Mercedes-Benz “leaked” (i.e released) photos of the GLA concept ahead of its debut in Shanghai. The GLA is their latest move down the ladder as far as size and price-points go, but it’s also a harbinger of what’s to come from all automakers; another small, car-based crossover. You are going to be seeing plenty of these in the next few years, especially from premium brands that can squeeze lots of profit out of vehicles like these. Hatchbacks, wagons and body-on-frame SUVs are likely to suffer from this segment’s rise in popularity.

If anyone is hoping for a bottom in the European car market, then it’s nowhere to be seen. In the contrary, the decline appears to be accelerating. European passenger car registrations were down 10.2 percent in March, data published by the European manufacturers association ACEA show. That would be a decline for the 18^th consecutive month. (Read More…)

The Renault Twin-Z concept, shown here, was unveiled at a Milanese furniture show (seriously) but is said to preview the next-generation Twingo. The five-door concept clearly takes its styling inspiration from the Volkswagen Up!, but there will be a crucial packaging difference – the Twingo will be rear-engined, since it shares a common chassis with the next-generation Smart car.

According to lore, it is impossible to close a factory in Europe. Not true. It’s just outrageously expensive.  One company that found out is Ford. The carmaker allocated nearly $200,000 per hourly worker of its soon to be closed Genk plant in Belgium. (Read More…)

The European car market goes to where it has been going for a while: To the toilet.  February sales in the EU were down 10.5 percent year-on-year. Sales in February were  9.5 percent lower than an already disappointing  January. (Read More…)

It’s not just the UAW that is upset about free trade agreements. The Koreans are likewise. The offices of the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association were raided by investigators of the country’s Fair Trade Commission, the Financial Times reports. The agency alleges that BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Toyota Motor were involved in price collusion. (Read More…)

In what Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn described as a “historic” event, the automaker has come to an agreement with the three unions representing its French workers that will keep five Renault factories in France running until at least 2016 while using attrition and retirements to reduce their workforce by 7,500 employees.

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Want a fuel-sipping, tree-hugging sedan with stunning good looks? Ford thinks they have the answer in the 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Can jamming a gasoline/electric drivetrain behind Ford’s sexy grille continue the love affair the press has had with Ford’s world-car? More importantly, can this Ford hybrid live up to its EPA numbers? Let’s find out.

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The Geneva Auto Salon is a small show in a small city of a small country. The show is big because it is an annual confab of automakers where shoulders are rubbed, mergers are planned, policies are set. The cars are mostly decoration. A top topic in Geneva was how to meet rigid EU emission limits. “There is a growing awareness that conventional hybrids and slow-selling battery cars simply won’t be enough,” Reuters reports from Geneva. (Read More…)

An invasive species originating in North America is threatening the native fauna of Europe in a big way. Small crossovers, largely based on B and C segment hatchbacks, are one of the few growth segments in Europe’s ailing auto industry, so much so that they could even help reverse the fortunes of a couple ailing auto makers.

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Bad omen for Europe: The German car market, considered one of the healthier in Europe, was down 10.5 percent in February, compared to the same month in the prior year. News from other European volume markets are worse. (Read More…)

With Nissan bringing Leaf production to Japan and the United States, the next stop on their localization train is Europe. The Sunderland, UK plant will begin in the spring, and along with European production will be a series of tweaks for that market.

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European new car sales had their worst January in recorded history. The European manufacturers organization ACEA started recording in 1990, and it had never seen a January as bad. New car registrations were down 8.7 percent to 885,159 units in the EU. (Read More…)

The United States and the European Union will begin talks on a free-trade agreement, which may take as long as two years to complete. The deal is expected to be worth some $613 billion annually, and could have some interesting implications for the auto sector.

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The next generation Fiat 500 will no longer be hecho en Mexico for the North American market. Faced with a modern plant and unused capacity, Fiat will consolidate all of its 500 production to its site in Tychy, Poland, in 2015. So what does this mean for Mexico?

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