FROM BLOOMBERG:  Ford Motor Co. plans to complete its sale of Volvo Cars to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. next week, finishing the U.S. automaker’s exit from European luxury brands, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Ford is selling Volvo to Geely for $1.8 billion, less than one-third of what it paid for the [...]

FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL:  I visited Volkswagen’s electric-car skunk works in Silicon Valley last week and there to my surprise was the co-Founder and former CEO of Tesla Motors. Mark Eberhard suffered a very public sacking from Tesla a couple of years ago at the hands of the company’s major financial backer and current [...]

FROM CNN MONEY:  The latest chapter in the all-but-quixotic effort to revive Saab cars by its new owners played out this week with the media launch of the Saab 9-5 Aero.

That Saab has survived at all while other, better known GM brands — Hummer, Pontiac, and Saturn — collapsed during the GM bankruptcy is a testimony [...]

FROM REUTERS:  Ford Motor Co chief executive Alan Mulally said on Monday the company was “cautiously optimistic” that it would continue to grow as the U.S. economy recovers.

“This is a slower recovery from the previous recessions,” Mulally said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show. “We have sized ourselves to the current demand and we’re [...]

FROM THE OC REGISTER:  Consider this another bit of fresh breath for the storied Jeep brand: Chrysler has announced that it will be the first original equipment maker to build and sell a camper trailer that’s as off-road capable as the vehicles it makes to tow the things.

The trailers feature a pop-up tent, storage compartment [...]

FROM USA TODAY:  That alley cat smudging your shiny new Chevrolet Camaro again with his annoying little paw prints? Even from inside your house, now you’ll be able to honk the car’s horn to send kitty fleeing — from your mobile phone.

General Motors is announcing it is again expanding OnStar’s latest features today, the ability [...]

FROM THE DENVR POST:  Italian automaker Fiat, which controls Chrysler, on Wednesday pushed ahead with plans to split into two companies as it reported a return to profit in the second quarter on improved sales of farm equipment and trucks.

Fiat announced that its board approved the plan to separate its industrial-vehicle and auto businesses into [...]

FROM REUTERS: One of the toughest struggles in the negotiations was just how interwoven Volvo had become with the wider Ford Motor Group including safety and in-car-entertainment equipment. Volvo shared engine platforms and parts with Ford brands, while it relied on hardware and electronic-architecture work done at Ford.

“Ford and Volvo are, to this day, still [...]

FROM DETROIT FREE PRESS:  Saving Detroit’s auto industry may be a better deal for U.S. taxpayers than anyone expected.

A Free Press analysis suggests that taxpayers could get back about $74 billion of the $86 billion the government made available in 2008 and 2009 to save General Motors, Chrysler and Ally Financial, the former GMAC.

So far, [...]

FROM BUSINESSWEEK:  Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn will explain today how he plans to return the U.S. unit to profit as it heads for an eighth annual loss. He’ll do so without a leader to oversee the turnaround.

The CEO hasn’t named a permanent successor to U.S. chief Stefan Jacoby almost a month after [...]