TOKYO/DETROIT (Reuters) – The future of Honda Motor Co may rest with a pair of contrarian Japanese car engineers working from a drab Tokyo suburb with a hotline to the boardroom. Their mission: just say no.

Honda’s creative directors Toshinobu Minami and Yoshinori Asahi are out to kill any mediocre car designs rumbling down the pipeline. In short, they have been told to stop anything like the 2012 Civic, a cheapened redesign that prompted critics, consumers and rivals to wonder how Honda had so badly lost its way.

TOKYO/DETROIT, March 2 (Reuters) – The future of Honda
Motor Co may rest with a pair of contrarian Japanese
car engineers working from a drab Tokyo suburb with a hotline to
the boardroom. Their mission: just say no.

Honda’s creative directors Toshinobu Minami and Yoshinori
Asahi are out to kill any mediocre car designs rumbling down the
pipeline. In short, they have been told to stop anything like
the 2012 Civic, a cheapened redesign that prompted critics,
consumers and rivals to wonder how Honda had so badly lost its
way.

DETROIT (Reuters) – U.S. auto sales rose nearly 16 percent in February and the annual sales rate leapt to its best level in four years, helped by a surprising sales gain by General Motors Co (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and strong results from Chrysler Group LLC and Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

For a second month in a row, sales surpassed even the most optimistic expectations. Analysts ascribed the gains partly to rising consumer confidence and upbeat U.S. economic data.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Major automakers including General Motors Co posted a rise in auto sales for the month of February, helped by American drivers’ need to replace aging cars and trucks despite the rise in fuel prices.

GM, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler Group LLC each predicted that the annualized sales rate in February would top even the high end of analysts’ expectations.

DETROIT, March 1 (Reuters) – Major automakers
including General Motors Co posted a rise in auto sales
for the month of February, helped by American drivers’ need to
replace aging cars and trucks despite the rise in fuel prices.

GM, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler Group LLC each
predicted that the annualized sales rate in February would top
even the high end of analysts’ expectations.

DETROIT/PARIS (Reuters) – General Motors Co and PSA Peugeot Citroen will form a global alliance targetting a cut in annual costs of at least $2 billion without plant closings or job cuts in Europe, in a deal announced on Wednesday.

Under the deal, GM will take a 7 percent stake in Peugeot, Europe’s second-biggest automaker. GM has no plan to increase that stake.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) lost its top spot in an influential annual automotive report on quality, while Mazda and Chrysler showed the biggest gains.

Honda, the winner the past four years in Consumer Reports’ annual report card, slipped to fourth place among 13 major automakers at 72 points.