Top News:
- NHTSA hints at US-wide driverless car rules – Just-auto: No sooner have car companies complained about legislation tying their autonomous car research into knots, Washington has announced it will fast-track policies for driverless vehicles and maybe even waive regulations to do it.
- FCA Denies Pressuring Dealers to Inflate Sales Results – Detroit Bureau: Two dealers claim FCA offered $20,000 to inflate monthly sales reports, bolstering the company’s appearance. FCA denies the charges. Go to TheDetroitBureau.com for more.
- European Auto Market Growth Set to Slow as Car-Sharing Expands – Bloomberg: Europe’s auto market, which reached a six-year high in 2015, is unlikely to beat its 2007 record any time soon as population growth fades and car- and…
- GM challenges ignition-switch plaintiff’s account of crash fallout – Automotive News: A GM lawyer pushed back against an Oklahoma man’s testimony that his quality of life plummeted because of crash injuries he blamed on his Saturn Ion’s faulty ignition switch, in the first trial after a recall of millions of vehicles with the…
- Low Gas Prices Causing Average MPG to Fall – Detroit Bureau: Gas prices are at seven-year lows, driving increased sales of less fuel efficient trucks and SUVs, cutting the mpg rating average in the U.S., according to TheDetroitBureau.com.
- Mahindra & Mahindra’s New KUV100 Costs $6500 in India – WSJ: s Jazz comprised 85.5% of the nearly 1.52 million cars sold in India in the … March 31, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
- Mazda boosts EU sales 21% in 2015 – Just-auto: Mazda booked a 21% year on year increase in EU sales in 2015, selling 211,000 vehicles, its third consecutive year of growth in the 20% range.
- Renault shares still in the slow lane – FT: Well it’s not as bad as yesterday, but Renault is once again among the bigger fallers on the CAC-40 as shareholders continue to recover from the…
- Sweden to open Tehran office as sanctions due to lift – Just-auto: Sweden’s Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation is confirming it will set up an office in Iran as the much-heralded ending of sanctions looms large.
- Fiat Chrysler creates safety ambassador position – Detroitnews: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV has promoted a 20-year company veteran to a newly created position in its safety and regulatory compliance operations.
- Russia’s Medvedev: govt decided to increase support for auto industry – Reuters: MOSCOW Jan 15 The Russian government has decided to increase its support measures for the auto industry, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said…
- BMW Brazil to assemble sixth model – X4 – Just-auto: Despite operating at just a third of the capacity of the Araquari, Santa Catarina state, assemblyplant, BMW has decided to start building the X4 crossover locally in the second half ofthis year.
- Russia December numbers plunge yet further – Just-auto: Russia’s Association of European Businesses (AEB) has posted one of its most gloomy reports yet, recording a calamitous 46% drop in passenger cars and LCVs in December, with an overall plunge of 36% for last year.
- Renault Probe may Hinder French State Stake Sale – Bloomberg: Car makers will be in the spotlight today following raids on Renault. The share … Bloomberg’s Caroline Connan reports on “Countdown.” (Source:…
- Renault not forced to repay low-emissions tax breaks for now -media – Reuters: Renault shares fell as much as 22 percent on Thursday after the company … Renault said investigations to date had found “no evidence of a defeat…
- Volkswagen’s Europe Market Share Falls for First Time Since 2007 – Bloomberg: Volkswagen accounted for 24.8 percent of new cars sold in the region in … the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association,…
- Volkswagen loses further European market share – FT: Volkswagen lost further market share in Europe in December as the rest of the world’s manufacturers enjoyed a blockbuster end to the year that…
- Obama administration proposes $4bn boost for driverless cars – Ibtimes: Earlier, California had proposed regulations that limit the operation of driverless cars on the state’s roads for the next three years. Automobile and tech…
- Toyota Philippines targets 10 pct output growth in 2016 – Reuters: Toyota Philippines, the top automaker by sales in the Southeast Asian nation, assembles Vios and Innova models in its facility south of Manila.
- Toyota’s Umbrella Labor Group to Seek Smaller Wage Raise in 2016 – Bloomberg: The umbrella labor group representing Toyota Motor Corp. and its related companies said it will seek half the minimum wage increase in 2016…
