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Trump reportedly says he wants to wipe German cars off the U.S. map

BERLIN/FRANKFURT — A report that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pursue German carmakers until there are no Mercedes-Benz rolling down New York's Fifth Avenue dented shares in the luxury car manufacturers on Thursday. An excerpt from German magazine Wirtschaftswoche's article, which cited several unnamed European and U.S. diplomats but did not include any direct quotes, could not be independently verified, while a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Berlin referred questions to Washington. The news and current affairs magazine said Trump had told French President Emmanuel Macron in April that he aimed to push German carmakers out of the United States altogether. Macron's administration in Paris declined to comment on the report. The Trump administration last week opened a so-called Section 232 trade investigation into vehicle imports, which could result in a 25 percent tariff on cars on the same "national security" grounds Washington used to impose metals duties in March. This could destroy exports by German carmakers, which control 90 percent of the U.S. premium market and are the biggest European Union exporters of cars to the United States. BMW owns Rolls-Royce, while Daimler has Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen controls Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche and Audi. Daimler, BMW and Audi declined comment. Porsche was not immediately available for comment. BMW shares were trading 0.5 percent lower at 0939 GMT, while Daimler and VW's shares were down 1 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, underperforming Germany's blue-chip DAX. Trump has railed against German carmakers before. And in early 2017, in an interview with German newspaper Bild, he said he would impose 35 percent tariffs on imported cars. At the time, the president called Germany a great car producer but said that the business relationship with the United States was an unfair one-way street. Germany's auto industry association VDA says its members exported 657,000 vehicles to North America last year, with total exports of vehicle components, cars, engines, as well as second-hand vehicles totaling 31.2 billion euros in 2016. Imports from the United States to Germany amounted to 7.4 billion euros, meaning a trade deficit of 23.8 billion euros the VDA's latest available figures show. However, German brands also have huge factories in the United States, where they built 804,000 cars last year, VDA said, providing jobs for U.S. workers. Berlin has reacted angrily to the U.S.

Jeremy Clarkson names 10 worst cars for 2015 and 2016

When Jeremy Clarkson, outspoken automotive journalist, ex- Top Gear host, and co-host on The Grand Tour, drives a car he doesn't like he doesn't pull his punches. As Jezza harshly puts it, cars shouldn't just be a form of transportation. These 10 cars made Clarkson's "the terrible 10" list on his column in The Sunday Times for lacking imagination and not giving the journalist "the Fizz," which his list of top 10 cars did. In typical Clarkson fashion, the list is controversial. Some of the cars on Clarkson's list have received praise from other outlets, which shouldn't really come as a surprise since he usually goes against the majority's opinion. Nonetheless, there's at least one car that will catch you off guard. To get a glimpse at Clarkson's reviews and the entire list of cars, head over to his column in The Sunday Times. Vauxhall Astra SRi Nav Infiniti Q30 Premium Tech Skoda Superb SE L Executive Zenos E10 S Renault Kadjar Signature Nav BMW X1 xDRIVE25d SEAT Leon X-Perience SE Technology Nissan GT-R Track Edition Volkswagen Scirocco 2.0 TDi Hyundai i800 Related Video: Featured Gallery Jeremy Clarkson's Terrible 10 For 2015 and 2016 View 11 Photos News Source: The Sunday TimesImage Credit: Clive Brunskill / Getty Images Celebrities BMW Hyundai Infiniti Nissan Toyota Performance bmw x1 infiniti q30

BMW, Toyota outline new tech joint venture, new sports car

Back in June, Toyota and BMW announced a "memorandum of understanding" outlining plans for the two companies to join forces on future products and technology development. On Thursday, they signed a more formal and binding agreement that goes further into detail about the partnership, and it all sounds pretty exciting. The two announced they will work together in four main areas:
Joint development of a fuel cell system
"Set up a feasibility study to define a joint platform concept for a mid-size sports vehicle"