Volvo has become the latest automobile major to place a bet on South Carolina by picking Berkeley County to locate a $500 million assembly plant, having close access to critical shipping ports.

The main aim of the Chinese-owned auto maker is to nearly double the global sales by 2020. Since taking control of Volvo in 2012, Chief Executive Håkan Samuelsson has repeatedly defended the auto maker's decision to continue selling cars in the US regardless of sales decline and red ink in the region.

Earlier this year, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz made an announcement of $500 million van factory near Charleston.

According to the SC Automotive Council, BMW AG has been operating a plant in Spartanburg, which buoys a South Carolina automotive industry, employing 46,000 people.

The demand for appropriate transportation mediums to meet unique demands of people in urban cities has been on an increase.

Since there is increasingly less space on the road and it finding parking on a Friday night is next to impossible. These issues have left the option of the Smart Car and similar vehicles.

The small car acts as a perfect solution as it might squeeze into smaller spaces. However, some companies have visualized that cars can be able to morph when need, able to maneuver in ways that present vehicles can't.

One such vehicle is the EO Smart Connecting Car 2 is. The EO Smart Connecting Car 2 is is designated as a "micro car. It is the brainchild of DFKI Robotics Innovation Center and has been in different stages of development for the last three or so years.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles asked a Georgia judge for a new trail almost a month after a jury awarded $150 million to the family of a 4-year-old Georgia boy burned to death in a 1999 jeep Grand Cherokee fire.

Fiat Chrysler says the death of 4-year-old Remi Walden in a Jeep gas tank fire is not worth the $150 million awarded by a jury.

Remi was killed in 2012 while riding in a booster seat in the back of the Grand Cherokee that was stopped and waiting to turn left.

The gas tank leaked and engulfed the Jeep in flames when the driver of a Dodge Dakota ran into the rear of the Grand Cherokee. Witnesses could only watch in horror as Remington burned to death.

Chinese officials have widened investigations into the operations of the mobile taxi-hailing service Uber. The company is facing legal charges in several other countries for unfair competition and improperly vetted drivers.

On Wednesday, the Chinese officials have visited Uber offices in the southwestern city of Chengdu to ascertain if Uber was allowing private drivers to offer their services via the taxi-hailing app. This January, the Chinese government banned drivers of private cars from offering such services through apps.

On Wednesday, electric car maker Tesla Motors confirmed that it has acquired a west Michigan auto supplier this week.

Tesla spokeswoman Alexis Georgeson said the company will purchase Riviera Tool, LLC located at 5460 Executive Parkway SE and renamed it Tesla Tool and Die Factory.

Riviera has about 100 employees and Tesla expects the majority will remain after the sale. However, the sale price was not disclosed.

Georgeson said, "This acquisition enables Tesla to bring additional capabilities in-house, streamlining production and facilitating the introduction of Model X and increased production at the Tesla Fremont (California) factory. This is our first presence in Michigan”.

BMW announced that its first-quarter operating profit rose by a forecast-beating 20.6%. The profits of the German car maker was supported by strong demand for large offroaders in Europe and the United States.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) came in at 2.52 billion euros ($2.83 billion), above the 2.191 billion euros forecast in a Reuters poll.

The Munich-based company said on Wednesday that its automotive EBIT margin was 9.5% in the quarter, remaining at the same level to the year-earlier quarter and at the upper end of its target range of between 8% and 10%.

On the other hand, the quarterly return on sales from ongoing business at rival Mercedes-Benz Cars jumped to 9.2% from 7% a year ago. Audi's operating margin slipped to 9.7 % from 10.1 %.

Last week, billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk unveiled at the Tesla's design studio, his yet another ambitious mission of solar panel-connected batteries for homes and businesses.

Elon Musk, stated, "Our goal here is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy". The long-term goal is to create regional networks of home batteries in order to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels to generate energy.

Musk enthusiastically claimed that Tesla and other future entrants in the market will be able to sell 2 billion battery packs around the world. The 'Powerwall' batteries would be used in conjunction with solar panels, so that they can be recharged during the day.

On Monday, GM Korea, the local unit of US automaker General Motors, said that it will roll out the next-generation Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid to the South Korean market next year.

The Volt was first launched in 2010 in the United States and later in the European market. Approximately 75,000 units of the model have been sold in the US market since its debut.

The Volt runs as a 100-percent battery-powered electric vehicle. It switches to an internal combustion engine until the battery drops to a certain level.

The second-generation Volt was unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show in January. It can alone travel for about 80 kilometers on a fully-charged battery. According to the company, its range-extending gasoline engine pushes the driving range to more than 650 kilometers.

Tesla Motors has come up a series of batteries, which will help store renewable energy better at homes and offices. Last week, the announcement was made by Elon Musk, Tesla's founder and chief executive; it confirmed that the new modular Powerwall system would be selling at $3,000 for a 7kWh battery, increasing to $3,500 for a 10kWh unit. It is expected that deliveries will begin in late summer in the US.

According to Musk, the new Tesla Energy division indicated a 'critical step' in his ambition for moving the global energy systems in the direction of greater use of renewable power. Musk said at the launch that they look forward to changing the fundamental energy infrastructure of the world. He added that it is possible to achieve.

US SUVs and trucks powered auto sales rose 4.6% in April after several automakers reported their best totals in years.

The stylish and practical new SUVs are forcing automakers to discount sedans. A big drop in gas prices, to an average of $2.60 a gallon from $3.69 a year ago also worked in favor of SUVs.

Overall, sales were mostly in line with analysts' predictions of a 6% increase compared with a year ago. According to Eric Lyman, vice president of industry insights for Santa Monica, April's sales results may be the best since 2005. Sales of large and luxury sport utility vehicles soared 31% in the first quarter.

Lyman said, "Even if we're a little short of expectations, it's still a great month for the industry. It continues to lead the broader economic recovery".

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has launched Powerwall home battery and the company is already offering the devices to SolarCity Corp.'s customers looking for backup supply at the time the grid go down. It is expected that SolarCity will deliver them in October.

It is a new stackable battery system meant to store electricity for homes, businesses and the grid. It is a product that the company will shortly bring in billions of dollars in annual revenue.

Musk, also chairman of the San Mateo-based solar supplier, revealed that the home battery version is not expensive. Powerwall costs $3,500 for a 10-kilowatt-hour version that will enable to run a handful of home appliances for a few days in case of an outage. Particularly, that doesn't involve the cost of the inverter or installation.

General Motors (GM) has planned to spend $5.4 billion and create about 650 jobs to improve its US factories during the next three years.

The company announced about its $783.5 million of the investments and said the remaining will be announced in the coming months.

The investments come when Detroit automakers are prepared for contract talks with the United Auto Workers union that will start this summer.

GM like other automakers wants to build or expand factories in lower-cost Mexico. It want to move more production south of the border and of keep the union happy with additional investments in the US.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has launched Powerwall home battery and the company is already offering the devices to SolarCity Corp.'s customers looking for backup supply at the time the grid go down. It is expected that SolarCity will deliver them in October.

It is a new stackable battery system meant to store electricity for homes, businesses and the grid. It is a product that the company will shortly bring in billions of dollars in annual revenue.

Musk, also chairman of the San Mateo-based solar supplier, revealed that the home battery version is not expensive. Powerwall costs $3,500 for a 10-kilowatt-hour version that will enable to run a handful of home appliances for a few days in case of an outage. Particularly, that doesn't involve the cost of the inverter or installation.

US electric carmaker Tesla Motors is planning to make a big investment in charging infrastructure throughout Japan.

Elon Musk, CEO of the company told the Nikkei in an interview that all the charging stations will be either directly or indirectly solar powered.

He said, "We'll buy utility power that's coming from solar panels, or we'll have solar panels on the charge station itself. There will be no impact to the electrical grid in Japan".

The much highly anticipated Tesla announcement scheduled for Thursday night raised the company's shares by 7%.

So far, very little details as to what Tesla CEO Elon Musk will announce are known to people, but still there are major clues available.

First quarter profit of automaker Volkswagen increased 19% because cost cutting improved profit margins and also its namesake brand and European auto sales show a modest improvement.

Net profit climbed to 2.93 billion euros in the January-March quarter. Efforts of Volkswagen AG to decrease costs had saved over 100 million euros in the quarter alone at the Volkswagen brand and raised the profit margin to 2.0% from 1.8 %.

The brand gained ground in Britain, Spain and Germany during the quarter. According to experts, European auto sales in general are improving gradually as the economy is showing strength after the crisis over high government and bank debt in the 19 countries that use the euro currency.

Japan's third-largest automaker Honda, reported a drop in its net profit for the fiscal fourth quarter.

According to Honda, recall costs and a decline in auto sales in Japan dragged profits down. Quality problems delayed vehicle development and hampered sales.

The air bag recalls led to 43% drop in profit. The net profit shrank to 97.8 billion yen ($897 million), versus a year-ago profit of 170.5 billion yen.

The air bags were manufactured by Takata Corp. of Japan, which supplied air bags for a wide range of Honda models. In the defect, the air bag inflators can explode with too much force. The problem proved fatal to six people worldwide.

On Tuesday, German auto group Daimler AG said that it took a good start in 2015 as the company’s sales and profits surged strongly in the first three months.

The maker of Mercedes-Benz said that its net profit during the period from January to March rose to 2.05 billion euros ($2.23 billion) from 1.086 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Operating profit grew 63% to 2.906 billion euros on a 16% increase in revenues to 34.236 billion euros.

The overall revenue of the company rose to 16% percent during the quarter to 34.2 billion euros. The improvement in sales has been noticed after the company invested in renewing its model line, including a new C-Class sedan. It also expanded range of smaller vehicles.

According to a new report, Texans are paying more for car insurance as compared to drivers in other parts of the country. Rates have been analyzed by InsuranceQuotes.com and it was found that Texas has the 10th highest rates in the country with drivers paying about 6% more for the same policy.

Rates in more densely populated counties are normally higher as more people mean more probability for crashes and higher crime rate. According to website’s senior analyst, there is another issue that affects Texas that is uninsured drivers.

Texas Department of Insurance shows that about 1 in 7 Texas drivers, does not have insurance. Some in the country live unlawfully and get difficulty to get insurance without a license. The remaining Texas drivers pretty much subsidize those people.

After the steering committee's decision to back current CEO Martin Winterkorn over Ferdinand Piëch, VW chairman and patriarch of the Porsche family, Piëch has announced his resignation.

Piëch along with the Porsche family controls 51% of the VW Group, which is the second largest car maker in the world.

Earlier this month, Piëch was quoted as saying that he had ‘distanced’ himself from CEO Winterkorn, and has brought into public a row over the levels of profits within the VW Group, and its failure to make inroads in to the American market.

In a big step for the company, the VW steering committee has decided to back Martin Winterkorn as the ‘best possible CEO for Volkswagen’ over Piëch’s move to have him replaced.

Ford Motor Co. has decided to cut around 700 jobs at its small-car factory in southeast Michigan. This factory was the auto maker's first major US manufacturing layoff since 2009 as Americans shunned smaller vehicles amid low gasoline prices.

The workers were notified on Thursday, regarding the workforce cuts at the plant, which builds Ford's compact Focus, as well as electric and hybrid models. By the end of the June, the layoffs will begin and the Dearborn, Mich., company said that it could reassign many of the employees.

The action has taken place months before Ford executives kicked off labor negotiations with the United Auto Workers union.