IN THE NEWS

HONDA RECALLS CARS IN FIRE DANGER.

Honda has announced the recall of 646,000 cars globally- including more than 170,000 models in the UK – to fix a switch defect that could cause a fire.

The recall includes Jazz models, also known as Fit in some countries, built in Japan, China, Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia and India.

Three cases of fires due to the defect have so far been reported – two in the United States and one in South Africa.

IN THE NEWS

FORD POSTS FIRST ANNUAL PROFIT FOR FOUR YEARS.

Ford has posted an annual profit for the first time in four years. The carmaker made $2.7 billion (£1.7bn) in 2009, compared with a loss of almost $15bn in 2008, and said it expected to be profitable this year as well.

For the final three months of last year, the company made $868 million, a dramatic improvement on the $6bn loss it made a year earlier.

IN THE NEWS

BRITAIN’S ROADS FAIL TO MEET ‘SAFEST IN THE WORLD’ CLAIM.

UK roads can be the safest in the world over the next decade if the same high return investment in safe road design is made as other leading nations, according to a new report.

IN THE NEWS

SPYKER CLOSES IN ON SAAB DEAL.

Dutch sports carmaker is said to be close to completing a deal with General Motors to buy up-for-sale Saab.

Weekend news agency reports suggest that a deal could be signed sometime this week – and perhaps sometime today (Monday, January 25) – with Spyker chief executive Victor Muller reported to be ‘confident’ of reaching an agreement.

IN THE NEWS

DVLA SELLS DRIVERS’ DETAILS TO WHEEL CLAMPERS FOR £2.50

Millions of motorists’ personal details have been sold to parking firms and rogue wheel clampers by the DVLA in a trade generating £43.9 million so far.

More than 18m names and addresses have been passed to the private sector in the past five years by the DVLA so drivers can be issued with fines.

IN THE NEWS

GM PUMPS $930M MORE INTO VAUXHALL/OPEL.

General Motors has injected €650 million into Vauxhall/Opel while it negotiates a €4.3 billion financing package from European governments for its struggling European division.

IN THE NEWS

GOVERNMENT SETS QUOTAS AS SCRAPPAGE SCHEME NEARS END.

Motor manufacturers are to have a quota system imposed by the Government for the remainder of the car and van scrappage scheme after it was disclosed that more than three quarters of the £400 million budget has been used.

IN THE NEWS

CCTV CAMERAS COLLECTING £3M THROUGH ‘GHOST’ PARKING TICKETS.

Motorists across the country are being hit with ‘ghost’ parking tickets as an increasing number of councils are using CCTV to catch offenders.

The cameras are being used to take pictures of those infringing parking rules and generate an automatic fine which is sent through the post 14 days later.

IN THE NEWS

GM DECISION OVER SAAB’S FUTURE IMMINENT.

The future of Saab is expected to be decided within the next few days following the decision of owner General Motors to extend its December 31, 2009 deadline to sell the brand.

IN THE NEWS

VAUXHALL VAN PLANT FUTURE TO BE CLEAR WITHIN A YEAR.

The future of Vauxhall’s van plant in Luton will be clear within a year. The current van range, built to be branded additionally as Renault Trafic, Nissan Primastar and Opel Vivaro, has to be replaced in 2013.