Kia names first non-Korean as president and integrates Google Maps.

Avis to acquires Zipcar brand for $500 million.

Nivea woos investors as CEO admits Rihanna was the wrong brand ambassador and brand returns to NYC's Times Square as New Year's Eve event sponsor.

Amazon apologizes for Christmas Eve outage.

American Girl's 2013 Girl of the Year doll addresses U.S. arts education cuts.

Apple sees its store in Paris robbed.

BBC Worldwide appoints chief brands officer.Continue reading...

If there's anything that Johan de Nysschen would like to do in his new post as global head of the Infiniti brand, it would be to emulate and then surpass Audi's success. The Volkswagen-owned luxury brand has achieved huge gains in sales, market share and brand equity worldwide over the last several years, and those things are exactly de Nysschen's goals at Infiniti.

Of course, he might know something about how to mimic Audi. De Nysschen led Audi of America's renaissance over the previous five years until Infiniti snatched him away early this year. One of his new ideas for Infiniti is to rename its product line, designating every sedan as a "Q"-something and every SUV as a "QX"-something. Infiniti — once a U.S.-only brand owned by Nissan — previously used "Q" and "QX" for vehicles, but now its model names comprise an alphabet soup of everything from G to M to JX.Continue reading...

Toyota sets to reclaim world sales crown as GMand Volkswagen vie for No. 2 and hints at elimination of Matrix model.

Domino's Pizza founder sues over Obamacare contraception coverage mandate.

McDonald's tries to get franchisees to stay open on Christmas.

Akamai taps co-founder as new CEO.

Burger King works with franchisee to expand in Mexico.

Chobani nears openingof huge new factory in Idaho.

Cosi uses pop-up unit in Chicago to test growth ideas.

Cox cable TV guide offers personalized recommendations in U.S. first.

Discover Communications makes key European deals.

Facebook counts on big deal with Walmart.Continue reading...

Hostess brands reportedly attract bids from Walmart and Kroger.

LinkedIn gains job-recruiting edge over Monster, reveals most-liked brands of 2012.

Nissan begins turning out Leaf batteries at new U.S. plant.

Apple dominates tablet-purchase intent, survey says, but loses patent case to licensing firm.

Build-A-Bear considers change at top.

Fox News leads cable segment while CNN dips.

GM revamps MyLink system.

Jaguar drops plan to build supercar.Continue reading...

Google releases new map app for Apple iPhone, shuts down shopping search in China, and makes porn harder to find, as CEO defends tax avoidance.

Apple settles European e-book price-fixing probe with publishers.

Applebee's interviews creator of #HireKevin campaign.

BMW and Boeing plan to collaborate on making carbon fiber.

Barclays joins industry cost-cutting wave, eliminating 2,000 jobs.

Berkshire Hathaway plans rare buyback of holder's stock.Continue reading...

Delta buys 49% of Virgin Atlantic, as Virgin's Aer Lingus hookup mocked by Ryanair and Branson bets on future of the brand. American Airlines, meanwhile, says decision on pursuing US Airways merger is coming soon.

HSBC to pay record U.S. penalty on money laundering.

Diageo terminates talks on "future" of Jose Cuervo.

AIG shares yield $7.6 billion to U.S. government, boosting taxpayers' overall profit to nearly $23 billion.

AOL postpones premiere of hip-hop-inspired TV ad.

Boeing faces revived concerns about 787.

Burberry launches Christmas events and global review.

Burger King expands digital marketing.Continue reading...

Things have been getting a bit testy in the high-profile, low-sales world of electric vehicles. Late last month at the Los Angeles Auto Show, a Fiat executive took a none-too-veiled shot at Nissan for the styling of its Leaf. And Nissan quickly shot right back at some of Fiat's own design executions.

The spat began when Matt Davis, head of Fiat product marketing in the United States, was talking about the coming all-electric version of the Fiat 500 and told Bloomberg News on Nov. 28, "Let's be honest, ugliness is probably one of the worst forms of pollution. The Fiat 500e proves that you do not have to give up on good looks to deliver an electric car."

Now, in Davis's defense, he was absolutely right about the design of most all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids so far. They're at best uninspired, at worst an arrogant reflection of the notion that because they're powered in a "superior" fashion, such models don't need to look like conventional vehicles either. So you end up with the minimalist wedge shape of the Toyota Prius, the prosaic design of the Chevrolet Volt — and the pragmatic styling package comprised by Leaf.

With that in mind, fast forward to Fiat's first US campaign for the 500e — one using the oldest rule in the marketer's playbook ("Sex Sells"). The racy new commercial aims to estabish its EV as the hot, sexy car in the category.Continue reading...

Aston-Martin sells stake to Italian private-equity firm.

Citigroup sees CMO depart for Gilt.

YouTube relaunches site to feature original channels.

Coca-Cola relaunches Glaceau Vitimanwater in the UK.

Daily Beast considers charging for web content as Washington Post also plans paywall.

Delta faces California suit over app.

Ford finds opportunities in "social shifting."

Google to rein in free Google Apps.Continue reading...