Vienna- Austria's automotive industry on Thursday called on the government to help alleviate the effects of the current crisis which has gripped the global car industry.

"The crisis has fully hit us. More than 7,500 are already working short time," said Dietmar Schaefer, head of the car component suppliers' goup within the Austrian chamber of commerce.

A meeting between the Austrian government and industry representatives got underway on Thursday to discuss measures such as prolonging the time that short-time work would be subsidised with public funds.

Tokyo - Sales of imported cars in Japan plunged to their lowest level in 15 years in 2008 amid oil price surges and the global financial turmoil, the Japan Automobile Importers Association said Thursday.

Sales fell 17.3 per cent to 219,231 units in 2008 compared to the year before. These figures include Japanese cars built overseas.

Sales of imported foreign cars declined 16.3 per cent to 193,902 units, and those of Japanese vehicles produced overseas tumbled 24.4 per cent to 25,329 units.

After a long wait, Mahindra and Mahindra along with BAE Systems has finally secured the approval from the Government of India's Foreign Investment Promotions Board, for the setup of Joint Venture (JV) in India, focused on land systems for the Indian market.

This is a key step in setting up the JV, and in accordance with current Foreign Direct Investment regulations, the equity split will be 74% with Mahindra & Mahindra and 26% BAE Systems.

Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), one of the leading PSU banks in India, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with India's leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. to publicize the loan scheme offered by Oriental Bank of Commerce.

As per MOU, the exclusive car dealers of Maruti Suzuki will publicize the loan scheme among the prospective car buyers and link them to the Bank for credit support for hassle-free process.

Washington  -  General Motors Corp has adequate funds from government loans to cover the worst-case scenario it described in December and won't need additional help unless the economy deteriorates further, it was reported Wednesday.

"The US Treasury's 13.4-billion-dollar bridge loan ... coupled with the separate transaction for GMAC, meets our liquidity needs under the scenarios outlined in our December plan to Congress," GM spokesman Greg Martin told Bloomberg financial news agency.

Munich - Modern aerodynamic car designs with wide window frames are obstructing visibility, especially to the rear and when changing lanes, according to a test conducted by Germany's ADAC automobile association.

Many car makers have improved the passenger safety cell but this has come at the cost of sacrificing all round vision with wide A, B, and C pillars - that form the window frames, the ADAC testers said.