Automotive Industry

Research by Australian Newspaper News.Com.Au has turned up a hidden problem with electric cars: if the battery goes flat, it might not be possible to recharge it, resulting in a very expensive - and not at all ecoologically friendly - replacement

Clint Eastwood has thrown his hat into the ring with a SuperBowl half-time advert on behalf of, nominally, Chrysler but widely seen as pro-Detroit in general. Actually, it's much more than that.

The US Government seizes vehicles for a wide range of reasons: used in crime, as assets representing proceeds of crime (money laundering), smuggled vehicles, vehicles taken as payment for taxes are just some of the reasons. The vehicles are auctioned off. But the condition of the vehicles is surprising. A survey of a pending auction shows that many of them have been severely abused.

Japan's Honda Motors is recalling some 200,000 Stream and Civic cars after identifying a defective component in the engine bay.

When the UK started charging purchase tax on cars, Colin Chapman found a loophole: if he sold his Lotus cars in kit form, buyers did not have to pay the tax. Caterham Cars started their business as an early - perhaps the first - dealer for Lotus Cars, building kits of the Lotus Seven for customers who didn't trust themselves to build the car from a kit.

SAAB, now free of its GM constraints and in ownership of specialist sports car maker Spyker is to reintroduce the Griffin, this time as a variant of the new 9-3 model

It sometimes seems as if the one company you don't want to be if you are a car maker is Toyota. Having admitted last year that it put innovation and a rush to market ahead of its traditionally prudent, quality driven, commercial strategy, the announcement that it more than a million and a half cars have faults requiring recall causes yet more damage to the company's once mighty reputation.

The Nissan Leaf may be a great car (Nissan haven't given us one to drive yet) but as the UK disappears under another snow storm, it's clearly not the car for this year, or at least not this winter.

Malaysia imposes extraordinary levels of tax on cars manufactured outside ASEAN. But due to special temporary arrangements for hybrid cars it's cheaper to buy a dual-fuel Honda than the standard version

Malaysian taxi drivers open their door to hand over tolls - apparently because they fear the electric windows motor will burn out. Proton have never needed to recall for that - but a tiny spring needs to be replaced so Satria Neo and Gen2 cars need to visit the dealer.

NAZA, the Malaysian car assembler and retailer is to build the Peugeot 207, expanding its relationship with the European company.

Almost three quarters of victims in fatal motorcycle accidents in Malaysia are between 15 and 25 year old. And that's not the most shocking statistic released by the Road Safety Department.

VW have said that the claimed fuel consumption figure for its Passat BlueMotion model is wrong. Stated at 27km/l, a journalist has disproved that figure.

The blogosphere has nothing better to do than snipe at Lotus, it often seems. Outrageous and false comments such as "Lotus is bankrupt" and "Dany Bahar is under threat" are common amongst some who appear to be trying to dig a hole for Proton and its sparkling subsidiary. But nothing could be further from the truth - and in Paris, Lotus has proved it with a Motor Show launch to shame far bigger manufacturers.

Rolls-Royce used to make just a few cars each month. Then BMW bought the company, moved production away from its home in Crewe and started what amounts, for the niche manufacturer, mass production. Now they want owners of almost 6,000 cars to bring them back as a global recall affects more than 350,000 BMW and Rolls-Royce cars that share a braking system.