DETROIT (Reuters) – U.S. auto sales lost momentum in the final weeks of January, auto executives and a leading analyst cautioned on Monday, setting the stage for a softer start to 2011 than the industry had expected.

J.D. Power, which gathers sales data from almost 9,000 U.S. car dealerships, issued an unusual update to its monthly sales forecast on the eve of the Tuesday sales report, cautioning that consumers had pulled back from purchases ahead of the crucial end of the month.

DETROIT, Jan 31 (Reuters) – U.S. auto sales for January are
expected to be up 15 percent or more despite the disruption of
winter storms during the month, a result that would show the
momentum of a sales recovery now a year-and-a-half old.

But as they prepared to close the books on the month’s
crucial final weekend, both Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Chrysler
Group LLC suggested industry-wide sales could fall short of the
most bullish forecasts.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Even before it launches the first passenger cars under its own brand at home, China’s BAIC has set its sights on expansion overseas.

“If you want to be a sustainable automaker, you have to be global,” Wang Dazong, president of Beijing Automotive, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Volvo Car expects China to become its biggest market as early as next year and its “second home market” after Sweden as the Chinese-owned automaker looks for sales to grow more than six times by 2015, a top company executive said.

Volvo, owned by the parent of Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd (0175.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), is aiming to boost sales in China to 200,000 cars by 2015 from a little over 30,000 last year, riding the wave of rapid growth in the world’s biggest market, especially for premium vehicles, the head of its China operations said.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp’s (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (TM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) top engineer said the batteries that would power the electric RAV4 crossover being developed with Tesla Motors (TSLA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) could cost as little as one-third of the electric car batteries being developed by conventional automakers.

Silicon Valley startup Tesla links together thousands of lithium-ion batteries used in laptops to power its zero-emission Roadster sports car, while automakers with electric models such as Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) use expensive batteries developed specifically for EV use.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Bill Ford Jr. just can’t let the good times roll.

In late December, Ford, 53, was on a family ski vacation in Colorado but found himself unable to put aside dark visions of how too much success could lead to the next crisis for the auto industry.

DETROIT, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Bill Ford Jr. just can’t let the
good times roll.

In late December, Ford, 53, was on a family ski vacation in
Colorado but found himself unable to put aside dark visions of
how too much success could lead to the next crisis for the auto
industry.

DETROIT, Dec 16 (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has
been working to develop a plug-in hybrid vehicle based on its
Cadillac SRX crossover, two people with direct knowledge of the
work said.

The Cadillac plug-in would share some of the technology
that GM has developed for its Chevrolet Volt over the past four
years, allowing the automaker to bring down the cost of its
emerging electric car offerings, one of the sources said.

DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday it wants to cut as many as several thousand U.S. skilled trades workers through retirement incentives, its first attempt to reduce factory jobs since its 2009 bankruptcy.

GM has offered $60,000 to skilled trades workers who retire or leave the automaker’s payroll, spokesman Chris Lee said. The automaker currently has “a couple thousand” more skilled trade workers than it needs, Lee said.

DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Wednesday its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid will carry an overall fuel economy rating of 60 miles per gallon, topping the Toyota Prius, the industry’s long-time fuel economy leader.

GM has begun to assemble the long-awaited Volt at a Detroit-area factory, with initial sales expected in December.