AC Cars, the UK low volume sports car maker which last month announced an export drive to the USA from its UK facility, will open a research and development facility on the Mediterranean island of Malta in January 2004.

Aston Martin is to return to the world's motor racing circuits during 2004 through a new Aston Martin Racing division. Work on the new DB9 racing car will begin shortly and it will be raced towards the end of 2004. Aston Martin Racing plans to run a number of teams in various sports car series around the world and will be evaluating these during 2004.

Bosch may overtake Delphi to become the world’s largest automotive supplier. According to the Automotive News, Delphi’s 2003 sales are estimated at $27.7 billion, while Bosch’s sales could be $28.6 billion. Some of the change is attributed to the weak dollar against the Euro. CEO, J.T. Battenburg III says he is more interested in improving Delphi’s net profit margin from 1.2% last year to 5% within a few years.

Car drivers in Germany, long held to be home to some of the best engineered vehicles, seem happier driving Japanese cars than German ones, a consumer satisfaction survey has shown. The survey, compiled by ADAC and the Centre for Automotive Research (CAR) group, asked more than 38,000 German car owners how satisfied they were both with the product and the service they received from manufacturers. The top 5 manufacturers were Toyota, Subaru, Honda, Mazda and Nissan. The only German company to make it into the top 10 was Porsche.

China is almost ready to unveil a new policy that encourages the country’s smaller OEMs to merge. China has more than 100 vehicle manufacturers, most of which make no more than 35,000 units per year. At a press conference in New York City yesterday, China’s minister of national development said the unspecified changes will be necessary for the country’s auto industry to “develop properly.”

DaimlerChrysler plans to sell most of its New Venture Gear powertrain business to Magna International. Magna says it is in talks with DaimlerChrysler about buying a controlling stake in New Venture Gear, which in 2002 had sales of about $1.4 bn from its operations in Syracuse, New York, and Roitzsch in Germany. Last year, DaimlerChrysler became the full owner of New Venture Gear after fellow shareholder General Motors Corp exited the business.

Ford’s design studio in London is to close, just 18 months after it was opened in a blaze of publicity. The centre, called Ingeni and located in the heart of London’s Soho district, is the latest victim of Ford’s global cost cutting policies. The 30 designers that were based there will all return to their original design studios.

Fordexpects to source about $1 billion in automotive parts from China next year, says company CEO Bill Ford. "At some point we could see exporting out of China," Bill Ford said. The U.S. auto giant announced in October that it would boost investment in China's fast-growing car market by more than $1 billion in the next few years as part of its ambitious expansion plans there.

GM is interested in buying South Korea's Ssangyong Motor Co. The 55.4 % stake currently available could be worth $523 million, but a premium is likely since it is a controlling stake. GM took over Ssangyong's former affiliate Daewoo Motors a year ago to form GM Daewoo. Ssangyong Motor has the capacity for 180,000 vehicles a year with a 7,500 work force.

GM’s European and North American suppliers are rapidly becoming disillusioned with the world No.1 automaker as a business partner, according to a new survey. Supplier discontent is widespread because of new price pressure, over-optimistic volume forecasts, and more aggressive demands that suppliers cover product recall costs and boost quality.

GM is likely to drop as many as 160 suppliers world-wide that it considers poor performers while it will reward top suppliers with business. The estimated 160 vendors represent 30% of GM's red, or most poorly performing, suppliers.About 555 companies fall into GM's red category. Another 160 of those could improve to the [mid-range] yellow or [top performing] green category.

Honda has developed and built a small jet plane. The prototype plane is 41 feet long, has a 40-foot wingspan and has a range of 1,250 miles. Honda insists it has no plans to manufacture airplanes, although company founder Soichiro Honda wanted to do so, but it might decide to produce jet engines. Last year Toyota began testing its own propeller driven 4 seater plane.

IBM Global Services has landed a $1.2 billion deal to manage and maintain Michelin’s information technology infrastructure in Europe and North America over the next 8 years. The contract covers Michelin’s production operations and management, technical and user support and the distribution of servers, workstations, PCs and software. Also, IBM will hire around 600 Michelin IT employees.

Isuzu says it expects to generate 80% of its truck sales outside of Japan by mid 2008. Isuzu is preparing to assemble small and medium-duty trucks in Ukraine in patnership with Holding Bogdan, a local bus maker, as part of its strategy to develop foreign markets with high growth potential.

Kia, Europe’s fastest-growing brand, is abandoning cheap car segments. The move is part of Hyundai/Kia’s plan to become a top 5 global player by 2010. Kia will introduce 16 new products over the next 3 years but not targeted at the bottom end of the market. Kia’s goal is emulate how Skoda and Audi have moved upmarket and wants 300,000 sales annually in Europe by 2005.

Japanese OEMs are establishing 2 OEM groups to help them meet vehicle recycling laws that take effect in Japan in January 2005. One group will comprise Daihatsu, Hino, Honda and Toyota. The other will be set up by 8 OEMs that include Mazda, Mitsubishi and Nissan. Both will build networks to collect used cars and work with recycling contractors to reclaim metal, plastic and components such as airbag modules.

Mazda, rather than Ford, is to do the core engineering for the next-generation Ford Fiesta and Mazda2 superminis. The decision to move core engineering to Japan was made even though Ford-brand models have more volume than Mazda versions. Ford says this does not mean there will be layoffs at Ford's engineering centre in Dunton, which employs 2,000.

Navistar International has issued a profit warning for Q1 2004 but says it will double its revenue to $15 billion and become consistently profitable ‘at all points’ within 11 years. It plans to address new markets and, for example, has established a new business unit to pursue military contracts. Navistar engines should be able to meet emission standards by 2007.

Opel is being asked to help fix Saturn. According to Business Week, Saturn will, in effect, replace its entire lineup with rebadged models from Opel by 2008. The first result will be the replacement in 2006 of Saturn’s slow selling L-Series sedan with a sportier and more stylish Opel Vectra-based replacement.

Toyota has withdrawn 2 magazine adverts in China after readers complained they insulted the country. One featured a Land Cruiser towing a truck that bore a striking resemblance to a Chinese military vehicle. A second showed a stone lion - a traditional Chinese authority symbol - saluting a Toyota Prado SUV, which translates into "heavy-handed."

Volvo AB has won an order from Swift Transportation Co. Inc. to deliver about 4,000 trucks. Swift will buy VN670 models, a tractor version of Volvo's biggest truck. This is the largest single order that Volvo Trucks North America Inc. has received for the tractor model of the new VN series. Production of the trucks will start in the first quarter of 2004.

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

US police chief Bernard Fowler wrote himself a $100 ticket after a fellow officer caught him driving an unregistered pick-up. Fowler, from Springfield, New Hampshire, said it seemed only fair.

A suicidal woman in Hong Kong leapt off a building and landed on a car which saved her life. She thought she would have to pay for the damage, but was let off because the car was illegally parked.

Gendarmes in France confiscated the driving licence of an 18 year old youth just 23 days after he passed his test. His Peugeot 306 was clocked at 133 mph on a road with a 68 mph speed limit near Dijon.

Nina Chandler of Calgary, Canada failed her driving test before it had even begun. She ran over the waiting examiner and crashed into a wall on her way to the test centre.

There was chaos near Venlo, Germany after a hearse overturned and its coffin split open, dumping a dead body in the road.

A Chicago taxi firm is seeking permission to run a fleet of 500 London black taxi cabs. Customers said they want to ride in the vehicles as it reminds them of trips to Britain.

Government officials in Norway have ordered a bombproof car for the Prime Minister. Unfortunately the new BMW weighs 4 tons and is 88lbs too heavy to be allowed on the road. It is now having some armour plating removed in a bid to make it road legal.

A thief’s trousers stuffed with stolen cash blew up as he tried to drive off in his car. The cashier at the bank he had just robbed in Fort Pierce, Florida hid an exploding die pellet in the loot to help the police find him.

Shapely 27 year old Miss Chicco Puleto of Italy was arrested for walking naked along a motorway near Verona. She had been the cause of numerous crashes.

French postman Rene Schereck retired in style after delivering letters for 35 years in Lille - he drove off in a $200,000 Ferrari.