Headlines for Monday, February 25, 2013

Mexico car and truck sales - January

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Average wholesale used-vehicle prices, January

This is data compiled by the Automotive News Data Center and requires a Data Center subscription to access. Read More »

Ex-Porsche designer aims to give Chery a styling boost

Chery Automobile is counting on ex-Porsche designer Hakan Saracoglu to improve the Chinese carmaker's styling. Saracoglu, who has also worked at Ford of Europe, is leading a team of 30 at Chery's Shanghai-based design center to come up with new concepts for models from sedans to SUVs. Read More »

Ford unveils EcoSport SUV for Europe

Ford today unveiled the European version of its EcoSport subcompact SUV, a model the automaker hopes will help counter the company's falling sales in the region. The EcoSport will go on sale in Europe at the end of the year. Read More »

Chase Auto Finance names new CEO

JPMorgan Chase & Company named Thasunda Brown Duckett CEO of Chase Auto Finance, one of the nation's largest auto lenders. Marc Sheinbaum, 55, had been CEO of Chase Auto Finance since 2007. He is leaving the company after asking to pursue other opportunities, the bank said. Read More »

GM denies reports of proposed hike in CEO Akerson's 2013 pay

GM today strongly denied several media reports that it has requested an increase in CEO Dan Akerson's 2013 compensation. Akerson's pay last year of $11. Read More »

Dealer Ernie Boch ponders bid for Boston Globe

Boston car dealer Ernie Boch Jr. is considering buying The Boston Globe. Boch, who called the Globe an “institution,” said the process is still in the preliminary stages. Read More »

GM hires VW's Mahoney to steer Chevy global marketing

GM named Volkswagen of America executive Tim Mahoney to the newly created post of global chief marketing officer for Chevrolet. Mahoney also will carry the title of global GM marketing operations leader, reporting to Alan Batey, vice president of U.S. Read More »

GM denies reports of proposed hike in CEO Akerson's 2013 pay

GM today strongly denied several media reports that it has requested an increase in CEO Dan Akerson's 2013 compensation. Akerson's pay last year of $11. Read More »

First Shift: GM cars as 4G hotspots

Plan would un-tether driver from phone; Jeep Liberty successor named; Ford called best value; Nissan performance re-do? Read More »

Alfa Romeo teases 4C interior before Geneva

Alfa Romeo today revealed the interior of the new 4C sports car, before its official Geneva motor show debut. The small sports car is expected to weigh in at less than 2,200 pounds, and deliver 240 hp from a turbocharged, direct-injected four-cylinder engine. Read More »

GM hires VW's Mahoney to steer Chevy global marketing

GM named Volkswagen of America executive Tim Mahoney to the newly created post of global chief marketing officer for Chevrolet. Mahoney also will carry the title of global GM marketing operations leader. Read More »

Bertone stretches the Aston Martin Rapide

Italian design house Bertone will unveil a one-off wagon-like version of the Aston Martin Rapide sports car at the Geneva auto show on March 5. Read More »

Ford sedans, SUVs face U.S. safety probe for stalling problem

Federal safety investigators are probing 725,000 Ford Motor Co. sedans and crossover vehicles after receiving reports of possible fuel system problems that could cause a sudden loss of engine power. Read More »

AutoNews Now: Jeep's 'saucy' diesel

Grand Cherokee gets a makeover under the hood, GM tech and distraction, Ford links with Spotify, VW exec heads to GM. Read More »

The big star drops into the mass market

One thing that stands out on the new Mercedes-Benz CLA four-door coupe, which goes on sale in September, is that big Mercedes star on its grille. You can see it from down the block. Read More »

Why this Jeep should sell -- whether you call it Cherokee or not

Here's the thing about the 2014 Jeep Cherokee that Chrysler Group was forced to reveal on Friday: It's a really good, modern take on the AMC Eagle. Read More »

GM cars to be Internet hotspots

General Motors, laying down a high-stakes bet on the future of vehicle connectivity, plans to make each of its cars an Internet hotspot with a high-speed broadband connection. Read More »

Ford, Spotify pair up to offer in-car music streaming

Streaming music service Spotify has partnered with Ford to allow its subscribers to listen to music in more than one million Ford vehicles in North America. Read More »

Daimler cuts Zetsche's pay as management bonuses are reduced

Daimler has cut CEO Dieter Zetsche's total pay by 5.8 percent to 8.15 million euros for 2012 as managers' bonuses were reduced following the scrapping of profit targets. Read More »

Volkswagen's start to year is worse than in 2012, Poetsch says

Volkswagen CFO Hans Dieter Poetsch predicted the first quarter would be worse than a year earlier, adding to a forecast last week that VW's 2013 operating profit probably wouldn't increase as Europe's auto market shrinks. Read More »

China's wealth fund is unlikely to become key Daimler shareholder, Uebber says

Daimler does not expect China's sovereign wealth fund to take a 10 percent stake in the automaker, thereby giving the automaker another anchor shareholder besides Kuwait. Chief Financial Officer Bodo Uebber told a German newspaper today that Chinese investment in the company is unlikely. Read More »

Daimler cuts Zetsche's pay as management bonuses are reduced

Daimler has cut CEO Dieter Zetsche's total pay by 5.8 percent to 8.15 million euros for 2012 as managers' bonuses were reduced following the scrapping of profit targets. Read More »

VW board cuts Winterkorn's 2012 pay

The VW supervisory board has taken steps to limit bonuses for CEO Martin Winterkorn and other top executives. Read More »

GM expects Opel labor deal soon

GM believes it can strike a deal in the next few days with German labor unions over a restructuring of its money-losing European unit Opel, GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky said on Monday. Read More »

Nissan to sell Datsun cars in South Africa from next year

Nissan will start selling its Datsun brand in South Africa next year, the automaker said on Monday, as it aims to grab more first-time buyers in emerging markets with entry-level cars. Read More »

Luxury to the max

European automakers are reeling from a slump in sales, but the focus at the Geneva auto show next week will be on the kinds of cars that have largely escaped the region's downturn -- super-expensive ones. Read More »

Amid insults, Mercedes and BMW both claim U.S. luxury crown

Mercedes-Benz and BMW have been trading insults since BMW sprinted ahead of Mercedes in December to snatch the 2012 luxury-sales crown in the U.S. The late burst by BMW ratcheted up as Mercedes laid claim to being the true winner based on newly released vehicle registration data. Read More »

GM pilot program shows that shoppers resist buying without seeing and trying

To attract Web-savvy customers, General Motors is experimenting with easy-to-use online shopping. Consumers can cut time at dealerships, for instance, by filling out credit applications online and getting preliminary values on trade-ins. Read More »

Feds eye finance reserve

For more than two years, dealers have been bracing for possible actions by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, formed after the financial crisis of 2008. Now the federal agency has taken its first auto-related action. Read More »

How to succeed by adding brands

Volkswagen Group, bent on becoming the world's largest automaker, has amassed an expansive collection of brands to help put that goal within reach. Chrysler Group keeps adding logos to its dealers' showrooms. Read More »

GM targets big growth in floorplanning

General Motors' finance arm has an ambitious goal: to provide floorplan financing to at least 20 percent of GM dealers, the unit's top executive said. Read More »

Amid insults, bitter rivals both claim luxury crown

Mercedes-Benz and BMW have been trading insults for six weeks, ever since BMW sprinted ahead of Mercedes in December to snatch the 2012 luxury-sales crown. Read More »

Texas dealer wins $136 million in Mercedes lawsuit

A Texas jury has awarded $136 million to a Mercedes dealer who alleged that Mercedes-Benz USA tricked him into believing he could move a store he spent $7 million to acquire to a more affluent community. Read More »

Connected cars may have to share the air

The Federal Communications Commission sent a clear warning to the auto industry last week: Show progress on "connected car" technology or risk losing exclusive access to a coveted section of the wireless spectrum. Read More »

Fiesta's buzz builders

Advertising material for the 2014 Ford Fiesta will come from videos, photos and other digital content created by 100 young bloggers -- not by Ford's ad agency. Read More »

Study: Customers turn to social media for service

Mastering social media is getting tougher for auto companies and dealers because of shifting consumer expectations. Consumers increasingly want their service questions answered via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and fan sites, a new study by J.D. Power and Associates says. Read More »

Public groups plan U.S. acquisition blitz

Despite forays into overseas markets by Group 1 Automotive Inc. and Penske Automotive Group, public retailers intend to roll full speed ahead on U.S. acquisitions this year. Read More »

Mercedes sees safety technology as its edge

A major weapon in Mercedes-Benz's ambitious 2013 product-launch schedule is an array of safety and convenience technology called Intelligent Drive, which harnesses all the sensors and controls in a Mercedes vehicle. Read More »

Auto trade talks will target tariffs, unified rules

Automakers on both sides of the Atlantic are enthusiastically backing trade talks between the United States and Europe that President Barack Obama announced during his State of the Union address. But a host of obstacles stand in the way of a trade deal. Read More »

Almost all Fords will get EcoBoosts

By bringing production of its 2.0-liter, four-cylinder EcoBoost engine to a Cleveland plant in late 2014, Ford Motor Co. is setting the stage for using the engine brand through nearly its entire lineup. Read More »

Appeals panel OKs arbitration in buyer's tiff with store

A California Court of Appeal panel has ordered the buyer of a 2006 Toyota Sequoia to arbitrate her dispute with the dealership that sold the vehicle. Read More »

App makes GM sales a 24/7 gig

Larry White recently sold a Chevrolet Suburban -- while he was at his kid's hockey game. Read More »