Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. said they aim to double annual cost savings from their alliance within four years, while denying a Reuters report that they are reviewing their cross-shareholdings. “We have an internal goal of 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) in synergies in 2016,” Rachel Konrad, an alliance spokeswoman, said by e-mail. “We expect more every year.” The two plan to boost synergies from their partnership to 2.1 billion euros this year from 1.7 billion euros in 2011.Renault is not loo

Foreign automakers expected to sell 10,000 units priced more than 100 million won in 2012Yearly sales of import cars with a price tag above 100 million won ($90,100) are expected to surpass 10,000 units for the first time in the nation.Amid the brisk sales of premium vehicles despite the economic slowdown, the import automobile industry saw its sales of cars priced more than 100 million reach 8,035 units for the first nine months of 2012, up about 10 percent over the same period last year.Accor

Ford Motor Co.’s board discussed a succession plan for chief executive officer Alan Mulally at its monthly meeting on Friday, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The board is preparing to promote Mark Fields to chief operating officer from president of the Americas as part of a plan to have him eventually succeed Mulally, said the person, who asked not to be named revealing board deliberations. Such a move would make clear the succession plan at the second-largest U.S. automaker

Toyota Motor Corp. first learned in 2008 about a defect in power-window switches that last week prompted it to recall 7.43 million vehicles worldwide for fire hazards, according to documents filed with U.S. regulators. Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, received a report in September 2008 from the U.S. about “an unusual smell” from the power-window master switch and “thermal damage” to the switch, the company said in a report posted Friday on the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administra

Honda Motor Co. president Takanobu Ito forecast growth over the next two to three years will be led by sales of its range of new Fit vehicles as Japan’s third- biggest automaker expands in emerging markets. “We will see the good uplifting effect from the Fit series,” Ito, 59, said Friday in an interview at his Tokyo office, where Honda’s spaceman-like Asimo robot greets visitors by name. “So around the world, I believe 2013, 2014, 2015 will be years of growth.” Ito’s focus on the Fit, a vehicle

Import brands set to fuel competition in compact car marketHyundai Motor’s flagship compact Avante has never lost its top-seller position in the nation’s small family car segment in the past 12 years.The Avante sold 81,256 units in the first nine months of this year, making up more than 60 percent of compact car sales here. However, the game seems to be changing in the second half of the year, as other carmakers are revving up the competition with their new models. For now, industry watchers say

Martin Tangney has a vision that combines romantic historical and cultural images of Scotland with a business of the future: He wants to turn the waste from making whisky into fuel for vehicles. “The beauty is its simplicity,” says Tangney, 47, founder of Celtic Renewables Ltd., an Edinburgh-based company that grew out of his research work as director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University. “Scotch Whisky is synonymous with Scotland, like bagpipes and kilts.” The professor

Design chief hints new Genesis will become a game-changerIt was on a rare occasion that Hyundai Motor’s design center opened its doors to the media. To enter the guarded facility, visitors are required to pass through two checkpoints. At the first one, all identification cards and laptops are submitted, while security stickers seal shut the cameras, including those in mobile phones. Security seems air-tight at this Gyeonggi Province-based facility, more so at this time as the next generation Gen