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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).

What's different about electric cars this time? A column by Kevin A. Wilson

Thirteen years after the General Motors EV1 was rolled out to cheers from advocates of a revolution in the way we power automobiles, those same advocates are out front cheerleading yet another revival of an idea as old as the automobile itself: Run 'em on batteries. Batteries aren't a source of energy. They're just storage units, a convenient means of making power portable.

Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid recalled over possible battery-cooling system defect

Fisker Automotive is recalling 239 Karma hybrid cars to fix a defect in the vehicle's high-voltage battery. The recall notice, posted today on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Web site, says the campaign targets all 2012 Fisker Karma models manufactured between July 1 and Nov. 3 of this year.