PSA Peugeot Citroen predicts car markets will begin to recover everywhere but Europe this year. The company says Europe’s slump, caused by the phasing out of scrappage schemes, may ease in the second half of 2010. But it predicts European markets will average a single-digit decline for the full year.

PSA’s own sales slipped 2.2% to nearly 3.2 million in 2009, and the company declined to announce its sales forecast for the current year. The company outperformed the general market in Europe in 2009, increasing its market share to 13.7% from 13.5% in 2008.

PSA says it gained share in Germany (by 0.6 points to 6.3%), France (0.6 points to 32%), Italy (1 point to 10.8%) and Spain (0.3 points to 19.4%). It lost share in the U.K. and central and eastern Europe.

Sales outside Europe, including CKD kits, grew by 2.5% to 1.06 million—one-third the company’s global volume. Demand in China, which is now the company’s second-largest national market after France, jumped by 52% to 272,000 units.

Russia says it will spend €235 million to pay consumers €1,200 for scrapping a car that is at least 10 years old and buying a Russian-made domestic or foreign brand vehicle.

The new program, which begins on 8 March, is expected to generate about 200,000 new-car sales in Russia, where volume plunged 50% to about 1.5 million last year. An analyst tells Dow Jones Newswires that sales in Russia could increase by 5%-10% this year. But he cautions that Russian dealers are low on cash and will not be able to wait long to receive government scrappage refunds.

The Russian government hopes the program will encourage consumers to buy locally produced new cars rather than buying lower-priced used cars imported from Japan and South Korea.

Ford Motor Co.’s next-generation Focus compact car made its worldwide debut on Monday at the Detroit auto show. The car is the first of as many as 10 C-segment models Ford plans to introduce worldwide—all sharing the same platform.

2011 Ford Focus

One variation will be an electric Focus due in 2011. The car will be assembled along with conventional Focus models at a converted SUV plant outside Detroit. Ford said yesterday it will spend $450 million (€311 million) to prepare the facility to make EVs and electric plug-ins starting in 2012.

Ford, which sold 1 million vehicles in the C segment last year, predicts its expanded lineup will generate about 2 million sales annually by 2012. Ford is showing a four-door sedan and five-door hatchback in Detroit. The cars go into production simultaneously in Europe and North America late this year and will go on sale in early 2011. Ford plans to make the cars in Saarlouis, Germany; and Chongqing, China, as well as Detroit.

The new Focus represents Ford’s latest attempt to produce a true “world car,” meaning a single design produced in multiple markets. Previously, the European and North American versions of the Focus—and the Escort before it—differed dramatically. Ford says the new Focus will use 80% of the same parts regardless of where it is made.

The new Focus will be offered with a range of Ford’s EcoBoost four-cylinder, turbocharged direct injection gasoline engine and Duratorq TDCi common-rail diesel engines. Ford says the lineup will delivery 10%-20% better fuel economy than the engines they replac

The BMW Group, whose global sales fell 10% to 1.29 million last year, predicts its sales will expand by a “single digit” percentage in 2010.

The company says it is counting on continued strong growth in emerging markets to help increase worldwide sales. Last year the group achieved record high sales in Brazil (6,400, up 119%), China (90,600, up 38%) and India (3,600, up 24%) of its BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands.

In Germany, sales of BMW and Mini vehicles declined by about 9% to 258,000 units. Mini sales set a record high of 33,500 vehicles.

In the U.S., group sales fell 20% to 241,700 units. But BMW remained Europe’s best-selling brand in America with full-year volume of 196,500 cars and SUVs.

Volkswagen AG’s New Compact Coupe hybrid-powered concept hints at the look of the Jetta Coupe expected to go into production in South America later this year for the U.S. market. The size of the car falls between the Golf and Passat models.

Volkswagen New Compact Coupe

The hybrid concept is powered by a supercharged 1.4-liter gasoline engine producing 150 hp, a 20-kW electric motor and a lithium-ion battery. The car is fitted with VW’s seven-speed direct-shift gearbox and, according to VW, is capable of operating in an all-electric mode.

VW says the concept can accelerate from zero to 100 km/hr in 8.6 seconds and deliver average fuel economy of 67 mpg. CO₂ emissions are 98 g/km.

Formula One czar Bernie Ecclestone and Luxembourg-based investment firm Genii Capital reportedly expect to raise as much as €124 million within a few days as part of their bid for Saab Automobile AB. General Motors Co. has begun closing down the company after failing to receive what it considers an adequately funded offer.

GM has told potential buyers they must raise between €100 million and €200 million initially and commit to a long-term investment of €980 million in Saab, according to Dagens Industri, which cites unidentified sources.

The Ecclestone-Genii bidders tell Reuters that GM also says it will not consider any offer that requires a loan from the European Investment Bank. The EIB previously had offered to loan €400 million to previous bidder Koenigsegg Group and subsequent bidder Spyker Cars NV. But both deals collapsed, and it isn’t clear if the EIB will approve a loan for a new bidder.

In the meantime, GM CEO Ed Whitacre reiterated to reporters yesterday at the Detroit auto show that GM is “closing down Saab.”

Jaguar Land Rover CEO David Smith says Jaguar can return to its pre-recession sales pace of 100,000 units per year, but he doesn’t say when. “We want to get there as soon as possible,” Smith tells WirtschaftsWoche, adding that “We can return to such levels once the crisis is over.”

Last year sales by JLR plunged 30% to 260,000 units worldwide. Jaguar sold 65,000 cars, and Land Rover sold 195,000 SUVs.

Volkswagen AG reports its worldwide vehicles sales grew 1% to a record 6.3 million units, pushed by scrappage programs in Europe and strong demand in China.

VW’s sales in China, the company’s largest market, soared nearly 37% to 1.4 million units. Demand jumped nearly 18% to 1.2 million units in Germany, the second-largest market, and by almost 9% to 688,000 units in third-place Brazil. On a regional level, sales fell 7% to 3.3 million in Europe and 7% to 468,000 units in North America.

The company says its global market share improved to 11.4% last year from 10.3% in 2008. VW predicts its share will grow by an unspecified amount this year in spite of what group sales and marketing chief Christian Klingler concedes is “no signs of a sustained recovery” in the worldwide auto market this year.

Ford Motor Co. won the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards yesterday with its 2010 Fusion Hybrid sedan and 2010 Transit Connect delivery van, respectively.

The awards were made as the Detroit auto show’s media preview began yesterday. To qualify for consideration, a vehicle must be either completely new or significantly changed from the previous model. Winners are selected by a panel of 49 Canadian and U.S. automotive journalists.

The Fusion, which goes on sale in the U.S. next month, won over the Buick LaCrosse sedan and Volkswagen Golf/GTI. The Transit Connect, exported to the U.S. from Turkey, outscored the Chevrolet Equinox and Subaru Outback crossover vehicles.

A single manufacturer has won both titles only twice before in the 17-year history of the award. Ford won the truck award last year with its redesigned F-150 large pickup truck

Volkswagen AG tells Bloomberg News it will decide this year whether to build Audi cars in the new U.S. assembly plant it is building in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Audi outsold BMW and Mercedes-Benz in Europe and China last year. But U.S. sales chief Peter Schwarzenbauer concedes the company needs “long-term growth” in America.

Last year Audi sold about 83,000 vehicles in the U.S., compared to about 191,000 for Mercedes-Benz and 242,000 for BMW. VW’s goal is to boost Audi’s annual sales in the market to 200,000 by 2018, or 20% of the brands global sales by that time.

Unlike its rivals, Audi current exports all cars sold in North America from Europe, where a strong euro has driven up costs. The proposed Chattanooga plant would play a major role by offering the company some protection from currency fluctuations.

The facility, which is scheduled to open in 2011, will have annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles. VW will build a midsize sedan there that is slightly larger but less expensive than the Passat.

Worldwide, Audi sold 947,700 vehicles last  year, down 5% from 2008. The company aims to sell 1.5 million cars per year by 2016.