Newslines - Wheels Within Wales

Business secretary, Vince Cable, has been touring automotive sites in the West Midlands to see the progress being made by the UK to enhance its low carbon vehicle capabilities.
Visiting the test track facilities at Gaydon near Warwick to meet apprentices and engineers from Aston Martin and Jaguar, Dr Cable met business groups, tested products on the track and toured the site’s multi-disciplinary research centre where he saw “high level of skills and engineering that go into making premium and niche cars in the UK”.

About 200 US dealers selected this autumn to sell Fiat cars are “more than likely” to represent the company’s Alfa Romeo brand too, says Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.
Most of the dealers will be Chrysler Group LLC franchises in metro markets, although Marchionne confirms that some could be dealers not currently affiliated with Chrysler.

Volvo’s pioneering Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake technology has been named winner of the Car Safety category at the annual BusinessCar Techies awards.
This world-first technology can detect pedestrians in front of the car, warn if anyone walks out into its path and then automatically activate the car’s full braking power if the driver fails to respond in time.

The UK’s average new car CO2 emissions fell 5.6 per cent in the past year, according to a study by DrivenData Ltd.
Based on manufacturers’ claimed figures, average emissions now stand at 170.75g/km CO2, down from 180.90g/km in August 2009.

The SMMT has learned that bureaucrats in Brussels may limit lorry trailer height to four metres.
The idea comes from the European Commission and would include a four metre height limit in the European Whole Vehicle Type Approval parameters for trailers and semi-trailers. It could affect all vehicles built and sold across the EU.

The U.S. traffic safety authority has upgraded its probe into the possible engine troubles of Toyota Motor Corp’s Corolla and Matrix cars from ‘‘preliminary evaluation’’ to ‘‘engineering analysis,’’ it said.
If the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recognizes defects in the two Toyota cars modeled from 2005 to 2007, Japan’s leading carmaker could be required to recall a total of 1.2 million vehicles sold in the United States, industry analysts said.

Chrysler's Jeep Grand Cherokee is being investigated for possible fuel-tank defects after 55 fire-related deaths in crashes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
The investigation covers an estimated 3 million vehicles from the 1993 through 2004 model years.