DaimlerChrysler A.G. said it had enjoyed a 22 percent rise in unit sales of Mercedes sedans in China for the first nine months of 2005. The company had sold more than 11,000 sedans in China in the period, Till Becker, Daimler Chrysler's chief executive for northeast Asia, told reporters."Sales in China through September of Mercedes sedans were up 22 percent," he said, at an event to mark the establishment of DaimlerChrysler Auto Finance (China).
 

Hyundai Mobis, the largest South Korean auto-parts maker, said that profit in the third quarter rose 8.7 percent as it sold more parts to its group affiliate, Hyundai Motor, and other companies. Net income rose to 188 billion won, or $180 million, in the three months that ended Sept. 30, from 173 billion won a year earlier, Hyundai Mobis said.
 

BMW reported a sharper-than-expected drop in third-quarter pretax profit as the strong euro, high raw material prices and pricing pressure dogged the world's biggest premium carmaker. The Munich-based maker of the sporty 3-Series car and X5 offroader stuck to its forecast for roughly flat 2005 pretax earnings, but emphasised that it gave itself some wiggle room.

Luxury automaker Lamborghini , a division of Volkwagen's Audi unit, said it was opening a dealership in China to tap into the world's fastest-growing vehicle market. The builder of sports cars that sell for up to $330,000 will mark its foray into China with a grand opening ceremony at its showroom in Shanghai next Tuesday, said Dan Weikel, a U.S. spokesman for the company.

Toyota Motor Corp , the world's biggest carmaker by value, said it will boost capital spending by 12 percent to a record 1.4 trillion yen ($11.9 billion) from its May forecast, to increase production in Japan and abroad. ``There is more demand for our vehicles around the world than we expected, and we can't stand a situation where we won't have enough vehicles to sell,'' Toyota Senior Managing Director Takeshi Suzuki said to reporters in Tokyo.

A sudden slump in US sales of big pick-up trucks has raised questions over whether another highly profitable segment of the Detroit carmakers' business may be falling victim to high fuel prices. Sales of full-size pick-ups fell by 31.8 per cent in October, compared with a year earlier, following a 26.4 per cent slide in September. The drop follows an even steeper drop in demand for gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles built on truck frames.

New Flyer Industries Inc has been awarded a C$30 million ($25 million) contract to supply natural gas-powered buses to Vancouver's transit system, the company said on Tuesday. The Winnipeg company will supply 73 buses to Translink, but the contract could see it build up to 95 vehicles. Delivers will begin in mid-2006. New Flyer already has a contract to build 228 electric trolleys for Vancouver.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp is likely to post a half-year group net loss of about 64 billion yen ($545.6 million), smaller than it originally expected as strong domestic sales helped narrow the deficit, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported. The automaker, which in May forecast it would post a net loss of 73 billion yen for the six months to Sept. 30, issued a statement describing the report as based on the paper's own speculation.

Honda Motor Co said it would boost production capacity at its car plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, by 80 percent to 100,000 units in 2008 at a cost of about $100 million. The nine-year-old factory builds the Civic and Fit cars, including for export to other South American markets. Last year it produced 56,000 units. In the 10 months to end-October, Honda's sales reached 46,641 units, up 14 percent from the same period last year, on track to achieve a record high for the full year.

Ford Motor Co introduced a mini-fleet of hybrid taxicabs to serve New York City, part of its push to promote cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Initially, only six Ford Escape hybrids will enter New York's taxi fleet. But city officials said the entire fleet of about 13,000 vehicles may be converted to gas-electric hybrids within five years. "Hybrids save our customers money at the pump, and they reduce America's dependence on foreign oil," Chief Executive Bill Ford said at an event to unveil the vehicles at a Ford dealership in Manhattan. "We're headed toward a world where cars will be smarter, safer, and more fuel-efficient, like the hybrids," he said.

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 on Thursday. 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."

DaimlerChrysler will make all the different versions of its Mercedes-Benz E-class cars at its plant in Sindelfingen, Germany, from 2007, the world's fifth-biggest automaker said on Friday. Austrian contract car builder Magna Steyr, a unit of Magna International Inc., has been making the four-wheel-drive version of the E class under licence. Its annual output of the model is around 20,000 cars.

The corruption scandal at Volkswagen this year robbed Europe's largest carmaker of at least €5m (£3m) in illegal kickbacks and theft, an independent report by auditors KPMG disclosed. The report, laying bare the scandal involving allegations of paid-for sex, false expenses, extravagant gifts, misuse of company funds to set up bogus firms and the supply of Viagra, brought closer criminal charges against Peter Hartz, the former personnel director and close adviser to the outgoing German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder.

Vehicle production in China is expected to hit 20 million units in 2010, far outpacing anticipated sales of only 9 million units, Chen Bin, head of the industry department of the National Development and Reform Commission, was quoted as saying in the China Securities Journal. Annual capacity, now at 8 million units, has already exceeded expected sales of 5.5 million units this year, but investments have shown no signs of cooling, Chen said.

Tata Motors has launched the Novus range of heavy commercial vehicles. Designed by Daewoo Commercial Vehicles (which Tata took over in 2004) the vehicles are being made at Tata's heavy commercial vehicle plant in Jamshedpur. The Novus range is making its Indian market debut with tippers, followed by tractor-trailers, dumpers and cargo vehicles. The range has been optimised for local driving and road conditions.
 

It is now official: the new Audi sports car will be called the Audi R8 . Presented as the "Le Mans quattro" concept study two years ago at the IAA Frankfurt Motor Show, Audi has now taken the decision to build its new sports car. Everything is already being prepared for the series production of the R8 at Audi's plant in Neckarsulm, due to commence in the fourth quarter of 2006. The market launch in the U.S. is scheduled for mid-2007.
 

Ford Motor Co recalled 220,000 vehicles from the 2005 model amid fire worries from a battery cable rubbing against the frame and concern that a fuel tank strap could separate after tens of thousands of miles. The recall linked to the cable involves more than 98,000 Ford Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis sedans. Ford said in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it has received four reports of fires.
 

Nissan Motor Co said it will sell a Thai affiliate that produces frames for its pickup trucks to Japanese auto parts maker Press Kogyo Co to cut costs and concentrate on its core vehicle manufacturing and marketing operations. Japan's second-biggest auto maker declined to disclose the transaction price, but business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun put it at an estimated 1 billion yen ($8.39 million).

General Motors will more than triple its car parts purchases from South Korea by 2008, a local trade promotion agency said on Thursday. GM would increase its purchases from South Korean suppliers to $2 billion by 2008 from the current level of some $600 million, Bo Andersson, GM's vice president for global purchasing, was quoted as saying by the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).
 

Toyota Motor’s top executives are increasingly concerned that the frantic pace of growth at the Japanese carmaker– which could become the world’s largest next year – is hurting its reputation for quality. The carmaker is running a “back to basics” campaign after its image was tarnished by a series of recalls of vehicles for repair, even as it prepares for a final push to take the coveted number one position from General Motors, the troubled US carmaker.

The collapse of the Rover car company in Birmingham is estimated to have cost the taxpayer more than £231m so far, the government has said. About £50m has been made available to retrain workers, and £6.5m was spent on keeping the company going for a week in April while a buyer was sought. Rover collapsed in April with debts of £1.4bn and the loss of 6,000 jobs. Trade and industry minister Ian Pearson, MP for Dudley South, said: "It is very much money well spent."

DaimlerChrysler's Smart small car business is in advanced talks with six European companies interested in reviving Smart's cancelled roadster model, the Financial Times newspaper said on Monday. Smart pulled the plug in April on the two-seat roadster and cancelled a planned offroad model as part of its campaign to halt losses and break even by 2007. Finding a partner for the roadster could generate some income for the business, the paper said.