Tokyo - Mazda Motor Corp plans to buy back a 20-per-cent stake from Ford Motor Co during Wednesday trading at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday.

With Mazda's buyback, Ford's stake would reduce to 13 per cent from the current 33.4 per cent in order to raise funds by selling Mazda shares.

Mazda was expected to purchase 96.8 million shares for 184 yen per share, worth a total of about 17.9 billion yen (185.18 million dollars), the company said.

But the two companies would continue their 30-year business partnership while keeping their joint ventures, Mazda said.

Stockholm - Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Volvo Tuesday reported a 12-per-cent drop in year-on-year deliveries of trucks in October.

Gothenburg-based Volvo said it delivered 22,136 trucks during the month.

Citing the prevailing financial uncertainty, the group said "customers continue to be very cautious and are in many cases waiting with their investment decisions."

Demand continued to be weak in Europe and North America, but also in other markets, Volvo said.

In Europe deliveries dropped 28 per cent in October while they fell 21 per cent in North America.

Tokyo  - Suzuki Motors Corp bought back its 3.02-per-cent stake from the US auto giant General Motors Crop (GM), the Japanese automaker said Tuesday.

The purchase of all the 16,413,000 shares came to about 22.37 billion yen (230.7 million dollars), Suzuki said.

Suzuki now owns about 20 per cent of its own outstanding shares, while GM lost its ownership in Suzuki, ending a 27-year investment.

The two automakers would continue joint projects such as development of hybrid cars, fuel cells and power trains.

Washington  - The White House and Congressional Democrats agreed Monday that something must be done to rescue the US automotive industry, but they were far apart on how to get there.

Congressional Democrats appeared intent on taking 25 billion dollars from the 700-billion-dollar emergency bail-out legislation to help the industry, and were formulating further legislation expected to be introduced later Monday.

The model of Maruti A-Star, the much-awaited latest small car model which was showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo earlier this year, will be launched in India on November 19. The model, expectedly priced at Rs 3.85 lakh, also marks the launch of the new KB series engines in India.

It will be the first car that will be produced exclusively in India, and the engine production commenced in October this year. A-Star shares its platform with Maruti Alto in India, as it has a similar 2360 mm wheelbase.

Wolfsburg, Germany - Volkswagen reported a drop in sales in October but predicted it would sell more cars in 2008 than it did last year.

Europe's largest automaker said it delivered 502,600 vehicles last month, a drop of 5.1 per cent from a year ago. Sales in the first 10 months of 2008 were up 2.8 per cent to
5.29 million.

VW said increased sales in emerging economies like China and Brazil helped offset a slump in demand in western Europe.