Here is one car company that didn’t profit from Japan’s losses in China: Mercedes sales in China were down 3.9 percent to about 15,900 units in October, Reuters says. Daimler blamed the “very strong” sales of October 2011. (Read More…)

Germany’s new car market was up 0.5 percent in October. What looked like bucking the European downtrend was quickly discounted by market observers who noted that October had two more working days than October last year. Taking this into account, Germany is down with the rest of Europe.  Meanwhile, sales in France dropped 7.8 percent, and those in Spain are down a gutwrenching 21.7 percent. (Read More…)

After a rash of interim-CEOs, Opel may have found a more permanent one. It’s the former Volkswagen manager Karl-Thomas Neumann. The successful recruitment was first published by Financial Times Deutschland, the report was quickly confirmed by wire services and major German newspapers. (Read More…)

We have documented how GM and Opel have a hard time separating themselves from the Bochum plant, something that is urgently necessary to address Opel’s dangerous overcapacity. The date to close the plant is being kicked more and more down the road and well past the use-by date of the current and some future Opel CEOs. Currently, it looks like Bochum and gaping wounds will stay open through 2017. Or maybe longer … (Read More…)

Yesterday, a car developed (mostly) for and (mostly) in China was presented at a gala event in Wolfsburg. Volkswagen celebrated the new Santana, and Volkswagen’s lucky entry into the Chinese market some 30 years ago. That’s also how long the old Santana lasted. It was time to replace it, and the time was yesterday. (Read More…)

Unions reached a last minute deal with Opel:  Plant closures and layoffs are off the table through 2016. This according to information given by works council chief Walter Einenkel to the usually reliable Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. (Read More…)

Down to the wire, and nothing: German unions had set Opel a deadline until today to come to an agreement about the future of Opel. The unions had offered to forgo a 4.3 percent pay hike and waive future pay raises if Opel extends a moratorium on plant closures through 2016. Today’s deadline passed without an agreement, Reuters says. (Read More…)

Mercedes wants to double its passenger car sales within the next eight years. By 2020, Mercedes wants to raise its sales to more than 2.6 million units annually, from  1.3 million this year. This is what Daimler CEO wrote in a letter to all employees. Automobilwoche [sub] has a copy.
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Europe’s car crisis found 4,300 new victims: As expected, union representatives at Ford’s Genk plant in Belgium were told this morning that the plant will be closed. 4,300 workers will be out of a job. (Read More…)

Today, BMW confirmed what you could read here last week: The Bavarians will build a BMW factory in Brazil. BMW submitted an investment plan to the Brazilian government, BMW says. (Read More…)

Volkswagen will roll out its new NFS, MQB, MLB and MSB kit architectures to Brazil, Volkswagen do Brasil chief Thomas Schmall told Automobilwoche [sub]. The first representative will likely be a very small SUV, based on the UP! NFS (New Small Familiy) architecture.

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Union representatives at Ford’s Genk plant in Belgium have been summoned to an emergency meeting on early Wednesday morning. No reason has been given, but unions expect the worst, says Reuters: The closure of Ford’s Genk factory. (Read More…)

Yesterday, La Tribune in Paris had it on good authority that moribund Opel and the carmaking arm of PSA Peugeot Citroen would be merged into a joint venture.Reuters started digging a bit deeper and can say with conviction that “General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroen are exploring ways to combine European operations in a second phase of the carmaking alliance they forged to save costs earlier this year.” They just don’t know yet how.

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German unions know that “end of October” means more for GM than October 31. German  unions now demand a final deal with Opel by October 26. If there is no deal, it will cost Opel: Opel can defer paying a 4.3 percent industry-wide wage rise until October 31, if there is no deal, Opel has to pay. Also on October 31, GM will publish its third-quarter earnings. (Read More…)

Volkswagen hasn’t published its group sales for September yet (it is expected to do so later in the week), but Reuters already saw a PowerPoint slide with 6.802 million vehicles on it, sold between January and September. This would mean an increase of 10.6 percent in the first nine months.  Volkswagen published Audi sales yesterday, and Volkswagen Passenger Vehicle sales (see below) today. Looking at these numbers, the 6.8 million are quite possible. (Read More…)