Senate investigators are widening the scope of the inquiry into General Motors' decade-long failure to recall cars with a defective ignition switch to also focus on the supplier that made the flawed part.

Global automobile production will increase by 21 million units by 2021, and has grown by 25 million units since 2009 as the industry continues to recover from the impact of the global economic recession, according to a forecast by IHS Automotive, part of IHS Inc. China will dominate, but there is a considerable upside attached to the North American industry as it attracts foreign investment, and in the European industry as its domestic markets climb back. Japanese and South Korean production will decline as local OEMs focus their efforts overseas.

Toyota's plan to close its Torrance headquarters and ship 3,000 jobs to a Dallas suburb has triggered a new round of hand-wringing among those who see business-friendly Texas gaining at the expense of regulation-choked California.

The world's leading automotive premium brands are looking to achieve significant growth between now and the end of the decade with the launch of new models, including expansion of their sport utility vehicle and crossover model lines. Some brands, such as Jaguar and Maserati, will be entering these segments for the first time.

China's mostly state-owned automakers want to persuade the country's Commerce Ministry to retain a requirement seldom found in other top manufacturing nations: Foreign automakers may assemble cars in China only through 50-50 joint ventures with domestic partners.

Add Spartanburg, S.C., to the list of manufacturing hotspots. That's where BMW AG last week announced it will invest $1bn to build the equivalent of a new factory to its already formidable U.S. production site. Following the expansion, BMW's U.S. complex will become the automaker's biggest, larger than any it operates in Germany, its home.

More than a dozen of the world's largest car makers have agreed on minimum human rights, environmental and business ethics standards for their global supply chains, according to the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) in Michigan and CSR Europe in Brussels, which today jointly announced the "unprecedented agreement."

IBM has deployed a business-to-business, cloud-based network to support India's automotive industry.

Analyst Insight: Customers want orders faster and without additional shipping cost. And that's impacting how companies deploy inventory across their networks. In addition to defining the parts (SKU) mix and inventory levels needed to support service goals, you must consider how many distribution nodes you'll need and where to locate them. You must balance cost and service across several variables. And the decisions have ripple effects throughout your operations. - John Giangrande, Automotive Industry Leader, Fortna Inc.