http://www.autonews.com News as it happens from autonews.com en-us Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:00:00 EST 10 144 16 http://www.autonews.com http://www.autonews.com/assets/gif/an_logo_rss.gif Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST andraquo;andnbsp; Cadillac's course: GM's luxury brand moves away from its Lexus-like plan Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST Honda Motor Co. has racked up 7,000 orders in Japan for its new CR-Z sporty hybrid, which went on sale here Feb. 25. It will arrive in U.S. showrooms this summer. The tally is more than half Honda's annual sales target of 12,000 units in Japan. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:01:00 EST Kuwait's Investment Dar, which owns half of Aston Martin, is applying for support under a government facility set up for troubled companies. Dar is seeking to borrow up to $1 billion to refinance its debt. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST Britain said it would provide a 270 million pound ($410 million) loan guarantee to Opel/Vauxhall to help secure the company's operations in the UK and the rest of Europe. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST Opel workers demanded reassurances that its European brand will not be disadvantaged at the expense of sister brand Chevrolet, after Opel lost responsibility for the Russian region to an Asian arm of General Motors Co. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:11:00 EST General Motors Co. is imposing no onerous conditions on dealers who it is offering to reinstate, five lawyers said. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:30:00 EST Nissan's European design chief Alfonso Albaisa will succeed Bruce Campbell, the carmaker's U.S. design chief, who will retire at the end of March. Victor Nacif, who has been in charge of business operations for Nissan's U.S. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:43:00 EST Toyota Motor Corp. acknowledged it has never provided sensitive records called the and#8220;books of knowledgeand#8221; to plaintiffs who have sued the company after crashes but also said such documents weren't requested or required. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST Toyota Motor Corp. may keep aggressive discounts available for U.S. consumers beyond this month after unprecedented incentives lifted U.S. sales in early March. Toyota's U.S. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:03:00 EST andnbsp;3/8-3/1-1/1-1/1-