For Audi, it's the best of times and the worst of times. It depends on whether you're talking about selling vehicles to Americans, Chinese—or Europeans.

Overall, Audi executives stated in a conference call detailing the company's 2012 performance and results on Tuesday, they're bullish as can be about beating the company's global vehicle sales record of 1.46 million last year and increasing deliveries to more than 2 million vehicles by 2020, with the aim of snatching the luxury-sales crown from rival BMW by that year. They also expect to reach 1.5 million annual sales worldwide earlier than their previous plan by 2015.

However, Europe stinks for selling cars right now as the continent sinks into recession and even luxury buyers are pressed. "Overall development in western Europe was recessive [last year] and economic output contracted," Audi CFO Axel Strotbek commented, according to Automotive News Europe.Continue reading...

The three German luxury auto brands are like a trio of high-performance machines in an extended road race, each taking the lead for a while as they jockey for position and probe for the opportunity to make an unstoppable surge and finally blow past the competition.

These days, Audi and Mercedes-Benz are in second and third place, with BMW hanging on to a tenous lead for this year that many watchers believe it eventually could lose—at least for a while.

The most immediate factors: BMW has just announced the biggest safety recall in its history, while Audi plans a major expansion of its SUV lineup and Mercedes-Benz has announced its most ambitious new-product blitz in the brand's history. Continue reading...

Deutsche Telekom's Cannes Lions-winning film project called "Move On," described as "a road movie like no other, because it is inspired by film fans from all over Europe" has made its big screen debut, premiering last night in Berlin. The branded entertainment project, which started unfolding online in May as part of its "Life is for Sharing" banner, was directed by Asger Leth and features actor Mads Mikkelsen (who starred in Casino Royale, The Three Musketeers, Monsters vs. Aliens and Clash of the Titans) on a secret mission in eight episodes, each taking place in a different European country and incorporating fans. Samsung and Volkswagen also supported the project, which you can check out at move-on-film.com.

BMW's new concept car from the automaker's F10 M5 European line is a one-off F10 M5 Polizei car. Based on the US spec F10 M5, the M5 police car above is "a show car only and not intended for actual police use." The brand BMW makes several models (including 3 series, 5 series and X5) available for the police, as well as security vehicles.

The brand DNA of Toyota and BMW couldn't be more different — the first, the epitome of stodgy and reliable automotive transportation; the second, the Ultimate Driving Machine.

Even so, the two brands got together on Friday to announce that they will jointly develop sports cars, among other collaborations. The two companies, unveiling their plans at a press event in Munich, provided few details of the vehicles they expect to result. Industry observers predict the cars will be "high-performance, high-tech and green," as Edmunds.com senior analyst Michelle Krebs put it.

"I get so excited thinking about the cars that will result from this relationship," Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, said at the press conference. BMW Board Chairman Norbert Reithofer hinted at the bigger upside for the partnership — the development of low-carbon vehicle technology — with his statement, "I am the one most looking forward to a sports car that is environmentally friendly and truly excites car fans around the world."Continue reading...

Anheuser-Busch InBev hails adding Corona to stable of brands in $20 billion Modelo deal.

BlackBerry-maker RIM reports dire earnings, slashes 5,000 jobs and delays phone, sees shares plunge and erodes Canadian confidence.

Barclays faces political firestorm.

BMW and Toyota announce joint development of new sports car.

Coty nears IPO.

Family Dollar keeps thriving amid sluggish U.S. economy.

Ford warns of weaker profit because of Europe.Continue reading...

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are facing their biggest test since beginning their recoveries three years ago. Even in a bullish market, the challenges are huge.

Before the end of last year, many automotive pundits brought up two distinct possibilities about how the big car-makers could be faring differently in 2012 from the way 2011 was ending up. And already, the industry seems to be tacking in the direction of both of them.

One clear trend after first-quarter sales is that Detroit's Big Three automakers are already giving back much of the hard-won share of the market that they gained over the last two years. The other big news: Toyota has recaptured much of the mojo it lost in the U.S. market over those two years.Continue reading...

Over the past few years, McDonald's has touted everything from value pricing to new product lines to continue to get people through the doors of its restaurants. On January 2nd, the world's biggest fast food chain will join competitors in attempting a new type of pitch in America: talking about where its ingredients come from.

While McDonald's has committed to promoting sustainable farming in Europe, taking a "farm-to-fork" approach in America may seem a stretch. After all, the restaurant chain doesn't deal directly with "local" farmers and ranchers but only with big suppliers such as Cargill, Lamb Weston and Coca-Cola.

But McDonald's U.S. executives have seen rivals such as Wendy's and Chipotle get some traction with down-on-the-farm marketing. And they acknowledge that "there are questions about where our food comes from," as McDonald's U.S. CMO Neil Golden put it this week, according to Ad Age.Continue reading...