Toyota is investing considerable resources in developing its South African supply chain. VP of purchasing and engineering Nigel Ward explains to Gay Sutton the value of collaborative supplier relations and Toyota’s philosophy of respect for people and mutual trust.

Sales of new automobiles in the United States rose to their highest level of the year in July, as improved access to credit and leasing allowed motorists to replace their ageing cars and rental operators and fleet owners to upgrade their fleets.

Summer promotions, which usually begin in August but were pulled ahead this year, also had an effect, tempting buyers even though the price of the automobile was no cheaper than in previous months.

Drax, the UK’s biggest power station, has said that government reforms of subsidies for renewable energy have put the company’s planned biomass expansion in jeopardy.

According to a report in the Financial Times, the UK government’s new subsidy rules have made it hard for the company to make the case to shareholders for its planned £2 billion biomass investment.

Kinross Gold Corporation, Canada’s third largest gold producer, has agreed to buy the remaining 91 percent of shares of Red Back Mining Inc. that it does not already own, to expand into Africa.

Red Back, based in Vancouver, operates the Tasiast mine in Mauritania and the Chirano mine in Ghana, and has exploration projects in both countries. Kinross has mines and projects in Canada, the United States, Brazil, China and Russia.

Xstrata, the world’s largest exporter of coal used for power, said its first half profit more than tripled on the back of a jump in metal prices from a year earlier.

The Zug, Switzerland-based company said that net income rose to $2.3 billion (approximately €1.7 billion) from $690 million a year earlier, beating analysts’ estimates. Sales rose by 43 per cent to $13.7 billion (approx. €10.3 billion).

10. Kia: reliability score 81.0 per cent

Kia Motors is South Korea's second largest automobile manufacturer, having sold over 1.6 million cars in 2009.

Founded in June 1944 and headquartered in Seoul, the company is 38.67 per cent owned by the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group. North American and European arms are operated by Kia Motors America and Kia Motors Europe respectively.

For the first time, Kia posted KRW10 trillion in revenue for the first half of this fiscal year.

Caterpillar has chosen Winston-Salem, North Carolina as the site of its new powertrain components manufacturing and assembly facility to provide extra capacity for its expanding business in global mining operations. Sites in South Carolina and Alabama had also been under consideration for the plant.

The United Arab Emirates has announced it is banning BlackBerry messaging, email and internet use.

The government claims the ban is due to security concerns because encrypted data sent on the devices is sent abroad, where it cannot be monitored for illegal activity. It says it is cracking down solely on the BlackBerry because it is the only smartphone that automatically sends users' data to servers overseas.

Analysts say this makes BlackBerry messages tougher to monitor than ones sent through domestic servers that authorities can access more easily.

Motorola has reported strong second quarter results thanks to consumer demand for its Droid phones, which run on Google’s Android operating system.

The company announced net income of $162 million, up from $26 million in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter was $5.41 billion, slightly down on Q2 2009, but still ahead of analysts’ predictions of $5.2 billion.

EDFof France is to sell its UK electricity networks business to Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI) of Hong Kong for £5.8 billion.

EDF's UK unit, EDF Energy Networks, distributes electricity to 7.8 million customers and generates around a fifth of Britain's electricity.

In acquiring EDF Networks, CKI has obtained low-voltage electricity distribution networks in the east and south of England, and ongoing contracts with businesses including the London Underground, Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and the Channel Tunnel.