VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The Chevrolet Malibu has been a symbol of General Motors Co’s (GM.N) competitive woes for nearly 20 years due to designs that critics often lambasted as boring. Now, the No. 1 U.S. automaker is telling suppliers a redesigned version of the midsize sedan will deliver a long-awaited sales jolt.

Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) will be able to meet its goal of taking 10 percent of the U.S. market in two years without any major new investments and by making use of capacity available at factories in Japan and South Korea, a top executive said on Friday.

Aston Martin is preparing to raise funds to expand its range of models into new areas including crossover SUVs, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as the loss-making sports car maker steps up its turnaround efforts under a new boss.

In a front overlap crash safety tests of four minivans sold in the United States, only the latest model of the Toyota Motor Corp Sienna scored well, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said on Thursday.

Chrysler Group will begin replacing potentially defective air bag inflators made by Takata Corp in more than 371,000 U.S. vehicles in early December, according to documents filed by the automaker with U.S. safety regulators.

A top Nissan Motor Co executive said on Tuesday that the yen was currently in a good range against the dollar, adding that on the whole, the recent weakening in the Japanese currency was good for the local industry and economy.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCHA.MI)(FCAU.N) U.S. October sales rose 22 percent on strong pickup truck demand, the company said on Monday.

Automakers in Brazil are facing the sharpest slowdown since 1999 and it could be a year or more before things turn the corner.

Growth in China's auto market, the world's biggest, will halve to 7 percent this year weighed down by a slowing economy, the head of an industry body said on Saturday.

China said on Thursday it would punish carmakers by restricting their production and publicly naming them if they fail to meet fuel consumption requirements on passenger vehicles set for 2015.

German automaker Daimler (DAIGn.DE) and industrial gases maker Linde (LING.DE) pledged to build 20 hydrogen fuelling stations in Germany in coming years to boost support networks for eco-friendly cars.

Daimler has struck a cooperation deal with Nissan Motor Co. on transporter vans, deepening a strategic alliance between the German and Japanese automakers.

The safety recall in parts of the United States of millions of vehicles with potentially defective air bags made by Japan's Takata Corp (7312.T) may expand to include General Motors Co (GM.N), according to documents filed this week with U.S. regulators.

Amid a revival in sales of Japanese goods in China and talk of renewed investment from some big firms such as Toyota, a dusty industrial park near Nanjing offers a cold reality check on the health of ties between Asia's two biggest economies.

CFAO Auto Group has been looking at the potential car market in Nigeria following other multinational companies including Toyota, Nissan and Kia's entrance to the country through local partnership with distributors for car assembly and production.