BMW could sell more cars than Mercedes for the first time since 1995. While Mercedes global sales have fallen just under 5% so far this year to 760,300, BMW have posted an 8% jump in the first 8 months of 2004 to 769,086. Even though Mercedes sales fell in August for the 7th month this year, the firm said its sales should approach last year's 1.1m. But BMW said it expected to surpass last year's total by just under 10%.

Bosch will invest $US216 in India over the next four years as part of its Asian expansion plans. "A significant part of the investment will be directed towards the introduction of common rail diesel injection systems (equipment), including application, testing and manufacturing," says Bosch. The entire investment will be routed through Motor Industries Company Ltd., the Indian subsidiary in which the unlisted Bosch group holds a 60% stake.

China expects to have 140 million cars on its roads by 2020, seven times more than now, fueling demand for transportation infrastructure and services. China predicts that its auto population will eventually reach around 250 million, or about 150 cars per 1,000 people. It is estimated that this year's production will top 5 million units, making China the world's 3rd-largest auto manufacturer after the United States and Japan.

DaimlerChrysler, the world's biggest maker of trucks and buses, forecasts solid sales growth this year. Its revenue has risen 26 % in the first half of 2004 to $18.81 billion. It expects the western European truck market to rise 8 % in 2004 to 300,000 units, while Western Europe's van market would advance 6 % to 995,000 units, and its buses/coaches market would be flat at 25,000 units. It sees the NAFTA zone market growing by 10 % for class 5-7 trucks to 183,000 units and by 28 % for class 8 trucks to 230,000. But the Japanese truck market is expected to fall 19 % to 221,000 units.

Delphi Corp. has launched its first digital tachograph at the International Auto Show (IAA) Commercial Vehicles 2004 in Hanover. The digital tachograph is a central control unit which stores journey times, driving and resting times, as well as vehicle speed and other data. Drivers use a personalised ID card to operate the tachograph and police can examine the data recorded by using a master card.

Ford has announced that its Jaguar F1 team will be up for sale at the end of the 2004 season along with its Cosworth engine company. Ford VP Richard Parry-Jones, said there were a number of parties interested in buying the Jaguar team. But he could not guarantee a sale would go ahead. "If it does not, we would be forced to face a closure scenario," he said. Cosworth also supply struggling Jordan and Minardi and the loss of those engines could hit the two smallest, privately-entered teams hard.

Ford expects sales of its most popular European car to fall as customers switch from hatchbacks to people carriers. Ford said the replacement for the Focus family car would never again reach the peak of 565,000 sold in 2001 and next year would be slightly below last year's 468,000, when the Focus made up one in three Fords sold in the region. "The sector is shrinking primarily because of the growth of MPVs (multi-purpose vehicles, or people carriers)," said Lewis Booth, chief executive of Ford of Europe.

Honda. says its pop-up hood system will lessen the impact to pedestrians in the event of a collision by adding extra engine compartment clearance. The system uses 3 sensors to determine if a pedestrian impact has happened, then signals an actuator to lift the rear portion of the engine hood about 3.9 ins. (10 cm). Honda says the pop-up hood can result in about a 40% reduction in Head Injury Criteria (HIC) values. There™s no word yet on when the system could debut on production vehicles.

Hyundai plans to absorb its wholly owned truck engine unit, ending speculation that it might seek a strategic partner for it. The announcement after DaimlerChrysler AG severed its alliance with the Korean carmaker by selling its 10.5 % stake in Hyundai for $912 million in mid-August. There had been market talk that Hyundai might search for another foreign partner to support the venture. But analysts said it would be difficult for Hyundai to find a new strategic partner as global giants such as Ford and GM were seeking overseas expansion on their own.

Hyundai expects to sell 80,000 taxis to China, worth $1.3 billion, as part of Beijing's plans to upgrade its transport. Hyundai also reiterated its plan to raise output in the world's fast-growing automotive market to 600,000 units a year from 2007, compared with the current 150,000 units. To do so, it will pump in an extra $940 million in China to make it the company's largest overseas production base. Hyundai will build a second plant in China to secure the economies of scale and make it a core overseas base that produces quality and competitive products

Jaguar is to end car production at it™s historic Brown's Lane factory in Coventry. The assembly of Jaguar models will transfer to the nearby Castle Bromwich plant, with 400 voluntary redundancies. Many of Brown's Lane's 2,500 workers will move to Castle Bromwich but 310 staff will remain in Coventry to make wood finishes for Jaguar models. About 750 jobs will be lost as a whole across the Jaguar Group.

Navistar is to launch a monster pickup truck. The new CXT -- short for commercial extreme truck is built from the same platform as the Navistar typical tow truck or cement mixer -- will be sold by Navistar's International Truck & Engine subsidiary. At 258 inches, or 21-1/2 feet long, the CXT's about 4-1/2 feet longer than the new Hummer H2 pickup, and about 2 inches longer than the F-350 Crew Cab. At 108 inches, or 9 feet, the CXT stands only a foot below a basketball rim and more than two feet above the Hummer or the F-350.

MG Rover's talks with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) over a co-operation agreement do not include the Chinese carmaker buying or taking a stake in the British automaker, a senior executive reportedly said. Reuters said his comments came after the trade newspaper, Automotive News Europe, said on Monday that SAIC planned to buy privately held MG Rover as part of its expansion plans overseas.

Tata Motors, India's second-largest maker of motor vehicles, and MG Rover of the UK are attempting to save their faltering vehicle distribution partnership. On its launch Tata officials forecast exports of 100,000 Tata Indica cars to the UK over 5 years but sales have barely reached 3,000. Rover hopes to cut the price of the car or add free equipment to make it more competitive, and wants Tata to bear some of the cost.

Toyota and Nissan are to join forces to create an international standard for the software that operates a car's electronic systems. Japan's top 2 automakers say the tie-up would allow them to spend less on developing the base software and more on actual electronic products such as power windows and cruise control systems. The 2 companies will work together through a non-profit entity called JASPAR (Japan Automotive Software Platform and Architecture). JASPAR is also seeking participation by other auto makers and car electronics-related firms in the hope of becoming the first to create an international standard.

Toyota has for the first time confirmed it has plans for launching production in Russia. Toyota sees vast opportunities existing in the Russian and other East European markets. According to some Japanese mass media the plant will most probably be built by 2008 in the area of Nizhni Novgorod. In the first phase it may produce the most popular models “ Camri and Corolla “ up to 15,000 vehicles a year.

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

Mr Christian Cole of Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK, ran out of luck after drinking 10 pints of beer and attempting to drive home. First he offered £10,000 to a passer-by to say he had been driving the car. Unfortunately the passer-by was a magistrate and called the police. Before officers arrived he offered the same bribe to 2 other men, and as he was being taken to the station he tried to bribe a policeman to release him from handcuffs. Cole was jailed for 4 months, banned for 2 years and fined £300 for driving with excess alcohol and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

A drunk businessman fell asleep in his Mercedes in Taiwan - and woke up in a warehouse full of stolen cars in China. While he slept, his car had been loaded onto a boat, and shipped across the Taiwan Strait.

Police in Wisconsin are suing authorities as officers claim that are forced to issue a fixed number of traffic tickets every month, or risk the sack.

A man caught speeding in Rotterdam, Holland, told a court he was going too fast because as he was desperate for the toilet. The judge dismissed the case, saying: ˜When you have to go, you have to go.™

Steve Lucas, 20 was charged with driving at 115 mph on the M62 in West Yorkshire, England. If convicted he faced a 6 month driving ban and £2,500 fine. He decided to fight his case and hired a test track and an ex-police officer to drive his car as fast as it could go. His car, a 1.2 litre Fiat Punto could only reach a top speed of 104 mph. The original charge was then dropped and Lucas subsequently admitted to driving at 85mph for which he was fined £40. West Yorkshire Police were ordered to reimburse the £650 costs for hiring the track, the driver and the test equipment. Lucas said he would put the money towards a new car because he had sold the Punto to fund his defence.

Prince Charles impersonator Charles Haslett has escaped a driving ban by claiming it would cost him his job. The 48-year old said that if banned he would no longer be able to earn a living by driving around the country pretending to be the prince at private parties and corporate events.

Two traffic wardens in England laim they were sacked because they were not issuing enough parking tickets. Phil Mansell and Bruce Edwards says they were followed around by their managers and ordered to target police cars, ambulances and post vans. The men claim they were asked to increase their daily average of fines from 14 to 20. When they complained they were dismissed. Neither will be able to take action against their former employer “ Bromsgrove district council, because they were on a probationary period.

Mr Lin of China became so unhappy with the problems on his new BMW that he tied 3 donkeys to the 760i saloon and attempted to drag it thousands of kilometres from Beijing to Hangzhou. Meanwhile, several people walked alongside carrying banners that read: "Who can solve quality flaws with BMWs?" Mr Lin decided to arrange the donkey drive to draw public attention to "how BMW treats customers." He said the BMW authorised service centre repaired the car several times but it was still so problem-ridden that it could not be driven. He tried to get the company to agree to repair the car once and for all, and to promise to refund his money if problems continued, but the company did not agree.

Rebecca Denton, 37, of Ponttypridd, Mid Glamorgan, Wales has set a new record for driving the wrong way down a motorway. She drove her Toyota Celica for 30 miles along the south Wales section of the M4, narrowly missed a petrol tanker and clipped the wing mirror off a Renault Clio. She later told police she thought that everybody else was going the wrong way.

Two robbers pedaled away on mountain bikes after attacking a bank in Dearborn, Michigan, but hadn™t taken time to practice their gear changes. They tried to flee in second gear, but were cycling so slowly that one witness was able to follow them on foot, then a bank guard got close enough to shoot one of them in the arm. Both men were arrested.

A business man in Metz, France was so angry when a cash machine ate his debit card that he crashed his Audi through the bank™s window. He was charged with dangerous driving and criminal damage.

Judges in Bucharest, Romania have fined 3 Turks who transported 94 sheep in 3 small pick-ups. They were prosecuted for animal cruelty.