Industry

China has become one of its major markets

Skoda has released its 2012 fiscal report, and it tells a very interesting story. The Czech carmaker now has 25% of its sales and 30% of its production coming from China. Skoda had delivered 939,000 vehicles to customers in 2012, a 6.8% increa...

Company sees trend towards smaller, premium cars

Mercedes sees a burgeoning trend towards smaller, premium cars. Buyers still want luxury, but they want it in an even smaller car. That is why that it is considering building an even smaller premium car than the new A-Class. This new car would use...

The factory will close in 2014

Ford will pay $750 million in severance pay to the hourly workers from its Genk, Belgium, factory when it closes in 2014. The severance works out to an average of $187,500 to each of the 4,000 hourly workers.  The workers will be paid the...

Reports several hundred advanced orders for i3

As part of its fiscal announcement, BMW has announced its new model plans through 2014. The 2012 fiscal year was BMW's best ever. Without going into many specifics, BMW Group says that it will launch 11 new models in 2013 and 15 models in 2014...

Company reports record sales and earnings for 2012 fiscal year

Porsche reported its 2012 fiscal results with record sales and earnings. It sold 143,096 cars, up 22%, revenue was up 27% to €13.9 billion and operating profit was up 19% to €2.44 billion. It also has new record employee levels with...

First possibilities would be three-door and sport model

Renault plans to expand the Captur into an entire range of vehicles assuming that the just-introduced five-door model is a success.  The Captur shares a platform with the Nissan Juke, and Renault may build a three-door Captur that would c...

SUVs beat a European car market that fell 8% last year

The European auto industry reported an 8% decrease in sales last year, but that was not spread equally among all automotive segments. While most segments saw declines, some in the double digits, mid-size SUVs bucked the trend and had significant g...

Company reports best year in corporate history

BMW reported its best fiscal year ever in its March investor's report. Total revenue was up 11.7% to €76.8 billion, earnings before interest and taxes were up 3.5% to €8.3 billion and group profit was up 4.4% to €5.1 billion. To...

Government has refused to change a rule that allows it to block takeovers

Germany may be facing a fine in the millions of euros related to its refusal to change a rule that has guarded Volkswagen from outside takeovers since 1960. VW is perhaps the least likely automaker to face a takeover today, but the EU court may st...

Will no longer borrow Mercedes platform because of production cost

Renault has cancelled plans to create its own luxury sedan based on the Mercedes E-Class. However, it is still planning to launch the Initiale Paris brand for upscale Renault vehicles. The change in plans comes from Mercedes not being able to ...