BMW's new 1 series will be launched throughout Western Europe on September 18th. In spite of growing demand for the car, one German BMW dealer near Cologne is offering a pre-launch cash incentive in the form of an additional 2000 euro trade-in bonus. BMW bosses in Munich are annoyed by the offer and say it is totally unnecessary.

Bosch believe that by 2015, 20 % of vehicles sold in the USA could be diesel powered. The prediction follows the Chrysler group™s announcement that 14,000 consumers expressed interest in the 2005 diesel-powered Jeep Liberty. Mercedes-Benz and VW have developed diesels for the United States. Interest in diesel-powered vehicles in the United States has increased as the price of gasoline has risen.

DaimlerChrysler has sold its 10.5 % stake in Hyundai Motor for over $900 million. Despite the sale, DaimlerChrysler said it would continue joint projects with Hyundai Motor, South Korea's leading automaker. DaimlerChrysler paid $428 million for 10% of Hyundai in June 2000, but raised the stake in 2001 to 10.5%. Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong Koo directly owns 5.22 % percent of the company. Total foreign ownership accounts for 56.1%.

Cadillac cars and trucks are to come with free in-vehicle telematics services for 12 months, including weather reports, stock information and traffic updates. GM's OnStar subsidiary will provide the voice-activated service, called Virtual Advisor. Drivers simply press the white OnStar button and say, "Virtual Advisor." Subscribers personalize the service through the cadillac website to specify the order and type of information they receive, modify their traffic reports and select up to 10 stocks from Dow and NASDAQ.

Ferrari has been ranked as the top place to work in a poll of 1700 students from 19 countries. The annual poll, which is in its 6th year, was conducted by Universum, a research company based in London and Stockholm. Business students ranked the following companies 1-Ferrari, 2-Barilla, 3-Armani, 4-Benetton, 5-BMW. Ferrari was also ranked first choice by engineering students.

Fiat is to use 4 wheel drive technology to boost sales. Over the next 24 months 10 vehicles will be offered with 4 wheel drive, and if consumers respond positively to the offerings from Fiat and alpha Romeo, 5 more models will be added with the option by 2008, including one from Lancia.

Ford says it has not ruled out a plant closure at its UK-based Jaguar operations. Don Leclair, chief financial officer, says there will be œfundamental, but not extensive, changes" at Jaguar. Although global sales are running 11% higher than a year ago, the 125,000 cars sold last year fell well below expectations. Ford had projected that Jaguar would earn $US500 million this year, but now expects it barely to break even.

GM advanced vehicle development chief Mark Hogan will leave his post to take over as president of parts giant Magna International. Sources close to the automaker say Hogan will resign at the end of August and will replace Belinda Stronach, daughter of Frank Stronach, interim CEO and founder of the Canadian parts giant. Belinda Stronach resigned earlier this year to launch a political career. In June she was elected to the Canadian Parliament.

GM has launched China's first auto financing venture to drive growth in a market expected to be the company's largest this year after the USA. GM has made its first customer loan, beating foreign rivals in a race to enter a largely untapped $22 billion market. GM expects that in 10 years, up to half of all Chinese car buyers will be financing their purchases. VW is still waiting for a license, while Ford and Toyota have initial approval to start making car loans. All hope car financing will fuel the next stage of explosive growth in China, especially as car sales slow.

Hyundai is said to be developing a luxury brand similar to Toyota™s Lexus marque. Hyundai would introduce the brand in 2007 to counter its ˜cheap™ brand image in the US and European markets. ˜Our plan is to launch a luxury brand strong enough to compete with BMW, Audi and Lexus,™ said a Hyundai executive.

Mercedes-Benz will drop supercharges Kompressor gasoline engines from its future line up in favor of turbocharged units. Mercedes claims that turbo technology is cheaper than supercharging, it is quieter and delivers better fuel economy. Coupling turbo charging with direct fuel injection also solves earlier problems of poor responsiveness or ˜turbo-lag™.

Navistar International, the heavy truck, school bus and mid-range diesel engine producer, has reported substantially improved sales and revenues for the third quarter of $2.4 billion, compared with $1.9 billion in the same quarter a year ago. The company's heavy truck operations have shown dramatic improvement as the company continues on track to achieve a 20% market share over the long term. Retail deliveries of heavy trucks for the first 9 months of the year were up 48% over a year ago.

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen has introduced an emergency-call function in its cars that could save hundreds of lives each year. The new SOS capability is a free service as part of PSA™s latest satellite navigation system, which is called RT3 on Peugeot cars and Navidrive on Citroen models. It includes a button on the dashboard which, when pressed, calls a 24 hour call centre.

Renault™s advertising slogan ˜va va voom™ is to be included in the concise Oxford English Dictionary. The 1950™s American phrase has been used by French agency Publicis since 1998 as the tagline for the Renault Clio Sport. The Oxford definition is given as ˜the quality of being exciting, vigorous and sexually attractive™.

SsangYong is investing $190 million to more than double production capacity at its Pyeongtaek plan in Korea from 180,000 pa to 400,000 pa by 2007. SsangYong says it has not been able to meet the rising overseas demand due to limited production capacity, and anticipates that sales abroad will grow 10-fold to $2.2 billion pa by 2007. Currently, SsangYong, which mainly produces SUVs such as the Korando and Rexton models, sells only 21% of its cars abroad.

Toyota has recruited the services of Dr Alex Moulton “the designer of the original Mini™s suspension. Dr Moulten, 84, has a new research contract from Toyota which is interested in his work on refining the front-to-rear interconnected fluid systems such as Hydolastic and Hydragas, as featured on many British Leyland models until a few years ago.

Toyota Technical Center USA Inc. says it has submitted a bid to purchase a 690-acre parcel of land in York Township, Michigan. The problem is Toyota™s offer was for only $9 million, well below a competing bid of $25.25 million submitted by a local developer. The Department of Management and Budget may still opt for Toyota™s bid which is seen as bringing high-paying jobs to the region. The agency says it is seeking œthe best value to the state.�

Toyota is said to be planning to build a plant in Russia in 2008 that will make about 15,000 vehicles a year. It is suggested that Toyota will invest $90 million to handle KD assembly of the Corolla and Camry models. Although not yet officially confirmed, the reports do make some sense as Toyota continues a steady expansion plan across the whole of Europe.

TVR, the Blackpool, UK based manufacturer of sports cars, has been purchased by a young Russian entrepreneur. Nikolai Smolenski, 24, is a friend of Chelsea Football club owner Roman Abramovich, is reported to be the youngest of Russia™s rouble billionaires. He is thought to have paid an estimated £15 million for the company. Former owner Peter Wheeler, who took control 23 years ago, will remain on the board.

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

Hitchhiker Hans Neumann of Frankfurt, Germany, catches the attention of passing motorists by holding up a clever sign that reads ˜ free brake test, apply here™.

A Japanese car accessory supplier has launched a new gadget called the ˜Thank-you tail™. You fit it to the roof of your car and at the push of a button it wags from side to side like a dog™s tail to show your gratitude. It is meant to be used when another driver lets you join the traffic in front of them. The supplier hopes the gadget will be a big hit at Christmas.

A pilot on France who was running out of fuel, landed his plane, unbolted the wings and drove it to a garage at La Baule. Onlookers told police, who arrested him for driving with no lights or rear mirror.

The Ritz hotel in Cooperville, Kansas, is advertising for a ˜thoroughly nasty and vindictive™ parking attendant to scare off day-trippers who dare to use its car park.

A bank robber was arrested in Athens, Greece after trying to flee the scene of his crime in a sewage truck. Police said the villain foolishly thought they™d never suspect he would use such a vehicle.

Motorists near Arnhem, Holland can now legally buy marijuana in the same way as a burger “ after local authorities created the first drugs drive-through in the world.

An old pick-up truck in Florida has gained a reputation for being lucky after 2 of its previous owners became multi-millionaires in the state lottery.

Drivers in Ontario, Canada, caused mayhem on the road while scrambling for cash dumped by a fleeing bank robber. Police appealed for the $5,000 to be returned “ but only $50 was handed in.

A car-loving woman in Sydney, Australia, has painted her white Porsche 911 with black dots to deter thieves. Elizabeth Needham, 36, says the cost of respraying it puts crooks off.

After being hit by a car in Orlando, Florida, a stray mongrel dog named Mandy limped to a hospital where doctors put her leg in plaster. A nurse has now adopted her.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says that plastic surgery in the sunshine state is now so common that driving licenses should carry 2 photographs of their holders, i.e, ˜before™ and ˜after™ surgery.