Hybrids are a tough sell in China. Honda and Toyota want to change this.  Honda wants to change it so bad that it will provide its core hybrid car technologies to other Chinese automakers, in addition to its joint venture partners, The Nikkei [sub] learned today. (Read More…)

Europe’s car industry, already in the midst of Mediterranean meltdown, will be first to suffer the big resin famine, says a Credit Suisse report. European carmakers will have to stop the lines first unless alternatives are found for key component CDT. After the explosion of a key factory in Germany, automakers may soon find themselves without fuel and brake lines. Some sooner, some later. (Read More…)

If you want to see the future of the electric car, you have to go back a hundred years. In 1900, over a quarter of all new automobiles ran on battery. City cars? Around a third of the buggies of Chicago, Boston, and New York City were electric. They were decimated by cars running on smelly and flammable gasoline, because people wanted to drive fast and long distances. Hundred years later, little has changed. Ten to 20 years from now, something might change. (Read More…)

Last week, Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech celebrated his 75th birthday. Yesterday, the presents arrived. Volkswagen bought the maker of Piech’s motorcycle, Ducati. Piech’s contract as chairman was extended by 5 years. And a buxom blonde received a seat on the board: Piech’s wife Ursula. (Read More…)

Renault/Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn wanted to announce it Monday or Tuesday in person in Beijing. On the other hand, the upcoming production of Infiniti cars in China leaked last week, after Nissan’s worst kept secret had kept the Chinese rumor mill in motion for more than a year. After Gallic shrugs all around, Nissan confirmed today that two Infiniti models will be manufactured locally in China from 2014. Ghosn will have to find something else to feed the media on Monday. Dim sum perhaps? (Read More…)

The Emir of Abu Dhabi is tired of the car business. Germany’s Spiegel Magazin heard that Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Aabar wants to sell all stock in Daimler. Aabar also wants out of Daimler’s Formula 1 team and the joint investment in Tesla. (Read More…)

Officially, carmakers around the world are putting on their best “what me worry” faces and say that they are unaffected by a sudden shortage of a key component, caused by a factory explosion in Germany. Behind closed doors, they are freaking out. Carmakers and suppliers met in Detroit for an emergency summit under the auspices of the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIGP). After the meeting, the first admissions of impending doom surfaced. (Read More…)

More than half of new car shoppers have recently changed their minds about  the car they want to buy, says a new study by Kelley Blue Book. Researches find customers  thinking about cars they normally would not have considered. What is changing their minds en masse: Rising gas prices.  (Read More…)

Volkswagen’s CEO warned its shareholders of a “very demanding year,” what with the European debt crisis depressing auto markets and growth in growth markets slowing. What is growing is risks, said Winterkorn at VW’s annual general meeting. Oddly enough, it is Volkswagen’s competitors who should be very worried. (Read More…)

Some 200,000 EVs are already on the road in China, says Reuters. Teslas they ain’t.

GM and its Chinese partner SAIC finally have worked out a deal that would get GM its coveted golden share back. In its darkest hour, GM had sold one percent of its 50:50 joint venture to SAIC, for the chump change of $85 million. Later, it became known why the number was so low: SAIC co-signed a note of $400 million. GM needed the cash to save its Korean arm. GM itself was facing bankruptcy, which happened only little later. Now, the share is coming back. For a hefty price. (Read More…)

This list, compiled by Edmunds.com shows America’s 50 hottest and fastest cars. They are so fast that dealers can’t keep them on the lot. Off the truck, out of the door. (Read More…)

If you read, maybe even follow Steve Lang’s advice on car buying, then you know how important and hard it is to fight the dreaded depreciation of your car. The minute you drive it off the dealer’s lot, it has lost a good chunk of its value. Some cars hold their value well, others not so much. Here are the best.  (Read More…)

When I wrote that PSA and Toyota are exploring their sado-masochistic tendencies a tie-up of production in PSA’s ab- under-used Sevelnord plant in northern France, commenters said it will never happen. Others complained about the choice of choice illustrations.

France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy rode to the rescue of embattled TTAC, and confirmed the tie-up. (Read More…)

Evonik Industries told Reuters that it will take at least three months for its damaged chemical plant in Marl, Germany, to resume normal production of CDT, and that full production of CDT may not return until the beginning of next winter. (Read More…)