VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Japanese air bag manufacturer Takata Corp is doubling a recall of potentially deadly air bags to nearly 34 million vehicles, creating the largest automotive recall in American history, U.S. safety regulators said on Tuesday.

Daimler AG on Tuesday said it would expand its cooperation with partner Nissan Motor Co Ltd to develop a mid-sized pickup truck for Mercedes-Benz as the German premium automaker seeks to narrow its sales gap with rival BMW.

Uber Inc said on Friday it struck a deal with Chinese automaker BYD Co Ltd to test a fleet of electric cars for its drivers. The test program, which kicked off a few weeks ago in Chicago and could eventually expand to other cities, is the Silicon Valley startup's first attempt to focus on an electric vehicle, said Uber spokeswoman Lauren Altmin."We've seen interest in the program already from current and potential Chicago partners (drivers)," Altmin said.

The Silicon Valley race to build a self-driving car may revolve around one simple question: to map or not to map. The company at the forefront of the race, Google Inc, is creating intricate maps that detail every tree and curb along the road - an expensive endeavor that other companies could find difficult to match.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) wants Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) to tailor its popular chatting app for the firm's cars in China, as automakers in the world's largest market vie for drivers that care about high-tech features as much as engine size.

Foreign automakers in China may struggle to dictate sales goals in the future after dealers complained to the government that inflexible targets set during a market boom obliged them to buy too much stock and bear the brunt of a drop in demand.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) said on Wednesday it has ordered the recall of more than 80,000 vehicles sold in Mexico to check for potential defects stemming from air bags made by Japanese company Takata Corp (7312.T).

Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) said on Friday that, together with its Chinese joint venture partner, it sold about 93,700 automobiles in China in September, down 20 percent from a year earlier.

U.S. August auto sales were the highest for that month in more than a decade, thanks in part to heavy discounting by the manufacturers and a strong Labor Day weekend close, with the industry selling at an annualized pace not seen since early 2006.

General Motors wanted to compete with Japanese auto-makers who dominate Indonesia by launching its no-frills Spin van.

A state-backed fund wants a venture owned by Nissan Motor Co Ltd and NEC Corp to merge with Sony Corp's lithium ion battery operations to prevent rivals in China and Taiwan