By way of one of its usual trademark flowery press releases, BMW says it is developing a new two-man bobsled for use by Team USA in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. (Read More…)

The Nikkei [sub] claims that Toyota has done the groundwork for a new battery that could “potentially more than double the driving range of electric vehicles,” possibly up to 1,000 km (620 miles). And it’s even cheaper. (Read More…)

Ah, those French! With their alliance with GM on les rocks, PSA is casting  about for a new partner, just in case “the co-operation with GM and Opel should fail,” writes Germany’s Manager Magazin. PSA and Tata already had first talks, the usually well connected German business magazine says. (Read More…)

A while ago, I chatted with an industry executive who had “done time” (his words) at GM. I asked him how that was, and he said: “There is always that talk about the current Big Deal that will bring the company back to its former glory. When that Big Deal fizzles, it’s on to the next Big Deal.” A formerly Big Deal is fizzling in Europe.

As we reported yesterday, General Motors and PSA have put the brakes on a broader alliance. Allegedly after PSA accepted financial assistance from the French government, as Reuters says, which broke the story. GM’s stock price immediately changed course southwards, because the consequences  can be enormous.. (Read More…)

Remember Wendelin Wiedeking? The dethroned Porsche CEO that saw himself as chief of Volkswagen and possibly the world’s largest automaker, has found a new market niche: Pizza. He started a pizza & pasta chain called Vialino, which hopes to feed the hungry mouths of in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with faux Italian food.  Before the first pizza is out of the oven, there is already new trouble: Two German companies feel duped. (Read More…)

Opel’s German unions want a deal  with management before Christmas,  Opel works council Chairman Wolfgang Schaefer-Klug told Reuters in an interview. Here the cliff notes: (Read More…)

Last year, our esteemed Ed in Chief Niedermeyer did intensive research into what was left of then Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi’s share holdings in Fiat. Fiat denied that the Colonel had any financial interest in Fiat, but he did. The holdings were seized by the Italian government. (Read More…)

Sergio Marchionne can’t wait to get his hands  on the 41.5 percent of Chrysler, which are in the hands of the UAW’s VEBA trust. Once Fiat is in total control, Fiat and Chrysler could be merged, and the cash could be used to … but you know the drill from years back. Currently at stake are 3.3 percent. Fiat has a call option, but the UAW trust doesn’t want to fork the shares over. (Read More…)

Elon Musk is known as a bigtime Barack Obama donor, and he is hoping he will get his money’s worth. Musk thinks (hopes? knows?) that government largesse for electric cars will continue unabated during the second term. (Read More…)

Police in Friedrichsthal, Germany, nabbed the man who owns this office-on-wheels: A laptop, a printer, a voltage converter, two mobile phones, a navigation system, a GPS receiver, and many empty water bottles. (Read More…)

Yesterday, we showed you how Toyota is going to help protect its customers from fender benders and more serious accidents, while it is at least trying to protect itself from people and lawyers who look for a deep-pocketed company to blame for their own shortcomings. Yesterday, I risked life and limb to personally test these systems on behalf of TTAC’s readers. Today, we bring you the pictures. (Read More…)

We have followed the effects of the Chinese boycott of Japanese products with great interest, especially when it came to cars. Encouraged by very strong sales of German brands, we declared them the winner of the war of words. It looks like we may have made a mistake. At least if we can trust official Chinese statistics.
(Read More…)

Porsche announced a stellar October, with sales  up 24.1 percent to 11,688 units, and with a total of 116,050 units delivered for the year, an increase of 15.6 percent over last. Porsche even has a nice table, which we hope will set an example for all automakers. All this didn’t keep them from slamming the brakes. Porsche will cancel weekend shifts at its headquarter factory in Zuffenhausen from January, where it has been running eight extra shifts on Saturdays since September to clear orders for the revamped 911 model, Reuters says. (Read More…)

The night before had been short, but interesting. I find myself in a 7-Eleven parking lot, high on energy drinks. Backing up, I bump into something. A wall? A dog? A person? I panic, my car lurches forward, wheels spin, gravel imbeds in anybody and anything within range, I push harder on the brakes, but the car accelerates right into a convenience store filled with school children. They live, because an invisible hand cuts the engine, and my car comes to a bloodless halt.

I collect my glasses and my wits. I turn to the smiling man in the passenger seat, and say: “You want me to try again?” (Read More…)

Japan’s minivehicles or “kei” cars could lose their (next to their cuteness) biggest attraction: The tax benefit. The Japanese government is thinking about charging the same tax for regular cars and mini vehicles alike, The Nikkei [sub] writes. (Read More…)