Auto News 5

Ford Motor Co. plans to idle the plant in St. Paul that builds the compact Ranger pickup truck for the month of December, a spokeswoman said today. Read more ...

Saturn is test-driving a new marketing initiative by throwing house parties all over the country Friday night. Read more ...

The camouflage on the new Prius has come off a little sooner than Toyota had planned. We've known for quite a while that Toyota was going to bring the new Prius to the Detroit auto show next January. Read more ...

General Motors will lay off 1,500 hourly workers at plants in Michigan and Delaware where it builds pickup trucks, large cars and a two-seat roadster due to slowing demand, a spokesman said today. GM, the largest U.S. Read more ...

Consumers' use of the Internet while shopping for new vehicles increased the most this year since 2001, a J.D. Power and Associates study says. Read more ...

Chinese car manufacturer and battery specialist BYD will unveil its F3DM hybrid car in China as early as the end of this year according to Chinese media sources. Read more ...

Renault Group posted a global year-on-year sales increase of 1% to 195,647 units in September. Read more ...

Nissan is voluntarily recalling 204,361 2007-2008 model year Altima, Altima coupe, 350Z, Murano, Rogue and Infiniti G35 sedan, G37 coupe and EX35 passenger vehicles equipped with Continental Automotive Systems' occupant classification system (OCS) control units because a possible component fault may result in the passenger airbag not being triggered in a crash. Read more ...

Ener1 on Thursday said it would acquire an 83% interest in Enertech International, a South Korean lithium-ion battery cell producer. Read more ...

Here's a cool new city car set to create a buzz! It’s the electric-powered B0 – or B-Zero – and it’s the work of legendary Italian style house Pininfarina.A rival to the Mercedes-built Smart, it is powered by an electric engine, and uses hi-tech batteries along with a bank of fast-charging supercapacitors supplied by French company Ballore.Unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, the four-door four-seater is tipped to start production as early as 2009, at Pininfarina’s HQ in Turin. Read more ...

Unlike the two recessions of the seventies and eighties, this one (let's not quibble on definitions any more - recession is coming) started right at the top of the money cascade. We have been fascinated in the last two weeks by the banking bail-out, and absorbed by the disclosure of system failures that have been rife within banking, but hitherto invisible. Read more ...

American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM) has said it plans to invest US$40m to build its first plant in Thailand as part of its drive to expand production in Asia. Read more ...

The estate of a Macy's department store heir has sued U.S. comedian and car collector Jay Leno, saying a Manhattan garage stole the heir's 1931 Model J Duesenberg and illegally sold it to Leno in 2005. Read more ...

Poland's output of passenger cars increased by 30.2% year-on-year to 696,237 units for the January to September period, according to car market researcher Samar. Read more ...

Mando has said it has set up a 65bn won joint venture with Germany's auto parts supplier Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. Read more ...

Stuart Kerr has been named Volvo's regional president for Europe, effective immediately. This is a newly created position. Read more ...

General Motors cautiously expects to sell more of its new Opel/Vauxhall Insignia than its Vectra predecessor -- despite the shrinking upper-medium segment and the European economic downturn. Read more ...

Ford Australia on Thursday said it would cut 450 more jobs because of falling sales and the global financial crisis, taking total job losses by 2010 to 1,400. Read more ...

China's auto industry will likely begin to consolidate from next year as slowing demand and rising materials costs hit margins, an official in the country's top planning agency has said. Read more ...

While stunning new 149 hatchback takes its front-end inspiration from MiTo and 8C Competizione, sporty, steeply raked rear end is exclusive to model. Read more ...