Volkswagen and Suzuki aren’t wasting any time in consummating their marriage. VW is thinking of providing its hybrid technology to Suzuki. This is what Ulrich Hackenberg, head of VW’s Forschung und Entwicklung (R&D) told The Nikkei [sub] on the sidelines of the NAIAS in Detroit. As usual for a tight-lipped R&D guy, Hackenberg did not volunteer any details, timing or models.

Unusual for a usually tight-lipped R&D guy, Hackenberg said Suzuki has excellent technologies, including low-cost production know-how, and that the two firms have a lot to learn from each other. He also said VW will support its Japanese partner in China, where Volkswagen has a commanding market share, and where Suzuki needs help.

“What Volkswagen hybrid technology?” you will surely ask. (Read More…)

Volkswagen has grand plans for the U.S.A. Volkswagen wants to “increase sales and market share in 2010.” Ok, who doesn’t.  Now, for the delusions of grandeur part: By 2018, Volkswagen wants to more than triple annual car sales in the U.S. to 1 million a year, with  Audi accounting for 200,000 sales, reports the Wall Street Journal. Seen any flying pigs lately?

Why 2018? By 2018, Volkswagen wants to rule the world, and trounce Toyota in unit sales, profitability, customer satisfaction, innovation, and most likely size and quantity of cup-holders also.

Everybody in the company has to do his or her share for the grand plan.
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Bloomberg read it in Sweden’s Dagens Industri that General Motors will send the tools for Saab’s new 9-5 model to China. Mind you, these are not the old 9-5 tools sold to BAIC. These are the tools for the new Epsilon 2 based 9-5, or what Dagens Industri calls “the crown jewels of Saab.”
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Beijing’s drivers can get off their anti-anxiety medication. Beijing’s government has decided that Beijingers can go forth and buy as many cars as they desire. Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform spokesperson Zhao Lei said that Beijing will not take administrative measures to restrain residents from buying automobiles, People’s Daily reports.
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Saab’s extended January 7th deadline came and went. Four groups handed in offers: Spyker put in its third bid. Luxembourg-based private equity group Genii Capital joined with Formula 1 tycoon Bernard Ecclestone and Hakan Samuelsson, former head of truckmaker MAN, in a bid. Wyoming-based Merbanco Inc., and a Swedish investor group also submitted proposals. Apparently, the proposals did not impress. Saab declared bankruptcy, for the second time in a year.
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GM’s interimitis is turning into a chronic disease. First, Whitacre becomes interim replacement of Henderson, and is in no hurry to give up the job. Then, in November 2009. Nick Reilly becomes interim head of GM Europe while GM is supposedly searching for a replacement of Carl-Peter Forster. In December 2009, the interim boss was installed as permanent chief of GM Europe. Now, Reilly will be named permanent CEO of Opel, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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The good folks at Autocar report that an electric polar bear, made in China, will be unleashed on Europe this spring.

The Nanoq – meaning polar bear in Greenland – is a small and supposedly five seat plug-in. It will be manufactured as a joint venture between China’s Geely and Danish company Lynx. Geely provides the car, Lynx supplies the electrical components and a new lithium battery pack.
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In today’s wode tian (OMG) moment, China’s People’s Daily reports that “a total 16.7 million vehicles were sold in China last year, bringing the country’s total vehicles to more than 186 million.” Shen me? (Excuse me?)
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The Toyota Prius.

According to Japan’s JADA dealer association data, quoted by the Nikkei [sub], Toyota’s Prius became the first hybrid to take the prime spot on Japan’s annual sales ranking of all cars, including minivehicles. 2009 Sales of the Prius jumped nearly 300 percent to 208,876 units.
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The world’s supposedly cheapest car ($2,500 apiece) will cost $220,000 when Mumbai-based D.C. Design is through with it. They will keep the car’s snub-nosed shape, everything else has to go.

The standard two-cylinder 624cc, 33-horsepower engine will be replaced by a 1600cc engine. To make room for the motor, the back seats will be removed. The car will get new brakes, new suspension, and bigger 20-inch wheels to allow for the top speed of 200 kilometers per hour (124 mph).
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If you ask Western auto manufacturers what they fear more, Chinese car exports or the antichrist, hell, they’ll definitely pick Chinese car exports. Should have chosen the devil: China is looking back at one of the worst car exporting years in recent history.
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Ed Whitacre said yesterday that none of the potential bidders for Saab have come forward with the financing needed. “I think we’ve done everything humanly possible,” Whitacre said. Then he announced that GM will start closing down Saab plants later this week. GM’s really, final, we-really-mean-it-this-time deadline for Saab runs out today.

Who knows, maybe someone will come up with the money. Or at the very least, with some Powerpointilisms: Joran Hagglund, Sweden’s state secretary for industry, said there are bids from two anonymous groups that might make today’s deadline. Except that there is that nasty little detail: “The problem is that none of them can show that they have financing in place,” Hagglund said.
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Here are some full year 2009 new car sales data as they have become available. Along with the source. Caution: Data as reliable as the source.

U.S.A.: down 21.2 percent – 10.4 million units
China: up 45 percent – 13.6 million units
Japan: down 9.3 percent – 4.6 million units
Australia: down 7.4 per cent– 937,328 units
Canada: down 10.7 percent – 1.46 million units i
India: up 18.7 percent– 1.43 million units
Brazil: up 11.35 percent – 3.14 million units
Turkey: up 12.77 percent – 557,126 units
Taiwan: up 28.3 percent – 294,423 units
Philippines: up 6.4 percent – 132,444 units
Russia: down 49 percent – 1,465,917 units

Austria: up 8.8 percent – 319,403 units
Belgium: down 11.1 percent – 476,194 units
Denmark: down 25.3 percent – 112,271 units
Finland: down 35.2 percent – 90,574 units
France: up 10.7 percent – 2,268,671 units
Germany: up 23.2 percent – 3,807,175 units
Greece: down 17.5 percent – 220,548 units
Ireland: down 62.1 percent – 57,460 units
Italy: down 0.2 percent – 2,158,010 units
Luxembourg: down 9.7 percent – 47,265 units
Netherlands: down 22.5 percent – 387,679 units
Portugal: down 24.6 percent -160,996 units
Spain: down 17.9 percent – 952,772 units
Sweden: down 16.0 percent – 213,408 units
United Kingdom: down 6.4 percent – 1,994,999 units
Iceland: down 77.6 percent – 2,020 units
Norway: down 10.8 percent – 98,675 units
Switzerland: down 8.2 percent – 264,798 units
Bulgaria: down 49.3 percent – 22,869 units
Czech Republic: up 12.5 percent – 161,659 units
Estonia: down 66.2 percent – 8,234 units
Hungary: down 50.4 percent – 78,590 units
Latvia: down 80.5 percent – 3,745 units
Lithuania: down 67.4 percent – 7,003 units
Poland: up 0.1 percent – 320,119 units
Romania: down 59.4 percent – 115,979 units
Slovakia: up 6.7 percent – 74,717 units
Slovenia: down 18.7 percent – 55,712 units

European Union (EU15): up 0.9 percent – 13,267,425 units
EFTA: down 10.5 percent – 365,493 units
EU15+EFTA: up 0.5 percent – 13,632,918 units
EU (New Members): down 26.6 percent – 848,627 units
European Union: down 1.3 percent – 14,116,052 units
Total Europe (EU+EFTA): down 1.6 percent – 14,481,545 units

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China’s mushrooming car market was flooded with by a tsunami of new cars in 2009, Xinhua reports via Gasgoo. A record 221 new models were introduced last year.

Auto sales in China are projected to have surged 44 percent to 13.5m units last year. Chinese automakers are expected to launch about 100 more new models in 2010.

Official Kraftfahrtbundesamt data are uncharacteristically late. But Dow Jones Newswire (via Finanznachrichten.de) has it from two reliable sources that Germany’s new car market rose to 3.8m units in 2009, which would be an increase of 23 percent if it pans out. According to the report, Germans bought 3.8m units in 2009, in 2008 it was 3.09m units.
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