Mazda opens new plant in Salamanca, Mexico

Mazda Motor Corp. chairman Takashi Yamanouchi opened the company's new small-car assembly plant in Mexico today, calling it the company's "most important global strategic base." The factory, which will produce up to 230,000 vehicles each year, is a cornerstone of the structural reform plan "upon which the very future of company hinges," Yamanouchi said in remarks prepared for the opening ceremony. "Mazda's Structural Reform Plan, upon which the very future of the company hinges, positions this plant as our most important global strategic base," Yamanouchi said of the factory, which is about three hours northwest of Mexico City in Guanajuato State.

The car-commercial players for Super Bowl XLV

WITH VIDEOS -- Cash-strapped auto companies stood on the sidelines of the Super Bowl for a year or two, but they're about to make up for it in a hurry. By some estimates, the auto industry will buy the most time of any advertising category for the Feb. 6 game.

Bentley's new boss confirms SUV back to drawing board

Bentley's new chairman and CEO, Dr Wolfgang Schreiber, confirmed today that the EXP 9F - the controversial SUV shown at the 2012 Geneva motor show - would be heavily redesigned before going on sale. CAR greeted the EXP 9F with the headline 'I'm a Bentley designer, get me out of here' in our Geneva show issue. Ironically, head of design Dirk van Braeckel, has subsequently moved to a different department within the VW Group.