Tokyo - Nissan Motor Co plans to shift production of its March subcompact car to Thailand as a way to reduce cost amid the business slowdown, a Japanese business daily said Friday.

Nissan would be the first Japanese automaker to transfer production of a top-selling car to overseas operations.

The Japanese automaker was expected to incur an operating loss for the 2008-09 fiscal year that ends March 31 due to the slowdown of global car sales and a stronger yen.

New York  - The beleaguered General Motors expects an even worse sales drop in 2009 than in 2008, chief executive Rick Wagoner told a conference Thursday in Detroit.

But Wagoner was optimistic that the company was on the right path to fulfilling the demands of the US government in conjunction with the 13.4-billion-dollar loan it received from the US government in the waning days of 2008.

GM cut its US sales estimate for 2009 to 10.5 million units, which would be the lowest in 27 years and a reflection of the deepening effect of the year-old US recession.

Tokyo - Nissan Motor Co was expected to incur an operating loss for the 2008-09 fiscal year that ends March 31 due to the slowdown of global car sales and a stronger yen, Japanese media reports said Thursday.

Nissan would log the first operating loss since Carlos Ghosn became the company's chief operating officer in 1999, when the company formed a business partnership with France's Renault SA.

The Japanese automaker lowered its projection for the year's operating profit from 550 billion yen (6.16 billion dollars) to 270 billion yen in October.

It has been learnt that an electric version of Daimler's popular Smart car's batteries would be made by Tesla Motors Inc.

The customers would be able to buy the new version of Daimler's two-person Smart by the end of this year. Tesla, based in San Carlos and was initiated by Elon Musk, makes and sells an electric sportscar called the Roadster. At one point of time, Tesla even eyed New Mexico as a site for building its manufacturing plant.

A perfect prototype of a supercar, which operates on the energy of wind and is capable to reach up to the speed of 155 mph, would be completed by a California-based company.

If adhered to the reports, then the car, which will be two-seater and environment friendly, will be outfitted with paper-thin solar paneling, which would fully charge the battery in just six minutes due to new prototype batteries.The car will run up to 200 miles with fully charged batteries.

London, Jan. 14 : Car giant Jaguar Land Rover is to axe 450 employees, including 300 managers, as part of a cost-cutting exercise, the company has announced.

According to the Daily Star, the cuts follow the "severe reduction" in demand for new cars.

Jaguar Land Rover also announced that managers will not receive any bonuses this year, while pay rises have been deferred to October.