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News watch December 2011: 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-hourFriday 30 December 2011• Fisker has recalled all 239 Karma plug-in hybrids manufactured between 1 July and 3 November this year to fix a glitch in its battery. Supplier A123 Systems says the problem affects the battery's cooling system, but Fisker is adamant no customers have complained and this is a precautionary step (Automotive News)• Supplier Continental says business looks brisk in the first quarter of 2012, thanks to strong demand in the US and Asia (Automotive News Europe)• Toyota chief executive Akio Toyoda is gradually changing the culture at Japan's biggest car maker, according to the Detroit News.

Infiniti Etherea: Infiniti’s compact concept revealed in Geneva

Infiniti Etherea Concept Despite our gripes that Infiniti seem half-hearted about their entry in to Europe – certainly in terms of their reluctance to get the product under people’s noses –  we can’t argue they’re not developing their range to suit the European market. Good case in point is the introduction of diesel lumps across the range, although we find the new Infiniti M35h Hybrid potentially more appealing than the M30d (we’ve surprised ourselves there). And now we get a proper European-sized concept revealed in Geneva – the Infiniti Etherea Concept – which is a compact, pillarless, suicide door endowed 3-Series competitor with a 2.5 litre S/C lump connected to an electric motor and driven through a CVT ‘box.

Groups form coalition in effort to replenish the Bonneville Salt Flats

An effort to save the historic Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah is under way with a salt replenishment program to permanently preserve the land. The national landmark is an essential piece of American motorsports heritage, as scores of world land-speed records have been set on the unique formation. The densely packed expanse of land is the dried remnants of a huge prehistoric lake.