(November 11, 2009) SHANGHAI — General Motors Company announced that the automaker and its joint ventures in China today surpassed 1.5 million units in sales for 2009. With a strong October, the GM China family continued its string of record monthly sales that began at the start of the year.

(November 9, 2009) Automotive News reports that the Ford Ka minicar and the global Ford Ranger will not be sold in the United States as previously indicated. Ford CEO Alan Mulally says Ka is too small for U.S. tastes.

Mulally previously had said both vehicles were under consideration for sale here. But the Ka, a minicar developed with Fiat, has been deemed too small for American tastes. The Ka is smaller than the subcompact Ford Fiesta, which will go on sale in the United States early next year.

(November 9, 2009) The global car market has bottomed and is on track for 60 million units sales next year, aided by the United States, Carlos Ghosn, who heads Japan's Nissan Motor Co. and France's Renault SA, said on Sunday.

Ghosn said his global forecast for auto sales for this year was above his earlier expectation of 55 million unit sales. "It looks like we are here hitting a plateau," he said at a World Economic Forum event in New Delhi. Global vehicle sales totaled roughly 70 million vehicles in each of the past two years.

(November 9, 2009) Nissan is recalling more than 10,000 2009 model year Nissan Sentra vehicles because of a defective master cylinder from Robert Bosch. Sentras manufactured from February 23, 2008 through April 18, 2008 are affected.

This latest recall expands a previous one last year covering more than 169,000 Sentra cars from the 2007 and 2008 model years.

(November 8, 2009) Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has opened a new showroom at Qatar’s most exclusive address, the Pearl Island in Doha. The luxury automotive manufacturer celebrated the occasion on the outstanding, man- made island, located offshore the Arabian Peninsula, with a prestigious event that attracted prominent members of the Qatari business community.

The event was marked by the unveiling of the new Ghost, the latest addition to the Rolls-Royce model range which was making its debut in Qatar.

(November 6, 2009) HERNDON, Va., PRNewswire — Volkswagen of America, Inc. today announced the Jetta TDI Cup "Street" Edition will be available in dealer showrooms January 2010. The concept debuted in Las Vegas during the 2008 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show. Following the SEMA show the concept was displayed at TDI Cup races throughout the country, where it was well received by enthusiasts and consumers alike.

(November 6, 2009) Aston Martin’s elegant new four-door sports car, the Rapide, will have its North American debut at an exclusive cocktail party to be held at hip Beverly Hills hotel, the SLS, next Wednesday, Nov. 11.  Following this, potential customers will be able to get a sneak preview of the first production car in the world as it makes a seven city tour of the United States before returning to England.

(November 6, 2009) The Associated Press has found that the popular $3 billion "cash for clunkers" program mostly involved swaps of old Ford or Chevrolet pickups for new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data.

(November 5, 2009) Toyota Motor Corp. reported a surprise quarterly profit and slashed its annual loss forecast by more than half as sales and cost cutting beat its forecasts, putting it on track to follow Japanese rivals into the black next year.

Toyota now expects an operating loss of 350 billion yen ($3.9 billion) for the year to March 31, closer to an average projection of a 293 billion yen loss in a poll of 22 analysts by Thomson Reuters.

(November 4, 2009) General Motors Co. reported its first monthly sales increase in nearly two years on Tuesday and Ford Motor Co. also racked up gains in October, providing further evidence that the U.S. economy appears to be on the mend.

Overall vehicle sales were level with last October's totals, ending a streak of year-over-year declines as the market continued its slow climb out of the steep downturn that began in 2008.