Tokyo - Japan's domestic sales of new vehicles fell to the lowest in 38 years as the global economic downturn shaved off consumer appetite for cars, buses and trucks, an industry organization said Wednesday.
Sales of new motor vehicles declined 15.6 per cent in the 2008-09 business year that ended March 31 to 2,891,901 units, which was the first time the sales dropped below 3 million since 1971, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said.
The manufacturer of luxury automobiles and sports cars – Porsche SE is set to expand its operations in India. The Stuttgart, Germany based Porsche is planning to increase its presence in the automobile market in India. 
The motorcycle sales figures reported Thursday by the two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto indicate that the month of March saw a 14.40 percent drop - from the earlier-year figures of 1,54,443 units to 1,32,210 units. Nonetheless, the drop in March motorcycle sales happens to be lower than the December levels, when the company sold merely 61,546 units.
For the third month in a row, the March sales of automobiles have been better-than-anticipated, bringing a reported 21.87 percent increase in the total sales of Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) during the month. A year-on-year comparison between the sales figures for March indicates that the sales jumped from 70,296 units last year to 85,669 units.
Washington - Car sales in the United States remained very weak in March, plummeting more than 38 per cent on average from 2008, but carmakers pointed to signs that the market may be bottoming out as they struggle to survive the global recession.
Berlin - Ruediger Grube, 57, currently a top executive at car company Daimler, was tipped Wednesday as the German government's choice to head the state-owned railways company Deutsche Bahn.
