Waiting to know Mahindra

Posted 3:48 pm U.S. ET, March 16

Lindsay Chappell is the Mid-South bureau chief for Automotive News

I'm embarrassed to admit that six years ago, when a couple of dealers tipped me off that an Indian vehicle manufacturer named Mahindra & Mahindra intended to enter the U.S. market, I had no idea who Mahindra was.
We keep up with all corners of the auto industry here at Automotive News, whether we write about them or not, tracking what folks are ...
     Continue reading "Waiting to know Mahindra" » Mar 16, 2012 3:48 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Will that Datsun name never die?

Posted 3:59 pm U.S. ET, March 6
NASHVILLE -- A Japanese press report claims that Nissan Motor Co. intends to resurrect its old "Datsun" brand name for certain emerging markets.
Nissan officials decline to discuss the buzz as they prepare to announce a new round of global product initiatives later this month. But according to the reports, Datsun would become a sort of "underbrand, ...
     Continue reading "Will that Datsun name never die?" » Mar 6, 2012 3:59 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Will parts scandal prompt Toyota, Honda to sue suppliers?

Posted 2:06 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 2
The auto parts bid-rigging scandal being unearthed by the FBI in Detroit is a publicity mess for the big Japanese companies that are involved: Yazaki, Denso, Furukawa, Toyota and Honda.
But a bigger mess looms ahead. There is a matter to be addressed about how the injured automakers ought to respond.
Here's a s ...
     Continue reading "Will parts scandal prompt Toyota, Honda to sue suppliers?" » Feb 2, 2012 2:06 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Mexico’s auto boom is about wages

Posted 1:15 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 1
Mexico’s star is ascending these days. Nissan just revealed plans to spend $2 billion on a new factory there, which is twice as much as an automaker typically spends on a big new factory. It signals that Nissan is laying the groundwork for what is sure to expand into a massive assembly plant in a few years.
Honda is also investing in Mexico, ...
     Continue reading "Mexico’s auto boom is about wages" » Feb 1, 2012 1:15 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Calling out the other guys

Posted 1:40 pm U.S. ET, Jan. 11
"Our noble competitors" is how automakers traditionally referred to rival manufacturers in speeches of the past, just before plunging in the knife.
Or at worst, an executive might cast aspersions on competitors by alluding to them only as "certain other automakers who shall remain nameless," no matter how specific and obvious the allusion was.
...
     Continue reading "Calling out the other guys" » Jan 11, 2012 1:40 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Dodge Dart will have a complex life

Posted 6:08 pm U.S. ET, Jan. 10
The return of the old Dodge Dart nameplate for the 2013 model year will be a big deal for the Chrysler-Fiat partnership.
It gives Dodge a serious compact-segment product beside big-volume contenders like the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.
But it also represents a modern-era challenge for Chrysler, the manufact ...
     Continue reading "Dodge Dart will have a complex life" » Jan 10, 2012 6:08 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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VW to Detroit: We're out for our share

Posted 7:12 am U.S. ET, Jan. 9
DETROIT -- Jonathan Browning had just one message for the party Sunday night at Detroit's downtown bar, Cliff Bell's.
"For those of you who don't recognize this voice, this is Jonathan Browning," the CEO of Volkswagen Group of America croaked over the noisy room, a bad cold making it difficult to talk. After waiting patiently for his German board o ...
     Continue reading "VW to Detroit: We're out for our share" » Jan 9, 2012 7:12 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Is Nissan about to repeat VW's miscalculation?

Posted 3:16 pm U.S. ET, Dec. 15
Wire services have been reporting early rumors of how Nissan Motor Co. plans to expand its North American capacity.
Nissan sales are growing at a healthy clip and its North American production capacity is assigned. So the automaker needs more floor space.
The latest news report claims Nissan will invest $2 bill ...
     Continue reading "Is Nissan about to repeat VW's miscalculation?" » Dec 15, 2011 3:16 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Honda factories will pour on steam this month

Posted 4:07 pm U.S. ET, Dec. 8
If you want to see determination in action, watch Honda this month.
April was the last month this year we saw the brand sell 100,000 vehicles in the United States. Honda’s field sales force is now assuring dealers that December sales will hit 100,000, and the factory has put incentives on its big models to get that job done.
Continue reading "Honda factories will pour on steam this month" » Dec 8, 2011 4:07 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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GM is bringing back Spring Hill for a song

Posted 8:41 am U.S. ET, Nov. 22
What's noteworthy about the return to action of General Motors' Spring Hill, Tenn., assembly plant is just how little it is costing.
For $61 million, Spring Hill will come back to life -- after being idled in 2009 -- making a vehicle it has never produced before, the Chevrolet Equinox.
That's peanuts. A new fac ...
     Continue reading "GM is bringing back Spring Hill for a song" » Nov 22, 2011 8:41 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Keep your eyes on this month's Camry-Altima race

Posted 10:04 pm U.S. ET, Nov. 17
Just 205 car sales separated the nation's best-selling car, the Toyota Camry, from the year's unexpected challenger, the Nissan Altima, last month.
It is as close as Nissan has ever come to America's No. 1 car crown, a position that has been dominated seemingly forever by the Camry, or the Honda Accord, or the old Ford Taurus. In past years, the Al ...
     Continue reading "Keep your eyes on this month's Camry-Altima race" » Nov 17, 2011 10:04 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Land Rover's convertible is a statement

Posted 2:15 pm U.S. ET, Nov. 17
It's hard to look at Land Rover's DC100 Sport concept vehicle on the Los Angeles Auto Show floor and get any immediate sense of a practical ownership experience. It is a luxury-class two-seat convertible SUV.
More precisely it is a concept exercise on what the next Defender might offer in three or four years. And, as is the tradition with most conc ...
     Continue reading "Land Rover's convertible is a statement" » Nov 17, 2011 2:15 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Seeing free trade through new lenses

Posted 12:15 pm U.S. ET, Oct. 18
The word the UAW chose to describe its reaction to the recent passage of a free-trade agreement between the United States and South Korea last week was “pleased.”
“The UAW is pleased with congressional approval of the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement,” it said in an official statement.
...
     Continue reading "Seeing free trade through new lenses" » Oct 18, 2011 12:15 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Nissan's Brazilian plans will touch U.S. dealers

Posted 2:01 pm U.S. ET, Oct. 13
NASHVILLE -- Headlines were buzzing last week about Nissan Motor Co.'s plan to invest $1.4 billion to build a big new auto plant in Brazil.
Busy American auto industry players were free to shrug off the development. Brazil's a nice place -- but it ain't Main Street USA. What matters here is what a car company, Nissan or otherwise, does in this mark ...
     Continue reading "Nissan's Brazilian plans will touch U.S. dealers" » Oct 13, 2011 2:01 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Looking for a positive sign? How about ‘13’

Posted 3:42 pm U.S. ET, Oct. 7
The first few months of 2011 could have been 10 years go, so much has happened -- and gone wrong -- since then.
January, February and March saw a general euphoria that things were coming back. Like people who fled the burning building that was 2009, many in the auto business were still trying to get the smell of smoke out of their hair. First quart ...
     Continue reading "Looking for a positive sign? How about ‘13’" » Oct 7, 2011 3:42 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Two anniversaries remind us of a truth

Posted 5:35 pm U.S. ET, Sept. 9
Sunday marks two anniversaries of note. Most conspicuously, it is exactly 10 years since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. But it is also the six-month anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Both were disastrous tragedies. Both resulted in massive destruction and loss of lives. And both seemed, for a moment, to ...
     Continue reading "Two anniversaries remind us of a truth" » Sep 9, 2011 5:35 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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The ongoing mystery of Toyota's Camry decision

Posted 7:46 pm U.S. ET, Sept. 7
Toyota Motor Corp.'s announcement this week that it would no longer export Camrys from Japan to the U.S. market gave me a private chuckle.
Why now, for heaven's sake? Why bother now?
Over the last 15 or 20 years, I asked every Toyota executive I could collar, "Why do you guys continue importing Camrys from Japa ...
     Continue reading "The ongoing mystery of Toyota's Camry decision" » Sep 7, 2011 7:46 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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For GM, it's a whole different world

Posted 3:49 pm U.S. ET, Aug. 4
Today's second-quarter earnings report from General Motors evoked a Tom Hanks moment.
In the 2000 movie Cast Away, Hanks' character, Chuck, finally gets off the desert island where he was stranded and makes it back to Memphis, only to find his world altered beyond recognition.
Chuck's girlfriend, Kelly ...
     Continue reading "For GM, it's a whole different world" » Aug 4, 2011 3:49 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Again with that word – monozuwhatever

Posted 11:56 am U.S. ET, Aug. 4
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- I recently had to interrupt a Nissan executive in Nashville in mid-sentence to question a word that those guys have been throwing around for the past few years.
Monozukuri.
We’ve been hearing it uttered in public speeches and used in explanations on how things work at Niss ...
     Continue reading "Again with that word – monozuwhatever" » Aug 4, 2011 11:56 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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Raising eyebrows over rising Leaf prices

Posted 4:32 pm U.S. ET, July 19
Nissan’s announcement earlier today that it will raise the sticker price of its electric Leaf by about 10 percent for its most popular model shouldn’t come as a startling development. Model-year price increases are as common as the arrival of summer tomatoes.
And as automakers traditionally do, Nissan caveats the 2012 increase by saying ...
     Continue reading "Raising eyebrows over rising Leaf prices" » Jul 19, 2011 4:32 pm U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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'Reverse speed' -- the new buzz

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, July 17
This month in England, stunt car driver Terry Grant was planning to wow crowds at the Goodwood Festival of Speed by driving an electric Nissan Leaf 90 miles an hour – in reverse.
Upon consideration, Goodwood organizers pulled the plug on the stunt, so to speak, saying it was just too dangerous.
And maybe ...
     Continue reading "'Reverse speed' -- the new buzz" » Jul 17, 2011 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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The industry catches a lucky break this month

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, July 3
The urban legend is sure to surface again for the next few days on Facebook pages and e-mails, proclaiming that July is a remarkably rare phenomenon because it contains five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Sundays -- five full weekends.
The usual goofball Internet scientists somehow calculate that this only happens once every 823 years. Which is m ...
     Continue reading "The industry catches a lucky break this month" » Jul 3, 2011 12:01 am U.S. ET Post Comment  |  Permalink

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