Usually, it’s the car manufacturers who complain about fake parts coming from China. In the man-bites-dog equivalent of the parts industry, a Chinese government agency accuses Toyota of trafficking in highly illegal auto parts. Toyota is in deep doo-doo. (Read More…)

I revisited my past recently. A friend of mine who has been in the car business for longer than I’ve been alive called me right out of the blue. It had been well over two recessions since our last talk and yes, there was an awful lot of catching up to do. So the banter lasted about three hours and all we talked about was… how things don’t work in the car business. The list is longer than a modern day health care bill and the prescription is pain (and debt) incarnate. That is unless you decide to take the easy way out. In which case it’s downright fatal. There are thousands of do’s and don’ts in this business. Today I’ll share the Top Five ways many rookies end up scorching the thin skin under their Hawaiian shirts.
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China’s carmakers better get their pure plug-ins ready. The central government is set to spend serious money to electrify development and sales. China Daily reports that “a much-awaited government stimulus plan” is ready for government approval and should be in effect in the next couple of months.

Private buyers in five chosen cities (so far unveiled, but the usual suspects apply) will be able to collect close to $9000 if they buy a pure plug-in. Imports need not apply. (Read More…)

A few days ago, we reported that a limited edition of 500 hopped-up Ford Focus RS was sold out within 12 hours of its announcement. Ford just had to utter “Ford Focus with 345BHP, a torque of 339lb/ft, 0-62mph in 5.6 seconds” and they were all spoken for. Judging from the stats coming off the TTAC server (the story was the most accessed that day,) interest in the hot hatch far outstrips the measly supply of 500. Help is on the way. You don’t even have to buy a new car. (Read More…)

A week ago, we swam against the trend of China analysts who predicted a 30-40 percent rise in March new car sales in the Middle Kingdom. By using our patent-pending TTAC forecasting methodology, we projected China’s sales rising between 50 and 60 percent in March. The numbers are in. We were wrong. (Read More…)

Having just sealed the three-way tie-up between Renault, Nissan, and Daimler, Carlos Ghosn already lusts for more. At a press conference in Brussels, Ghosn said the alliance is open to new partners to get in bed with. Muses The Nikkei [sub]: “He may envision a grand coalition of Japanese, European and U.S. automakers.” (Read More…)

During the courtship stage between Geely and Volvo, and after their recent nuptials in Gothenburg, Sweden, we often raised the matter of Chang’an. Chang’an has had a joint venture with Ford since 2001. Under the JV, they also make Volvos in China, the S40 and S80, to be exact. They don’t make them in large numbers. 22,405 Volvos were sold in China last year, up nearly 80 percent compared to 2008. The S40 has been on the Chinese market since 2006. The S80L, a long version of the S80, was introduced last year. Chang’an had been in play as a suitor for Volvo, but bowed out.

What will happen to Chang’an’s Volvos? (Read More…)

As many as 800 workers at Denmark’s Carlsberg brewery walked off the job yesterday, after management restricted beer drinking to lunch hours and the company cafeteria. Previously, workers had access to beer around their work sites, and could drink at their own discretion. By now you’re probably either Googling “Carlsberg job openings” or wondering what the car angle to this story is. Actually, it’s more of a truck angle. Take it away, Associated Press [via Google]: (Read More…)

The V6 wars may show no signs of stopping. However, Ford is quietly making contingency plans for a future conflict: The war of the four-bangers. Start hoarding your big bore brutes and head for the hills. Ford may want to take them away.

Ford will use the upcoming SAE World Congress, to be held from April 13-15 in Detroit, to showcase its engine-building prowess. Ford will demonstrate to the world’s most eminent confab of piston-heads that there is a replacement for displacement. (Read More…)

When all this SUA happened to Toyota, many predicted that Toyota was on a downward spiral to assured destruction. Well, turns out rumours of their death were a bit premature. In February, Toyota achieved record sales in Australia and Canada and their decline in the United States, was a lot less than many had predicted. In March, Toyota’s sales (with the help of some incentives, which were below industry average) grew.  Now Toyota can add the UK to the mix. (Read More…)

That was a marriage in heaven but didn’t end up in heaven. We start on earth this time and stay there.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche, explaining the difference between Daimler-Chrysler and the new Daimler-Renault-Nissan alliance in Automotive News [sub].

Back in the muscle car heyday, enthusiasts could likely have imagined that the 2011 Mustang and Camaro would make at least 300 horsepower. They might even have imagined that the pony cars would be equipped with optional flight modes, nuclear reactors, and autopilots. What they likely never imagined is that Ford and GM would revive the time-honored tradition of pony car one-upmanship for V6 models. (Read More…)

Eleven Nanos were puttering down India’s National Highway 8 on their way to the dealer (don’t they have car haulers there?) when one of them burst into flames, reports India’s Deccan Chronicle. These cases of spontaneous Nano combustion seem to pile up. (Read More…)

Generally speaking, official prospectus information tends to run on the alarmist side, warning investors of any and all possible problems, regardless of how likely they are to take place. Which is why you rarely see news organizations like Reuters pick up on prospectus warnings, like today’s story on a Volkswagen warning that its merger with Porsche could be scuttled by lawsuits filed by angry hedge funds.  Porsche’s notorious “short squeeze” of hedge funds who were speculating on VW stock in the leadup to its planned takeover has drawn lawsuits in several countries which, according to VW’s recent capital increase prospectus, could: (Read More…)

Thirty hours in NYC, with wife, sister and two kids who’ve never been. How best to turn a potential burn-out into a rejuvenation of the creative juices? The NYIAS? No; leave the world of new cars totally aside, and focus on the source of inspiration, not the end product: Art. So while my daughter and younger son happily spend the second day on an eight-hour guided NYC tour, the three of us go to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). After almost seven blissful hours soaking up Kandinsky, Picasso, Matisse, Gaugin,Van Gogh, and Monet, we exit via the sculpture garden (background in photo), and I look back and see it beckoning me from the third floor: the Pininfarina. Back in we go. (Read More…)