Fresh start for cars
A California group hopes the electric vehicles of the next generation will rely on its battery-charging technology
Car industry in crisis
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Global carmakers – from the Detroit Three to Europe and Asia’s biggest marques – are struggling to emerge from the worst downturn in decades
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Toyota follows Renault out of the pit lane
Lack of racing success and economic slump sees Japanese carmakers all but vanish from the top level of motor racing
Toyota posts first profit in four quarters
The Japanese carmaker says its full-year loss would be less than half what it had previously forecast, owing to cost cuts and government incentives that have reversed a fall in demand
Fears lurk behind car sector’s optimism
Government-backed incentive schemes might have propped up the industry this year but they make the prospects for next year grim, say industry observers
Fiat reveals five-year plan to retune Chrysler
The five-year overhaul of Chrysler will centre on collaboration between the Turin and Detroit carmakers on everything from car and engine designs to procurement and international distribution
Nissan buoyed by soaring sales in China
Japan’s third-biggest carmaker revised its annual outlook to a profit from a loss as soaring sales in China helped drive quarterly earnings beyond the expectations
Toyota quits Formula One racing
Toyota Motor has decided to follow Honda and BMW out of Formula One racing to save costs
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Comment and analysis
Car chase not enough for a good script
While a Hollywood film of the goverment bail-out of GM would have been an epic with an A-list cast, a German version of the deal supposed to have saved Opel would have more likely opted for slapstick comedy
Berlin’s wrong turn
Magna’s assurance that restructuring will be guided purely by commercial considerations is laughable when the group is accepting financing that depends on political decisions
Germany’s risky game of chicken
The greatest risk is political. It would be naïve to think that the Kremlin’s direct access to decisions affecting thousands of German jobs does not give it a lever on German politics
Japanese carmakers
Shares in the country’s carmakers, mostly lossmaking, continue to outpace the broader Tokyo stock market massively
An industry running on romance alone
Manufacturers should only show haggard motorists conveying screaming brats to school, or cursing as jams delay important meetings, writes Jonathan Guthrie
Eyes on the road
If GM and Chrysler solidify their market share and car sales revive enough, both will be able to make money again. But this depends not only on the companies’ unproven ability to compete successfully, but on general economic conditions
Russia hopes to get behind the wheel
When Barack Obama announced his decision to shepherd General Motors into bankruptcy, Vladimir Putin, Russian was conducting some car industry business of his own
How Washington blew GM’s bankruptcy
The administration took a tragic situation and turned it into an expensive mess to pay a political debt, needlessly wasting billions of dollars in the process, writes Michael Levine
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