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Volkswagen says Italdesign purchase will boost its growth strategy

Volkswagen AG will acquire a 90 percent stake in Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A., VW said Tuesday. The Giugiaro family will retain 10 percent in the 42-year-old automotive styling company that is famous for designing cars such as the first-generation Volkswagen Golf. VW CEO Martin Winterkorn said Italdesign will make an important contribution to the automaker's 2018 global growth strategy.

Japan hopes to make EV recharging technology the global standard

Japan's automakers aim to cement their lead in electric vehicles by making Japanese recharging technology the global standard and bringing it to the United States. A coalition of manufacturers, including Nissan and Toyota, is teaming with Japan's biggest electric company and the government to make it happen. They aim to corner the market on one of the technologies that will be key to the eventual acceptance of electric-powered cars: the high-speed charging points that will act like gasoline stations of the future and enable drivers to recharge and keep driving after their batteries run low.

One Lap of the Web: Russian dash-cam ghost machines

-- Brace yourselves, people: "Dynamic" is not the only marketing buzzword of the moment. Now there's "velocity," which makes sense if you think of cars designed to move forward in some form or another. It actually refers to how fast an auto dealer can get you a cup of coffee, a pat on the back and a signature on the dotted line, as Lindsay Chappelle of Automotive News explains.