Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen plans to more than triple its sales in south China by 2018 as a main driver for its strategy to double sales to 2 million units in the the country by that time, its China chief said on Sunday.

The three sit atop the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles, according to a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms.

Malaysia, which has to reduce tariffs on auto and parts imports as part of a deal with Asian neighbors, is scouting for a partner for national carmaker Proton as it faces increasing foreign competition.

It was not exactly a planned strategy, but the recession, particularly in the United States, has been very good for Hyundai, the South Korean automaker.

Volkswagen and Porsche have broadly agreed on details for a deal to combine two of Europe's most storied automakers, two VW supervisory board members told Reuters on Wednesday.

In addition to the recession, and the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors, a new threat has appeared in the rearview mirror. Many smaller automakers are gaining a bigger share of the market, most notably Hyundai and Kia.

Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, has halted tie-up talks with Porsche as it said its smaller peer and major shareholder was not ready for a merger.

Even as Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Fiat, is considered a potential savior for Chrysler in the United States, German politicians, executives and union bosses are casting a more skeptical eye on his bid for Opel and the rest of General Motors’ European operations.

The past year has been a rocky time for the US auto industry, but the high-end has been more insulated from the recession. Automobili Lamborghini, owned by the Volkswagen group, recently announced that it actually experienced 1 percent sales growth for 2008, when orders increased to 2,430 from 2,406 the year prior. A new breed of companies is looking to tap this demand by making the high-end, turbocharged experience more affordable. One company, New York-based Gotham Dream Cars, maintains a fleet of 18 super cars and offering a range of products, from exotic rentals and club memberships, to the increasingly popular "Dream Car" tours—a six-hour, 150-mile journey allowing drivers to experience multiple cars in a single day.