Daily Car News Bulletin for May 4, 2016
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Auto Sales Report
Total auto sale rose 3.5%, more than 1.5 million cars and light trucks.
U.S. SAAR:
April 2016: 17.42 million
March 2016: 16.56 million
April 2015: 16.77 million
Led by gains at Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler and Ford, U.S. light-vehicle sales increased 3.5 percent to 1.506 million in April.
| Incentive spending | |||
| Manufacturer | April 2016 forecast | % change vs. April 2015 | % change vs. March 2016 |
| BMW | 4713 | 0.15 | -0.081 |
| Daimler | 3911 | -0.002 | 0.053 |
| FCA | 3967 | 0.251 | -0.019 |
| Ford | 3423 | 0.24 | -0.025 |
| GM | 3909 | 0.14 | -0.03 |
| Honda | 1631 | -0.075 | 0.068 |
| Hyundai | 2201 | -0.024 | 0.004 |
| Kia | 2839 | 0.058 | 0 |
| Nissan | 3298 | 0.117 | -0.048 |
| Subaru | 572 | -0.214 | 0.007 |
| Toyota | 2017 | 0.138 | -0.031 |
| Volkswagen Group | 3276 | 0.166 | -0.021 |
| Industry | 3021 | 0.133 | -2.7 |
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Takata Additional Recall Units
Under the pressure of U.S. regulators, Takata announces an additional recall of 35 to 40 million units. Airbags inflators have a defect that allows it to explode throwing a debris of metal at passengers. The expanded recall will be divided over several years and already the largest and most complex auto safety recall in U.S. history.
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Google Buying Additional Hybrid Vehicles for Self-Driving Tests
Google buys 100 plug-in hybrid minivans from FCA to expand GOogle’s self-driving vehicle testing program. The vehicles will not be offered for sale to the public. Unlike prior testing in which Google bought Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles from dealers and retrofitted them, Google will work with FCA directly.
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Volvo Profits
Volvo Q1 profits rose to 392 million dollars, with a help of XC90.
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Ford Wind Tunnel Testing
Ford says it has developed the world’s first mobile aeroacoustic wind tunnel, a patent-pending invention that it says will improve quality while also saving significant time and money by letting engineers test vehicles right at the plant where they’re made.
