Hyundai develops diesel

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, developed a new passenger-car diesel engine that meets Europe’s greenhouse gas-emission rules.

Hyundai spent 250 billion won ($194 million) over 3 1/2 years to develop 2- and 2.2-liter engines that comply with the so-called Euro-5 emission standard, it said in a regulatory filing Tuesday.

The Seoul-based carmaker and affiliate Kia Motors Corp. will begin installing the engines in new vehicles from the first half of 2009, the filing said.
Loan tax deductions seen

Toyota Motor Corp. and Chrysler LLC said federal income-tax deductions for interest on car loans could help stem the slide that sent U.S. sales to their lowest monthly total since 1991.

General Motors Corp., the biggest U.S. automaker, also said Tuesday it had studied the idea of boosting auto demand through a government-backed program to encourage scrapping older vehicles.

The companies floated the ideas after posting October sales totals that GM called the worst since 1945. While the automakers said they hadn’t actively lobbied for such changes, the calls added to mounting pressure for government aid as GM pursues a merger with Chrysler.
German car sales sink

The number of newly registered cars hitting German roads sank 8% in October as the financial crisis prompted customers to hold off major purchases, the country’s main auto industry group said Tuesday.

The VDA group said new car registrations last month declined to 258,800 from an already weak result in the same month last year. The group said it was cutting an already cautious full-year forecast from 3.2 million to 3.1 million at most.

It said consumers’ increasing uncertainty in the face of the global financial crisis, high fuel prices and a lack of clarity over future car taxes and emissions regulations all contributed to holding back sales.

VDA said in a statement that orders for new cars in Germany — Europe’s biggest economy — dropped 12% in October. It did not give an exact figure for orders.
Toyota, Nissan drop

Japan’s new auto sales fell for a third straight month, led by Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., as a slowing economy kept buyers out of showrooms.

Sales of cars, trucks and buses, excluding minicars, fell 13% to 233,922 vehicles in October, the Tokyo-based Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement Tuesday. Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s largest automaker, sold 117,642 vehicles excluding the Lexus brand, down 14%. Sales at Nissan Motor Co., the country’s third-biggest, fell 20% to 31,708.

Falling domestic and U.S. demand have prompted Honda Motor Co. and Nissan, Japan’s second- and third-largest automakers, to cut their earnings forecasts for this fiscal year as rising unemployment and tight credit curb consumer spending. Japan’s economy is slowing as export growth cools and the surge in the yen against the dollar cuts the value of overseas sales.

“It’ll be more difficult for auto demand in Japan to recover than in overseas markets, as the economy is in a severe situation,” said Hirofumi Yokoi, a Tokyo-based analyst at auto-consulting company CSM Worldwide.

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