plant on Wednesday due to a shortage of metal castings, including engine and transmission mounts and brackets, the company said. Full story...

Bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. will sell its brakes and its suspension businesses to BeijingWest Industries Inc. of China for $90 million, according to court documents. Full story...

Ford is shuffling its design lineup, naming Moray Callum executive director for its Americas operations, replacing Peter Horbury, who returns to Volvo. Horbury fills the slot vacated by Stephen Mattin, who left the company. Full story...

General Motors has asked for $2.6 billion of low interest government loans to support the development of three new hybrid vehicles, according to a business plan update released on Wednesday. Full story...