Volkswagen won a copyright case brought by the daughter of designer Erwin Komenda, who helped to style the original VW Beetle.

Mercedes has named Jan Madeja, formerly the brand's head of Russia, as its new sales boss in China as part of a wider management shuffle. Madeja succeed Nicholas Speeks, who will become CEO of Mercedes' U.S. operations, and Holger Suffel succeeds Madeja in Russia.

Carl-Peter Forster, a former Opel CEO and a BMW veteran, has joined the advisory board of Vayavision, an Israeli developer of autonomous vehicle technology that plans to expand in Europe.

German startup Sono is teaming up with National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) to build the first series production solar -powered electric car at Saab's former plant in Sweden.

BMW executive Bernd Koerber, an expert in brand management, is the new head of Mini.

Mercedes-Benz kept the global luxury sales crown for the third consecutive year in 2018, outpacing nearest rival BMW by nearly 200,000 vehicles.

New-car sales fell 6.7 percent in Germany in December with Peugeot, Nissan, Renault, Ford and VW Group brands among the losers.

BMW named former Daimler executive Jens Thiemer as its new head of brand management. Thiemer replaces Sven Schuwirth, who left BMW in May.

German sales fell 10 percent in November as automakers, including VW Group's Porsche and Audi brands, continue to adapt to the new WLTP emissions testing regime.

Volvo, Dacia, Seat and Toyota had a good month in a UK market where overall sales fell 3 percent. Audi, Nissan, Hyundai and Ford suffered steep sales declines in November.