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News watch October 2010: 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 Friday 29 October 2010• Spyker has announced third-quarter losses have increased since its takeover of Saab. Spyker lost £35 million in 2010, compared to £3.6 million last year (BBC News)• GM will repay $2.1 billion of the Obama government's preferred stocks.

New car sales up by 3% on 2013

ANOTHER RISE in new car sales in February has meant purchases have increased every month for two years. A total of 68,736 vehicles were registered last month - a 3% rise on the total for February 2013, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. Sales for the first two months of this year have totalled 223,298 - a 6.1% rise on the total for the first two months of 2013 SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said the two years of continuous growth was "a real endorsement of consumer confidence and the attractiveness of the new car market".

smart fortwo gets a facelift for 2012

The smart fortwo gets a nip and tuck for 2012 The smart fortwo has been given a small cosmetic facelift for 2012, and will debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The perpetual loss-maker for Mercedes that is the smart car (the other being Maybach, which is now being left to wither on the vine) still continues, and Mercedes are planning a replacement, previewed by the recent smart forvision concept which heralds the new smart fortwo which will share its platform with the next Renault Twingo. But to freshen the current smart fortwo until the all new smart fortwo arrives, Mercedes has rolled out a few cosmetic tweaks for the current smart fortwo for 2012, but haven’t bothered to tweak either the chassis or engines.