Industry

The recently formed alliance between Toyota and Subaru is starting to bear the first real fruit of the joint-venture. Toyota is already taking full advantage of the deal by using Subaru’s additional capacity at its North American plant to build the Camry sedan. Now, the two companies are...

It seems things are much worse over at Nissan than first thought. The carmaker announced its first drop in annual profit in seven years today, the first major loss under the guidance of Carlos Ghosn who admits that it’ll be at least 12 months until key production targets are met. Nissan has...

Updated: There may be some hope for Ford after all. The Blue Oval has posted a much smaller net loss for the quarter, which stands at $282 million. Though this seems a lot, it pales in comparison to the whopping $1.4 billion loss for the same period last year and shows that Ford is heading in the...

Despite rising crude prices and a push for more enviro-friendly cars, the average fuel efficiency of American made cars and trucks sold last year has not improved since 2005. The figure has remained at an average of 25.4mpg according to data released from the federal government and published by the...

Despite their low numbers and high-tech security features, luxury vehicles still rank highly in a list of America’s most likely stolen autos with the recently updated Cadillac Escalade scoring worst among the luxury makes. The results come from the US Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), which...

Having begun its European expansion the next step for China’s Brilliance is the lucrative US market. If everything goes to plan, the company could be shipping models as early as this year or early 2008. Brilliance already sells the BS4 sedan in Europe and plans to expand this to include the...

Speaking at a recent management awards ceremony in Italy, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne revealed that he hoped to build Alfa Romeo models in China in a possible partnership with Chery Automobile. First reported by Italy’s Finanza & Mercati, Marchionne was quoted as saying “the idea is good...

Despite the advances in safety technology over the years for light vehicles, a recent study has found that larger, heavier vehicles have had the lowest death rates. The findings come from a study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the US and is based on crash data for...

Earlier this month, the US supreme court ruled that carbon-dioxide emissions are to be defined as pollutants, a decision that could force carmakers to seriously reduce the levels of CO2 being emitted by vehicles sold in the US. The decision reflects a more drastic situation in Europe, where the...

General Motors’ European division has released information about the locations for the production of its next-generation of compact-sized cars. It has chosen four of its manufacturing plants, including the Ellesmere Port site in the UK, Bochum in Germany, Sweden’s Trollhättan site and...

Following a round of discussions between General Motors and Serbia’s Zastava Automobile, an agreement has been formed that could see the Serb carmaker building GM designed cars locally. The deal is still awaiting approval from the Serb government, but if given the go-ahead a new model known...

When a manufacturer designs an engine’s electronic management system, it has to weigh up between several different objectives such as reliability, emissions levels and performance. In most circumstances, performance loses out to durability and emissions, meaning the final output of the motor...

A change to Japan’s antitrust laws on the first of this month has paved the way for industry giant Toyota to take over Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru. Toyota has owned an 8.7% minority stake in Fuji Heavy since October 2005 but this is set to increase to a controlling...

Dutch sports carmaker Spyker Cars has announced that it made a profit for the 2006 financial year, the first time it has been in the black since the company was established back in the year 2000. The past twelve months has seen Spyker ramp up its involvement in Formula One with the purchase of the...

Struggling Italian coachbuilder Bertone will have to scramble to come up with a new survival plan before investors meet this week after Fiat Group rejected earlier plans to help fund its rescue. Fiat’s CEO Sergio Marchionne said talks between the two over a possible joint-venture to build a...

Porsche has publicly announced its interest in lifting its stake in Volkswagen AG to 31% from the current level of 27.3%. The sports carmaker holds an option to buy the extra 3.7% and is expected to offer a discounted price for the remaining shares, which it hopes will allow it to cross the 30%...

It’s no surprise that the price of a car can vary greatly between different countries around the globe. A BMW M3 in the US, for example, is approximately the same price as a 325i Coupe in Australia. What’s strange is the price disparity between member countries of the EU. The supposed...

Aston Martin will rely on Volvo to develop safety systems for its upcoming Rapide sedan, and we’re likely to see more Ford engineers playing a bigger role in designing Aston’s future models. The Blue Oval still retains a £40 million stake in the luxury brand, including ownership of the...

Flagging sales in Japan has Nissan’s CEO so worried that he’s placing a new executive in charge of its American markets so that he can concentrate on the trouble back home. Carlos Ghosn, who’s the CEO of both Renault and Nissan, is credited with bringing the Japanese carmaker back...

Spyker has just completed its purchase of the MidLand F1 team and already the rumor mill has started with talk that its next takeover target could be Lotus. Spyker CEO Victor Muller has denied any such claims, but there are reports that suggest the two companies are in talks and an initial...