Automakers & Suppliers
Talk from the Top
Manufacturing
| $4 gasoline now a reality >> |
Design
| Some Chinese still follow the leaders >> |
Green Cars
| Bosch: Watch out Japanese! >> |
Technology
| HP strikes deal to buy EDS for $12.6 billion >> |
| Bosch: Watch out Japanese! >> |
| Testing carbon fiber's mettle >> |
Cutaways
Remy remains in red after exiting bankruptcy
Supplier Remy International Inc. posted a loss in its first quarter after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. Remy said it lost $6.6 million in the first quarter ending March 31, an improvement from the $24.3 million it lost during the same period last year. Sales were $301.1 million in the first quarter of 2008, up 6 percent from $284.7 million in the same quarter last year. [REG] 10:28 am U.S. ET | May 16
Daimler/Chrysler merger did not work, says CEODaimler CEO Dieter Zetsche today said the German automaker learned a lesson about the limits of globalization during its ill-fated ownership of Chrysler. Zetsche said Daimler's 1998 merger with the U.S. automaker created a globally integrated enterprise covering the auto market from the volume to premium segments and made perfect sense in theory. [REG] May 16 09:36 CET |
Mercedes sticks to U.S. sales targetsDaimler's luxury passenger car Mercedes-Benz is holding on to its U.S. sales growth targets this year despite weakness in the U.S. car market, Mercedes-Benz U.S. head Ernst Lieb told reporters. He said Mercedes-Benz this year will exceed the previous year's 235,400 unit sales. [REG] May 16 13:24 CET |
IDEA concept built in 30 daysItalian design and engineering consultancy IDEA Institute unveiled the Era, a concept car conceived to celebrate the company's 30 years of activity. The concept was built in just 30 days. “At a management meeting held on April 8 we decided to create a concept car for our 30th anniversary and we gave our team a week to come up with design proposals,” said IDEA Institute CEO Pietro Lardini. [REG] May 16 16:12 CET |
CAW completes Detroit 3 contracts 4 months early
The Canadian Auto Workers pulled off a double-whammy deal today, reaching tentative agreements with General Motors and Chrysler LLC four months before each of the contracts with the two automakers and the union were to expire. The agreement preserves shifts and keeps open plants that the automakers had planned to close. The pact also offers buyouts for all union-represented GM workers at a Windsor, Ontario, transmission plant scheduled to close in 2010. [REG] 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 15 | UPDATED: 5/15/08 4:09 p.m. EDT
Porsche denies U.S. Cayenne productionPorsche says it does not need to build its Cayenne SUV in North America and has no plans to do so. Earlier this week, the German business newspaper Handelsblatt said the Cayenne could be built in a new U.S. factory planned by the Volkswagen group. [REG] May 15 11:41 CET |
GM reaches new contract at crossover plant in Mich.General Motors reached an agreement with one local union Thursday and avoided a threatened strike from another. GM spokesman Dan Flores confirmed a deal was reached at about 3 a.m. Thursday with UAW Local 602, which represents 3,300 workers at the Delta Township assembly plant near Lansing, Mich. The workers there have been on strike since April 17. [REG] 10:13 am U.S. ET | May 15 | UPDATED: 5/15/08 11:50 a.m. EDT |
German minister urges state to up VW stakeGerman environment minister Sigmar Gabriel said it would be advisable for the federal state of Lower Saxony to increase its blocking minority stake in Volkswagen to 25 percent from the current 20 percent, according to his interview with Nordwest-Zeitung newspaper. Gabriel said the state should see to it "that a friendly investor buys five percent" [REG] May 15 10:06 CET |
Prius sales in Europe top 100,000Toyota Europe today said cumulative European sales of its Prius hybrid car have topped 100,000 vehicles. Since 2000, a total of 100,821 Prius models have been sold in Europe, with more than one third of this result achieved in the last 12 months, Toyota Europe said. [REG] May 15 13:23 CET |
Renault Sandero will be produced in RussiaRenault is to produce its low-cost Sandero vehicles in its Moscow factory, which is set to have its capacity doubled in 2009 to 160,000 vehicles a year. Sandero production will start at the end of 2009 at the Avtoframos site. [REG] May 15 12:20 CET |
CAW says Chrysler pledges production
Chrysler LLC has pledged to bring a new generation of passenger sedans to an Ontario assembly plant and keep open a casting plant near Toronto as part of a new contract agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers, union president Buzz Hargrove said on Thursday. [REG] 1:05 pm U.S. ET | May 15
Marchionne: Fiat retains European market share in AprilFiat has maintained its market share in Europe in April, said CEO Sergio Marchionne, without giving further details. In March this year, Fiat's European market share was 7.3 percent, including 7.4 percent in Western Europe. [REG] May 15 16:03 CET |
CEO: Hungary's Raba sees 2008 revenue of $371M
Hungarian vehicle parts maker Raba expects revenue to rise to 60 billion forints ($370.7 million) in 2008 from 58 billion in 2007, Chairman and CEO Istvan Pinter told a news conference. Raba's core profit, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), is seen rising to 5 billion forints from 3.7 billion, Pinter said today. [REG] May 15 14:00 CET
Toyota: Prius hybrid sales hit 1M worldwideoyota said today that cumulative sales of its Prius hybrid car had topped 1 million units worldwide since its launch just over a decade ago. The Prius, the world's first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid car, first went on sale in Japan in late 1997 and in other markets in 2000. [REG] May 15 09:00 CET |
