Auto News 5

State-owned Jier Machine Tool Group has won its sixth order from Ford for high-speed stamping equipment, breaking the stranglehold that German companies have had for the past 20 years.

Simon Thomas, who joined Volkswagen two years ago after 20 years in various roles with Nissan, is moving from the post of managing director of Volkswagen Group UK to head up marketing at Wolfsburg.

Hyundai's subcompact Accent became the second best selling car in Russia in the first half of this year, behind the Lada Granta and ahead of stablemate the Kia Rio, according to the Moscow-based Association of European Businesses.

News 15 Jul, 2013

Skoda Rapid Spaceback hatchback to debut at Frankfurt Motor Show

Nissan Motor on Monday (15 July) revived the Datsun brand - defunct since early 1986 - with a new, Indian-made five door hatchback called the Go, which shares wheelbase and platform with the locally-made Micra [March] and a Renault badged derivative called the Pulse.

The animated film studio Pixar sits behind newly aged brick walls on a sprawling campus in the East Bay that looks and seems a little like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, especially since you can't get inside.

EDITOR WES RAYNAL: I like big American cars. Normally I like my big American cars with rear drive and a V8. This 2014 Chevrolet Impala 2LTZ has neither though one could argue that 305 hp is more than those old rear drive V8 cars had anyway.

Volkswagen Group China's two local joint ventures, Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW Volkswagen, together sold about 1.5m vehicles in the first half of 2013, an increase of 18.7% year on year.

Nissan unveiled the Go five-door hatchback, the first model under the revived Datsun brand. The Go will go on sale in India early next year, followed by Russia, South Africa and Indonesia.

As ultracapacitors play an increasingly important role in the auto industry, Matthew Beecham caught up with Ioxus' VP of Marketing and Product Management and Co-Founder Chad Hall to run through the opportunities and applications.

According to Harman, the next generation of sat-nav software will be more user-friendly and use a head-up display (HUD). The conventional screen will be replaced by technology known as 'augmented reality', which projects a computerised image on to the base of the car windscreen directly in front of the driver, and which can react in real time to the road outside. To find out how, Matthew Beecham talked with Harman's President Infotainment Sachin Lawande, Executive Vice President and President, Infotainment Division.

Ford is launching a midcycle makeover and is going back to the well with the Fiesta Movement, which it has retooled.

The automaker is paying for tows in an effort to bring bodywork to participating shops.

Stacey Fowler, social media dealer coach of Ford Canada stores for Sonic Boom, a digital media agency in Toronto, shares her thoughts on the evolving social media sphere. Zender Ford in Spruce Grove, Alberta, is among the agency's clients.

Mercedes-Benz may build the next-generation CLA in Mexico as part of a joint venture with Nissan, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said

INGOLSTADT, Germany -- Another member of the Audi A3 family is expected to reach the market in 2016 or 2017: a crossover known internally as the "elevated space vehicle" that targets BMW's planned front-wheel-drive compact crossover.

American Honda is under pressure to repeat the success it enjoyed when Dick Colliver and Tom Elliott operated from 1993 to 2004.

Many dealers say careful inventory management can mitigate a rise in costs that would follow a spike in interest rates.

A German court last week upheld the October 2011 firing of former Mercedes-Benz USA chief Ernst Lieb, who was accused of using more than $100,000 in company money to make improvements at his New Jersey home.

General Motors wants to add 18 minority-owned dealerships by year end and has 45 candidates waiting in the wings, GM North America President Mark Reuss said.