Covisint, the struggling online automotive industry services company formed by D/C, GM and Ford, is to sell its auction assets to the software company FreeMarkets. FreeMarkets, based in Pittsburgh, will provide technology and services to the motor industry. Covisint will transfer its customer contracts and provide committed revenue to FreeMarkets for the next 3 years, while FreeMarkets will hire select Covisint auction services employees as part of the deal.

Ford™s sales figures in the USA appear to have dropped to a 75-year low. Through November, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury's share of the U.S. car and light-truck market was 19.5 %. One Wall Street analyst projects that Ford™s sales dropped about 10 % in December, while the total industry fell 5 % from a strong month a year ago. That would leave Ford with the lowest market share since 15.8 % in 1928, when production dropped sharply as the company switched from the Model T to the Model A. Last year, Ford's domestic-brand share was 20.2 %.

Ford says it will decide in one year whether to begin production in China of luxury vehicles from its Premier Automotive Group comprising Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo brands. Ford President Nick Scheele says a decision to produce 1 or more PAG vehicles will be part of the company™s plan to spend $1.5 billion expanding production in China with its local partner Changan Automobile Group.

Japanese OEMs increased their share of the new passenger car market in Western Europe during 2003. According to ACEA the Japanese makers sold just under 1.8 million units in the year, a gain of 9% over 2002™s total representing a market share of 12.7% against 11.5% in the previous year. There were substantial share gains for Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Honda. Meanwhile, during last year VW, PSA, Ford, Renault, GM, Fiat and D/C all lost share.

Honda has shown its SUT sports truck concept at the 2004 North American International Auto Show and says it will be produced at Honda of Canada Manufacturing (HCM) in Alliston, Ontario, in 2005. To make room for the new model, all production of the popular Odyssey mini van at HCM's No. 2 line will shift to 'HMA' in Lincoln, Alabama with the production start-up of the redesigned 2005 Odyssey in autumn 2004.

Malaysia, which has been charging import duties of up to 300% on foreign cars, last week reduced the levies to between 25% and 190%. To offset the resulting drop in revenue - and to continue to shield Proton, the country™s national OEM - Malaysia is adding excise duties of 60% to 100% on imported vehicles. The government says it will further reduce import duties in 2008, so bringing its taxes in line with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Martin Leach, the former head of Ford's European operations, has been granted an injunction against Ford, preventing the automotive giant from enforcing a two-year non-compete clause. As Ford struggles to meets its goals in Europe, the negative publicity, however short lived, is the last thing that it needs.

Mercedes is to re-launch a diesel engined car in the USA. It is five years since it last sold a diesel car, but the E320 CDI will be launched in April. Mercedes aims to sell between 3,000 and 3,500 units this year. Twenty years ago 80% of Mercedes sales in the US were diesels. Meanwhile, BMW says it will not offer a diesel version until 2006 when low-sulphur diesel fuel becomes available.

Mitsubishi Motors is to sell a 22% stake in Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus to DaimlerChrysler AG for $US 489.4 million says Reuters. Mitsubishi Motors' stake in the truck maker will be cut to 20% from 42% while DaimlerChrysler, which owns 37% of Mitsubishi Motors and is the world's biggest truck maker, is lifting its stake in unlisted Fuso to 65%. DaimlerChrysler is focusing on Asia, the world's fastest-growing truck market, for its commercial vehicles business.

Navistar's truck division International Truck and Engine Corp. will deliver more than 1,700 International 4000 Series medium-duty trucks to the United States Postal Service. All the trucks are to be equipped with 2004 emissions-compliant engines. International Truck and Engine is the operating company of Navistar International Corp., the largest combined commercial truck, school bus and mid-range diesel engine producer in the U.S.

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen says it received a 100-kilometre (62-mile) competition exclusion zone in a verbal agreement from the Slovak government when it selected Trnava as a manufacturing site. PSA™s plant will have 3,500 workers and a capacity to build 300,000 cars a year from 2006. Under the agreement other carmakers will be barred from setting up operations within the exclusion zone and siphoning of PSA™s workforce.

Renault has bought the 33% share of Revoz that it did not hold. That now gives it full control of its Slovenian subsidiary. Renault will take full control of the Novo Mesto plant on February 3rd, 2004. The Revoz plant is the only car manufacturing plant in the country and produced 118,200 Clios in 2003.

Smart has decided on a new naming convention for its range of small distinctive cars. The basic principle of this logic is to give names which have a direct connection to the uses of the vehicle concerned. The names are as follows - the Smart Fortwo coupé, Smart Fortwo cabrio and Smart Forfour. From 2006 a new utility vehicle will be added to the range and will be called the Smart Formore.

SsangYong Motors of Korea is up for sale. Interested parties are said to include are both GM and Renault, but The Lanxing Group, a Chinese industrial and chemical company, has emerged as the preferred bidder. Lanxing is little known outside of its native country, where it is already involved in vehicle production through Chinese Motors.

Toyota™s Prius has been voted the 2004 North American car of the year, beating the Mazda RX-8 and Caddillac XLR. Meanwhile the Ford F-150 has been voted the North American truck of the year. It is the second time in the awards™ 11 year history that the F-150 has earned this title. Both awards are voted by a panel of 49 automotive journalists.

Volkswagen sold more cars in China than it did in Germany last year. It marked the first time in the Volkswagen Group™s history that Germany was not its biggest market.

Volvo, together with Dana and Getrag have formed a 3-way joint venture for the development and production of all-wheel drive and chassis systems, called Getrag All Wheel Drive AB. Dana and Getrag will hold 60% of the company, and Volvo 40%. The joint venture, which has sales of about 200 million and about 1,000 employees, will take over existing Volvo operations in Köping, Sweden. The aim is to develop the business into a competitive supplier of AWD systems to third parties as well as to Volvo.

On the lighter side .... some strange but true stories.

A middle-aged couple from Germany were arrested at the border with the Czech Republic when customs officials found 12 rare parrots worth $150,000 hidden in their car™s rear seat.

In a feat worthy of Superman a 28-year-old teacher in Japan, who weighed only 140 lbs, lifted up a car that had fallen off its jack and pinned down his friend.

Motorist Lou Clarke, 72, who sold his car for 900 UK pounds in Yeovil, Somerset, England, has given the cash to a hedgehog sanctuary as compensation for any hedgehogs he might have squashed during his years of driving.

A driver who ordered a bagel and a Diet Coke from a McDonald™s in Weston, Florida, got a surprise when she opened her bag: it contained the day™s takings. The cash was kept in an ordinary paper bag as a security measure. Company officials say the bag had been left too close to the drive-through counter window. The driver, Janice Meissner, said ˜When I told a staff member what I™d found in the bag she turned as white as a ghost.

The driving licence office in Chieti, Italy found it had issued permits to 22 people who were registered as blind. The fault came to light after police stopped 3 drivers who supposedly couldn't see.

Drivers near Paris have been claiming that kangaroos have been hopping out of verges and hitting their cars. As many as 50 of the animals are reported to be in Rambouillet forest - but nobody knows where they come from.

Mathew Eglise of Croydon, Surrey, England called a windscreen repair service after finding the windscreen of his car had shattered. During the 15 minutes it took to replace, a traffic warden issued a parking ticket for the repair van, and fined Mr Eglise for having his residents™ permit attached to some shards of glass on the front seat, rather than on the windscreen.

A motorist has accidentally blown up his car after lighting a fire underneath its frozen engine. Zlatko Grden, 52, who lives near Zagreb, Croatia, said: ˜My lovely car is destroyed. Perhaps I used too much paper.™

Donald Robson of Sydney, Australia runs a London black cab as a family car. But he has to keep the doors locked otherwise people jump in and try to hire him.

People in Denmark who like a new beer-flavoured sausage have been warned not to drive their car after eating the product. The manufacturer fears it could push them over the drink-drive limit.

Police in Soderkoping, near Stockholm, Sweden, had an elk to thank for the arrest of 3 car thieves. The animal blocked the crook™s path which allowed the cops to catch up.