Ingolstadt, Germany - Audi has given its Q7 Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) a makeover with several styling changes and more efficient and cleaner engines.

Along with the 3.0 TDI, the car maker is offering a TDI clean diesel version with a consumption listed at 8.9 litres per 100 kilometres or 26.43 to the gallon (US).

Among the design changes is a new single-frame radiator grille

with vertical chrome bars contrasting with a black high-gloss finish. From the side, the vehicle has a more coupe-like roofline.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), a market leader in the Utility Vehicle segment, has signed a MoU with the State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) for financing of vehicles.

Under the arrangement, customers can avail of a loan up to 85% of the on road price of the vehicle, with tenure of up to 7 years. In addition, they can also avail low interest rates amounting to 12% for passenger vehicles and 11.75% for commercial vehicles.  

M&M’s Automotive Sector makes a wide range of vehicles including MUVs, LCVs and three wheelers.

Washington - Chrysler LLC reportedly reached a deal Tuesday with its creditors to write off nearly 7 billion dollars in debt, just days before a government ultimatum for the ailing US carmaker to restructure or face bankruptcy. In a deal brokered by the Treasury Department, bank representatives have agreed to forgo 6.9 billion dollars in debt in exchange for 2 billion dollars in cash, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed government officials.

Berlin - The Canadian-Austrian car parts supplier Magna presented the German government Tuesday with the outline for an Opel bailout proposal. German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said Magna had laid out an "initial interesting rough concept," at a face-to face meeting in Berlin.

The next step was to underpin the draft with clear facts and figures, the economics minister added.

Tokyo - Honda Motor Co reported Tuesday its net profit plunged 77.2 per cent in fiscal 2008 that ended March 31, to 137 billion yen (1.4 billion dollars) as it suffered from the yen's surge and a sales decline caused by the global economic downturn. Japan's second-largest automaker saw operating profit nosedive 80.1 per cent to 189.6 billion yen because of sales declines, increased raw material costs and a stronger yen, the company said.

Sales for the year dropped 16.6 per cent to 10.01 trillion yen from the previous fiscal year.

Exide Industries Ltd, one of the world's largest producers and recyclers of lead-acid batteries, has registered 36% jump in its net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009.

The company posted net profit after tax of Rs 68.20 crore against Rs 62.82 crore in the same quarter ended March, 2008.

However, the total operating income of the company during the quarter, stood at Rs 801.13 crore against Rs 796.36 crore over the same period last fiscal.