Carmaker News

Top executives from US car giants GM, Ford and Chrysler did themselves no favours by going cap in hand to Washington for financial help by arriving in private aeroplanes.

Audi UK is on track to sell a record 101,000 cars this year, marginally above the 100,000 units it sold last year marking 17 years of consecutive growth for the brand.

Emerging markets are the great hope for carmakers as European and American markets plummet to all-time lows.

The Bush administration has continued to fight an industry bailout for US carmakers.

General Motors is struggling to convince cash-strapped US customers that cars coming out of Detroit are as good as those produced in Japan.

General Motors and Chrysler will not be merging after talks between the two carmakers ended.

Mini is to cut production at its Oxford plant and extend the closure of the factory over Christmas from two weeks to a month in response to falling demand.

BMW has reported a significant slump in profits and can no longer give a forecast for 2008 after being hit by the economic downturn.

A merger between General Motors and Chrysler would be the best option for both companies but could result in the potential loss of 74,000 jobs, according to a leading business adviser.

Nissan has halved its yearly profit forecast as a result of a weak performance in the first half of this fiscal year.