South America

London, Great Britain, June 27, 2008 -- A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has received influential backing for the series to hold its first race in South America. This came during a meeting in Brazil between A1GP ambassador, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Brazilian President, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

The Brazilian President pledged his support for A1 Team Brazil's quest to secure a home race after meeting with Fittipaldi, who is the team's seat holder. The meeting happened last week when Fittipaldi was racing in the Brazilian GT3 Championship with his brother, Wilson. The two influential Brazilians, along with the Brazilian Minister of Sport, Orlando Silva, discussed the team ahead of the new A1GP season, during which all the teams will use the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari cars.

SÃO PAULO, Brazil, June 19, 2008 – Honda’s automobile production and sales subsidiary in Brazil, Honda Automoveis do Brasil Ltda. (HAB), reached the 500,000-unit cumulative automobile production milestone, June 18, 2008.

HAB began auto production with the Civic model in September 1997, and added production of Fit in 2003. HAB has been supplying these models to customers in Brazil as well as customers in neighboring countries such as Argentina, Peru, and Chile. In 2006, to fulfill increasing demand for FFVs (flexible fuel vehicles) in Brazil, HAB added a FFV version of both Civic and Fit to the product lineup. The sales ratio of these FFV models to Honda’s overall sales in Brazil exceeded 40% in 2007, demonstrating the popularity of these FFV models.

Innovative vehicle development facility is first of its kind in South America

Wolfsburg/São Bernardo do Campo, 15 May 2008 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel was given a warm welcome in the Brazilian city of São Bernardo do Campo by Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, during her tour of South America. In the presence of other representatives from industry and politics, the two dignatories officially opened the Virtual Reality Centre, an innovation in vehicle development and the first of its kind in South America, at the VW site near São Paulo.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich / TOKYO, Jan. 11, 2008 – Chrysler LLC and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., today announced an agreement for Nissan to supply Chrysler with a new car for limited distribution in South America. Based on the Nissan Versa sedan, the new car will be supplied to Chrysler on an Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM) basis in 2009.

The OEM supply agreement is the second product exchange between the two corporations, with Nissan affiliate JATCO already supplying Chrysler with transmissions since 2004.

- New record: 4.61 million vehicles delivered in the first nine months
- Substantial growth in South America, Asian-Pacific region and Central and Eastern Europe

Wolfsburg, 18 October 2007 - The Volkswagen Group delivered 4.61 million vehicles world-wide between January and September 2007, setting a new record for the first nine months of a year. This corresponds to an increase of 8.2 percent compared to the same period last year. September likewise demonstrated a new record for the same month in any year: 545,500 vehicles sold mean an increase of 6.5 percent compared to September 2006.