The government of the northeastern Spanish area said that China's biggest home-grown car manufacturer Chery Automobile Co. is planning to set-up a plant in Catalonia.

While talking to media, Jose Montilla, the head of the regional government of Catalonia, said, “Catalonia is the region best positioned to host the Chinese giant.”

Discussions over the deal between Chery and Catalonia started September 2009, but Montilla met with the chief of the firm, Yi Yaontong, “to talk about the arrival of the Asian auto manufacturer in Catalonia.”

Mercedes is all set to introduce a major upgrade for its 2010 car in the hope of pushing for Grand Prix wins.

Moreover, the announcement was made early last week that if the W01 is not winning races by June this year, the Brackley based team will switch its focus to 2011.

While talking to reporters, Nico Rosberg, whose teammate is the seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, said, “We have very good developments coming, and I cannot wait.”

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport came out with details about the important upgrade, planned for debut at Barcelona next month.

According to recent reports, hefty government subsidies increased Spanish car sales in the month of March whereas consumer confidence picked up slightly from depressed levels, adding to signals Spain is emerging from slump at a crawl rather than a run.

Moreover, as per the note released by the Carmaker association ANFAC, sales increased by 63.1 per cent year-on-year in the month of March 2010 as compared with 124,756 units, boosted by subsidies for car buyers.

Peugeot Citroen in Spain recalled more than 2,000 cars accelerator pedal. According to sources, the recall is quite similar to that noticed by Toyota for eight models of its brand including the Aygo city.

The models include Peugeot 107 and Citroen C1, which is said to have some problem with its accelerator pedal. Moreover, the company has also announced that it will do a free update.

According to the statement issued by the car makers’ association ANFAC, the country’s car sales for the month of January increased by 18.1% as compared to the same period of 2009, but will decrease in the second half of this year as Spanish government subsidies fade away.

Moreover, the hike in car sales comes after a rise of 25.1% in the month of December and 37.3% in the month of November. Car sales decreased 17.9% in last year to 952,772 vehicles.

The National Automobile Manufacture Association (Anfac) has announced that the production at automotive plants in Spain surged 5.7 percent during the last month as compared to October 2008.

Output during the last month totaled 218,721 units along with private passenger vehicles stood at 184,119 units, up by 16.7 percent from October 2008.

However, production remained down by 14.5 percent year-to-date due to the fact that the local and European markets contracted sharply as the recession captured the markets all over the world in the year.

The US auto maker General Motors has announced that it will keep all four plants of its European subsidiary Opel in Germany, but may shed 9,500 jobs in Europe as part of its restructuring.

While talking to reporters, the head of GM's European operations Nick Reilly confirmed that the state premier of Thuringia in eastern Germany Christine Lieberknecht that Opel's Eisenach facility in her state will remain open.

Further he said, "Opel needs to restructure the company and to reduce its capacity by 20 per cent to make it profitable again and to remain globally competitive."

The new German coalition government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel was in confusion over the issue of state aid for Opel, while other European Union states with Opel factories had pledged more than euro 1 billion.

According to the statement, ahead of a visit by new General Motors (GM) Europe chief Nick Reilly to Brussels, Spain, Britain and Belgium had offered state aid 300-500 million euros each to return Opel to profitability.

SEAT, the ailing Spanish subsidiary of German auto giant Volkswagen, has announced that it aims to reduce production at its plant in northeastern Spain next year because of the reduction in demand.

According to a SEAT spokesperson, about 7,484 employees will be affected by the cuts at the plant in Martorell.

Further, he said, “The plan envisages a period of 51 days of work reductions spread out over three production lines at the factory in 2010. The sale of cars has recovered in recent months, the market is better, but that is not enough, and we have had to adjust production.”

Ford Motor Co has announced that its European sales in the month of October have increased by 13%.

However, the company has also expressed concern about the strength of the market in 2010, when car-scrapping incentives end.

While addressing a press conference, the sales chief of Ford Europe, Ingvar Sviggum said, “This is the strongest October we’ve had in Europe for past 12 years”.

Further, he added that Ford is now the second-best-selling auto brand in Europe.