Call it synchronicity or call it conspiracy: 2015 is drawing closer, the year when several large global automakers will begin full-scale launches of hydrogen-powered automobiles. Developing new powertrains being costly with unassured payback, automakers form alliances to share the cost. And alliance of Daimler, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota to jointly promote hydrogen use would be surprising, they usually are otherwise engaged. However, the four join hands, forces and cars for a grand hydrogen tour through Europe. (Read More…)

GM is not the only U.S. automaker that wants to close a plant in Europe, and Ford is thinking about more than the end of the road for Alan Mulally. German press, from the industry magazine Automobil Produktion to the German edition of the Wall Street Journal are talking about Ford shuttering its plant in Genk, Belgium. (Read More…)

With their Washington overlords breathing down their necks, GM executives are pushing Opel for a definitive agreement to close Opel’s Bochum plant. According to the Wall Street Journal, GM “would like to be able to announce the plan before or along with its third-quarter earnings, which are expected to be disclosed Oct. 31.”

Keep smoking. (Read More…)

A massage parlour and a car wash outlet in the Sunway Mentari suburb of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, engaged in a flourishing joint venture until it was disrupted by police last week. After nine car washes, customers received a free detailing – but not of the car. (Read More…)

GM’s China boss Kevin Wale will retire his job on October 31, GM says. His will be replaced by Bob Socia, GM’s VP of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. (Read More…)

Honda has developed a new, simple, gasoline-electric hybrid system which “will set a new standard for fuel efficiency and recapture the success of the CVCC engine 40 years ago,” writes Reuters. (Read More…)

The car industry is slowly getting healthy again (except in Europe.) Worldwide sales are up 6.8 percent so far, and it looks like 81 million units could be sold worldwide this year, as data by LMC Automotive show. This has the Worldwatch Institute up in arms. Basically, it wants us to buy fewer cars and drive them less. (Read More…)

You can tell immediately that it is a concept: It has suicide doors. Nissan will show the fuel-cell propelled TeRRA SUV concept at the 2012 Paris Motor Show that opens on September 27. (Read More…)

Wolfsburg is working hard on making the (new) Beetle’s image a bit manlier. It hopes to get support for this endeavor from two R-Line packages that are based on the top “Sport” version: an exterior package and an interior package. (Read More…)

The New Mercedes A-Class should be at dealers in Europe any day now.  In the U.S., it is expected to go on sale in the United States in 2014. Not that many people are dying to see an overpriced  hatchback. A sedan probably would sell better. One was spotted halfway between Germany and America, in Iceland. (Read More…)

Producing the most fuel-sipping cars will have no impact on environment or oil reserves unless people buy those cars and carmakers sell them. This should be a truism, but too often it is ignored. Some cars are built with green halos, but with little regard for marketability.  Who’s cars really are the greenest? (Read More…)

It’s official. France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen is “in a difficult situation,” says a government-commissioned report into PSA’s financial situation. The report comes to the conclusion, says Reuters, that the company cannot be saved by cost cutting alone, and that ”job cuts must not hurt its research and development capabilities.” While the report does not make recommendations on how else the company is to be saved, it pretty much smells like bailout  à la française. (Read More…)

This yard in Athens saw an auction every month, selling cars confiscated from drug dealers or tax dodges. Now the state agency has been shut down. Half of the workforce is still there, moved to the books of a government ministry. While the costs run on, there is no more income:  Paralyzed, the unit has seen just one car auction this year. It is a snapshot of Greece’s woes, distilled down to impound level. (Read More…)

“The estimate of the current loss per unit for each Volt sold is grossly wrong,” GM says as a retort to the Reuters story that GM loses around $49,000 on every Volt. GM says that “it allocates Volt development costs across lifetime volume, not across the current number of Volts sold.” TTAC commenters that rushed to the aid of the beleaguered company suggested the same. Oddly enough, GM passed on a much stronger argument that would have turned the Volt into a money machine. If not immediately, then much earlier than suggested by Reuters. (Read More…)

In the olden days, when a Bentley was a rebadged Rolls Royce (or vice versa), it was easy to mistake one for the other. Bentley cleverly leveraged its “smart shopper” image into sales that were an order of magnitude higher than those of Rolls. Ever since Volkswagen forgot to check the trademark files, and subsequently lost Rolls to BMW while keeping Bentley (to still much bigger success), those days are over, and the respective overlords in Wolfsburg and Munich get alarmed if there is any confusion. The news still haven’t reached Indonesia, or so it seems. (Read More…)