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News watch March 2011: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Thursday 31 March 2011• US President Barack Obama has strated all US government cars and trucks purchased from 2015 must be alternative-fuel vehicles (Automotive News)• Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has denied a report in Japan's Nikkei newspaper that he is leaning towards a formal merger of Nissan and Renault (Reuters)• Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says that Chrysler's share IPO may now take place in 2012, depending on financial progress this year (Bloomberg)Wednesday 30 March 2011• Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called a report that the EV carmaker is a takeover target 'bad analysis' and remains confident the firm will stay independent (Bloomberg)• The BBC denies that it rigged a December 2008 Top Gear TV test of the Tesla Roadster, in response to being sued by the EV carmaker (BBC News)• First Group, the UK's largest public transport operator, has announced a £160m investment in new buses, ordering 955 new buses from UK manufacturers Wrightbus and Dennis over the next two years (BBC News)• Japanese production woes look set to continue into April. Toyota expects the majority of Toyota and Lexus production on 14 April (Automotive News)• Saab production has re-started again, following a half yesterday afternoon.

Nissan sketches future compact car plans

Nissan has unveiled a sketch of a compact car that it plans to sell around the world. The carmaker released few specifics, but the vehicle will be sold in more than 150 countries and is set to launch first in Thailand in March 2010. The car will qualify as Thailand's first “eco-car,” which is a government policy to help promote energy-efficient vehicles.

A Fine Day For Birmingham Police

POLICE in Birmingham have discovered they are not immune from traffic fines, after figures released by West Midlands Police show that local law enforcement have fallen foul of the city’s tough stance on bus lane offenders. In a hard-line approach, which had drawn criticism from some drivers, Birmingham City Council put up new signs on existing bus lanes in the heart of the city barring all other vehicles from using them and enforcing the rule with traffic cameras to catch the culprits who flout the ban. As a result, a reported 60,000 fines were issued by the end of last year following the scheme's launch in September, with police drivers accounting for 408 of those transgressions and individual drivers responsible for payment of the fine.