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News watch October 2012: today's industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hou Wednesday 31 October 2012• It's emerged GM's European 2012 earnings are down nearly half a billion dollars in Europe, where it now expects to lose $1.5bn to $1.8bn before interest and taxes for the full year (DetNews)• Ford has posted a third-quarter net profit of $1.63bn (£101bn) - almost matching its eventual profit total for the entire year 2011. Despite painful losses in Europe (Ford expects to lose $1bn in Europe alone this year) a resurgent North American market has buoyed Fords sales even higher than previous forecasts (Automotive News Europe)• Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has weighed in against Republican presedential nominee Mitt Romney, who argued that a move towards Chinese production would harm American jobs.

Lotus begins bespoke program with Mansory

Lotus is going bespoke with help from Mansory Design, the company said on Monday. Mansory has worked with Lotus on a few special editions before, including the 2011 Evora Concept Bespoke they showed at the 2011 Geneva motor show. Lotus says the car received positive reaction at the show.

Company drivers fail to have correct licence

FIVE IN EVERY 1000 company car, van and truck drivers in the UK does not have the correct licence to be at the wheel. With more than 5 million vehicles on the UK’s roads owned by companies, this means 5000 drivers either have the wrong licence or simply don’t have any licence at all. Research by the Licence Bureau has revealed the top five reasons for drivers failing to have the right licence for the vehicle they are driving.