Manufacturing in the eurozone, which sunk to a record low a year ago, reached a two-year high in January, according to the monthly purchasing managers survey by Lond-based Markit Economics.

The index increased to 52.4 in January from 51.6 in December. It was at 36.2 in February 2009. The index reached 50, indicating growth, in August, and has been improving since then.

France and Germany led last month’s improvement. Markit says the eurozone’s recovery remains uneven, with growth relatively strong in Austria, Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands but weak or negative elsewhere.

Toyota Motor Corp. says it will begin as soon as the end of this week to notify some 4.4 million customers in Europe, China, Canada and the U.S. about fixing the accelerator pedal mechanisms in their cars to prevent them from sticking.

Toyota says sticking occurs in “rare instances” on cold days when the heat is used, causing condensation in the pedal arm mechanism. Toyota says dealerships will install a spacer bar that eliminates the problem and allows the pedal’s return spring to operate properly.

In Europe, the recall will include Toyota’s Auris, Avensis, Aygo, Corolla, iQ, RAV4 and Verso models. PSA Peugeot Citroen also has recalled about 90,000 Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 city cars built at a joint venture with Toyota in the Czech Republic and using the same pedal mechanism.

In the U.S., Toyota says it will soon restart the five assembly plants that halted production this week while Toyota prepared the fix. The company did not halt production in its European plants.

Toyota’s share price increased about 3% in the U.S. yesterday and more than 5% in early trading in Tokyo this morning. The company’s stock had plunged 18% over the previous week as the recall swept around the world.

Ferrari will show a gasoline-electric hybrid prototype of the 599 sports car, its first hybrid powertrain, at next month’s Geneva auto show.

Chairman Luca di Montezemolo suggests the car will go into production, but he has not said when.

Ferrari 599

European patents made public last year indicate that Ferrari is developing a four-wheel-drive hybrid drivetrain with electric motors powering the front wheels. Italy’s Quattroruote says the powertrain will reduce the 599’s fuel consumption by 35%. Reuters, citing unnamed sources at Ferrari, says the system will employ regenerative braking similar to the KERS (kinetic energy recovery system) used in last year’s Formula One racing season.

The 599 GTB Fiorano two-seater originally debuted at the 2006 Geneva auto show. The conventional version is powered by a 6-liter V-12 powertrain that generates 612 hp and 448 lb-ft of torque. The car accelerates from 0-100 kph in 3.7 seconds and has a top speed of 332 kph.

Not surprisingly, labor and management failed to reach agreement yesterday in their first meeting following Adam Opel GmbH’s announced plan to close its assembly plant in Antwerp, Belgium.

The General Motors Co. unit has asked workers across Europe for €265 million in annual wage cuts over the next five years to aid the company’s turnaround. But Opel’s unions refused yesterday to discuss the concessions. They also claim Opel intends to trim 10,300 jobs, not the 8,300 previously mentioned. Opel says the 2,000 extra jobs are part of a deal in 2006 for employees to take part-time work before retiring.

Opel says it will halt production of the Astra compact car at the Belgian plant in the next few months and close the 85-year-old facility entirely by the mid-year to help it trim European capacity by 20%. The company also plans unspecified additional cutbacks in production at its remaining plants.

Closing the Antwerp plant will eliminate 2,600 jobs and, according to one estimate, about as many more jobs at companies that supplied the facility.

Later this week, GM Europe CEO Nick Reilly will formally present Opel’s turnaround plan to the German government. GM has committed €650 million to the company and is seeking an additional €2.7 billion in loans and loan guarantees from European governments. Bloomberg News says the German government is pushing GM to contribute more before Germany agrees to provide state aid.

Without government assistance, Reilly has said that Opel has enough cash to operate “well into the second quarter.”

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., which plans to build a Volvo plant in China that can produce as many as 300,000 cars per year, reiterates to the Financial Times that it also plans to continue making the cars in Europe.

“We don’t want the image of a luxury car made in a third-world country,” explains Freeman Shen, Geely’s vice president for international operations, adding, “We want the image of a European luxury car, albeit owned by a Chinese owner.”

Geely has said repeatedly that it plans to maintain Volvo’s Swedish headquarters and product development operations in Gothenburg and to continue making cars at the company’s European facilities.

Geely expects to sign a final agreement to buy Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co. this month and complete the sale by May.

Year-over-year sales of cars, trucks and buses (excluding minivehicles) surged 37% to 238,400 units in Japan last month, reports the Japan Automotive Dealers Association.

JADA says demand for passenger cars jumped 43% to 219,800 units in January. Sales of buses and commercial trucks declined by 8% and 9%, respectively.

Sales of minivehicles—powered by engines with displacements of less than 660 cc—grew 1% to 128,300, says the Japan Mini Vehicles Association. It was the first year-over-year improvement in 15 months for such vehicles, which had paced sales growth in Japan until the global economic crisis began.

Fiat SpA, whose product development spending fell from €5 billion in 2008 to €3.4 billion last year, says it will invest €4.5 billion on new models this year to prepare for a sales recovery in Europe in 2011.

Last month Fiat said it would spend more than €8 billion over the next two years on product and facility updates. The company did not explain how that target relates to its €5 billion plan for this year or clarify if it expects product spending to drop again in 2011.

Fiat says spending cuts that began in late 2008 and ended in December 2009 delayed the company’s introduction of replacements for the Alfa Romeo 147, Fiat Panda and Lancia Ypsilon. Fiat will replace the 147 with the Giulietta next month—a year later than originally scheduled. The Panda and Ypsilon updates won’t arrive until 2011, two years after their original introduction dates.

CEO Sergio Marchionne insists that introducing the three models any earlier would be a waste of resources pending a “structural recovery” in demand that won’t begin until next year. Fiat predicts industrywide car sales in western Europe will drop at least 12% to 12 million units this year and perhaps lower if major markets do not renew car scrappage incentives.

Marchionne told analysts yesterday that last year’s cutbacks allow it to add only two other new models in Europe this year: the Fiat Doblo van and a rebadged version of the Dodge Nitro SUV from Fiat affiliate Chrysler Group LLC.

In 2011 Fiat will use rebadged versions of the Dodge Journey crossover to replace the Fiat Ulysse and Lancia Phedra minivans. It also is replacing its Fiat Idea and Multipla small minivans. Lancia also will get a version of the Chrysler 300C large sedan to replace its Thesis large sedan and a revised version of the Chrysler Sebring sedan and two-door convertible.

General Motors Co. and Chinese truckmaker Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery have reset their deadline to negotiate the sale of GM’s Hummer brand to the end of February.

Analysts estimate the sale at $150 million (€108 million), less than one-third the value GM estimated last June when it announced Hummer was for sale.

The two companies announced the sale last October, but Tengzhong has not yet received approval from Chinese regulators. Under the agreement, Tengzhong will take an 80% stake in Hummer, with Chinese industrialist Suolang Duoji holding the remaining 20%.

Privately owned Tengzhong was formed in 2005 through several mergers. It makes special-use vehicles, construction machinery and structural components for highways and bridges.

Analysts have questioned whether Tengzhong can run a global operation. Government officials in China also seemed lukewarm about the deal, given Hummer’s reputation for poor fuel efficiency.

The U.S. manufacturing sector grew in January at its strongest rate since 2004, according to a closely watched index.

The Institute for Supply Management’s monthly index of factory activity rose to 58.4 in January from 54.9 in December. A reading above 50 indicates growth. The institute says 13 of 18 industrial sectors reported expansion in January, a “good indication” that America’s economic recovery is widening.

The manufacturing sector’s strong results come in the wake of news that the U.S. economy expanded by 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009.

U.S. companies continue to replenish their inventories at a faster-than-expected rate. But analysts don’t expect a booming recovery in 2010. Consumer spending rose by a weak 0.2% in December, and unemployment remains at a 26-year high. Full-year spending by American consumers in 2009 fell 0.4%, its largest downturn since 1938.