Berlin - Japan's N

Sydney - Tariffs on imported cars would be halved to 5 per cent if Prime Minister Kevin Rudd accepts the recommendations of a panel he appointed to study Australia's domestic automotive industry.

The budget for building a "green car" locally would double to 1 billion Australian dollars (880 million US dollars), Industry Minister Kim Carr said Friday when releasing the report.

"The Rudd Labor government firmly believes that there is every reason to be optimistic about the future of the nation's automotive industry if the right policy decisions are made now," Carr said.

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.