VENTURE CAPITAL POST

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.

Jack Reed can see the recovery taking hold at his family's 109-year-old clothing store in Tupelo, Mississippi, with sales buoyed in part by the paychecks tied to a Toyota plant up the road and rising confidence that the jobs are here to stay.

Japan's auto recall enforcement division, whose 16 members work from a cramped office on the eighth floor of the transport ministry building in Tokyo, only found out about safety issues with Takata Corp air bags in late-2008 - more than three years after the company says it first learned of problems.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Tuesday stressed the bank's readiness to expand stimulus further to meet its price goal, standing firm in the face of criticism that last month's monetary easing has accelerated unwelcome falls in the currency.

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) will recall 422,509 of its luxury brand Lexus vehicles in the United States because of a possible fuel leak that increases the risk of fire, U.S. regulators said on Friday.

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.

Toyota Motor Corp on Monday said it will introduce its first mass-market fuel cell car in the United States next year, hoping to replicate the success of its Prius hybrid with a vehicle that runs on hydrogen instead of gasoline.

U.S. carmaker Ford is hesitant about investing further in its South African operation because of repeated production stoppages caused by strikes, its regional chief 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.

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

A top Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) executive said on Wednesday the Japanese automaker has no plans to abandon Takata Corp (7312.T) despite the supplier's struggles with air bag inflators that could rupture and spray metal shrapnel at vehicle occupants.

Chinese automakers from state-owned FAW Co to Zhejiang Geely are racing to sell more eco-friendly cars as they try to meet tough fuel economy rules due next year as part of Beijing's battle against pollution.

Mitsubishi Aircraft will roll out Japan's first commercial jet in more than 50 years on Saturday, amid doubts its ambition to sell more than 2,000 of the planes can match reality in the market segment.

General Motors Co's (GM.N) global sales rose 2 percent in the third quarter, driven by strong demand in the two largest auto markets in the world, China and the United States.

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Wednesday it would recall a total 1.67 million vehicles globally in a voluntary move to address three separate defects including a faulty brake master cylinder that could hinder the brake's performance.