TOYOTA

Despite the hugely successful initial public offering General Motors (NYSE: GM) underwent last week, the company still has numerous questions surrounding it, particularly its huge pension liabilities. As such, David Silver, an equity research analyst at Wall Street Strategies in New York, believes that Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is the better auto company and more attractive stock right now.

Toyota motors will upgrade engine assembly lines worldwide to cut output cost and make even the smaller assembling units profitable, the Nikkei daily report said.

Toyota Motors plans to launch 11 new hybrid models by the end of 2012, in an effort aimed at limiting oil consumption and reducing carbon dioxide emissions through the use of electricity and other alternative energies.

Shares of automaker General Motors opened at $35 in its first trading day on the NYSE after recovering from a government funded bailout. The opening price was an increase of 2 percent from its IPO price of $33.

GM will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange beginning today after a landmark intial public offering, from which GM is expected to raise as high as $23.1 billion.

General Motors Co is inching closer towards returning to the U.S. market in one of the biggest IPOs in the U.S. history and could even become the world's largest.

Registration of European passenger cars slumped by 16.6 percent in October against the numbers recorded in the corresponding period a year ago

Japan will start free trade talks with the European Union next spring, alarmed by the head start made by its main manufacturing rival in Asia, South Korea, which signed a pact with the European bloc last month.

Toyota Motor Corp plans to market a new electric vehicle based on its iQ ultra-compact car in 2012 in Japan, roughly coinciding with its release the United States, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday.

Electric carmaker Tesla Motors will serve as a key supplier to Toyota Motor Corp under its agreement with the Japanese automaker to build an electric Rav4 SUV

September auto sales are on track to top August levels by a small margin after a boost from end-summer sales events even as economic uncertainty crimps a fuller recovery for the industry.

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp's European business will achieve 800,000 vehicle sales in the region this year and will sell more cars next year even if the market dips slightly, the unit's president said.

Toyota Motor Corp said it would enter the growing Japanese minivehicle sector next year through a supply deal with unit Daihatsu Motor Co in a move set to intensify competition in the tough domestic market.

Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's largest automaker, has lifted a ban prohibiting office staff from working overtime, a move intended to give experienced workers more time to coach younger personnel, the Nikkei business daily said.

Toyota Motor Corp's Chinese auto finance unit has been fined by the authorities in the city of Hangzhou for alleged involvement in commercial bribery, China's Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Toyota Motor Corp is in talks to supply Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, with parts and technology for hybrid vehicles, Japan's Nikkan Jidosha newspaper reported on Thursday.

German luxury car maker BMW said on Thursday it had received approval to set up an auto financing unit in China, becoming the latest foreign automaker to tap the country's fledgling but potentially lucrative auto financing business.

Ford Motor Co expects its sales in China to outpace growth in Chinese car market this year as it expands its dealer network, the company's local sales chief said on Wednesday.

Chrysler said on Tuesday it was set to unveil a renamed and upgraded version of its Sebring sedan as the automaker readies its first restyled vehicles since emerging from bankruptcy under the control of Fiat SpA.

Toyota Motor Corp will offer a plug-in version of its Prius positioned to be the cheapest green car of its kind by 2012 and could have two electric cars in the U.S. market by that time, executives said on Monday.

Toyota Motor Corp plans to introduce six new hybrid vehicles by the end of 2012 and bring an electric vehicle to the U.S. market that year also, a top research and development executive said on Monday.