General Motors chief Fritz Henderson has said a new $43 million plant in Michigan will assemble battery packs for the company's forthcoming Volt hybrid.  The plant will be based in Brownstown Township, 20 miles southwest of Detroit, and will employ around 100 people, the company said.  GM will be leasing the 160,000-square-foot building that will house the plant.  The investment will include the cost of renovating the premises, as well as the purchase of new machinery and specialized tools.

Volkswagen, EuropeÔÇÖs biggest carmaker, is to pay ┬ú2.8 billion (Ôé¼3.3 billion) for a 42 per cent stake in Porsche's main production division, bringing the two German companies one step closer to full integration.

Microsoft, the worldÔÇÖs largest software maker, and Nokia, the biggest mobile phone maker, have signed an agreement to put Microsoft Office and instant messaging services onto Nokia smartphones.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is to enter a UK government-sponsored race to build a carbon capture and storage plant in Britain.

Detroit-based automaker General Motors (GM) has announced that its new Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid is expected to achieve at least 230 miles per gallon.  The company has said that the Volt, which is expected to go into production late next year, will be able to travel a distance of up to 40 miles from a single battery charge.  The car will have a dual engine, with the gas engine producing the energy to re-charge the battery once the original charge has run out.

Support services and building firm Interserve has overcome challenging trading conditions in the private sector to post a 19 per cent rise in its first half profits.

US aircraft firm Boeing has won a $1.2 billion order to supply 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to the Canadian armed forces.  Chicago-based Boeing expects to deliver the twin-engine CH-47F helicopters between 2013 and 2014. They will be built at the Boeing Rotorcraft Systems facility in Ridley Township, Pennsylvania.

BAE Systems, EuropeÔÇÖs largest defence company, has won a ten-year contract worth ┬ú370 million to maintain and develop torpedoes for the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, it announced yesterday.

Power generation company LS Power is buying nine US power plants from one-time partner Dynegy for around $1 billion.

Abu Dhabi investment firm Aabar has announced it has signed what it calls ÔÇ£a potential landmark dealÔÇØ with the Algerian government to develop a network of vehicle and engine manufacturing plants in the country.