Shortage of parts from Japan after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami makes Ford idle plants all over the world: (Read More…)

Did I say that China is trying to clamp down on displays of conspicuous consumption? A young couple in the city of Zhengzhou in Zhejiang Province did not get the memo. At their wedding, guests arrived in Rolls Royce Phantoms, Rolls Royce Ghosts, Rolls Royce Silver Saraphs, Bentley Continentals, Bentley Arnages, Lamborghini Gallardos, Ferrari 458s and some lesser models. Tip of the hat to Tycho at CarNewsChina.

Toyota wasn’t the only Japanese manufacturer getting hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Toyota isn’t even the hardest hit – at least not in percentages.

Japanese output of the eight major Japanese carmakers’ plunged 57.5 percent in March from a year earlier to 387,567 units. That is some 465,000 units less than planned, The Nikkei [sub] reports. Here are the March Japan production numbers for the individual automakers: (Read More…)

Toyota published production and sales results for the 2010 fiscal year. The fiscal is a Japanese oddity. It starts on April 1 and goes through March 31. Financial data will be announced on May 11.

Nothing highly unusual for the full fiscal. Japan is down, overseas is up. (Read More…)

Ed and Bertel are spending this coming week in Detroit to talk to auto manufacturers.

First impression: I could get a nice fixer-upper in an up and coming neighborhood for a little more than the price of my ticket from Beijing to Detroit. Compared to Beijing prices, this is a steal. (Read More…)

Lenses at the Shanghai Auto Show definitely test both sides of the envelope. Some photographers came  with lenses long and wide enough to take close-ups of concept cars shown on the moon. (Read More…)

At last year’s Beijing auto show, a man walked up to the Roll Royce booth with a suitcase full of “Red Maos” – as the 100 yuan note is called in China, the largest note equals $15.40 – and walked away as the owner of a Rolls Royce Phantom. At least that’s what AFP heard. Because of taxes and duties, a Rolls-Royce Phantom started at 6.6 million yuan ($1 million) a year ago. That translated into 66,000 red banknotes. (Read More…)

He (silver grey tie) is Li Shu Fu, Chairman of Geely, and owner of Volvo. A few days ago, we reported that Saab’s Russian rescue by Vladmir Antonov is running into flak from Brussels, and that Victor Muller is looking to China. To a niche player in China, no less. Victor Muller thinks he will maintain more independency that way. Dream on. If a Chinese buyer buys a foreign brand, then for getting credibility in the export market. That is Geely’s play with Volvo. (Read More…)

“We have been in contact with Volkswagen for a year and a half,” an Isuzu executive told The Nikkei [sub]. This after rumors of a possible tie-up between Volkswagen and Isuzu at first had been vigorously denied and then spun into an engine deal. We didn’t believe it. (Read More…)

Advertising on the side of your corporate fleet is a great idea. Especially if you are an electric company and you have electric cars.

Japan’s TEPCO just changed its mind. (Read More…)

Aren’t iPads supposed to be in short supply, affected by the parts paralysis? The visitor of the Shanghai Auto Show wouldn’t know. Actually, if everybody would stop using the flat gizmos, just supplying car shows with them would be a great business. They are everywhere.At most large automakers, someone said: “I have a great idea: We will give all our booth ba …. I mean, productspecialists one of these iPads with a multimedia presentation.” “Super! It’s cool, and it’s green. Think about all the paper we save!” (Read More…)

In Shanghai, you can see the latest cars, and the cars of the future with no future. You also can see a tiny bit of the past.

Citroen brought two classics. (Read More…)

This is the BYD F0. I’ll leave it to the experts which other car this resembles. It reminds me a bit of that car, but maybe only because it’s so small and red. It should be red. It’s embarrassing. (Read More…)

When you have a larger joint venture with a Chinese automaker, at some point it will be strongly suggested to you to create a Chinese brand. At least this is how The Financial Times understands it: “Foreign carmakers wishing to build new plants or add capacity in China’s burgeoning car market are being told by the government that if they wish to expand, they must develop a low-cost local car brand.”

Early fruits of these suggestions can be seen at the Shanghai Auto Show. (Read More…)

In a surprise press conference that had not been confirmed as late as last night, Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda laid out plans for Toyota getting back to normal. Bottom line: Toyota hopes to be back to normal by the end of the year.

“To all the customers who made the decision to buy a vehicle made by us, I sincerely apologize for the enormous delay in delivery,” Akio Toyoda said. (Read More…)