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News watch July 2012: 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 Tuesday 31 July 2012•Porsche SE recorded a first half profit of €1.15bn, in comparison with €149m for the same period in 2011. The enormous jump has come not from directly selling cars, but from the group's investments in Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH and Volkswagen AG (Porsche SE)•Reuters suggests Germany's car market is in recession, but few outside the industry would know it, thanks to a controversial sales practice that inflates official statistics and paints a flattering picture of demand.

Smart to sell Nissan-built car in U.S. in 2011

The U.S. distributor of Smart cars says it has a tentative deal with Nissan to sell a small, five-door car built by the Japanese automaker under the Smart brand, beginning in late 2011. Smart USA Distributor LLC, which is owned by Roger Penske's Penske Automotive Group, said the car would be powered by a gasoline engine and fit the B-segment size class.

2012 SEAT Ibiza facelift arrives in the UK – and with a price drop

The 2012 SEAT Ibiza facelift arrives in the UK With the Geneva public debut for the SEAT Ibiza facelift, the titivated Ibiza arrives in the UK with a small price drop. SEAT revealed a facelift for the 2012 Ibiza in January and debuted it last week at the Geneva Motor Show. But with that out of the way it’s now time to get the order book for the new Ibiza buzzing, and a price drop is not a bad way to do it.