Seoul  - A Seoul court granted bankruptcy protection to Ssangyong Motor Co on Friday, giving the ailing South Korean automaker another chance to turn itself around.

The decision deprives majority stakeholder Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp of management control of the smallest of South Korea's five carmakers. The Chinese company will, however, keep its 51-per-cent share while Ssangyong is under court management.

Two court-appointed managers are to draw up a plan to save Ssangyong, which reported losses in the past four quarters after plunging sales.

Paris - Despite a drop of sales, French-Japanese carmaker Renault-Nissan was able to increase its share of the world car market in 2008, the company announced on Wednesday.

Renault and Nissan sold nearly 6.1 million cars last year, a drop of 1.1 per cent over 2007 but good enough to increase their combined share of the global car market to 9.4 per cent, up from 9.1 per cent.

The reason for the improvement is that global car sales fell by 5 per cent in 2008, Renault said.

Tokyo  - Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Mazda Motor Corp joined a growing number of Japanese automakers Wednesday in predicting losses for the current fiscal year, all dragged down by the yen's rise against the dollar and slumping demand.

Mitsubishi said it expected net losses of 60 billion yen (670 million dollars) for the 2008-09 business year ending in March, the first loss in three years.

Tokyo - Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd incurred a net loss of 19.2 billion yen (214.7 million dollars) in the October-December quarter because of a strong yen and slow sales amid the global economic downturn, the company said Wednesday.

The conglomerate - which manufactures Subaru cars as well as trains, industrial products and aerospace technology - reported 10 billion yen in profit during the same quarter a year before.

Munich - BMW is fitting all its diesel models with a special mechanical slot to prevent the driver from filling up with the wrong type of fuel, the car maker has announced.

Germany's automobile association (ADAC) assists some 50,000 drivers of diesel cars every year who filled up their cars with petrol. Even if the driver notices the mistake before starting the engine, the costs of emptying and cleaning out the entire fuel system can prove exorbitant.

Hamburg - The rugged Mercedes-Benz G-Class is as boxy and utilitarian as the day it made its debut 30 years ago and that's exactly the way customers want it to stay.

The German maker's recent proposed dropping of this most Teutonic of all-terrain vehicles from the range sparked an outcry from dealers and fans with the result that the G-wagon is going as strong as ever.