Brett LoGiurato

China's foreign direct investment in February fell for the fourth straight month as companies tightened spending amid a slowdown in the world's second-largets economy and the ongoign European sovereign debt crisis.

India will surpass Japan as the No. 2 vehicle market in Asia by 2016, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal based on data and research from IHS Automotive. The report also says that auto sales in China, Asia and the world's largest market, will continue to grow steadily through the rest of the decade.

Mexico's auto industry produced 24 percent more cars and light trucks in February compared with the year-ago period, reaching a record high.

Citigroup Inc., the third-largest U.S. bank, and SunTrust Banks Inc. failed the Federal Reserve's latest stress test because they lack enough capital to endure a hypothetical shock to the U.S. economy, the central bank said Tuesday.

U.S. stocks soared Tuesday in afternoon trading, amid strong reports of retail sales and business inventories and buoyant sentiments from the Federal Reserve.

Business inventories beat expectations in January, increasing 0.7 percent to a record level as auto dealers replenished their stocks to keep pace with rising demand from consumers.

In an auto industry placing increased emphasis on fuel economy in its vehicles, Ford Motor Co. serves as the poster child. The average fuel economy of Ford's sold passenger vehicles and trucks jumped by an average of 4.9 miles per gallon in February from the year-ago period. Unsurprising in those results is the credit due to the Ford Fusion and Focus, on which the company has placed an emphasis on greater fuel economy.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) saw its airline traffic jump an astounding 17.4 percent in February, the company announced Monday in a press release.

Auto parts maker Visteon Corp. said Monday that it will sell its automotive lighting business to the India-based Varroc Group for $92 million in cash, a deal the company expects to close in the third quarter of 2012.

The global markets tumbled this week, due in part to concerns about China's slowed economic growth. There are several reasons, however, why China's economic slowdown could actually benefit the U.S., despite the market's immediate reaction. One reason is the possible return of jobs to the United States' manufacturing sector.

Fiat SpA and Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne said Tuesday at the Geneva Motor Show that production of the highly anticipated Dodge Dart may be pushed back from April 1 to April 2.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) saw its February traffic jump 3.9 percent from a year earlier, marking the company's first traffic increase in three months.

A little more than a year ago, Karl Brauer stood on stage at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show and introduced the 2011 North American Car of the Year: the Chevrolet Volt.

General Motors Co. saw a 30.4 percent year-over-year jump in sales of passenger cars in China in February, a record-setting month for the United States automaker. Sales rose primarily due to the absence of the Lunar New Year holiday, which fell at the beginning of the month last year.

Private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. announced a partnership to invest in mineral and royalty interests in prominent oil and gas basins in the United States.

Amid rising gas prices and increasing demand for alternative sources of energy, automakers in the United States are turning to natural gas to power new pickup trucks.

China Investment Corp., China's sovereign wealth fund, received $30 billion from the Chinese government late last year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Sales of General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt rallied back in February from early-year lows, as the company sold more than 1,000 units of its hybrid electric plug-in vehicle last month.

Ford Motor Co. could lose between $500 million and $600 million in Europe this year, another inclination of automakers struggles in a region plighted by an ongoing debt crisis and crawling with competition.

New car sales grew at a better than expected pace, continuing automakers' steady revival in 2011 and the early months of 2012 and forcing many analysts to revise year-long sales forecasts above a benchmark 14 million mark.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has again delayed a regulation, failing to meet a deadline to present a bill to Congress.

General Motors Co. said Wednesday that the company has entered into a long-term and broad-scale alliance with French automaker PSA Peugeot Citreon to share vehicle platforms, components and modules and jointly purchase goods and services from suppliers. As part of the agreement, GM will purchase a 7 percent stake in Peugeot.

Rising gasoline prices will not threaten soaring new car sales that have the auto industry on pace for an even more impressive recovery year than originally expected, analysts say.

Automakers will report nearly 1.09 million new cars in February on Thursday, according to two industry forecasts, continuing the ongoing revival of the industry as sales jumped nearly 6 percent from February 2011 and an eye-popping 20 percent from January. That would equal a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) above 14 million units -- the highest level since early 2008.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday hit Republican presidential challengers hard during a speech at the United Auto Workers conference in Washington, most notably lashing out at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for his views on the auto bailout.

Ireland will hold a referendum of its people on the European Union's new fiscal treaty, the first poll test of public opinion on the anticipated tighter budget discipline in the 17-country euro zone.

Seventy-five years ago, Mopar began as a name for an antifreeze product. That antifreeze brand has grown into the global automobile parts and service arm of Chrysler Group LLC, and its latest announcement further expands its global footprint.

Nissan Motor Co. is recalling nearly 80,000 vehicles in the United States to address gasoline leaks, the company said in documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

First, Mitt Romney gaffed in admitting he was not worried about the very poor. Then, he admitted he only paid about a 15 percent tax rate. Now, his ad-libbing in Detroit led him to a flub about his wife Ann's Cadillacs.