Mark Milner

Bentley has unveiled its fastest, most powerful production car ever, which it has tagged “the extreme Bentley”.

The crisis facing the world's car industry deepened as Toyota revealed it was on course to record its first operating loss in more than 70 years.

President elect Barack Obama has only 100 days to save the US auto industry, write David Gow and Mark Milner.

The 100 000th Land Rover Freelander 2 recently rolled off the company's production line at Halewood on Merseyside, north west England.

Earlier this week BHP Billiton played down fears that the boom, which has driven commodity prices to record levels, could turn to bust.

It is too soon to call an end to the oil price crisis that has engulfed global energy markets in the past year, the West's oil watchdog has warned.

Global warming will send Asia's social and economic progress into reverse unless action is taken to tackle climate change, according to a report released on Monday. Wealthy countries should slash greenhouse gas emissions and help Asian countries reduce their reliance on fossil fuels by promoting and investing in sustainable and renewable energy across the region, according to the report, entitled Up in Smoke?

Ford is expected to draw up a shortlist of preferred bidders for Jaguar and Land Rover this month, with half a dozen companies still in the race to buy two of Britain's most prestigious car marques. The car-maker said it hoped to reach a conclusion either by the end of the year or by early 2008.

If consumers in Warsaw are wary of the impact of the single market on their wallets, should Britain also be wary of the more grandiose visions of a vast trade empire of 450-million people? The population of the EU will increase by about a fifth — but its economic might will increase by somewhere between 4% and 6%.

The outlook for the global economy is improving, although concerns are emerging about prospects for the United States and the eurozone, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said this week. The International Monetary Fund last week also gave an upbeat assessment of the outlook for financial markets, while highlighting the threat of a renewed al-Qaeda terror campaign.

As the European Union prepares to open its new extension it might care to look at the cracks in the front wall. Countries across the eurozone are struggling with their public finances, high unemployment and voters who are unwilling to accept painful structural reforms of their social welfare networks and labour markets designed to make their economies more flexible.