AUTO

Chrysler Group LLC said on Wednesday it is increasing production of the Dodge Caliber hatchback by 10,000 units this year in response to increased demand for small, fuel-efficient models.

Ford Motor Co's (F.N) Canadian subsidiary, seeking to maintain sales momentum, said on Wednesday it will offer up to C$3,000 ($2,700) toward the purchase of a new Ford to customers who turn in a vehicle 15 years or older.

New vehicle sales in Australia slipped for a second month in August, though the annual pace of decline almost halved, industry data showed on Thursday.

Fiat Group Purchasing, a part of Fiat (FIA.MI), plans to source $1 billion of parts from India in 2010, a senior executive said on Thursday.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) Chief Executive Alan Mulally, credited with steering the automaker's turnaround, won an endorsement for an indefinite tenure from Ford's chairman and the founding family's senior representative at the company.

German carmaker BMW (BMWG.DE) revealed plans to build two new Mini models at its plant near Oxford in central England on Thursday, boosting British manufacturing and the embattled motor sector.

Opel's senior labor leader threatened General Motors GM.UL that the European carmaker's workforce would not pitch in to reduce $1.2 billion in costs if Detroit retains control of Opel.

Government incentives that pay motorists 2,500 euros ($3,590) to trade in old cars for new gave Germany's auto market a final boost in August, lifting registrations 28 percent year on year.

The Gulf state of Qatar has taken a 10 percent voting stake in Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PSHG_p.DE) as agreed, the German automotive group said on Wednesday.

BMW (BMWG.DE), the world's largest premium carmaker, expects to post U.S. sales growth in the last four months of 2009 as the economy shows signs of coming out of the worst part of the recession, the head of its U.S. operations said on Tuesday.

Maruti Suzuki India (MRTI.BO), the country's top car maker, is confident of maintaining profits and growth despite increasing competition, including from Tata Motors' (TAMO.BO) Nano, the world's cheapest car.

South Korea's largest car parts maker Hyundai Mobis Co (012330.KS) has won a $2 billion order from Chrysler for chassis modules to be used in two Chrysler car models, sending its shares up more than 7 percent.

Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) plans to manufacture more car parts itself rather than buying from outside suppliers as part of a bid to boost productivity, the German carmaker's head of production told a German newspaper.

Manufacturers from several countries including the United States produced some upbeat news on Tuesday, indicating that a recovery from the deepest global downturn since World War Two is slowly gaining traction.

Auto sales in Canada fell for a 10th straight month in August, industry figures showed on Tuesday, though Ford managed to maintain the sales and market-share momentum that it gained in the middle of the industry crisis.

U.S. auto sales boomed in August as $3 billion in government incentives drove sharp gains for Hyundai Motor Co and Ford Motor Co but failed to provide a boost for General Motors Co in its first full month outside bankruptcy.

Toyota Motor Corp, the world's largest carmaker, will ask Japan's new government to extend the deadline for subsidies on purchases of new environmentally friendly cars by two years from the original schedule of March 2010, a Toyota executive said on Wednesday.

General Motors Co GM.UL said on Wednesday its China vehicles sales in August jumped 112.7 percent from a year earlier, paving the way for a more than 40 percent rise in sales for the full year.

Belgian finance investor RHJ International (RHJI.BR) raised the stakes in the ongoing bidding war with rival Magna (MGa.TO) for GM's GM.UL Opel unit, as sources said the U.S. automaker's board was due to discuss the deal.

Chrysler Group LLC's U.S. sales fell 15 percent to 93,222 units in August due to inventory shortages related to extensive summer shutdowns during its bankruptcy restructuring, a source briefed on the matter said on Tuesday.

General Motors Co [GM.UL] posted a 20.2 percent drop in U.S. sales in August from a year earlier, the highest sales of the year, supported by the U.S. government's

Ford Motor Co's U.S. sales rose 17 percent in August, a second consecutive month of increases, bolstered by the U.S. government's

Stuttgart prosecutors raided another apartment and confiscated material in connection with a probe of Porsche (PSHG_p.DE) employees, the spokeswoman for the Stuttgart prosecutor's office said Tuesday.

Car makers will not be granted a delay to an agreed 2011 European ban on climate-damaging chemicals in the air conditioners of new car models, European Parliament officials said on Tuesday.

The Indian unit of Volvo Car Corp, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co (F.N), expects industry sales of luxury cars to rise to about 10,000 this year from about 7,000 last year and to keep growing in double-digits for some years.

The General Motors [GM.UL] board of directors will discuss the future of Opel in a telephone meeting on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

India's Tata Motors (TAMO.BO) is willing to return the original site for its ultra-cheap Nano car if the state government compensates for the investment on the land, its chairman said on Tuesday.

Scrapping bonuses pushed French new passenger car sales up 7 percent in August to 110,607 units, carmakers' association CCFA said on Tuesday, while light utility vehicle sales, which are not eligible for payouts, plunged.

Europe and the United States were both set to report rises in August car sales thanks to government scrappage incentives, and France said it may extend its scheme beyond the year's end.