- Will cheap gasoline hurt Tesla? – Automotive News: Tesla Motors Inc. customers are rich enough to buy luxury cars whatever the cost of a tank of gasoline. So the oil rout may not hammer the stock for long.
- Sheet Thin Batteries: The future Of Auto Industry – Via Google News: Sheet thin batteries, the automobile technology in new cars, can also be recharged by connecting it to a solar panel. Going by the current rate of…
- US: UAW lauds VW Global Works Council support for Chattanooga – Just-auto: America’s UAW labour body is hailing the support of Volkswagen’s Global Works Council in setting up greater dialogue with the automaker in Tennessee, although it appears to be still some way short of establishing a formal union.
- GM’s Opel to take control of German parts centers – Yahoo:
- Honda issues stop-sale on some Acura TLX sedans that could roll away – Automotive News: Honda Motor told dealers in the United States to stop selling some of its Acura TLX sedans because the parking lock may fail to engage, the latest quality shortcoming at the automaker after President Takanobu Ito took a pay cut.
- Electric cars take top honours in Euro NCAP tests – Autocar: Audi A3 Sportback e-tron and Kia Soul EV rated by Euro NCAP in its last round of tests for 2014; Jeep Renegade and regular Kia Soul also tested Audi’s A3 Sportback e-tron has been awarded a five-star safety rating by Euro NCAP in the safety body’s last round of tests for 2014.Also tested this month was Kia’s Soul and Soul EV, both of which scored four stars, while Jeep’s new Renegade was awarded a top five-star rating.Euro NCAP’s testers gave the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron an adult safety rating of 82 per cent, noting good body protection for both driver and passenger during front impact tests.
- GERMANY: Volkswagen appoints BMW’s Herbert Diess to management board – Just-auto: Former BMW development chief Herbert Diess has been named a full member of Volkswagen’s board of management effective 1 October 2015. He will take over as chairman of the VW passenger cars brand from Martin Winterkorn, who remains management board chairman.
- Takata patent history shows decades spent seeking safer airbags – Automotive News: Airbag patents show researchers probed ways to make the devices more durable and the explosive propellant inside them more stable for decades before Takata products designed to save lives started killing people.
- General Motors Shows It’s Serious About Strengthening Cadillac by Using Layoffs – Yahoo:
- US: Hyundai to recall 42,925 vehicles for brake light check – Just-auto: Hyundai will recall 42,925 sedans in the US to check brake lights.
- CHINA: Ford to sell Escort from CNY99,800 – Just-auto: Ford China will launch the new Escort compact sedan on 20 January priced between CNY99,800 (US$16,123) and CNY124,800.
- AUSTRALIA: Hyundai imports first ix35 Fuel Cell – Just-auto: A Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell vehicle (FCEV) built in Ulsan, South Korea, has arrived in Australia. It is the first hydrogen-powered car to be permanently imported into the country.
- Toyota works to improve sustainable mobility in Hamburg, Germany – Toyota:
- BMW outsells Audi and Mercedes but lead narrows – Reuters: * German premium brands close ranks (Releads on peer comparison, adds Audi and Mercedes sales, analyst comment)
- New Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works pictures leaked – Autocar: Powerful 228bhp Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works will make its world debut at the Detroit motor show in January before reaching the UK in Q2 of next year. The new Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works has been prematurely revealed in a series of official photographs posted to the internet this morning.
- Economy puts brakes on new car sales in China – Via Google News: In the first 11 months of the year, sales of new passenger vehicles rose 9.2% to 17.6 million vehicles, the China Association of Automobile…
- BMW Group November deliveries rise 7.6 percent on China demand – Reuters: BMW Group said deliveries of BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce cars rose 7.6 percent in November to 188,342 thanks to a continued strong demand in China and a 20 percent rise of its BMW and Mini sales in the UK.
- More authorized car dealerships face closure – Via Google News: The China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) said in its “2014 Annual Auto Dealer Satisfaction Survey” that only 30 percent of dealers are…
- BMW Group to pass two million sales in 2014 – Autocar: BMW has reported record sales for November, while Mini sales have also hit a new high. The BMW Group is set to pass two million global sales across all its brands in 2014, following a record-breaking November.BMW isreporting a worldwide 7.6 per cent increase over the same period in 2013, when it was the biggest selling premium car maker in the world. The Group sold 1.96m vehicles in 2013, compared to Audi’s 1.58m and Mercedes’s 1.46m.
- New sales records for BMW – Autocar: BMW has reported record sales for November, while Mini sales have also hit a new high. The BMW Group is celebrating record sales in November, with the brand reporting a worldwide 7.6 per cent increase over the same period in 2013.Between BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce, the three brands sold 188,342 cars in the November, up on the 174,992 sold in the same month last year.
- China’s Leshi Bets Big On Electric Car – Forbes: Chinese internet company Leshi Internet Information and Technology Co. is deadly serious about green vehicles. The company said yesterday it will expand into electric cars under a new project called Super Electric Eco-system. “We will build the best electric cars to solve the problems of air pollution and traffic jam in China,” Chairman and President Jia Yueting wrote in his Sina Weibo microblog yesterday.
- Ford Earns 2015 Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award; Company Named Among 50 Best Places to Work in the U.S. – Yahoo: [Business Wire] – Ford Motor Company has been honored with a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, recognizing the 50 Best Places to Work for 2015. The Glassdoor award program aims to recognize the bes
- Sorry, not sorry: Why some corporations can’t apologize – CNN: Corporations screw up all the time. But some appear to be incapable of admitting they’ve stumbled.
- Mazda Develops Bio-based Engineering Plastic Featuring High-Quality Finish without Paint and Suitable for Exterior Vehicle Parts – Mazda:
- Airbag Compound Has Vexed Takata for Years – NY Times: For nearly two decades, the company has struggled to tame ammonium nitrate, an inexpensive but unstable compound used to inflate its airbags.
- Critical Tests to Begin on Highway Guardrail Banned in Most States – NY Times: The Federal Highway Administration asked for the new crash tests after a federal jury found Trinity liable for defrauding the government by not disclosing design changes to the system.
- Wearables and cars stimulate demand – FT: App developers hope latest devices will boost demand