ADELAIDE, Australia—Police have arrested seven autoworkers for allegedly stealing engines and transmissions worth some $2 million from Holden’s assembly plant here. Police say 140 V8 engines and 175 heavy duty transmissions are believed to have been stolen between January 2010 and this year.

DETROIT—Chrysler is planning to invest $198 million in its engine assembly plant here.

OSHAWA, ON—GM will invest $850 million for R&D at its assembly plant here.

AKRON, OH—Goodyear researchers have found that using soybean oil in tires can potentially increase tread life by 10 percent and reduce the tiremaker’s use of petroleum by up to 7 million gallons each year.

BOULDER, CO—Global sales of light-duty natural gas vehicles are expected to reach 25.4 million units during the next seven years, according to a new report.

MEXICO CITY—GM is planning to invest $420 million in its Mexican assembly plants to build the Chevrolet Trax, new pick-up trucks and a new transmission.

HARTWELL, GA—Tenneco Automotive’s assembly plant here has been cited by OSHA for 16 safety and health violations totaling $79,300 in fines.

GREENSBURG, IN—Honda will invest $40 million to increase capacity at its assembly plant here by 50,000 units per year. The plant will also add nearly 300 workers later this year.

NEW DELHI, India—India’s top carmaker Maruti Suzuki suspended production Thursday at its assembly plant here after a manager was burnt to death and scores of others were injured in a riot by angry workers.

EXETER, UK—Researchers from the University of Exeter have developed a new method for making three-dimensional aluminum composite parts for automotive and aerospace applications.