Audi is to build an aluminium supercar aimed at Porsche 911 buyers and drivers who want cars that are sportier than Mercedes AMG or BMW 6-series models. It will be based on the Gallardo from Lamborghini, the Italian sportscar maker owned by Audi. Production will start in 2 years at the Neckarsulm plant in Germany and the car will be a V8 and called the A9, R9 or RS9.

Autoliv shares have jumped on speculation that Continental – the German tire and car parts maker will bid for Autoliv. Stock market dealers are citing talk of an offer for the Swedish group, the world's biggest maker of air bags and seat belts for the fiercely competitive car market. Broker Cheuvreux said it saw "a strong chance" that Continental would use its healthy cash position to make an acquisition. It singled out Autoliv as the most probable takeover target.

Bentley may shift some production of its new Continental Flying Spur to parent VW's under-used assembly plant in Dresden, Germany, to counter a production bottleneck at its Crewe, England, factory. But Bentley will not sell models built in Germany in the UK or the US, since buyers in those two countries expect a British luxury car to be made in England. But customers in mainland Europe are not so prejudiced. Research shows that customers in the UK and North America would not accept a Bentley built outside England.

Bosch is claiming a worldwide first by starting production of a throttle body for petrol engines produced from composite material. The new component weighs 25 % less, as well as being more economical to manufacture than traditional metal throttle bodies. Bosch says other benefits of this innovation are more accurate control of the opening angle of the valve; easier adaptation to different engines and vehicle models as well as superior performance in a crash.

Bosch has announced the opening of a new development and technology centre in China at Suzhou approximately 50 miles west of Shanghai at a cost of €50 million. It is part of a commitment by the company to invest €500 million in China over the next three years. This commitment will bring the total amount invested there to over €1 billion.

Collins & Aikman has filed for bankruptcy protection as it confronts a mounting cash crisis caused partly by production cuts at auto makers. Collins & Aikman supplies cockpits and other parts for interiors to the Big 3 U.S automakers -- GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler. The company, based in Troy, Michigan, said no affiliates outside the USA were included in the filing, which was widely expected.

European suppliers are shifting business toward customers they like and are making those they don't like pay more for parts. In a recent survey they showed clear preferences. In the key question of the 33 asked - "Which carmaker would you like to do more business with?" – the 84 suppliers who responded rated Toyota and BMW the highest. The same group said they wanted to do less business with Ford of Europe, Fiat, GM Europe and Seat.

Ford has announced that it will provide money to help save 2,000 wild mustang horses that face an uncertain future. A federal law passed late last year allows the slaughter of mustangs for the first time since 1971. "The mustang is a symbol that drove a lot of our success," said a Ford representative, referring to the sporty Ford Mustang introduced 40 years ago, our commitment to save mustangs is "a small token that we can do to pay back" for the company's success.

GM's North American sales and marketing chief, says that GM wants Cadillac and Chevrolet to be its only brands with a full line-up of vehicles. The company's other brands -- Buick, GMC, Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn and Saab -- should have limited offerings that fit within their distinct brand identity. "I'd rather have 4 great Pontiacs that are really distinct and stand for athletic design and performance, than 7 or 8 capable but indistinguishable Pontiacs that fail to fully deliver on the brand's promise," LaNeve told a meeting of the International Motor Press Association in New York.

Hankook, the South Korean tyre maker, has picked Slovakia for a new factory in which it plans to invest more than €500 million. Slovakia reportedly beat 2 other new European Union members, Poland and Hungary, in the competition for the Hankook plant - the company chose a site near the western Slovak town of Levice, about 130 km (78 miles) east of the capital Bratislava, and the factory should create around 1,500 new jobs.

Hyundai, which officially opened its first U.S. car assembly plant this month, expects its U.S. sales to rise about 16 % this year to about 485,000 vehicles, said Bob Cosmai, head of Hyundai Motor America. The Korean automaker has begin selling Sonata sedans built at its new Alabama plant, and will expand its lineup with the addition of a hybrid vehicle by the end of the decade.

Isuzu Motors Ltd., Japan's biggest maker of trucks and buses, plans to triple its stake in China's Qingling Motors Co. by offering $80 million to acquire about 325 million shares from independent shareholders. Isuzu is seeking to raise its stake to 20 % from about 7%. Isuzu, wants to strengthen ties to Qingling, which produces trucks with the Japanese automaker in the world's third- biggest vehicle market.

Land Rover's Solihull factory was invaded by Greenpeace protestors as part of a long-running campaign against 4x4 vehicles. The environmental group said 35 volunteers, dressed as staff, managed to get into the West Midlands plant to demonstrate against 'climate-wrecking' Range Rovers. They locked themselves to the car's assembly line to halt production. Ben Stewart of Greenpeace said the group is seeking a pledge from parent company Ford to stop making and marketing the cars for the city market.

Mando, South Korea's largest car parts maker, is to be put up for sale with a price tag that could be as high as $1.5bn-$2bn, generating a substantial windfall for owners JP Morgan Partners and Affinity Capital. However, the large profits set to be reaped by JPM and Affinity on their original $446m deal could fuel resentment over the substantial returns earned by foreign investors that bought South Korean companies in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

Mitsubishi has decided to withdraw from passenger car production in Indonesia, probably from June, due to a lack of research and development funds for introducing new models. The business daily said the automaker will now concentrate on producing commercial vehicles such as trucks and minibuses in Indonesia while importing passenger cars from Thailand and other manufacturing points for sale in the Indonesian market.

Prodrive, the Banbury UK -based engineering group which builds both Subaru’s world rally cars, is building a completely new kind of supercar, based on Subaru Impreza components but barely bigger than a Ford Fiesta. The 160mph hard-top two-seater, code-named P2, bears a superficial resemblance to rally-bred supercars of the past such as the Lancia Stratos and Ford RS200.

Visteon shares surged more than 28 % on continued speculation that the troubled auto parts company might be making a deal with its former parent Ford, that could see much of its U.S. operation sold back to the automobile maker or to a third party. Visteon, the world's 2nd largest auto parts maker behind Delphi Corp, was spun off from Ford in 2000.

A council in England has been forced to cancel scores of parking fines after realizing that drivers had been penalized because their self-adhesive pay-and-display tickets kept falling off their cars’ windscreens. Officials at Copeland borough council admitted that the faulty glue on the tickets was to blame for the cancellation of 63 penalties at 3 car parks, including 27 handed out to people with disabled badges. Their total value was £3,780.

The six-year-old VW Golf once owned by Pope Benedict XVI has been sold on eBay this month for £128,000. Benjamin Halbe, 21, bought the car in Germany from a dealer having no idea that its previous owner Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, would become Pope.

A thief in South Africa smashed a car window to steal a mobile phone – but had his ear torn off in the process. Police in Johannesburg are using the ear as evidence in their hunt for the robber.

John Willis of Perth , Australia, hated parking attendants so much he had 2 parking meters marked ‘expired’ set on his grave. In his will he wrote ‘Let them ticket me now’.

Police in Kobe , Japan put out a national alert for a patrol car they thought had been stolen. Then they remembered that the vehicle had been taken to a garage for repairs.

In Russia, a truck full of Vodka was sent through 24 border controls to gauge how corrupt the border police were. At 22 of the 24 stations bribes were demanded before the truck could pass.

A man in Seoul, South Korea has passed his driving test at the 272nd attempt. Seo Sang-Moon spent 5 years and $1000 trying to pass the exam.

A thief whole stole a bus in Genoa, Italy followed the correct timetable and even picked up passengers for an hour before he abandoned the vehicle.

Trevor Leary of Dublin, Eire took a potential buyer of his car on a test drive. When he returned he discovered the man’s companion had burgled his house.

Traffic wardens in Trani, Italy chose not to clamp the cars of 6 wedding guests, and the happy couple’s vintage Rolls-Royce wedding car, after the bride burst into tears.

Porsche owner Gerhard Jaenicke shot himself in the stomach after installing a homemade machine gun in his Warsaw garage to deter would-be thieves. He survived.

"I couldn’t believe it when I got out of my truck and saw there was a car stuck on the front of it,” says lorry driver Klaus Buergermeister. He was speaking after driving two miles down a German motorway with a Smart car wedged to his bumper. It was only when police stopped the lorry that the terrified car driver, Andreas Bolga, could escape. Buergermeister said he felt a slight bump, but told police in Leverkusen that he thought he had driven over a stone.

California’s vehicle licensing department has been sued for $5 million after several pedestrians were hit by a blind driver to whom it had issued a licence.