Mitsubishi Motors Corp and PSA Peugeot Citroen in Paris signed an agreement under which the struggling Japanese auto maker will supply the French firm with 30,000 sport-utility vehicles a year starting in 2007, reports television broadcaster NHK.
 

Ford Motor Co began selling its second hybrid vehicle, a more fuel efficient version of its Mercury Mariner sport utility vehicle. The 2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid SUV, which starts at $29,840, will be sold almost exclusively online, the company said. Customers can order the vehicles through Mercury's Web site and pick them up from a local dealer when they're delivered.
 

DaimlerChrysler has booked more than 26,000 orders from western Europe for its Mercedes M-class offroader within a few days of the launch, world's fifth-biggest carmaker said in a statement on Monday. The new M-Class, built in Alabama, went on sale in the United States in April and helped Mercedes-Benz post record sales for June. Mercedes-Benz established the premium off-road vehicle segment in Europe in 1997 with the introduction of the first-generation M-Class, of which around 650,000 were sold around the world.

Honda Motor Co said it would stop making the NSX model, putting to rest its priciest product, which in 1990 became the first Japanese super sports car to compete with the likes of Ferrari and Porsche. Japan's third-biggest auto maker, which initially launched the NSX to showcase its racing technology, said it was developing a new sports car that would, unlike the NSX, meet stricter U.S. and European emissions regulations to be introduced next year.
 

General Motors Corp said that its European vehicle sales grew 2.3 percent in the first six months of 2005 compared with same period last year. The auto maker sold 1.06 million vehicles and said its share of the European market increased slightly to 9.7 percent from 9.5 percent. GM said its biggest volume brands in Europe, Opel and Vauxhall, saw their sales increase to 878,500 units from 875,038 previously. Meanwhile, Chevrolet sales grew 25 percent to 117,000 vehicles, the company said.
 

Toyota Motor Corp's joint venture with General Motors Corp, New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI), will spend some 16 billion yen ($143 million) over the next five years to overhaul production facilities. The operator of a car plant in Fremont, California, will use 7-8 billion yen of the money by 2007 to upgrade a painting line.  An assembly line would also be renovated. The plant is expected to produce a record 410,000 vehicles in fiscal 2005, up 8 percent from a year earlier helped by brisk sales of Corolla and Tacoma models, the report said. ($1=112.04 Yen)
 

Nissan Motor Co will invest 5 billion yen (US$44.6 million) to upgrade production facilities in Mexico and launch a new low-priced subcompact vehicle to compete against rival offerings from Honda and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. The new spending will boost the Tokyo-based automaker's annual output in Mexico to 500,000 vehicles next year from a current level of 400,000, with the additional production dedicated to the new subcompact. The new model is expected to have a 1.5-liter engine.
 

Ford Motor Co's profits fell 19 percent in the second quarter, hurt by lower production and harsh competition in North America, where it lost more than $900 million. And the company's overall automotive outlook isn't much rosier for the rest of the year. The nation's second-largest automaker said that  it earned $946 million, or 47 cents a share, in the April-June period versus a profit of $1.2 billion, or 57 cents a share, a year earlier.
 

German luxury carmaker Porsche is set to develop its eagerly awaited fourth model line -- already named the Panamera -- by itself rather than seek a partner, industry sources say. That would mark a departure from its strategy with the Cayenne sport-utility vehicle, which it developed with German rival Volkswagen and which VW makes in raw form in Slovakia before handing over to Porsche for final assembly in Leipzig.
 

Honda Motor Co on Wednesday forecast its annual car sales would grow 23 percent to 4 million units in three years as it expands in Asia and North America with the addition of more fuel-efficient products. Announcing details of a three-year business plan ending in March 2008, Japan's third-biggest auto maker also projected motorcycle sales of 16 million units, 53 percent more than last year. Honda is the world's top motorcycle maker. "Sales should grow especially in Asia and China, but also in North America," President Takeo Fukui told a news conference. "But in general we expect growth all over the world to reach 4 million units."
 

Car maker Volvo has asked the Swedish government to waive the country's strict drunken driving laws to allow its test drivers to booze on the job, news reports said Wednesday. The safety-conscious automaker wants to test a new technology that is designed to make the car take control of steering when a driver's reaction time is slowed because of intoxication or fatigue. The testing would be done on a special track near Goteborg, on Sweden's west coast, where Volvo's parent company, Ford Motor Co, has a safety development facility. In Sweden, just one beer or glass of wine can land a driver in jail for up to six months.
 

Renault will invest more than 200 million euros ($243 million) to start a new investment project in Romania, the country's Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu said on Thursday. The world's fourth-biggest automaker already owns Romania's car manufacturer Automobile Dacia, which makes a successful no-frills Logan brand. "French group Renault decided to start an important investment in Romania of over 200 million euros," Tariceanu told reporters after the government meeting.

Ford Motor, in an effort to stem losses in its auto business, may cut as much as 30% of its North American white-collar work force over the next few years, according to a Wall Street Journal report Friday. The reductions could amount to as many as 10,500 jobs in the Dearborn, Mich.-based company's auto operations, the report said. "We do face operating challenges here at Ford," he said. "We are working on plans to address those challenges, and we will provide more details when the time is right."

Tata Motors will expand its model range and enter new European markets over the next five years. The Indian automaker wants to significantly increase its European sales, said Venkataramani Sumantran, executive director of Tata's passenger car business unit. "We have decided to grow in two ways - entering markets on the cusp of growth, like Turkey, and broadening our product range for mature markets like Europe," said Sumantran.

General Motors Corp introduced a new hatchback in China aimed at grabbing a greater share of the rapidly growing small car market. Deliveries of the Chevrolet Aveo, based on the Kalos developed by GM Daewoo in South Korea, are expected to start in two months' time, GM said in a statement. "It will enable GM to further capitalize on China's high growth small car segment, which has been boosted by the shift of the domestic market away from institutional buyers toward private buyers," said Dale Sullivan, Shanghai GM's Chevrolet brand head.

Europe's second-biggest car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen reported a drop in first-half net profit to the bottom of market forecasts, but maintained 2005 sales and margin targets despite rising raw material costs. PSA said its net attributable profit fell to 681 million euros ($821.8 million) against an average forecast by 11 analysts polled by Reuters of 781 million euros in a range of 610-869 million. The previous year's figure was restated to 858 million euros under the new IFRS accountancy rules.
 

Toyota Motor Corp aims to boost sales of its Lexus luxury cars to 500,000 units globally in 2006 -- up 40 percent from last year -- as it rolls out the brand for the first time in Japan next month. The world's second-biggest auto maker is counting on the domestic introduction of the Lexus line to revive demand in the premium segment long dominated by European marques.This year, it expects to sell 20,000 Lexus cars in Japan, raising that to 50,000 to 60,000 in 2006, President Katsuaki Watanabe told a news conference.

Mazda Motor Corp said that its sales in China jumped 53.6 percent to 70,357 vehicles in the first six months of 2005, putting it well on track to meet its goal of selling 100,000 units this year. Mazda's sales surge came against a 9.4 percent rise in China's overall vehicle sales during the same period -- including cars, trucks and buses -- to 2.79 million units. Leading the charge for the company was an 86 percent jump in sales of the Mazda6 sedan and a 40 percent climb in Mazda323 sales, Japan's fifth-largest automaker said in a statement.

The Jordan Formula One team will be supplied in 2006 by Toyota engines like they are this season, both sides announced at the Hungarian Grand Prix. "The co-operation with Toyota was a key element for Jordan in the 2005 season and I am personally delighted to carry on this excellent collaboration," said Jordan director Colin Kolles.