Autos: Interesting Stories from The New York Times

Here is the latest Auto News from The New York Times.

China’s Companies Poised to Take Leap in Developing a Driverless Car
Conditions for the technology may actually be more favorable in China than in the United States because of aggressive support from the government.

Tesla Model 3 Orders Surge Even Before Its Unveiling
The new electric vehicle is “the final step in the master plan, which is a mass market, affordable car,” said Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk.

Wheels: A Dance Between Dealer and Carmaker on Lifting Sales
Kia, BMW and Nissan have encouraged dealers to buy cars, raising sales, then offer the virtually new vehicles as used models, company memos show.

Driven: Video Review: Volvo’s XC90 T8 Is Another Step Up
The powerful, efficient and costly plug-in hybrid is targeted to draw buyers away from traditional luxury brands.

Economic Scene: Nafta May Have Saved Many Autoworkers’ Jobs
There is a good case to be made that without Nafta, there might not be much left of Detroit at all. A wall of tariffs against Mexico would probably do more harm than good.

Automakers Expanding in China May Soon Face Weakening Demand
China is the world’s largest market for new cars, but its slowing economy could leave automakers with too many factories and not enough buyers.

Court Sets Deadline for a Volkswagen Diesel Fix, but Solution Could Prove Elusive
A federal judge’s ruling comes as experts question whether it is even possible for the automaker’s diesel cars to meet air-quality rules.

Gas Prices Will Be Low for Easter, but Don’t Get Used to It
Gas prices for the Easter weekend will be the lowest in over a decade. But don’t be fooled — they’re still going up.

Wheels: Luxury Auto World of Wood Trim and Grey Poupon Bows to the S.U.V.
Exclusive automakers like Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Lamborghini are giving in to the marketplace and bringing sport utility vehicles to America.

Driven: Video Review: The Honda Civic Grows Up
Honda returns the Civic sedan to its former glory, offering small families a way to live large.

New York International Auto Show
Media previews began on Wednesday, with the unveiling of many new models. The show opens to the public on Friday and runs through April 3.

At New York Auto Show, a Parade of New Models
Vehicle sales are running at a record pace, which means the car industry is willing to invest in new products and technology.

Low Gas Prices Create a Detour on the Road to Greater Fuel Economy
Automakers are expected to seek changes to mileage targets, which were set when gas prices were higher and fuel economy was more important to drivers.

Carmakers Agree to Make Automatic Braking Standard Without a Rule
A voluntary deal with federal regulators will put the feature in most cars and light trucks within six years, and in heavier vehicles two years later.

Former Porsche Executives Acquitted of Manipulating VW Stock
The charges stemmed from a 2008 news release that prosecutors argued was intended to mislead investors and aid an effort to take over Volkswagen.

Driven: Video Review: Lexus Adds a Few Twists to the New RX350
The RX created the luxury crossover market and has become the brand’s best seller. While previous models were genteel, the new design is bold and angular.

Wheels: Cities to Untangle Traffic Snarls, With Help From Alphabet Unit
A federal Transportation Department partnership with the Alphabet unit Sidewalk Labs will put the power of Google’s data into a traffic management system.

VW Financial Services Lowers Profit Outlook in Wake of Scandal
The emissions scandal “intensively challenged” Volkswagen and its in-house bank, the unit’s chief said, and the unit expects costs to go up.

VW Whistle-Blower’s Suit Accuses Carmaker of Deleting Data
A fired Volkswagen employee in Michigan contends that employees erased electronic files as U.S. officials were investigating its emissions cheating.

Wheels: Carmakers Form Partnerships With Niche Brands to Stand Out
Compared with the cost of developing an all-new model, a relationship with a small brand can efficiently shift or reinforce consumer perceptions.

Driven: Video Review: The BMW 750i xDrive, Tranquillity With a Touch of Vegas
A powerful V8 and adaptive suspension give this luxury ride serenity, but the mesmerizing cabin lighting seems to take a cue from the Las Vegas Strip.

Head of VW’s Scandal-Tainted U.S. Unit Is Out
The executive is the latest departure at Volkswagen, which continues to deal with the fallout from its emissions scandal.

BMW Reports Better-Than-Expected Profit
The carmaker said results were driven by healthy sales of sport utility vehicles, but investors were disappointed by a lower than expected dividend.

G.M. Recalls Midsize Pickups and Sedans Over Airbags
G.M. has issued a stop-sales order and recalled about 1,750 new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickup trucks and Chevrolet Malibu sedans.

Volkswagen Inquiry Expands to 17 Suspects
German prosecutors said that they had widened the inquiry into illegal manipulation of tailpipe emissions and that they had not ruled out involvement by top management.

Investigation Opened Into Ford F-150 After Brake Failure Reports
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had received 33 consumer complaints about the pickups from the 2013-14 model years.

Wheels: VW Scandal Clouds Prospects for Other Diesel Makers at Geneva Motor Show
Automakers’ plans to use diesel to meet Europe’s tough carbon dioxide limits have been upended by Volkswagen’s admission that it cheated on emissions tests.

Business Briefing: Toyota Adds 331,000 Vehicles to Takata Airbag Recall
Toyota is recalling 198,000 more vehicles because the airbag inflater produced by Takata could rupture.

VW Says Old Memo Told Winterkorn of Emissions Irregularities
Volkswagen’s chief at the time received the information a year before the diesel scandal broke, but the company did not know if he read the memo.

Auto Sales Rose in February as Americans Replace Older Models
Overall industry sales were expected to rise as much as 8 percent, with the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate at more than 17.7 million vehicles.

Auto Safety Agency Resists Broader Recall of Takata Airbags
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that such a recall would not improve public safety, and might exceed its authority.

Business Briefing: Autonomous Google Car Hits Public Bus During Test Drive
A self-driving car being tested by Google struck a public bus on a city street in Mountain View, Calif.

Audit Finds Lapses at Safety Auto Regulator
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration still lacks a training plan to ensure that its safety investigators have the necessary expertise, a Transportation Department report finds.

VW’s Crisis Strategy: Forward, Reverse, U-Turn
Volkswagen made serious mistakes In its public response to the uproar over cheating on diesel emissions, and it is still scrambling to correct them.

Driven: Video Review: Restoring Diesel’s Good Name With a New Range Rover
With a powerful Td6 3-liter turbodiesel motor, the luxury vehicle combines opera house refinement and mountain goat ability.

Wheels: Technology Problems Top a List of Car Complaints
The results of J.D. Power’s latest survey on vehicle dependability suggest there is a long way to go before self-driving cars become practical.

Takata Faked Test Data a Year After Airbag Recalls, Report Says
A Senate report showed Takata officials presenting falsified test data about the design of a new component, illustrating what investigators called a pattern of deceit.

Trilobites: Reading This While You Drive Could Increase Your Risk of Crashing by 10
Researchers found that dialing a phone was the most dangerous distraction, followed by reading or writing.

SiriusXM Fights to Dominate the Dashboard of the Connected Car
While other music outlets struggle, the satellite-radio network is a success story. However, the Internet-connected car will pose a challenge.

Volkswagen Memos Suggest Company Misled U.S. Regulators
Documents suggesting VW executives knew of elevated diesel emissions in early 2014 could create problems with regulators, car owners and stockholders.

Driven: Video Review: The 2016 MKX Aims Lincoln in the Right Direction
The MKX crossover is a good move in the revival of Lincoln, a handsome, spacious crossover that should help the brand re-establish itself.

Wheels: A Brassy Concept Car Comes Back From the Dead
The Exemplar I, a ’60s auto show dream car, used brass and copper trim instead of chrome. Left in a junkyard, it’s now restored.

Aston Martin and LeEco Plan to Develop Electric Car
Aston Martin has set up a venture with the Chinese consumer electronics group LeEco to jointly develop an electric vehicle.

John J. Riccardo, Former Chairman of Chrysler, Dies at 91
Mr. Riccardo, who took over at a time of turmoil in 1975, recruited Lee Iacocca to succeed him, a bet that paid off when it helped win government aid.

Business Briefing: Volkswagen Brand Sales Fell 3.8 Percent in January
The Volkswagen brand was hit in January by its biggest fall in European sales since it was engulfed in a diesel emissions scandal last year.

Trial Illuminates Porsches’ Rise to Power at Volkswagen
Prosecutors claim that the Porsche holding company misled investors in 2008 on its plan to take over Volkswagen, sending VW stock soaring.

Takata Discarded Evidence of Airbag Ruptures as Early as 2000
A former Takata airbag engineer testified that the company’s airbags began rupturing in internal testing as many as 16 years ago.

The Commute of the Future? Ford Is Working on It
The design firm Ideo, which helped design the computer mouse, has been enlisted by Ford to shadow commuters and see how they get where they’re going: by car, bus, foot or Uber.

G.M. Recalls Trucks Because of Brake Pedal Issue
About 478,000 Chevrolet Silverados, GMC Sierras and Chevy Tahoes are recalled to fix a nut that can loosen and allow the brake pedal to fall off.

Google Car Exposes Regulatory Divide on Computers as Drivers
A federal agency seems to accept that the computers controlling a self-driving car are the same as a human driver, but California differs.

Your Money Adviser: Some Auto Insurance Premiums Penalize Home Renters, Study Finds
Consumers pay about 7 percent more for annual premiums if they rent their home rather than own it, even if they have stellar driving records.

Effort to Replace a Plaintiffs’ Lawyer in G.M. Case Is Rejected
One of the lawyers said another was acting improperly, but a Manhattan judge said there was little evidence to support the claims.

Wheels: Carmakers Retreat From Quirky Designs as Millennials Embrace Mainstream
Automakers like Toyota are pulling back from the boxy wagons and jellybean-shape city cars they were using to attract Gen X buyers.

Driven: Video Review: With the RC F, Lexus Abandons Its Beige Image
It’s 5-liter V8 provides plenty of oomph and growl. To find 467 horsepower and 389 pound-feet of torque under the hood of a Lexus is heartening.

VW Recalls 680,000 Cars in U.S. Over Airbag Issue
Volkswagen said on Wednesday it was recalling the cars because the Takata-made airbags in them could be defective.

Lawyer for Plaintiffs Suing G.M. Steps Up Criticism of Another
Lance Cooper, a lawyer who helped bring a deadly switch defect to light, says a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs is putting his own financial interests ahead of the case.

Federal Inquiry Widens Over Fiat Chrysler Roll-Away Complaints
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said certain vehicles can roll away when the driver mistakenly thinks the transmission is set on “park.”

No Matter the Brand, Europe’s Diesels Flunked a Pollution Test
Even before the Volkswagen scandal, European regulators were finding better emissions when a vehicle was tested in the lab than during road tests.

Lawyers Suing G.M. Over Defect Are Now Fighting Each Other
The lawyer who exposed the ignition problem urged a judge to remove the three plaintiffs’ lawyers leading the litigation, accusing them of bungling a trial.

Dodges Recalled Because of Risks in Changing Tires
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is recalling almost 505,000 2011-16 Dodge Chargers.

Yet Another Airbag Recall Will Affect Five Million
Vehicles made by automakers including Honda, Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz will be recalled to fix a defect in an airbag component from the German supplier Continental Automotive Systems.

Volkswagen, Reeling From Emissions Scandal, to Delay Earnings Report
The company will also postpone its shareholders meeting, as the German carmaker confronts official inquiries and potential lawsuits over the cheating.

Wheels: End of the Road May Be Near for Side Mirrors
Many automakers are demonstrating video systems that replace side mirrors with cameras, but it may take drivers some time to get used to them.

Driven: The BMW X5 40e, a Hybrid for the Future
The fuel savings may not offset the cost at today’s prices, but this well-engineered and smooth-driving S.U.V requires no other sacrifices of its owner.

Honda Expands Recall of Takata Airbags as Its Longtime Partner’s Crisis Widens
The latest action, for 2.23 million vehicles, reveals just how much Honda, the automaker most affected by the defective airbags, continues to be haunted by them.

Appetite for S.U.V.s Offers Upside in Slower Month for Auto Sales
While sales slipped from the torrid pace of last year, analysts said that average vehicle prices rose because of strong demand for higher-cost S.U.V.s.

Senators Call for a Much Broader Recall of Defective Takata Airbags After a Recent Death
Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Edward Markey of Massachusetts called on the Obama administration to force the recall of every Takata airbag using a propellant that contains ammonium nitrate.

G.M. Posts Record Profit of $9.7 Billion for 2015
The company said that its results in North America were the driving force behind its performance.

Mini Brand Fits Celebrities Into Super Bowl Ads
Mini USA will feature in Super Bowl ads six celebrities who have some history with the brand associated only with small cars, talking about defying the labels others have placed on them.

U.S. Proposes Spending $4 Billion on Self-Driving Cars
A proposal announced by the transportation secretary is meant to accelerate development of autonomous vehicles and remove hurdles for automakers.

Volvo Makes a Comeback, With a Detour Through China
Even the smallest auto companies are flourishing in the booming American market, none more so than this tiny Chinese-owned, Swedish-run luxury brand.

VW Names Former BMW Executive to Oversee North America Business
Hinrich J. Woebcken will take over as head of the North America region for the Volkswagen brand on April 1, while Michael Horn will remain chief executive of the VW unit in the United States.

Self-Driving Cars May Get Here Before We’re Ready
Only a few states have passed laws relating to the testing of autonomous cars, and no state expressly allows a completely unmanned vehicle on the road.

VW Admits Cheating in the U.S., but Not in Europe
Volkswagen’s position sheds light on its view of the scandal. While it promises to fix the vehicles, it is prepared to admit wrongdoing only in the United States.

Driven: Video Review: Chevy Volt Impresses With Tech, Design and Driving Pleasure
The second-generation Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid available this spring, is more efficient than its predecessor, looks better and is about $1,000 less expensive. It’s also fun to drive.

Britax Car Seats Recalled After Handle Breaks
Britax Child Safety said it is recalling 71,000 infant car seats in the United States, citing one report of the handle breaking and a baby being injured.

Retiring: Older Drivers Hit the Road for Uber and Lyft
Seniors are turning to ride-sharing services for the extra income and flexibility they provide, but there are concerns about possible exploitation.

Judge Dismisses G.M.’s First Ignition Defect Case
Evidence emerged that the plaintiff might have provided misleading testimony about his finances.

Where the Stars Get Their Rides
If major league stars want reclining chairs, wraparound leather couches and big-screen televisions in their vehicles, they know where to go.

Takata Airbag Flaw Linked to 10th Death; 5 Million More Vehicles Recalled
Regulators said the latest death, in a Ford pickup, was the first Takata-related fatality in a non-Honda vehicle.

Florida Beachgoers Cling to a Right to Make the Sand Their Driveway
It’s a seaside tailgating tradition, one that’s been slowly whittled by Daytona Beach laws. Now, leaders want to further curtail it in favor of development.

Driven: Video Review: The New XF, a Jaguar Light on Its Feet
This luxury performance sedan is, on average, 200 pounds lighter than the outgoing model, with a bonded and riveted aluminum platform instead of steel.

Ford’s Annual Profit Surges to $7.4 Billion
Lifted by strong sales in North America, the automaker said that it earned $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter.

Wheels: Chinese-Made Cars Arrive in U.S. Showrooms
There were snickers in 2007 when the Chinese said they would soon be making cars for the United States. It wasn’t soon, but the vehicles have begun to arrive.

Takata Denies Reports Its Chief Executive Will Resign
The airbag maker faces pressure from automakers over a safety scandal linked to 10 deaths and the recall of millions of cars.

Takata’s Faulty Airbags Still Exact Toll as Recalls Lag
Millions of people are still driving vehicles with Takata airbags that may pose a lethal danger because they have not been repaired or, in some cases, even recalled.

Volkswagen Bank Profits May Be Endangered by Diesel Scandal
Volkswagen Financial Services, the company’s in-house bank, has been an important element in VW’s rise to become the No. 2 carmaker in the world after Toyota.

Volkswagen May Buy Back Diesel Cars It Can’t Fix
A lawyer for the carmaker said the company might have to buy back some tainted cars in the United States because it would take too long to correct emissions problems.