News watch March 2011: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Thursday 31 March 2011• US President Barack Obama has strated all US government cars and trucks purchased from 2015 must be alternative-fuel vehicles (Automotive News)• Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has denied a report in Japan's Nikkei newspaper that he is leaning towards a formal merger of Nissan and Renault (Reuters)• Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says that Chrysler's share IPO may now take place in 2012, depending on financial progress this year (Bloomberg)Wednesday 30 March 2011• Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called a report that the EV carmaker is a takeover target 'bad analysis' and remains confident the firm will stay independent (Bloomberg)• The BBC denies that it rigged a December 2008 Top Gear TV test of the Tesla Roadster, in response to being sued by the EV carmaker (BBC News)• First Group, the UK's largest public transport operator, has announced a £160m investment in new buses, ordering 955 new buses from UK manufacturers Wrightbus and Dennis over the next two years (BBC News)• Japanese production woes look set to continue into April. Toyota expects the majority of Toyota and Lexus production on 14 April (Automotive News)• Saab production has re-started again, following a half yesterday afternoon.

Smithsonian lets you vote on cars for exhibit

For the next few weeks, you can have a say in which vehicles from the Smithsonian car collection go on display this winter in Washington, D.C. For what is said to be the first time ever, the public can vote for one of eight featured vehicles, with the top two vote-getters going on display at the National Museum of American History from Jan. 22 through Feb.

Jaguar cool in white at L.A. Auto Show with C-X16 & XKR-S Convertible

Jaguar at the LA Auto Show with a brace of white cats Jaguar may not be going to the Detroit Motor Show in January (forsaking it for Delhi) but it’s put on a show in Los Angeles with a new white version of the Jaguar C-X16 Concept (XE) and the new XKR-S Convertible. The Jaguar C-X16 – which looks set to be the Jaguar XE when it arrives – conspires to look even more production-ready at LA than it already did at Frankfurt despite, as far as we can tell, nothing more than a new coat of paint. Some of the elements that seem unlikely to make it in to production – such as the rear hatch which opens E-Type like and the ultra-modern interior – are still present, yet on the C-X16 they seem to fit; it would be a shame to see them go for the production XE.