Brose Group will invest over 40 million Euros to construct and equip a new Czech plant for closure systems and seat adjusters. The Czech government agency for support of foreign direct investments, CzechInvest, said the factory would create new 150 jobs in the eastern town of Novy Jicin by 2007. The plant will export to Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Italy and its main customers will be DaimlerChrysler, Lear, Johnson Controls, Faurecia, BMW, Opel and Fiat.

Faurecia has opened a new R&D Centre in Germany, devoted to the design and development of instrument panels and cockpits. The new centre is located at Hagenbach (Rhineland-Palatinate) and employs 550 people. The project represents an investment of €20 million. Faurecia claims world leadership in the supply of seats, cockpits, doors, acoustic modules, front ends and exhausts. It is present in 27 countries and employs 59,000 people in 160 sites.

Fiat's market share in Italy slumped to historic lows in September and its sales growth lagged the overall market as the carmaker struggled through a transition month when it launched new models. The group's cars accounted for 27.15 % of new vehicles sold in Italy during September, down from 30.28 % in August and barely above June's all-time low of 26.96 %. A Fiat spokesman said the market share dip was no surprise as two new small cars only went on sale on September 6 and 13.

Ford’s German unit plans to cut a further 1,700 jobs by the end of this year through early retirement as Ford's European business seeks to cut costs. Ford Europe posted a $525 million loss in the second quarter, and its chief executive quit in August. Ford is also cutting 3,000 jobs at its Belgian Genk plant, as it scrapped plans to produce the new generation of its Focus brand there in order to slash costs and return to profit.

Ford is to invest $500m over the next few years to make Thailand a stronger part of its Asian strategy. It will set up a Southeast Asia regional HQ in Thailand and boost production capacity through its 8 year old truck making venture with AutoAlliance from 135,000 to 200,000 vehicles annually. Ford will also invest $50m to expand production in the Philippines.

GM is predicting that China will be the world’s second-largest automotive market in 5 years, and will be the global focus of growth for the auto industry over the next 10 years. Frederick Henderson, president of GM Asia-Pacific, predicts that the Chinese total vehicle market should reach 4.4 million units next year up 29 % on last year.

Hella says it is developing an innovative factory and logistics concept at its new manufacturing site in Koovce, Slovakia. The groundbreaking logistics concept facilitates production control, storage and transport organization and material allocation planning. It is designed for an increasing number of model variants and shorter product life cycles. It also facilitates requirements for small production quantities. The software planning tools were developed by Hella's own manufacturing development team.

Hino Motors and Isuzu Motors have reached an agreement to establish a holding company to consolidate control over their bus manufacturing subsidiaries. This consolidates the initial agreement that began in 2002, which is operating under the banner of J-Bus Limited. The companies will merge during October 2003. J-Bus is a 50/50 venture between Hino and Isuzu. It is headed by President Tadayoshi Nakane (Hino) and Vice President Goro Miyazaki (Isuzu).

Jaguar has denied reports that one of its three plants in Britain will be closed. Speculation has been mounting that its Brown's Lane plant near Coventry will be shut down, so threatening 1,500 jobs. The plant has been making cars for 50 years and has now produces the latest all aluminium XJ luxury car. Brown’s Lane is also viewed as the brand's spiritual home.

Mitsubishi will invest $90 million in a production line for a new series of car engines jointly developed by DaimlerChrysler and Hyundai. Mitsubishi, in which DaimlerChrysler holds a 37% stake, plans to produce the engines at its Shiga factory in western Japan from spring 2005. The 3 car makers announced the "World Engine" project to jointly design, develop and engineer 4-cylinder engines of 1.8, 2.0 and 2.4 litres. The US site for production will be Dundee, Michigan.

Nissan Diesel Motor - the Japanese truck maker says its main banks and main shareholder Nissan Motor will give it $957 million in financial aid. Reports of a bail-out lifted the truck maker's shares by more than 10 %. Nissan Motor owns 22.5 % of Nissan Diesel. The company now expects a net loss of 44 billion yen for the year. As one of Japan's weakest truck makers, it struggles under a pile of interest-bearing debt - at 390 billion yen roughly equal to its revenues last year -- left over from the bubble years after which domestic truck demand sank

Pininfarina has signed a deal with Volvo to build its next convertible. The car, which is due on sale in 2006, will be built at Volvo’s plant in Uddevalla, Sweden which currently handles the C70. The new car will use the C1 platform from the next Volvo S40 / Ford Focus / Mazda 3. The new joint venture will be called Pininarina Sverige AB and will be a 60/40 venture with Volvo the majority owner.

Saab’s new 9-2X, all-wheel-drive, 5-door vehicle will be unveiled at a special event in mid-December in conjunction with the Los Angeles Auto Show. The 9-2X, which is based on the Subaru Impreza, will be offered in two versions will be available, both with five-door body styles and all-wheel-drive as standard. The entry level model will be powered by a naturally-aspirated 2.5-litre ‘boxer’ engine and the top Aero model will feature a 227 bhp, 2.0-litre turbo unit.

Tata Motors of India, says it has been selected as the "preferred bidder" for South Korea's bankrupt Daewoo Corp's truck unit. Tata Motors expects to sign an agreement next week and will begin due diligence thereafter. Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company is the second-largest maker of heavy commercial vehicles in Korea with a market share of 26%. It produces trucks, tractors and other utility vehicles.

Toyota aims to raise its share of China's fast-growing auto market to 10 % by 2010 from just over 1% this year -- a target higher than the current share of No. 2 player General Motors. Senior managing director Akio Toyoda says he expects the Chinese auto market to expand to 5 million vehicles a year by 2005 and to 10 million by 2010, up from 3.2 million last year. "Future market growth will come from China's largest population and land areas, growing economy and motorisation of its society," he said.

Toyota has struck as deal with FAW to set up a Nationwide sales network in China. The deal, which needs approval of the Chinese government will make Toyota the first foreign OEM to launch such a network. The 50:50 partnership is expected to be launched by year end and aims to capture 10% of China’s auto market by 2010.

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

A policeman in Perth, Australia was called out to a car fire and stunned to find his own Ford Sierra in flames.

Traffic in Madrid, Spain was brought to a standstill recently by a wannabe matador ‘fighting’ passing cars with his red jacket as if they were bulls.

A teenage girl in Berlin, Germany ordered her dog to bite a traffic warden who had just given her a parking ticket. When her Alsatian refused, the girl bit the warden herself. She received a 6 month suspended jail sentence and an $800 fine.

A garage in Lyon, France has removed its automatic car wash. The wash was so powerful that it soaked people waiting in a nearby bus queue.

A dog that got tangled up in a rope and a dustbin, caused $2000 worth of damage to a BMW 5-Series in Amsterdam after running around the car several times.

An 81-year old woman in Ontario, Canada has failed her driving test for the 6th time. During the first part of her test she reversed out of the test centre and slipped down an embankment into a river.

A motorist in Florida who had 4 convictions for drink-driving pretended to be a former neighbour when applying for a new driving licence. He was promptly arrested as his former neighbour was a sex offender who had not registered as required by state law.

Amanda Bishop, 24, of Houston, Texas was so nervous about taking her driving test that she took belly dancing classes to help get rid of butterflies in her tummy. It worked and she passed.

Parents at Sotra school in Norway, were shocked to see a 9 year old boy driving a Mitsubishi Shogun. It turned out that a family friend, alongside him in the passenger seat, had let him drive as a birthday treat.

Police signs put up to warn holidaymakers about a spate of thefts from vehicles at a beauty spot in Lille have all been stolen.

Kansas truck driver Chris Maynard has written a recipe book of food he has cooked on top of his trucks engine. Recipes include stuffed mackeral and spicy chicken.

A car thief in France tried to escape a chasing police car by driving a to a garage and throwing away the car keys. When the police arrived they did not know who to arrest until a member of the public called out to the thief that he should take care because he seemed to have dropped his keys.