(December 2, 2009) TORRANCE, Calif. — Acura announced today that for the second consecutive year it received the Automotive Lease Guide (ALG) 2010 Residual Value Award for Best Luxury Brand. According to ALG, Acura's line of luxury performance vehicles is expected to retain the highest percentage of their original price after a three-year period. Acura beat out other luxury brands such as Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz for the highly coveted award.

Honda has been a favorite of Car and Driver magazine and nothing has changed this year. Among the magazine's 10 best winners for 2010 are two Honda models.

(December 1, 2009) Hyundai Motor Co. may be growing globally despite the recession, but business in Japan is so bad the carmaker has decided to pull out after just eight years in the country, according to Automotive News.

Today Hyundai will notify its 46 dealers in Japan about its intention to halt sales here, company spokesman Oles Gadacz said today.

“If you're not a Gucci or a BMW, there are very few who prosper there,” Gadacz said. “Mass-market players have it very tough.”

(December 1, 2009) Recycling cardboard from GM’s stamping plant in Marion, Ind., is helping take the 2010 Buick LaCrosse to the next level of quietness.

“A lot of people don’t understand that recycled materials can add quality,” said Lora Herron, a materials engineer on the LaCrosse team. “It can add superior performance depending on where you use it and how you use it.”

(November 30, 2009) LOS ANGELES — Cadillac today unveiled the 2011 CTS Coupe, the latest and most dramatic of the brand’s series of new designs to reach production. Slated to arrive in Cadillac showrooms in the spring of 2010, the CTS Coupe is a new luxury sports coupe designed to become the centerpiece of the brand’s revised lineup.

(November 30, 2009) A new four-cylinder engine will help power Hyundai’s drive towards becoming the fuel economy leader when it launches in the company’s most popular car, the 2011 Sonata, Hyundai says.

Hyundai unveiled the engine, which is built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama, at its Hyundai America Technical Center in Superior Township, Michigan, where it engineers, designs, tests and certifies vehicles sold in the U.S.

(November 30, 2009) Reuters reports that Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp. might still be interested in buying Saab, the Chinese car company's general manager said.

Asked by reporters whether BAIC would consider approaching General Motor Co.'s Saab as a solo buyer or only as a part of a consortium, Wang Dazong said: "I would just say, 'stay tuned a little bit.' "

Speaking on the sidelines of a China-European Union business summit, Wang said BAIC's strategy of going global was still in place.

(Novembr 25, 2009) OSHAWA, Ontario — North American production of the all-new 2011 Buick Regal was confirmed today for the Oshawa Car Assembly plant beginning in first quarter 2011. The new Regal is a midsize sport sedan based on the award-winning Opel Insignia – the 2009 “European Car of the Year” – and it brings all of Insignia’s award-winning design, technology and European-inspired performance capabilities to the North American market.

(November 28, 2009) General Motors said on Friday it was talking to possible buyers of Saab, four days before a GM board meeting considers whether to attempt to revive a sale process or eliminate the 60-year-old Swedish auto brand.

(November 26, 2009) Hyundai and affiliate Kia have set their combined 2010 sales target at 5.39 million vehicles, up 16 percent from the estimated sales this year, Maeil Business Newspaper reported.

The global sales target has been revised up recently following signs of strength in China and India, the newspaper reported in its early Friday edition, citing an unnamed company source.

A Hyundai Motor spokesman said no decision has been made on the sales target for the company or Kia.