News watch March 2010: today's auto industry news

Tuesday 30 March 2010• Mercedes has dismissed claims that its Maybach brand is for sale, after reports in the Chinese media claimed Chinese car company BYD was considering a bid for the upmarket offshoot. BYD has also denied the claims (Reuters)• Toyota president Akio Toyoda has promised his company will listen more carefully to customers and react faster in a bid to regain credibility after the Japanese car manufacturer was forced to recall millions of vehilces over safety fears (BBC)• The Obama administration is expected to unveil its finalised fuel economy and tailpipe emissions through to 2016 this week, to coincide with the opening of the 2010 New York auto show (Detroit News)  Monday 29 March 2010• Toyota has agreed to licence the hybrid technology in the Prius to Mazda, which will combine the electric system with its next-gen Sky engines. It’s part of Mazda’s plans to increase the average fuel economy of its vehicles by 30% by 2015 (compared to 2008 levels) and it hopes to have its first hybrid vehicle on sale in Japan by 2013 (Mazda)• Ford and Chinese car company Geely have signed a stock purchase agreement that will allow the latter to acquire 100% of Volvo (along with related assets including intellectual property rights).

Adaptive steering for big Fords arrives on new Edge

By Tim Pollard Motoring Issues 30 May 2014 17:43 Ford today announced all its future large cars will have adaptive steering as standard - letting reps flick their wrists on the way in to the Welcome Break on the M4, yet tip their fingers when changing lanes on the London orbital. It's a further sign that what was once the high-tech preserve of the German brands is now firmly in the mainstream. BMW was one of the brands which pioneered variable-ratio power steering; in essence, it changes the ratio between the driver's inputs at the wheel and the rate at which turns are made at the rack.

Jaguar F-Type R: Coupe or Roadster?

With the new Jaguar F-Type arriving in showrooms in spring 2013, will the follow-on performance F-Type R be a coupe or Roadster? But it’s clear that the new V8 F-Type S isn’t going to be the pinnacle of the F-Type range – far from it. With Jaguar seeking to hang the whole brand identity on their first real roadster since the E-Type, a range-topping variant in the guise of an F-Type R is a certainty.