As India’s economy continues to expand, new car sales in the country are expected to rise by up to 13% in 2010-2011. Despite rising commodity prices and interest rates, India remains one of the few bright spots for automakers as the economic rebounds in Europe and the U.S. drag on at a snail’s pace.

In early May, rumors began circulating that General Motors Company was considering re-entering the captive finance business. Today GM announced that it plans to acquire AmeriCredit Corporation of a reported $3.5 billion in cash.

Preston Hood Chevrolet Inc. general manager Taylor Hood is taking GM’s “May the Best Car Win” slogan to heart. Hood has spent nearly $200,000 of his own money to purchase 10 vehicles from rival automakers for his Fort Walton Beach, Florida dealership. Hood said he challenges potential buyers to take comparison drives in the Chevy vehicles he sells and competitive models from Dodge, Ford, Honda and Toyota.

For the first half of 2010, Renault SA and Nissan Motor Company were among the top-selling brands in Europe but are guardedly optimistic about sales for the remainder of the year.

Volkswagen AG has partnered with Hella KGaA Hueck & Company to provide its second-generation Touareg with an all-new adaptive lighting system that uses a windshield-mounted camera and proprietary software from the automaker to scan the road ahead and determine the exact position of oncoming vehicles.

The House panel was asked today to further investigate the dealership cuts made by General Motors Company and Chrysler Group by following up on an audit of their actions. A group of dealerships cut by the automakers would like to know who made the decisions concerning store closings.

Toyota has decided that their U.S. operations needs more autonomy and has begun appointing U.S. citizens to the chief engineer positions for vehicles sold here. Three of Toyota’s top American engineers have now been promoted to oversee development of the Venza, Avalon and Tundra.

With credit once again beginning to flow and economic activity slowly rebounding, wealthy consumers in China and the U.S. are again buying luxury autos and prompting Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz to ramp up production. Among the hottest-selling models are BMW’s new 5 series, Mercedes’ E class and Audi’s A8.

As rival automakers, including Toyota, Ford, Nissan and General Motors, have rushed to compete in the electric vehicle sector, Honda Motor Company has remained cautiously on the sidelines, but that’s about to change.

Ford Motor Company has cut the price of its embedded navigation system by introducing SD Card Premium Navigation which will be available on the 2011 Edge crossover vehicle.