Citing the rather poor performance of the Indian heavy truck segment, the Hero Group has decided to pull out of its joint venture with Daimler! With the Hero Group quitting the collaboration for making commercial vehicles in India, Daimler will buy back Hero's 40 percent stake - worth 16 million euros - in Daimler Hero Motor Corporation (DHMC).

While Daimler says the Hero Group back-out was due to financial constraints, the Chairman of Hero Corporate Services, Sunil Kant Munjal, cited plunging commercial vehicle sales in India - which dropped 22 percent in FY 2009 - as the reason.

Stockholm - Heavy-vehicle maker Scania is mulling wage cuts to avert job losses in the wake of weaker demand for trucks because of the financial crisis, Swedish radio news reported Thursday.

Management and unions have not launched formal negotiations, but the company has previously scrapped some bonus payments and has let 2,000 temporary employees go.

Scania spokesman Erik Ljungberg said options being studied included the agreement signed last month between the blue collar union IF Metall and the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries that allows pay cuts of up to 20 per cent in return for not firing workers.

New York  - A group including Black Oak partners and several dealers is eyeing the purchase the Saturn subsidiary of General Motors (GM), the US carmaker said Wednesday.

But GM said that if the sale of Saturn is not "viable," then the line's "operations would be wound down over time."

In a statement, the Detroit automaker said that a panel of Saturn dealers had been "studying the feasibility" of a sale or spin-off. The only buyer GM identified by name was Black Oak Partners.

GM has also considered selling its Hummer line.

Washington  - With the clock running out on an April 30 Washington deadline, Fiat's head said Wednesday it would back out of a deal to take over Chrysler if autoworker unions, particularly those in Canada, don't agree to pay and benefit reductions.

Instead, Fiat Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said the Italian carmaker could seek another international partner or decide to buy up Chrysler assets at bargain prices if it declares bankruptcy.

Washington  - With the clock ticking down on an April 30 deadline, Fiat could back out of a government-mandated deal if Chrysler's unions don't agree to cost reductions, the company's head Sergio Marchionne told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper Wednesday.

Fiat's chief executive officer told the newspaper that Fiat would look for another international partner if the unions don't cooperate.

"Absolutely we are prepared to walk," Marchionne told the daily.

Berlin - A rare vintage car, dating back to the early days of the automobile, has been discovered in eastern Europe and has returned to Berlin where it was built almost a century ago. The G2, which is being offered for sale by Car Classics Berlin, was built in 1913 by PROTOS, a subsidiary of Siemens, and is probably only one of three such cars still around.

"The history of this car is simply amazing. It survived two world wars and has since hardly been driven," says automobile historian Burkhard Steins from Car Classics Berlin.