Top News:
- VW Boss Says He’s Focused on Fix, Not Cost, of Diesel Scandal – Detroit Bureau: A day after the company was sued by the U.S. Justice Dept., VW brand boss Herbert Diess told a CES audience that fixing the diesel “issue” is “our most important task in 2016.” The executive insisted VW is focused on a fix, and will worry later about the cost.
- ‘IPhone of Cars’ in Self-Assembly Kits Is Frenchman’s Vegas Bet – Bloomberg: General Motors Co. and Mercedes-Benz AG say the next generation of cars will be self-driving and super-connected. A French entrepreneur is betting…
- Toyota Helps Dealers Hit by Diesel-Car Ban Pay Wages, Cut Stocks – Bloomberg: India’s top court banned the sale of large diesel cars and sport-utility … The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index fell to the lowest level since April…
- German car registrations rise to 3.2 mln in 2015 -VDA – Reuters: Registrations rose 6 percent year-on-year, and by 8 percent in December, VDA said, confirming an earlier Reuters report. VDA said that vehicle…
- China may allow car dealers to sell multiple brands – Reuters: Auto manufacturers could no longer forbid their dealers from selling cars from … obtained permission from manufacturers to sell a certain brand of cars. … of Volkswagen AG’s China ventures told Reuters last year when sales were…
- Major Chinese Domestic Carmakers Announced Their 2020 Goals – Automotive News: DongFeng Motor Group: By the year of 2020, DongFeng will stick to its “strong domestic” strategy and corresponding Thirteenth Five-Year plans to…
- Volkswagen’s Hippie-Era Microbus Morphs Into All-Electric Van – Bloomberg: The VW BUDD-e heralds new high-performance battery technology the company is creating for future electric cars, the Wolfsburg-based automaker…
- Volkswagen brand chief confident of finding solution to US diesel issues – Reuters: In an interview with Reuters, Diess said fixing older VW cars equipped with 2.0-liter diesel engines will be more difficult than bringing more recent…
- GM China auto sales rise 5.2 percent in 2015 – Reuters: Analysts say that the tax cut for cars with engines of 1.6 liters or less will drive a continued rebound in China’s auto market until it expires at the end of…
- Tough Stance by U.S. Regulators Deepens VW’s Dirty Diesel Crisis – Bloomberg: … that it had rigged the software of its diesel cars to pass emissions tests. … proposals to fix hundreds of thousands of cars, according to environmental … that could reach $46 billion, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence estimate.
- Volkswagen EV concept peers ahead to connected future – Automotive News: Volkswagen is turning its attention to the future with an electric people-mover concept designed to show what connected, electric transportation could look like in 2019.
- Nvidia says Volvo is first customer for new autonomous drive computer – Reuters: Volvo plans to install the device in 100 cars to be launched in 2017 as part of a … in Goteborg, Sweden, a spokesman for the automaker told Reuters.
- Toyota Hires Artificial Intelligence Gurus For Self-Driving Cars – Fortune: The Japanese automobile maker said on Tuesday during the annual … the company build self-driving cars that can safely maneuver through roads…
- Kia concept hints at return to large SUV market – Automotive News: Kia Motors is eyeing a return to the large SUV market with plans to introduce a new concept vehicle at the 2016 Detroit auto show.
- Brown coal is the Datsun Sunny of electricity. It’s time to upgrade or be overtaken – Guardian: These power stations are old (their average age is 42 years), inefficient and operating well past their expected life. They are the old polluting Datsun…
- Kia brands its future autonomous-car offerings – Automotive News: Kia Motors doesn’t expect to sell self-driving vehicles for at least 15 years, but it has already cooked up a marketing maxim for them: ‘Drive Wise.’
- CES 2016: Toyota poaches Google exec to help lead AI effort – FT: Toyota has hired Google’s former head of robotics and a key executive in the search company’s driverless car efforts, as it predicted that robots could…
- Nissan sets records as 4 key nameplates climb – Automotive News: The Nissan brand rose to record U.S. sales in December and 2015 on the backs of four nameplates — the Rogue, the 2015 Sentra,…
- Trucks lift Toyota, Lexus – Automotive News: Toyota Motor Corp. posted its highest December sales ever, and Lexus moved into second place among U.S. luxury brands with its best year in history…
- That Uber Driver Might Just Try to Sell You a Home in Singapore – Bloomberg: The number of rental cars, a proxy for vehicles being used for private car services such as Uber, increased 51 percent in the twelve months to…
- Toyota to spend $1 billion on development of next-generation tech – Autocar: Head of the TRI Dr. Gill Pratt at the Consumer Electronics Show Toyota’s newly formed Research Institute will work on the next generation of technology, including autonomous vehicles and safety technology
- Mercedes-Benz E-Class Pics Leak Ahead of Detroit Debut – Detroit Bureau: The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is the maker’s most significant model, but the 2017 has been largely kept under wraps in advance of its intro in Detroit … until now. To get a look at leaked pictures, go to TheDetroitBureau.com.
- Fiat Chrysler wins first Canadian sales title – Automotive News: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles won the Canadian auto sales title for the first time in its 90-year history, posting a 1.1 percent gain in sales to 293,061…
- BMW claims 4th luxury crown in 5 years; Lexus tops Mercedes – Automotive News: BMW held on in December to top the U.S. luxury segment in 2015 for its fourth luxury-sales crown in five years. But Lexus rode a strong December to…
- For Toyota’s Robot Czar Keeping Cars Safe Is Personal – Bloomberg: The quest to build crash-proof cars at Toyota Motor Corp. isn’t just a job for Gill Pratt. It’s somewhat personal. Pratt still vividly remembers encountering…
- 2015 auto sales on track for record – Reuters: December auto sales confirm that last year was a fantastic one for the auto industry, thanks to economic growth, easy credit, and consumer-friendly…
- BMW Keeps U.S. Luxury Sales Title as Carmakers Reach Record – Bloomberg: BMW held on to the U.S. luxury-auto sales crown even with a 17 percent drop in December deliveries, nosing out Lexus and Mercedes-Benz as…
- AT&T to Provide Ford Vehicles With LTE Wireless Connections – Bloomberg: AT&T Inc. will provide its fastest mobile service to Ford Motor Co. vehicles, starting with the Escape, as the company expands in the connected-car…
- Fiat dazzles markets with Ferrari spinoff – Chicago Tribune: Fiat Chrysler has spun off Ferrari, and the two companies have comparable market caps. Does this mean that more exclusive brands command a…
- Millennials continue to drive auto sales – TrueCar’s Lyman – Reuters: TrueCar’s Eric Lyman says there isn’t enough focus on the impact of millennials on auto sales. He believes they will lift sales through the latter part of…
- Ford Expands on Mobility Plans at CES – Detroit Bureau: While Ford officials declined to discuss a widely anticipated deal with Google, CEO Fields had plenty to say about the maker’s upcoming mobility plans, ranging from autonomous vehicles to in-car connectivity. He did confirm a tie-up with Amazon involving the high-tech firms Echo voice assistant.
- US lawsuit brings Volkswagen back down to earth with a bump – FT: Just before Christmas, some at Volkswagen dared to believe. “Things look like they are slowly getting better,” said one executive, after a run of…
- FTC seeks comment on state auto-retailing laws – Automotive News: The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on state regulations covering auto retailing, including the issue of automakers’ direct sales to consumers.
- Texas car salesman kidnapped during test drive, escapes and fights back – Automotive News: What was supposed to be a typical test drive for a Houston car salesman turned into a violent kidnapping that ended with him escaping and two suspects fleeing.