- Cheap gas idles auto plant where Obama will celebrate industry rebound – CNN: Ford auto plant Obama will visit is on extended shutdown this week as cheap gas curtails demand for fuel efficient cars his rules require.
- Toyota Offers Fuel-Cell Patents – WSJ: Toyota offered to license its 5,700 hydrogen fuel cell patents to other auto companies without charging a royalty fee, hoping to speed the introduction of the zero-emission vehicle technologies.
- Ford CEO Fields Predicts Driverless Cars on Roads in Five Years – Yahoo
- Elon Musk plays Warcraft, drinks whisky and sometimes makes stuff up – Yahoo
- Daimler’s self-driving concept car turns into mobile living room – Reuters: LAS VEGAS, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Germany’s Daimler AG wants to reset consumers’ expectations about self-driving cars with its futuristic Mercedes-Benz F 015 concept, unveiled Monday evening at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
- UK: BMW’s Rolls-Royce achieves new sales high – Just-auto: BMW’s Rolls-Royce has hit record sales numbers for a fifth consecutive year with 4,063 cars sold worldwide in 2014, sales have now more than quadrupled since 2009.
- Volkswagen reveals Connected Golf concept at CES – Autocar: VW concept car showcases the next step in in-car connectivity, offering integration and support for multiple platforms and services Volkswagen claims to have created the most networked car yet with a concept version of the electric powered e-Golf.Revealed at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Connected Golf concept provides the scope for a wide range of interfaces via the German car maker’s second-generation modular infotainment system, which is equipped with an upgraded version of Volkswagen’s Car Net.Among the highlights is a so-called function called App Connect.
- Lexus Confirms Detroit Launch of GS F Performance Sedan – thedetroitbureau.com: With the Detroit Auto Show press preview just days away, Lexus has confirmed what was already one of the show’s worst-kept secrets: plans to launch an all-new high performance version of its mid-range GS sedan.
- Detroit Electric SP:01 detailed ahead of 2016 launch – Autocar: New £100,500 electric sports car will be built in the UK and will offer supercar-baiting performance Detroit Electric has pushed back the launch of its SP:01 electric sports car, but promises the model will be “the world’s fastest pure-electric production two-seater sports car” when it goes on sale in 2016.The two-seat model was first shown in prototype form at the Shanghai motor show in 2013, and was originally slated for launch in Europe and Asia in late 2014. Production is due to begin at Detroit Electric’s Leamington Spa facility early this year, with late-stage prototypes currently in fin
- Toyota to share fuel-cell vehicle patents for free – Yahoo: [at Financial Times] – Following the footsteps of rival Tesla, Toyota said it will share its 5,680 patents related to its fuel-cell cars for free in a bid to promote hydrogen-powered vehicle technology. This is the first time …
- Toyota to share FCV patents for free – FT: Decision not to charge royalties underscores challenges of promoting fuel-cell technology
- BMW To Let You Control Various Car Functions From Samsung’s Tablet In The Near Future – Via Google News: Some automobile companies are also attending this show in Las Vegas … you use a Samsung tablet in order to operate many functions of your car.
- VW picks TomTom as map supplier for passenger cars – Reuters: Germany’s Volkswagen has picked Dutch navigation equipment maker TomTom to. furnish its passenger cars with mapping technology, TomTom said. on Tuesday.
- Sony Head Thanks Supporters in Attack – WSJ: In his first public comments on the hacking attack on its movie division, Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai thanked employees and partners for support in making the Interview available to public audiences.
- Mercedes Gets Into the Driverless Car Game – Yahoo:
- Toyota targets 1.1 mln vehicle sales in China this year, after missing 2014 goal – Reuters: Toyota Motor Corp expects its pace of growth in China to almost halve in. 2015 after failing to meet last year’s target and as dealers. demand compensation to atone for lacklustre sales.
- Toyota targets 1.1 mln vehicle sales in China this year, after missing 2014 goal – Reuters: Toyota Motor Corp and its two Chinese joint ventures are targeting to. sell 1.1 million vehicles in China in 2015, after failing to. meet its sales objective for last year.
- General Motors Sets Sales Records in China – GM: SHANGHAI – General Motors and its joint ventures sold a record 3,539,970 vehicles in China in 2014, an average of one vehicle every 9 seconds and almost 9,700 vehicles each day. GM’s sales were up 12.0 percent from the previous high of 3,160,377 vehicles sold in 2013.
- CES 2015: Mercedes Benz Self-Driving Car Includes Steering Wheel, For When You ‘Want To Drive’ – Via Google News: Mercedes-Benz unveiled its latest concept car Monday at CES 2015, … And, as it races rivals that include automobile manufacturers as well as Silicon…
- Hyundai Motor Group says to invest $73 billion by 2018 – Reuters: SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-largest automaker, said on Tuesday it would spend $73 billion over four years on expanding capacity, building new headquarters and developing new vehicles
- GM says 2014 China auto sales up 12 pct y/y – Reuters: SHANGHAI, Jan 6 (Reuters) – General Motors Co and its Chinese joint ventures sold a record 3,539,970 vehicles in China in 2014, up 12 percent from the previous year, the U.S. automaker said on Tuesday.
- Mercedes reveals self-driving F015 concept ahead of CES – Autocar: Autonomous Mercedes-Benz F015 Luxury in Motion concept offers a glimpse of the firm’s plans to put self-driving cars into production The Mercedes-Benz F015 Luxury in Motion concept car has been revealed on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.The firm has showcased its bold vision for the future of the luxury car in an advanced self-driving concept that uses a plug-in hydrogen fuel cell and two electric motors developing a combined 268bhp for zero local emissions propulsion. The F015 is capable of covering the 0-62mph sprint in a theoretical 6.7sec and has a claimed range of 6
- Chevrolet, VW brag while Kia, Dodge jam – Automotive News: 2014 is almost over, and that means it’s time for the annual car company boasting ritual.
- Mercedes-Benz’s vision of luxury makes driving optional – Automotive News: Mercedes-Benz unveiled a concept car that illustrates its vision of luxury circa 2030, when self-driving vehicles would be sophisticated enough for drivers to be able to hand over control to a network of computer chips and sensors.
- Mercedes Offers Its Vision for Driverless Future – Via Google News: LAS VEGAS?Driverless cars may still be years away from arriving in … Mercedes says the idea is to ?show how the automobile is changing from…
- Saudi slashes monthly oil prices to Europe; trims U.S., ups Asia – Reuters: NEW YORK (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia made deep cuts to its monthly oil prices for European buyers on Monday, a move some analysts said reflects the kingdom’s deepening defense of market share, although it also hiked prices in Asia from record lows.
- Rolls-Royce posts record sales – Autocar: British luxury car maker posts an annual sales record for the fifth successive year Rolls-Royce sold 12 per cent more cars in 2014 than it did in 2013, its fifth successive global sales record and the highest annual figure in the company’s 111-year history.The US was the single biggest-selling region ahead of the Middle East, Europe and China. The UK was the fourth best-selling country, with sales up 13 per cent.Rolls CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvos attributes the sales boost to strong orders for the recently launched Ghost Series II, plus demand for the high-flying Wraith coupé, which enjoyed its f
- Ferrari Spinoff Sets Up Fiat Chrysler for Another Deal – Yahoo: