Victor Muller will no longer have a problem reaching a quorum or a unanimous decision at Saab board meetings. Muller is the sole remaining director. The rest of the board bailed. (Read More…)

Got a VW microbus in your garage, back from when you listened to Jimi Hendrix and the Doors? Need some serious money? Two options:

You can either try to find one of those asbestos heat exchanger class action lawsuits (although it’s a bit late in the game).

Or you could put your bus up for auction. A good one can fetch $217,800 (Read More…)

Ever so environmentally conscious California  offered its citizen a rebate up to $5,000 if they buy an electric car. That and the $7,500 federal tax credit adds up to a good chunk of money. 1978 vehicles later, the state is out of funds. No more. According to the California Air Resources Board, “the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project may run out by July due to high consumer demand.”  May run out? It already did. (Read More…)

When you are the ruler of the Principality of Monaco, as tiny (and tony) as it may be, you don’t have to worry about any indigenous auto manufacture. And when you  marry your lovely bride, you can pick any car you damn choose. For his upcoming nuptials with former South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock, Prince Albert of Monaco picked a Toyota. (Read More…)

In a nod to the aging population, Ford will make the font thicker and bolder in the interiors of its Ford Edge and Ford Explorer with the 2012 model year. “The company has plans to expand (literally) this effort into other models in the coming years,” reports the Wall Street Journal. (Read More…)

Kent, WA, resident Johnny George owned and ran a used-car lot. Paul George worked as a sales and financing manager at Pacific Auto Zone. For some 30 years, both convinced authorities that they are mentally insane. (Read More…)

With a population approaching that of Australia and car sales of 700,000 new cars, or 890,000 new cars (depending on which issue of China Daily you rely more), Beijing used to be one of the most important car markets in the world’s largest car markets, China. As amply documented by TTAC, the car market in Beijing collapsed completely after city fathers ruled that new registrations have to try their luck in a license plate lottery first.

China’ top economic planners at the National Development and Reform Commission NDRC see their economic plans threatened, and are “appealing” to Beijing to change its policy. (Read More…)

After sifting through the returns from their dealers that supply real time transactional data , Edmunds now projects a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 11.9 million vehicles, for June, just a smidgen higher than May’s 11.8 million. Edmunds sees 1,093,000 new cars change hands, which would be 11.2 percent more than June 2010.  A week ago, Edmunds was still hoping for a 12.3 million SAAR, “if the month ends strong.” Looks like it is not ending as strong as hoped. (Read More…)

There is no replacement for displacement? How about a roadster “powered” by a 0.66 liter engine (yes, 40 ci, give or take a thimble) that is not allowed to make more than 63 hp? (Read More…)

When you have nothing else to do down the road and read Japanese car import statistics, and when you will see a small bump of imports from Europe to Japan, remember what you did read here. Toyota will start importing its UK-made Avensis to Japan, where it will go on sale on September 19 for 2.5 million yen ($31,000). (Read More…)

Hello? Hello? Part one:

It is 7:00 am on a Friday morning in Shanghai, where an obviously insomnia-suffering Carmen Lee posted the following two hours ago (says Google) at Gasgoo. Gasgoo’s reporting quality had slacked a bit recently, but here is hoping they still can translate alright:

“Pang Qinghua, CEO of the Pangda Automobile Trade Corporation, the company hailed as Saab’s savior, had a short interview with the Beijing Times where he answered questions regarding Pangda’s proposed partnership: (Read More…)

We (well, some of us) await the autonomous auto that leaves the driving to a robot, such as not to distract us from twittering and uploading pictures of our cats to our facebookies. That technology is not quite there yet. Volkswagen however thinks  “an important milestone on the path towards fully automatic and accident-free driving” has been set. So said Volkswagen’s Prof. Dr. Jürgen Leohold at the final presentation of the EU research project HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport – who comes up with that stuff?) (Read More…)

Carlos Ghosn had reason to be beaming and relaxed last night in Tokyo. Last night, he said “Well, we are going to show you the numbers tomorrow, and they will be significantly higher than in 2010.” Today, Ghosn did not disappoint. (Read More…)

And this is how it usually ends. Saab spokesperson Gunilla Gustavs said “it is regrettable to have to notify staff of the day before midsummer,” that Saab is unable to pay this months wages to its employees. What’s more, Saab has no idea if and when it will send out paychecks again. “It is impossible to make any sort of forecast, except to repeat that the company is trying to solve this as quickly as possible,” said Gustavs to the wire-service TT [via TheLocal].

Saab employees were told via email this Thursday morning that no money will hit their accounts by month’s end. (Read More…)

Japanese automakers are gearing up in earnest to make up for production lost after the March 11 tsunami. Across the island nation, there are new signs of resurgence. They read “we hire” (or Japanese words to that effect.) Automakers are hiring thousands of contract workers that had been let go after the financial crisis. (Read More…)