Executives
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Talk from the Top
Manufacturing
| Change of plan: No Kia or Hyundai pickup for U.S. >> |
| Fiat eyes Mexico to serve North and South America >> |
Design
| Some Chinese still follow the leaders >> |
Future Products
| Outside forces direct Europe's future car lines >> |
Green Cars
Technology
| Noble nearly doubles Q1 revenue, still has net loss >> |
| Manufacturing technology group names new president >> |
Cutaways
Kerkorian interest buoys Ford stockKirk Kerkorian's investment kept Ford Motor Co. stock trading last week near its highest levels in almost six months. The stock reached $8.68 on Friday morning before closing at $8.27 . That was one day after Kerkorian representative Jerry York told Automotive News that he would unload Volvo and Mercury if he were in Ford CEO Alan Mulally's shoes. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 5 |
Henderson: GM will keep tight rein on inventoryGeneral Motors intends to run a tight ship in North America, its largest market. The automaker is “absolutely committed” to aligning its production with demand and controlling costs, says COO Fritz Henderson. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 5 |
Nissan's Dominique gets to the big danceLike many native Detroiters, Larry Dominique has the auto business in his blood. His father and grandfather worked in the industry. Dominique joined General Motors as an electrical engineer and later worked for Chrysler Corp. before joining Nissan Motor Co.'s fledgling engineering group in Michigan. Fast forward two decades, and Dominique finds himself based in Nashville -- and often on an airplane. He flew to Japan 18 times last year. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 5 |
Faurecia: We'll break even in N.A.When he took over as Faurecia CEO in February 2007, Yann Delabriere inherited a company that had just reported a 2006 net loss of 447.9 million euros, or $696.8 million at current exchange rates. Delabriere helped narrow that loss to $369.5 million last year. A big reason for the improvement has been changes Faurecia has made to its money-losing North American operations. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 5 |
Wagoner's pension shift: More earlier, less overallSenior executives at General Motors could retire with full benefits earlier, thanks to changes in the retirement plan. But they'll get less in the long run, with payments over a shorter period. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 5 |
Bugging the boss: Who's listening to Porsche CEO?
The bad news for Porsche: Someone may be spying on CEO Wendelin Wiedeking. But the good news is that they seem to be getting their technology from Babies R Us, not the CIA. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 5
Chrysler recruits another Toyota executive
Chrysler LLC has raided Toyota for another executive. Sigmund Huber, most recently general manager for external and corporate affairs for Toyota Engineering & Manufacturing North America in Erlanger, Ky., became director of supplier relations for Chrysler effective May 1, according to Chrysler spokesman Kevin Frazier. [REG] 4:36 pm U.S. ET | May 2
6 key tasks for Ford recoveryCost-cutting largely drove Ford Motor Co.'s surprise first-quarter improvement, but CEO Alan Mulally has a lot to do to achieve a full turnaround. Mulally told Automotive News last week that it's way too early for a "Mission Accomplished" banner. "The way to judge the performance, I think, is that every year we want to make an improvement over the previous year," Mulally said. "It will never be over." Here are six things that would will keep Mulally's plan on track: [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28 |
Porsche seeks more power at Audi
Porsche wants to boost its influence inside Volkswagen group's Audi brand. Three key Porsche people will join Audi's supervisory board at its annual meeting on May 7: Wendelin Wiedeking, Holger Härter and Ferdinand Piëch. [SUB] April 28 07:08 CET
DealmakerLast September, General Motors shocked the industry when it gave detailed future product plans to the UAW, which promptly made them public. In a business where such plans are kept tightly under wraps, GM's openness was extraordinary. It was also a key to rank-and-file approval of the groundbreaking 2007 GM-UAW contract. The story of how that came together centers on one player in the negotiations: GM's vice president of labor relations, Diana Tremblay. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28 |
Lentz ascends ladder at Toyota
Jim Lentz, head of Toyota's U.S. operations, has been promoted to managing officer of Toyota Motor Corp., becoming only the fourth non-Japanese executive at that level. Lentz's advancement follows the departure last year of Jim Press, the only foreigner ever to sit on Toyota's board of directors. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28
Alapont: Federal-Mogul poised to grow
Jose Maria Alapont refuses to be dragged down by the North American downturn. "Of course, volumes in the U.S. market are a concern," said the CEO of supplier Federal-Mogul Corp., which emerged from six years of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. "But Europe, Asia-Pacific and South America are showing good volumes." [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28
Incoming BMW North America head has long track recordBMW's new chief for the Americas is a Scot who studied law and accounting and has a long resume of automotive jobs. Jim O'Donnell, 58, becomes chairman and CEO of BMW (US) Holding Corp., with responsibility for North, Central and South America, on July 1, taking over for Tom Purves. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28 |
Lear says its presence in Asia will growThe head of purchasing for Lear Corp.'s seat division has moved to Shanghai from Michigan because Lear's customers want the supplier to source more parts from low-cost countries. But there's more to the story. Most of Lear's new business is coming from Asia, and suppliers need to be close to their customers. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28 |
Pfeiffer loves to see his work roll byThis year Peter Pfeiffer celebrates his 40th year with Daimler's design department. [SUB] April 28 06:01 CET |
Geoff Polites: A passion for cars and for lifeWhen I learned that Jaguar-Land Rover boss Geoff Polites had died of cancer at age 60 last week, I felt a twinge of remorse. Sitting on my shelf at home is a book I borrowed from him in 2004 and never got around to returning. The book, called Sex and Thugs and Rock'n'roll, was a memoir by legendary Australian rocker Billy Thorpe. [SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 28 |
Great Wall chief sees SUV for Europe in 2009Great Wall Motor aims to start exporting a new SUV to Europe by 2009, Great Wall President Wang Fengying said. “In design and development, we are making sure our new SUV complies with European regulations,” she said. Great Wall exported some Hover small SUVs to Italy and Romania in 2006 and 2007. [SUB] April 28 06:01 CET |
CEO Delabriere on status of Faurecia: 'We are in calmer waters now'When he took over as Faurecia CEO in February 2007 Yann Delabriere inherited a company that had just reported a 2006 net loss of 447.9 million euros. Delabriere helped narrow that loss to 237.5 million euros last year. A big reason for the improvement has been changes Faurecia has made to its money-losing North American operations. [SUB] April 28 06:01 CET |
Marelli CEO Razelli predicts huge growth for stop-start and hybridsMagneti Marelli CEO Eugenio Razelli says that pending EU legislation on CO2 emissions will reshape the auto industry by giving a huge boost to fuel-saving systems such as stop-start and hybrids. Such a scenario would be good news for the Fiat group-owned partsmaker, which already supplies stop-start and is working on a hybrid system for Formula One racing. [SUB] April 28 06:01 CET |
