Avtovaz, Russia's biggest carmaker, says it has agreed with General Motors Corp to produce Opel Astra cars at their joint venture plant. Avtovaz says it plans to issue a $100 million Eurobond this year to help finance production from the beginning of 2004. The Astra would be the second model for the $322 million venture, which the two companies launched at the end of September 2002 to produce the Chevrolet Niva off-road vehicle.

DaimlerChrysler Trucks is counting on new products and greater parts sharing to raise the division's profits this year. The company said its new Actros heavy duty truck, which went into production recently, would help boost the unit's performance this year, even though the weak market conditions of 2002 were showing no sign of abating. The company expects the European market to be flat this year. Few analysts expect a swift recovery in demand for commercial vehicles, a sector whose health tends to reflect closely that of the wider economy.

Ford is fighting gloomy predictions that it could be forced into bankruptcy, weighed down by debts of $US150 billion, stumbling sales and a sluggish world economy, says the UK's Daily Telegraph. The paper said a scathing examination of the motor icon's balance sheet by the analyst famed for predicting that WorldCom and Enron would go bust long before Wall Street realised those companies were doomed puts Ford's future in doubt.

GM is working with 36 of its key suppliers to reduce parts costs by 20% over 3 years. It describes the program as an evolving plan to build longer-term and more collaborative relationships with its most important suppliers, much as the Japanese do now. The effort is separate from GM's push last year to make suppliers commit early to price cuts of between 2% and 10% for 2003.

Goodyear and TRW Automotive have signed a 5-year agreement to jointly study tyres, braking, suspension and steering systems to accelerate product development for vehicle manufacturers. A key focus will be optimising the interaction of tyres, suspension, braking and steering systems. The goal will be to enhance vehicle ride, handling, and other safety, performance and comfort characteristics.

Kenworth says the truck market will begin to recover in Q2 or Q3 and is forecasting about 160,000 Class 8 truck sales in the U.S. and Canada in 2003. Kenworth says 40 % of the trucks on the road are less than 3 years old. According to its recently-released white paper on life cycle costs, it's more economical in the long run to replace trucks before they get much older than that. The white paper offers fleets and owner/operators ways to get the most for their money over the life of their truck.

Mahle, now Europe's largest independent supplier of camshafts, has acquired a majority share of BMW's camshaft production operation near Berlin. Initially, Mahle will supply most of BMW's camshafts from the plant which employees 250 staff. Longer term Mahle may build a second plant next to the existing facility to make camshafts for its other customers. During 2002 the company consolidated new subsidiaries in Canada, Mexico, South Korea, India and Australia.

Matra Automobiles hopes to know next month whether German supplier Albert Weber will acquire it. The French coachbuilder needs a rescuer to secure the future of its main plant at Romorantin, where it built Renault's Espace until last October. Now it builds Renault's Avantime but sales are lower than expected. Renault have excluded any possibility of taking over Avantime production if the plant is closed. If no buyer is found, the plant would close with the loss of 1043 jobs.

Pirelli will supply its first 'smart tire' application to an unnamed carmaker in the first half of 2004. Smart tires incorporate sensors within their treads that provide information on vehicle dynamics directly from the road surface. Smart tire sensors are faster and more accurate than sensors mounted on suspension systems inside the vehicle body.

Renault and Idro (Industrial development and renovation organisation of Iran) have signed a letter of intent signalling the start of negotiations to create a joint venture company. The project envisages manufacturing and selling a car model, currently known by the code name X90, being developed by Renault. Iran has an established car industry and supplier network and the market has steadily increased over the last three years to 450,000 cars in the fiscal year 2002-2003

Renault will invest $230 million in Russia to produce and market its future X90 vehicle, starting in mid-2005. The production line - to be set up in Moscow at the plant belonging to Avtoframos, a subsidiary which is owned 62% by Renault and 38% by the City of Moscow - will have a capacity of 60,000 vehicles a year. The X90 has been purposely designed for countries with a strong demand for economical cars built to high standards. The X90 will first be produced at the end of 2004 at the Dacia plant in Pitesti, Romania.

Saab's fully owned national sales companies in Europe will be combined with Opel's as part of a cost-cutting drive at GM's troubled Swedish subsidiary. Saab sales and marketing organizations in Germany, Switzerland, the UK, France, Italy, Finland and Denmark will be merged with Opel's as soon as possible. This could result in up to 100 job losses.

Visteon is exiting the seating business. The decision to leave this 'non-core' business is expected to cost Visteon a special charge of about $US225 million before taxes during the first quarter of 2003. Its plant in Chesterfield, Michigan, which sells seats to Ford will be closed and Johnson Controls will take over supply immediately. In support of Visteon's strategy to pursue growth in its core businesses, Ford will award additional business to other parts of Visteon.

Visteon is asking its suppliers to commit to large price cuts at the start of each contract. That's not unusual, but what is unusual is Visteon's demand that those suppliers pay for a portion of the cuts in advance. That amount would be at least 10% of the value of the first year of the contract. This 'pay to play' strategy is part of Visteon's effort to trim its supply base from 2500 to 500 over the next 5 years. Companies that make the cut are promised more business and longer contracts.

Volvo and Motorola have joined forces to provide "the world's most advanced chassis controller" for the new Volvo S60 R and V70 R models. Running on Motorola's technology, the car's electronic controller communicates with the actuators and sensors within the vehicle chassis system, enabling the driver to define the ride, handling and comfort of the vehicle. Three buttons in the centre of the dashboard enable the driver to change chassis settings at a flick of a switch to Comfort, Sport or Advanced Sport. The 'brain' of Volvo's Four-C System is a control unit developed and manufactured by Motorola.

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

A traffic warden in Manchester has been sent for 'retraining' after putting a parking ticket on a bus as it picked up passengers at a bus stop. Bus driver, Chris O'Mahoney, thought it was a practical joke when the warden emerged from the bus queue and gave him a $60 fine. Manchester city council has cancelled the fine against bus operator Bluebird which, incidentally, allows traffic wardens to travel free on their vehicles.

A new road sign has been erected in Nigeria on a sharp bend and an unfenced drop of 100ft. The sign reads ' Dead slow or Dead. Please yourself'.

A man in Yamagata, Japan has been charged with wrecking a train station after he drove though it with his car. In court he asked the judge to be lenient because at the time of the offence he was 'chasing a woman.'

A driver in Innenstadt, Germany is facing drugs charges after he stopped outside the town's police station in a police-car only parking zone so that he could snort cocaine.

Talking parking meters are on trail in Stockholm, Sweden. When a coin is inserted they warn drivers to check nearby signs for days when use of the bay is prohibited.

In Austria new laws have been introduced to encourage drivers to be more courteous. Motorists can now be fined up to $4000 for making rude hand gestures.

Funeral directors in Liverpool, England have been complaining that their hearses were getting stuck on speed humps on the cities roads. Sometimes overweight mourners have been asked to get out of the cars and walk so that drivers could negotiate these traffic calming measures. Liverpool city council has now agreed to lower the height of all its speed humps, also known as sleeping policemen, by 25mm over the next 10 to 15 years.

Police in France are handing out free coffee and information on how to stretch aching muscles at roadside service areas to help motorists beat fatigue.

A driver in Australia who was booked for illegal parking stapled his penalty payment to a dead pig's ear and posted it to the court in Geelong, Victoria.

A car dealer in Stuttgart was shocked when a woman bought her dog along for a test drive. She explained that she wanted to find out if the pet got travel sick. It is not known what the dog thought of the car.

Leslie Strickland, 49, of Florida spent a night in jail after trying to help a 6ft long alligator she had accidentally run over in her car. She took the animal home, only to be told by her neighbours that it was illegal to posses an alligator. She panicked and drove off to find a pond in which to release it. But the animal thrashed its tail while she was driving and caused her to crash the car. She now faces motoring offences and the animal has died.