Carmakers see stability and uncertainty (02/11/09)

A group of major manufacturers have indicated that the automotive industry is well on the way to recovery, Reuters reports.

Ford, Renault, Peugeot, Toyota and BMW all agreed that sales should be strong in the latter part of 2009 as government incentives bring consumers to showrooms.

However, all five stressed that a full rebound is not imminent, as next year could be difficult in terms of transaction volumes.

Toyota Narrows Loss Forecast on Government Stimulus (05/11/09)

Toyota has increased its global vehicle sales forecast to 7.03 million, up from an August estimate of 6.6 million.

Despite being forced to shut its New United Motor Manufacturing plant - the first such closure in the company's history - Toyota believes 2009 could see increased sales in Japan for the first time in five years.

"Demand-stimulating measures by governments worldwide have contributed to our revised targets for the full fiscal year," Executive Vice President Yoichiro Ichimaru told Bloomberg.

"We continue to make improvements in the reduction of fixed costs."

Global car sales have bottomed-Nissan/Renault's Ghosn (08/11/09)

Carlos Ghosn, head of both Nissan and Renault, has suggested that global auto sales will reach roughly 60 million units in both 2009 and 2010.

"It looks like we are here hitting a plateau," he said at a World Economic Forum event in New Delhi, according to Reuters.

"All plans of expansion and capacity can be resumed with a much more solid understanding of how this crisis will end up."

Meanwhile, Volkswagen-Porsche has surpassed Toyota as the world's largest automaker, it has been suggested.

According to estimates by Global Insight, the German giant has produced 4.4 million vehicles so far in 2009, in comparison with a figure of four million for its Japanese rival.

The change can largely be explained by Toyota's decision to cut output from 2.1 million cars to 1.1 million cars in the first quarter of the year.

"That extremely hard brake has been keeping Toyota behind Volkswagen by quite a margin," Global Insight Director Christoph Sturmer told the Guardian.

"Due to government incentives, Volkswagen was not forced to decelerate so hard."

Electric cars 'may not cut CO2 emissions or oil dependency' (12/11/09)

Electric vehicles may not have the ability to reduce CO2 emissions or the consumption of oil, according to a new report.

The study, which was conducted by the Environmental Transport Association, claimed that the vehicles will not be truly green unless they run on electricity produced by renewable energy systems.

In addition, the report claimed that sales of the cars are unlikely to account for more than 25 per cent of new registrations by 2050.

BMW to Build New China Plant on Luxury-Car Demand (12/11/09)

BMW has announced that it will build a new plant in China to meet rising demand in the country.

The automaker plans to construct a $732 million facility which will have an initial capacity of 100,000 vehicles per year by 2012, with an expected further rise to 300,000.

In addition, the move will see capacity at the company's existing plant in Shenyang more than double to 75,000 units per year by the end of 2010.

European Oct passenger car sales up 11.2 pct-ACEA (16/11/09)

Finally, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association has revealed that passenger car sales increased by 11.2 per cent across the continent in October.

There was a major discrepancy between western Europe, which saw a 15.8 per cent sales increase during the month, and eastern Europe, where a 36.9 per cent slump was registered.

According to the body, a total of 12,206,381 new cars were sold in the first ten months of the year, which represents a five per cent decline from the same period in 2008.

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