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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).

McLaren F1 GTR Longtail sells at Gooding & Co for $5.28 million

McLaren F1 GTR Longtail (pictured) sells at Gooding & Co for $5.28 million Even with the arrival of the new McLaren P1, the ultimate supercar is still the McLaren F1. The McLaren F1 is one of rarest of the more modern supercars, and McLaren produced just 64 road going F1s in addition to a number of racing versions, with the F1 GTR Longtail the last, and rarest, of the breed. So the arrival of a McLaren F1 GTR Longtail on the auction block at Gooding & Co’s sale in Scottsdale raised expectations of a possible record-breaking price for the GTR Longtail, with pre-sale estimates putting the price between $5 and $7 million.

Mitsubishi plans ‘Colt-successor' for the United States around 2012

Mitsubishi plans to bring a global small car to the United States sometime around 2012. It would be the successor to the Colt small car currently sold in Europe and Asia. The new car would be all-new, and the name has not been decided yet, a spokesman said, referring to it as the “Colt-successor.” “There's obviously a need for a very small car,” Mitsubishi spokesman Moe Durand said.