DETROIT, April 2 (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co, maker of
the top-selling F-150 full-size pickup truck, expects to keep
its market leadership despite top rival General Motors Co’s
introduction of redesigned, more fuel-efficient models.

Ford officials on Tuesday said their truck offers consumers
a better overall package in the lucrative segment than GM’s 2014
Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, whose fuel economy figures
and pricing the company revealed on Monday.

DETROIT, April 2 (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co and
Chrysler Group LLC reported on Tuesday slightly
better-than-expected U.S. auto sales in March, buoyed by greater
demand for sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, while
General Motors Co fell short of estimates.

March is expected to be the fifth consecutive month that the
industry’s annual sales pace has held above 15 million vehicles,
a sign that rising home values are helping American consumers
feel more confident about buying a new vehicle.

NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp’s
top North American executive on Thursday voiced optimism about
the U.S. economy, and said the aging cars and trucks in
consumers’ garages will continue to drive industry demand this
year.

Jim Lentz, newly appointed chief executive of Toyota Motor
Sales, U.S.A, said the Japanese automaker sees U.S. industry
new-car sales hitting 15.3 million this year, up from 14.5
million in 2012. Just six months ago, its 2013 forecast was for
14.7 million, but the company at the time believed talk of the
fiscal cliff’s impact would dampen the economy.

March 27 (Reuters) – Workers at Volkswagen AG’s
plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will decide whether they want
union representation, and the United Auto Workers is just one
option for them, VW’s top executive in North America said on
Wednesday.

Jonathan Browning, head of Volkswagen of America, said in an
interview at the New York auto show that the company expects
Chattanooga plant workers to have a strong voice in its
operations.

NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) – Political friction between
China and Japan delayed by one year Nissan Motor Co’s plan
to get 10 percent market share in China, Renault-Nissan
Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn told Reuters Insider on the
sidelines of the New York auto show on Wednesday.

Ghosn said he is now giving his Nissan team until 2017 to
hit its goal, instead of 2016. Nissan accounts for between 6.5
percent and 7 percent market share in China, the world’s largest
auto market, and is the leading Japanese automaker there. In the
quarter that ended in June 2012, before tensions arose between
the two nations, Nissan said its share in China was 7.6 percent.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The head of General Motors Co’s (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Cadillac brand expects its sales in China, the world’s biggest luxury car market, to grow by two-thirds this year and triple there by 2016.

“We now expect Cadillac sales to triple over the next three years,” Bob Ferguson, vice president in charge of the Cadillac brand, said at a company event on Tuesday ahead of the New York auto show.