Brazilian bus maker Marcopolo SA is keen to set up a joint venture with an Indian firm to make buses for India and other Asian countries, its chief executive said. Marcopolo, which has identified India, Russia, China and Iran as growth markets, is in talks with several major Indian chassis makers and will finalise a deal soon. "We want to be a global player, so we have to be in India and China," Jose Reubens de La Rosa told Reuters on a visit to Mumbai. "China is a challenge, we are studying it, but we see good opportunity here.

Ford Motor Co, the second-largest U.S. car maker, plans plenty more investment in emerging markets such as India and China despite financial woes at home, Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr. said on Tuesday. "There is double-digit growth in many markets in this region," Ford said. "India is a market that is critical to our plans to move Ford into the 21st century. It is one of the fastest-growing markets and is top priority for us."
 

Tata Motor South Africa is interested in building a car plant in the country but will only do so when demand hits 50,000 to 60,000 units a year. Tata, a division of the diversified Indian group, launched some of its car models on to the domestic market at the end of last year. Tony Twine, a motor industry analyst and director of Econometrix, said Tata was quite well represented in sub-Saharan Africa but might wish to penetrate those markets more deeply, which could be facilitated from a South African base.
 

Mitsubishi Motors Corp (MMC) will provide engines for the next generation of the ForTwo minicar model made by DaimlerChrysler's Smart brand. The new Smart will make its debut in 2007. Its engine will be based on the same type of turbo-charged engine that MMC will use in its new "i" minicar due for launch in January, the carmaker said in a statement. The deal, part of a series of accords between the partners, will help MMC reduce unit costs for the engines to be made at its Mizushima plant in Japan.

Honda Motor Co, Japan's third-biggest auto maker , posted a surprise fall in quarterly operating profit, pressured by high raw materials costs, but lifted its full-year forecasts thanks to a weaker yen. Honda expects record sales this business year after a recent revamp for the Civic sedan, its best-selling car after the Accord, but like its rivals it faces mounting pressure from rising raw materials costs, especially for oil-related products.

The U.S. auto industry hit the skids in October, with sales of new cars and trucks on track to come in at their slowest pace in seven years, analysts said. As expected, Detroit's automakers have felt most of the pain, with sales at General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co seen posting another month of double-digit declines.

AB Volvo subsidiary Mack Trucks Inc, has introduced a complete new range of vehicles designed to meet the demands of both highway and construction customers, along with a new 11-liter engine that features the base architecture necessary to meet forthcoming emissions standards. Each of the new models offers customers advancements in engine technology, the driver environment, and electronics.

BMW outperformed the market with a 36.4 percent surge in car sales to 16,999 units in China in the first nine months of 2005, of which 11,548 cars were manufactured at its venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings. Germany's BMW, which makes its marquee sedans in the country with local partner Brilliance, said in a statement its venture in the icy northeast sold 46.9 percent more cars during the period.

Aston Martin fell into loss for the first time in five years last year in spite of record sales of its iconic sports cars, completing a hat-trick of losses for Ford's three British luxury car marques. Aston plummeted to a loss of £8.5m ($15m) from a pre-tax profit of £12.4m last year as the combination of a new factory, heavy borrowing and the launch of the £109,000 DB9 all pushed up costs.

Volkswagen AG will introduce as many as a dozen new models in China before 2009 as part of a plan to revitalize its flagging China operations. Winfried Vahland, the new CEO of Volkswagen Group China, revealed this and other elements of the turnaround plan here on Monday, Oct. 17. VW was the first foreign automaker to build cars in China. From the late 1980s until a few years ago, it dominated the sedan market in China. In 2003, it still held 33.3 percent of the car market, according to Automotive Resources Asia, a consulting firm in Shanghai.

The opening of a pan-China roads infrastructure is transforming the country into the world’s largest market for truck tyres, with years of rapid growth still ahead, Pirelli said.  Marco Tronchetti Provera, chairman, launched production at the Italian tyre makers first plant in China. It is to produce more than 1m truck, car and sports utility vehicle radial tyres a year under a two-stage investment of nearly $200m.

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, China's biggest car maker, aims to double capacity in the second half of the decade to 2 million vehicles a year, the company's chairman was quoted by state media as saying. Including output from South Korea's Ssangyong Motor Co, which Shanghai Auto took control of last year, the company's capacity will reach 1.02 million vehicles by the end of the year, the Shanghai Securities News said.

Ford has shown off a so-called “paint shop of the future,” which reduces volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions by 10% and CO2 by 20%. Cost savings are estimated between $7 and $11 per vehicle and real-life installation will be piloted at the automaker’s Ohio assembly plant early next year. Its new-technology shop offers three major advances: an advanced chemical paint formulation, an innovative three-wet application process and patented waste management technology that converts paint fumes into electricity and recycles paint sludge into car parts.

TRW Automotive Inc said on Wednesday the European Commission has cleared its proposal to buy a majority stake in Dalphi Metal Espana SA and expects to complete the purchase in the fourth quarter. TRW, which makes airbags and other safety equipment for vehicles, in September said it agreed to acquire a 68.4 percent stake in airbag and steering wheel manufacturer Dalphimetal of Spain for about $137 million plus the assumption of debt.

Construction of Kia Motors’ new car factory, near of Zilina in Slovakia, is ahead of schedule with 1,000 workers on site, the Hyundai unit said in its latest update. The first European-built cars are scheduled to leave the €1.0 billion facility in December 2006. The 180,000 square metre building will occupy a 168 hectare site and could make up to 300,000 vehicles a year.

Jaguar has decided to hark back to its glamorous past and re-adopt its classic racing green colours in an attempt to boost its flagging fortunes. The Ford subsidiary also said it was close to sorting out its over-stocking problems after adjusting production at its Halewood plant over the summer. Bibiana Boerio, Jaguar's managing director, is hoping the changes will help to shore up Jaguar's sales, which are set to fall by 17pc to around 100,000 this year as it focuses on the quality of its sales, rather than the quantity.
 

Opel is reorganising its European manufacturing network, reports Automobilwoche. According to the newspaper, Opel’s Gliwice plant in Poland has won the contract to build the next generation Meriva, rather than Zaragoza, Spain, where the model is currently built. Meanwhile the replacement for the Agila is likely to move from Poland to Suzuki’s Hungarian plant, Esztergom, from 2008. Gliwice will also get the next Astra from 2010/2011. Production will continue at the three existing sites – Bochum, Ellesmere Port and Antwerp.
 

Oshkosh Truck Corp said that it will open a $4 million defense truck remanufacturing plant near its headquarters. The Oshkosh-based specialty truck manufacturer is opening the plant after a five-month renovation, the company said. The plant also will house the company's integrated logistics support group, which serves the U.S. Department of Defense and other military clients. The new plant will create 200 jobs, Oshkosh Truck said. Oshkosh Truck is a manufacturer of specialty trucks and truck bodies for the defense, fire and emergency, concrete and refuse hauling industries.
 

Audi is looking for new sources of steel, according to Automobilwoche, quoting Audi purchasing chief, Erich Schmitt. Audi has traditionally only sourced steel from European suppliers, but it is now in discussion with Russian and Chinese steel suppliers. This situation is particularly unsustainable when you consider that Audi produced and sold 51,000 cars in China last year.

DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler group has confirmed it will build the Dodge Nitro mid-size SUV as a 2007 model. The Nitro, whose future was announced at a motor show in Anaheim, California, will be the first Dodge mid-size SUV. "The Nitro will strengthen and grow the Dodge brand by allowing us to attract a new buyer," said the brand’s marketing chief Steven Landry.
 

Ford Motor Co and PSA Peugeot Citroen said they plan to invest 332 million euros ($397 million) in two new diesel engines under the latest phase of a partnership expected to almost double production in five years. The carmakers said they expected to make 200,000 of each new engine annually at plants in Britain and France in the next few years, with total diesel engine production under the cooperation plan to hit 3.7 million in 2010, up from 2 million in 2004.

Nissan Motor has developed a new advanced safety vehicle that uses a vehicle-to-vehicle communications system to alert the driver to potential collisions in five frequent scenarios. Kyodo News said the system warns the driver through colour-coded displays on a monitor and an audio alert, allowing the driver to react more quickly to avoid collisions.