Chrysler Group LLC has introduced a new round of incentives, offering interest-free loans or rebates of as much as $4,000 on nearly all 2010 models through Jan 4.

The new offer amounts to $4,000 off most Jeeps, $3,000 off Chrysler models and $2,500 off most Dodge cars and Ram brand trucks. Rebates on leftover 2009 models run as high as $5,500.

Chrysler has offered the largest incentives among major automakers for most of this year, but its sales were down 39% in the first 10 months of 2009, compared with a 25% industry average decline.

CEO Sergio Marchionne said earlier this month that the company aims to reduce its reliance on incentives, which sap profit and undermine brand image and resale values. But the incentive habit can be hard to break. Last month when Chrysler cut incentives by one-quarter, or $1,000 per vehicle, its daily selling rate fell one-third vs. a 4% decline industrywide.

General Motors Co. has received informal offers for as much as $1.2 billion in financing from European governments to restructure its Opel/Vauxhall unit, according to Der Spiegel.

GM has said it hopes the countries that host Opel and Vauxhall plants will help finance the €3 billion restructuring of the unit. The German magazine says the U.K. has pledged €400 million ($600 million), and Spain has offered €300 million-€400 million ($450 million-$600 million). Poland is offering tax breaks.

Der Spiegel says Belgium offered as much as €500 million ($750 million) on condition that GM not close an Opel assembly plant in Antwerp, but GM declined. Germany, which is home to four Opel plants, has been ambivalent about financing aid.

European Union Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen criticizes the financing pledges, telling Der Spiegel he wants to avoid “putting jobs up for auction.” Verheugen and other EU officials will meet today to discuss Opel financing with GM and ministers from the countries that host the company’s plants.

Electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc. plans to file a stock registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission within days in preparation for an initial public stock offering, says Reuters.

The news service, which cites two unidentified sources, describes the plan as the first IPO from an American automaker since Ford Motor Co. in 1956.

Analysts say Tesla may be hoping to capitalize on enthusiasm for “green” technology, noting the success of lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc.’s IPO in September, when shares soared 45% on the first day of trading.

Chairman Elon Musk said last year a public offering was possible in late 2008 or 2009. But as the collapse of the financial markets slowed the IPO market, Tesla found other ways to raise capital. In May Germany’s Daimler AG bought a 10% stake in Tesla. The U.S. Dept. of Energy agreed in June to grant the company a $465 million low-interest loan to develop and produce the Model S electric sedan due in 2011. Tesla has priced the car at $57,400, or $49,900 after a federal tax credit.

Tesla has delivered about 900 of its $109,000 Roadsters in Europe and the U.S. since spring 2008. The company says it achieved “overall corporate profitability” of $1 million in July on sales of $20 million but didn’t explain further. An S-1 registration with the SEC would offer the first peek at Tesla’s financial statements.

The Crown group, a consortium led by U.S. turnaround veteran Michael Dingman, plans to make an offer for Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo Cars unit this week, says Dagens Industri.

The Swedish business daily cites an unidentified Crown source who says half the group’s financing would come from Swedish investors. The source implies Crown plans to outbid China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., which Ford named the preferred buyer last month. News reports say Geely is offering $2 billion-$2.5 billion.

When word of Crown’s interest in Volvo surfaced in early October, news reports said the group had lined up financing from U.S. private equity funds but also was seeking Swedish partners. In addition to Dingman, a former Ford director, the group includes Shamel Rushwin, a former engineering executive at Ford and Chrysler Group LLC. Former Volvo CEO Roger Holtback is advising Crown.

Michelin & Cie. has surprised analysts by saying the company’s revenue is unlikely to increase next year from an estimated €14.7 billion ($21.9 billion) in 2009, says Bloomberg News.

The news service says analysts had forecast a 4% increase in 2010 sales to €15.4 billion ($23 billion).

CEO Michel Rollier tells Bloomberg he is cautious because high unemployment and weak housing prices continue to dampen auto sales. He says sales of truck tires remain “very depressed” as orders from manufacturers decline. He adds that a steep increase in rubber prices next year could keep raw material prices from boosting 2010 earnings.

Ford Motor Co. says it will invest $2.3 billion over five years in Brazil to develop unidentified new models and upgrade two assembly plants in the country’s northern region.

The company will boost annual capacity at the Camacari plant that makes the Fiesta subcompact car by 50,000 vehicles to 300,000. Ford also will modernize the Troller plant that produces SUVs.

The investment is Ford’s largest investment ever in Brazil. The company says it anticipates growth in South American demand because of low interest rates and reviving local economies.

Anfavea, Brazil’s carmaker association, expects sales this year to set a record at just above 3 million vehicles, aided by government incentives that expire at year-end. The group predicts demand will grow 9% next year even without new subsidies. Ford has about a 10% market share in Brazil, which ranks it fourth behind, in descending order, Fiat, Volkswagen and General Motors.

Keeping all of Fiat SpA’s plants in Italy open is “not feasible,” CEO Sergio Marchionne tells reporters

Marchionne has often remarked that the European auto industry, unlike its U.S. counterpart, has failed to rationalize operations. He also notes that a single Fiat plant in Brazil produces more vehicles than the company’s six Italian factories combined. The company is due to unveil its new strategy in the first quarter of 2010.

The Porsche and Piech family members who control Porsche Automobil Holding SE have approved contracts to merge its sports car unit into Volkswagen AG.

VW also approved the contracts late last week, thus clearing the way for it to buy a 49.9% stake in Porsche AG for €3.9 billion ($5.8 billion) by year-end. VW plans to merge with parent company Porsche SE in 2011.

As part of the new agreements, Porsche plans to reduce its €10.75 billion ($16.1 billion) credit facility with a new €8.5 billion ($12.7 billion) facility from its existing lenders. Porsche said previously that selling a big chunk of its sports car business to VW would allow creditors to immediately demand repayment of the €10.75 billion loan.

Harley-Davidson Inc. has reached a seven-year tentative agreement with its union that would relax work rules and nearly halve the workforce at its York, Pa., motorcycle plant, but keep the factory open.

The company said last month it would close the facility-its largest-and move the work to Kentucky unless workers agreed to concessions. The International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union will hold a ratification vote on Dec. 2.

Under the new pact, the number of labor grades would be reduced to five from 12, according to the York Daily Record. Staffing at the plant would shrink to about 1,000 hourly employees through buyouts. As many as 300 of the remaining employees would work part time. Workers who stay and some who are idled would receive $1,000 bonuses. Harley-Davidson also agreed to invest $90 million in the plant, the local newspaper says.

The York contract is the latest in a series of restructuring steps aimed at saving $120 million-$150 million annually. Worldwide demand for the company’s motorcycles fell 18% in the first nine months of 2009. Profits have declined for nine straight quarters.

Dutch sports car maker Spyker Cars NV plans to move its assembly work to supplier CPP Ltd. in Coventry, England.

Spyker says the move, which could shed 45 jobs, would reduce transportation costs because nearly all its key suppliers are in the U.K. The company produces about 50 vehicles per year, such as the $235,000 C8 Aileron, mostly for the U.S. market.

Spyker’s corporate, engineering and marketing staff will stay in the Netherlands. The company says it sold 12 vehicles in the third quarter of 2009.

Volkswagen AG plans to buy the land, tooling and equipment of bankrupt auto assembler Karmann GmbH.

VW says it will create a new manufacturing subsidiary to begin producing an undisclosed new niche vehicle at the site in Osnabrueck, Germany, by 2011.

Karmann sought bankruptcy protection in April and soon after stopped making convertible versions of VW’s Audi A4 and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz CLK. The company assembled the Chrysler Crossfire two-seater until late 2007. Karmann is best known for building the iconic VW Karmann Ghia coupe from the 1950s into the early 1970s and later developing the retractable hardtop roof system.

CEO Sergio Marchionne says he would have left Fiat SpA if the Agnelli family had lost its controlling stake in the company in 2005.

Marchionne testified in a trial in Turin into market manipulation charges against a pair of family holding companies and three of their advisers. The Agnellis put Marchionne in charge in mid-2004 to fix the ailing company. He says it was essential to have owners who would allow the company to complete its turnaround plan.

The case centers on a secret stock swap in September 2005 that allowed the Agnellis to retain their stake even as Fiat’s lenders exchanged their debt for equity. Italy’s market watchdog Consob ruled in 2007 that the Agnelli companies issued misleading statements about the exchange.

Fiat SpA’s Ferrari unit will recall 2,350 F355 and 355 F1 sports cars from model years 1995-1999 in the U.S. to install a divider to prevent a water hose clamp from rubbing against fuel lines.

If a fuel line is damaged, it could leak fuel and start a fire, notes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ferrari blames the problem on independent auto repair shops that improperly installed the clamps. The brand sold 1,600 cars in the U.S. last year.