- Fiat Shares Jump on VW Merger Talks Report – WSJ: Italian auto maker’s shares rise 4% in Milan after a report that its controlling shareholders are in talks with the family owners of Volkswagen.
- Volkswagen interested in buying Fiat: German magazine – Reuters: Volkswagen has held talks with owners of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles about purchasing the Italian carmaker, German monthly magazine Manager Magazin reported on its website on Thursday, citing unnamed company sources.
- Mazda2 output begins in Japan – Automotive News: Mazda began manufacturing the next-generation Mazda2 subcompact in Japan today and unveiled the first pictures of the production model.
- CHINA: Dongfeng Nissan launches Venucia R30 – Just-auto: Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company (DFL-PV) has launched R30, the fourth production model from its local Venucia (Qi Chen) brand.
- Adding Teen to Your Insurance Means Average 79% Increase in Premiums – thedetroitbureau.com: Teens have the worst driving records, on average, and that means a huge increase in premiums when they’re added to the family insurance policy. A new study looks at who gets hits worst, and where. But TheDetroitBureau.com also looks at ways to cut that teen premium penalty.
- RPT-Top GM lawyer, Delphi CEO to face U.S. Senate on deadly ignition flaw – Reuters: Two more major figures in General Motors Co’s safety debacle will appear on Thursday for the first time before U.S. lawmakers investigating why it took the automaker more than 10 years to recall millions of vehicles with a deadly ignition switch flaw.
- Report: Talks held over VW’s potential takeover interest in Fiat – DetN: A German magazine has reported discussions have taken place on a potential takeover of Fiat SpA by Volkswagen AG.
- Fiat draws takeover interest from VW, report says – Automotive News: VW has approached rival Fiat about a possible merger, Germany’s Manager Magazin reported today, citing unnamed company sources.
- GERMANY: Next gen Smart fortwo and forfour shown – Just-auto: Daimler has revealed its next generation 2015 Smart brand models – the fortwo and forfour – developed under a new engineering architecture shared with Renault.
- JAPAN: Mazda starts making redesigned 2 – Just-auto: After a long, seven years of the old model, Mazda has begun production of the redesigned 2 (Demio in Japan) at its Hofu Plant No. 1 in Yamaguchi, Japan. Production in Mexico, Thailand and China is expected to follow and the car will also be the basis of a Mexican OEM build for Toyota’s NAFTA markets.
- Nissan Selling Replacement Batteries to Grow Leaf Appeal – Wards: Extending the Nissan electric vehicle’s range and improving the ability of its owners to charge while on the go are two areas of improvement.
- Daimler says it will not raise stake in Russia’s Kamaz – Reuters: German carmaker Daimler does not plan to increase its stake in Russian truckmaker Kamaz, it said on Thursday, renouncing a long-considered deal amid rising tension between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.
- JAPAN: Ghosn clarifies Nissan’s autonomous cars timetable – Just-auto: After suggesting last year that Nissan would be in a position to offer fully autonomous cars to the market by 2020, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has offered further clarification on Nissan’s planned rollout of autonomous drive technologies.
- European car sales rise 4%, boosted by incentives – Automotive News: European car sales rose 4 percent in June as an economic recovery in southern Europe, new product launches and retail incentives boosted demand for mass-market brands.
- Nissan’s Ghosn wary of Japan PM Abe target of 30 percent women in top jobs – Reuters: Nissan Motor Co Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn raised doubts over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s call to appoint women to 30 percent of top jobs by 2020, saying rushing to meet such a target could set the firm and its staff up for failure.
- Toyota plans Auris crossover – first spy pictures – Autocar: New Auris-based crossover to launch in 2017, with all-wheel drive and hybrid variants plannedToyota is working on a new Auris-based crossover, which will be sold globally from 2017.Sitting below the current RAV4 compact SUV in the firm’s line-up, the Auris crossover is likely to be pitched against the likes of the Honda CR-V and Nissan Qashqai.
- NISSAN AND CITY FOOTBALL GROUP ESTABLISH GLOBAL FOOTBALL PARTNERSHIP – Nissan: FIRST COLLABORATION ACROSS GLOBAL FOOTBALL NETWORK
- European Car Sales Rise for Longest Stretch in Four Years – Via Google News: European car sales rose 4.3 percent in June as demand at Renault SA (RNO)’s … Car sales in Spain jumped 24 percent, the biggest increase among …
- Passenger car registrations: +6.5% in first half-year; +4.5% in June – ACEA: Brussels, 17 July 2014 – In June 2014, new passenger car registrations were up by 4.5%, pursuing an upward trend commenced ten months ago
- Ford targets Africa and Middle East – FT: US carmaker holds hopes for potential in catering to expanding middle class, against backdrop of fears for a slowdown in sales growth in China
- SUVs and Crossovers Now Outselling Sedans – thedetroitbureau.com: With the U.S. auto industry in full recovery mode, manufacturers are struggling to keep up with demand of some of their most popular sport-utility vehicles and crossovers which, for the first time, are now outselling conventional sedans, according to a new study.
- Exclusive: GM recalls some cars with problematic switches; judges others safe – Reuters: General Motors Co last month recalled millions of vehicles with three different designs of ignition switches that could accidentally turn off the engine and disable air bags in a crash. But the automaker has concluded that more than 2 million other vehicles having exactly the same switches are safe.
- GM’s top lawyer, Delphi CEO face Senate panel over delayed recalls – Automotive News: GM’s top lawyer and the CEO of Delphi Automotive today will speak publicly for the first time about GM’s recall of 2.6 million vehicles for faulty ignition switches.
- Driver imprisoned for fatal GM crash in 2008 wants payback – DetN: Alexis Wilson doesn’t remember the crash just after 4 a.m. July 6, 2008, as she was driving her best friend, Tamia Williams, back to Wilson’s Pontiac home. But Wilson can’t forget the aftermath: Williams, who was five months pregnant, died and Wilson spent more than two years in prison after pleading no contest to four felonies related to the crash.
- SUV, crossover sales surpass sedans for first time – DetN: For the first time, more people are buying or leasing SUVs and crossovers than sedans, according to Colorado-based forecasting firm IHS Automotive.
- Automated cars may boost urban sprawl, fuel use, Toyota scientist says – Automotive News: Toyota says the appeal of autonomous cars carries the risk of adding to urban sprawl and pollution as they may encourage commuters to travel farther to work.
- Nissan’s Ghosn offers auto-driving reality check – Automotive News: Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, whose company made waves last year by pledging to develop autonomous cars by 2020, today dialed back those expectations.
- Car firms make inroads in Brazil – Via Google News: An electric bus made by BYD Co Ltd makes its debut in Rio de Janeiro. The Chinese auto company is making inroads into South America with a new …
- Tesla’s Chinese Expansion Gets Local Assist – WSJ: A Chinese businessman built his own electric-car charging network between Beijing and Guangzhou in order to be able to drive his new Tesla home, illustrating the major challenge faced by electric-car makers targeting China.
- Toyota Prius sets record at the Nurburgring | video – Via Google News: During the record lap, the Prius kept to the circuit’s minimum average speed requirement of 60km/h and the car was completely standard with the …
- New Supercapacitor To Improve Speed In Electric Vehicles – Via Google News: The global automotive industry has been witnessing a radical shift in the variety of designs and technologies employed in a vehicle. Manufacturers are …
- GM revamps legal department, retains outside firm for review – DetN: General Motors Co. has hired an outside law firm to conduct a review of GM’s litigation practices and revised its handling of civil lawsuits to require all serious civil cases of injuries or deaths to be reviewed by the company’s general counsel and engineering staff, the company’s top lawyer will tell the Senate.
- GM backs revised bill to bar use of unrepaired recalled rental cars – DetN: General Motors Co. said Wednesday it will back legislation that will require companies to repair used rental cars before they are sold or rented — becoming the first automaker to do so.
- CARLOS GHOSN OUTLINES LAUNCH TIMETABLE FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVE TECHNOLOGIES – Nissan: Nissan Vows to Seize Market Opportunities Created by Rise of Mega-Cities and Changing Demographic Trends
- GM execs to face grilling on Hill about why top executives were unaware of defects – Washington Post: General Motors executives return to Capitol Hill on Thursday morning for what is sure to be another round of harsh questioning about their handling of an ignition switch defect linked to at least 54 accidents and 13 deaths.
- Tesla Confirms Plans for 3rd, Mainstream Model – thedetroitbureau.com: California battery-car start-up Tesla Motors has shown it can take on established premium-luxury brands with its Model S sedan, but the real test will come when it launches an all-new mainstream electric vehicle it’s planning to call the Model 3, or Model III, depending on which tweet you read. But will it have S- III – X appeal?
- Senator wants GM to back pardon for woman in ignition switch crash – DetN: U.S. Sen Richard Blumenthal wants General Motors Co. to back a pardon for a Texas woman convicted with criminal homicide in a 2004 crash involving a GM vehicle built with a faulty ignition switch that killed her fiancee.
- S.U.V.s and Crossovers Eclipse Sedans in Popularity – NY Times: A new report from IHS Automotive says that, for the first time, sedans are no long No. 1 in new car registrations.
- SUVs, crossovers top sedans in popularity for first time – Automotive News: The American love affair with SUVs and crossovers has pushed the segments to a new milestone. SUVs and crossovers combined accounted for 36.5 percent of the U.S. light-vehicle market through May compared with the sedan segment’s 35.4 percent share.
- CHINA: SAIC-GM-Wuling breaks ground for new R&D centre – Just-auto: One of GM’s China joint ventures, SAIC-GM-Wuling, has broken ground for the construction of a new R&D centre and proving ground in Liuzhou, Guangxi.
- All-new Smart Fortwo and Forfour revealed – exclusive studio shots – Autocar: Mini Mercedes is reinvented in both three-door and five-door forms; set to go on sale early next year for upwards of £11kMercedes-Benz’s Smart city car division has been given fresh impetus and added market definition with the introduction of two crucial new models in the form of the third-generation Fortwo and second-generation Forfour – both revealed here for the first time.
- NETHERLANDS: Nedcar officially revived – Just-auto: The Nedcar plant – former home of DAF, Volvo and Mitsubishi vehicles – has been officially (re)opened by King Willem-Alexander as a Mini hatchback contract assembler 18 months after Mitsubishi sold it.
- Bounty on Hacking Tesla Model S Underscores Cyber Auto Security Threat – thedetroitbureau.com: The recent $10,000 bounty for the first computer hacker who successfully busts into a Tesla Model S’s computer system, which basically runs the whole vehicle, highlights one of the newest, and biggest, areas of concern for automakers. As vehicles become more reliant computers, they’re more susceptible to this kind of attack.
- In Expansion, BMW to Make China-Only Models – NY Times: The carmaker plans to double the number of models produced in China, for a total of six, and increase capacity in the country, its biggest market.
- BMW Recalls 1.6 Million Cars Over Defective Takata Air Bag Part – NY Times: BMW is recalling 3 Series cars from the 2000-6 model years, the latest automaker to issue a recall over air bag inflators made by the Japanese company.
- Wheelies: The Heavy Chevy Edition – NY Times: General Motors will discontinue light-duty Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans; Alan Mulally joins Google’s board of directors.
- BMW to Build New Models in China – WSJ: German luxury car maker BMW plans to make three additional car models in China, including a new compact, and to expand the capacity of its two manufacturing plants in the nation by 100,000 vehicles combined.