Industry

Global economic forces and poor sales of the Australian built 380 sedan (essentially a rebadged Galant) has forced Mitsubishi to end production at its Adelaide factory from the end of next month. Mitsubishi will remain in Australia as an importer but there are no plans in place to revive local...

Rising oil prices and a push by governments around the world for tougher emissions standards has got carmakers desperately looking for ways of maintaining performance while reducing fuel consumption. Some of the solutions used already include direct-injection and cylinder-deactivation technologies...

London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s new ‘Low Emission Zone’ penalty system kicked off today in the UK capital, forcing drivers of some vehicles, mostly heavy trucks, to pay up to £200 to drive through the city. The zoning system covers 33 different London boroughs and uses both fixed...

With the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to India’s Tata Group expected to be announced within weeks, Italian giant Fiat may finally get access to the premium RWD and AWD technologies it’s always dreamt of. Fiat was one of the first carmakers rumored to be interested in buying Jaguar and...

Matte paintjobs used to be the choice of weekend racers who’d touch up their cars after a bingle with anything they could get their hands on to protect it from rust, but lately the shine-free surface has been making its way onto more tuner cars and now production models as well. One of the...

Springing for that limited edition model with the special paint or custom performance parts may seem like a good idea at buying time but when it comes to offloading your car at trade-in you may be in for a little surprise. Despite usually costing more, when it comes time to sell, special edition...

A report out of Germany today from the country's top automotive support service, ADAC, claims that the most reliable cars - based on analysis of their receipt of 2 million calls for help - in Germany are of German make. BMW's X3 tops the list, and is followed by Audi's A2 and BMW's 1-series. But...

The U.S. may still be the world’s biggest car market but its sales are on the decline, making it much harder for struggling carmakers as all brands are now competing in a shrinking market. The poor state of the market saw Ford lose more retail share (not including fleet sales) last year than...

The current Automotive X-Prize has set out the challenge of building and racing a commercially viable vehicle capable of meeting set emissions targets while achieving at least 100mpg in fuel economy. It’s the type of challenge you’d think at least one major carmaker would be interested...

Bertone has been in financial trouble ever since a deal between it and Fiat to build several new Lancia models went sour back in April last year. The Italian coachbuilder has yet to secure any major projects since then and has been relying on government handouts to pay its staff. Hope came when...

Alfa Romeo is set for a rough couple of years. The carmaker is on the verge of relaunching in the U.S. and to make matters worse the boss of its parent company, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, has laid down the challenge of doubling Alfa’s sales and turning around the carmaker’s fortunes...

After several years of slumping sales and a reduction in models on offer, Isuzu has finally decided to pack it in and leave the U.S. market. Support will continue for existing vehicles, and those sold through the January 31, 2009 cut-off date. Currently Isuzu's model line consists of Ascender SUVs...

Despite a reputation for quality and reliability, Toyota is no stranger to recalls and production delays. Perhaps such growing pains should be expected given Toyota's meteoric rise to the top of the auto industry. But whatever the cause, the quality control issues are cropping up again, this time...

Dwindling sales in the U.S. has carmakers looking to new emerging markets for the next wave of growth but according to one GM exec that alone won’t help to achieve financial success. GM, like most other carmakers, will have to improve its performance in the U.S., the world’s biggest car...

Ford wants to have no part of Jaguar or Land Rover following its eventual sale of the Premier Auto Group labels. The Blue Oval made an announcement stating so as far back as September last year, but cutting off its ties with either Jaguar or Land Rover isn’t as straightforward as selling off...

America’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the latest organization to speak up against the current horsepower war raging between carmakers. The group wants an end to the development of high horsepower models because of the negative impact they have on the environment. Instead they...

SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. came to the attention of many for the first time thanks to last week's snafu involving the inclusion of 500,000 Wuling-produced cars in GM's corporate tally in an effort to stay at the head of the pack. But the latest word is that the American company could leverage...

Carlos Ghosn is the man credited with turning around the fortunes of Nissan during the 1990’s, bringing it back from the brink of bankruptcy and turning billion dollar losses into profits within a couple of years. At the same time he also headed Renault, which is now on track to boost its...

Jaguar is in the middle of the difficult process of revamping its image, dropping the old, stodgy look of the now discontinued X and S-Type models in favor of the dynamic and fresh styling embodied by the new XF. If this wasn’t hard enough, Jaguar also has to endure very tight budgets and is...

There are plenty of rumors claiming Ford could sell Volvo, just as it has with Jaguar and Land Rover, but new reports give a clear hint Volvo won’t be leaving the Ford group anytime soon. Executives see a future where both carmakers would work much closer together and possibly even share...