January’s Detroit auto show is to feature the world premiere of Mini’s open-air Beachcomber concept, which borrows from the goofy little 1960s Mini Moke but is based on the brand’s upcoming small crossover SUV.
The Beachcomber uses the SUV’s all-wheel drive system but deletes its doors and roof. A folding fabric roof can be rolled into [...]

DETROIT (Reuters) — U.S. auto sales are expected to end 2009 on a slight upswing in December, capping a year that saw General Motors and Chrysler collapse into bankruptcy and China overtake the United States as the biggest car market.
The deepest U.S. economic downturn since the Great Depression hammered auto sales through most of 2009, [...]

Volkswagen probably will drop the Passat sedan and wagon in 2011 when VW’s new U.S.-built mid-sized four-door is expected to go on sale.
“We are looking at it in detail,” Stefan Jacoby, VW Group of America CEO, said this month at a press event here.
The U.S.-built sedan, which has yet to be named, will be larger [...]

General Motors Co. said Tuesday it will invest more than $230 million in four plants around Flint, Mich., to help build the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze compact and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid sedan.
The move will restore about 500 jobs, GM said in a statement.
The four GM plants that will be updated and retooled include Flint [...]

GM will sign a deal on Thursday to sell a majority stake in Opel to a group led by Magna International Inc., German news agencies reported, citing sources close to the negotiations.
GM agreed on September 10 to sell 55 percent of Opel to Canadian supplier Magna and its Russian partner Sberbank, but the deal stumbled [...]

GM said on Friday that it has a definitive agreement with Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. for 80 percent of Hummer. A private investor would buy the remaining stake.
Under the terms of the deal, GM would continue to build the H3 and the H3T until June 2011 on a contract basis. AM General would [...]

General Motors Co., seeking to shed brands after emerging from bankruptcy, is nearing an agreement to sell its Hummer sport-utility vehicle business to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. for about $150 million, said three people familiar with the deal.
The parties are trying to reach a deal today, said the people, [...]

The illustrious Neiman Marcus Christmas Book will feature a Jaguar for the third time since 1968. Only 50 examples of the 2010 Jaguar XJL Supercharged Neiman Marcus Edition will be sold in the book at a price of US$105,000. Order reservations open this Friday.
When wishing for a flat-screen television or Coach purse just isn’t dreaming [...]

Infiniti confirmed on Wednesday that the Infiniti M35 will include a hybrid version that arrives as a 2012 model.
That’s about a year after the conventionally powered M35, which launches next spring as a 2011 model. It’s the first hybrid in the 20-year history of Infiniti.
The powertrain will include an electric motor that works with a [...]

Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen says an electric vehicle based on the high-performance Audi e-tron concept will debut in the United States in two to three years.
The sleek two-seat sports car was unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show last month, but at the time Audi would not confirm plans to produce it. Now [...]