Tokyo - Honda Motor Co announced Monday that it would appoint a new president in June to deal with a sales slowdown caused by the yen's surge against other major currencies and the dwindling consumer appetite amid the global economic downturn.

Japan's second-largest carmaker plans to promote Senior Managing Director Takanobu Ito to president. The decision was expected to be approved at a shareholders' meeting in June, Honda said.

The competitors have yet again been surprised by the State Bank of India (SBI), which earlier created hype in the home loan market and this time it has slashed interest rates on loans for new cars. Furthermore, SBI, the country's biggest bank has also reduced its lending rate against warehouse receipts for farmers.

Tata Motors has appointed the country's largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI) as an exclusive booking agent for Nano. The ambitious small car due to launch by Tata group soon, is expected to record decent sales.

The Chief Manager of SBI, Jayanta Kumar Sinha, said on Friday, "SBI has been selected as the sole booking agent for Nano."

However, Mr. Sinha refused to disclose details of deal between SBI and Tata and said that official announcement is likely to come in few days.

Washington  - President Barack Obama's cabinet-level taskforce for the United States' ailing car manufacturers met for the first time on Friday, stressing the "urgency" of repairing an industry that is on the verge of collapse.

The group, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the White House's top economic advisor Larry Summers, is tasked with evaluating the survival prospects of General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC.

Berlin - Giant US carmaker General Motors' German offshoot Opel confirmed Friday that it will need greater state guarantees than requested to date.

The German government has said Opel required a total of 3.3 billion euro (4.2 billion dollars) in state guarantees, according to weekly Spiegel magazine. Previously, the car manufacturer had requested 1.8 billion euros of state securities.

Adam Opel GMBH confirmed an upward revision of the figures, but would not specify the amount.

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