Washington - Luxury automaker BMW issued a recall Wedn

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Bangkok - General Motors Wednesday announced plans to invest 445 million dollars to build a new diesel engine plant in Thailand and to upgrade its existing vehicle assembly plant.

The diesel engine plant, GM's first in South-East Asia, is to be located in Rayong province, eastern Thailand, where the US automotive giant has been operating an assembly plant for the past eight years.

The new plant, scheduled to begin production in 2010, will produce more than 100,000 2.5-litre and 2.8-litre turbo-diesel engines annually.

Wolfsburg/Mumbai - Volkswagen has launched the Jetta on the

Munich - BMW is offering the 1-Series convertible with new options and giving the buyer the choice of two diesel engines for the 2009 model year, the car maker has announced.

The 118d motor has an output of 105 kW/143 hp with an average fuel consumption of 4.9 litres per 100 kilometres. Carbon dioxide emission is at 129 grammes per kilometre. The second diesel, the 123d, fitted with a twin-turbo unit has an output of 150 kW/205 hp with a consumption of 5.4 litres.

Cologne, Germany - Most gender differences in motoring habits have been confirmed in a survey conducted in Germany on the basis of 150,000 insurance policy holders.

The poll, conducted by the business consultancy Nafi on behalf of the Capital Investor finance weekly, confirmed most perceptions of men and women drivers.

Only 16 per cent of men allow friends to drive their car while the figure is about 25 per cent for women. Men prefer to take the wheel of a car that is in general more expensive than the vehicle owned by a woman.