Politics

Volvo gets $1.2 billion loan from China Development Bank

Dec. 14, 2012 06:01 CET
Volvo has negotiated a $1.2 billion loan from the China Development Bank to repay existing debt and hopes for more to help finance the investment it needs to double vehicle sales.... Read More »

 

Volvo gets $1.2 billion loan from China Development Bank

12:31 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 13, 2012
Chinese-owned automaker Volvo has negotiated a $1.2 billion loan from the China Development Bank to repay existing debt and hopes for more to help finance the investment it needs to double vehicle sales.... Read More »

 

How Republicans engineered a blow to the UAW and Michigan's powerful unions

10:15 am U.S. ET | Dec. 13, 2012
From outside Michigan Republican circles, it appeared that the Republican drive to weaken unions came out of the blue -- proposed, passed and signed in a mere six days. But the transformation had been in the making since March 2011 when state Senator Pat Colbeck and a fellow freshman, state Representative Mike Shirkey, first seriously considered legislation to ban mandatory collection of union dues as a condition of employment in Michigan.... Read More »

 

NEWS ANALYSIS

Right to work may put Mich. back on business map

11:07 am U.S. ET | Dec. 12, 2012
Michigan, a symbol of American industrial rise and decline, is about to get a second look from corporate America. The heavily unionized state took a big step toward encouraging business investment on Tuesday with "right to work" legislation that prohibits union membership as a condition of employment.... Read More »

 

Michigan governor signs 'right-to-work' bills

11:13 am U.S. ET | Dec. 11, 2012
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, without ceremony, signed two so-called right-to-work measures that would ban mandatory union dues in Michigan workplaces, making the Midwest state and union stronghold the 24th state to enact such legislation, and the second this year after Indiana. The law is a practical and symbolic rout in a bastion of organized labor in the United States, and opponents said it presaged political warfare.... Read More »

 

JCI might still pursue A123 if Wanxiang bid is rejected

11:45 am U.S. ET | Dec. 11, 2012
A Johnson Controls executive said his company would still be interested in the automotive assets of bankrupt A123 Systems should a winning auction bid by China's Wanxiang Group be nullified by the United States.... Read More »

 

Obama opposes proposed 'right to work' measures in Michigan

3:55 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 10, 2012
President Barack Obama today threw his support behind labor unions opposed to a Republican-led drive for "right-to-work" laws in Michigan, saying efforts to pass such measures were not about economics but about politics.... Read More »

 

A123 will not get remaining portion of government grant, U.S. says

3:09 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 10, 2012
The federal Energy Department will not give battery maker A123 the remaining half of its $249 million grant, following the company's high profile bankruptcy and acquisition by a Chinese auto parts supplier, a department official said today.... Read More »

 

UAW, Michigan unions to protest 'right-to-work' measures this week

8:23 am U.S. ET | Dec. 9, 2012
The UAW and union members opposed to Michigan becoming a "right-to-work" state plan major protests in the state capital this week to try to stop Republicans from restricting labor unions in the cradle of the unionized American auto industry.... Read More »

 

China's Wanxiang wins auction for U.S.-backed A123

8:32 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 8, 2012
China's largest maker of auto parts won a politically sensitive auction for A123 Systems, a bankrupt maker of batteries for electric cars that was funded partly with federal government money, the investment banker for A123 said on Saturday.... Read More »

 

Michigan 'right-to-work' law exempts existing union contracts

9:19 am U.S. ET | Dec. 7, 2012
The proposed Michigan "right-to-work" law will not apply to existing union contracts, a leading sponsor of the proposal said today. Such an exemption in the measure would likely blunt the its immediate impact on the huge auto industry in the state. Michigan Republicans pushed through the state Legislature on Thursday a law making the payment of union dues voluntary in the private sector. The state Senate also voted to apply this to the public sector except for police and fire unions.... Read More »

 

Michigan governor supports 'right-to-work' legislation

12:40 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 6, 2012
Republican Governor Rick Snyder said he wants Michigan to be the 24th state to adopt a "right-to-work" law making payment of union dues voluntary, setting up a confrontation with organized labor in the home of the American auto industry.... Read More »

 

Right-to-work issue inflames labor in UAW home

1:11 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 5, 2012
Michigan, home to carmakers and the UAW, may ban mandatory union-dues payments if Republicans who run the Legislature pass such a law, making it the 24th right-to-work state. The issue has inflamed organized labor, which lost a costly ballot campaign in November to enshrine collective bargaining rights in the state constitution.... Read More »

 

Bill Ford: Fiscal cliff agreement 'vitally important'

1:36 pm U.S. ET | Nov. 19, 2012
A deal between President Barack Obama and Congress to avoid the fiscal cliff is critical to the United States economy’s health and to Ford Motor, the company’s executive chairman said today.... Read More »

 

Subaru maker benefits from its failed expansion plan in China

10:47 am U.S. ET | Nov. 19, 2012
Fuji Heavy Industries President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga has become a market darling for something he failed to do: build a factory in China. The maker of Subaru cars, the only major Japanese auto brand without a plant in the world's largest vehicle market, has jumped 83 percent in Tokyo trading this year for the biggest gain on the Nikkei 225 Stock Average.... Read More »

 

REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT

At Fiat, young scion steers tough course as Marchionne's boss

12:01 am U.S. ET | Nov. 10, 2012
Whenever Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne appears in public, television crews jostle to beam his words around the globe. Amid the push and shove it's easy to miss the tall, curly-headed young man who often looks on from the sidelines. He's John Elkann. And he's Marchionne's boss.... Read More »

 

Obama finding what's good for GM not so good for taxpayers

12:20 pm U.S. ET | Nov. 8, 2012
The GM bailout played an important role in the re-election of President Barack Obama, who stumped on the issue in Midwestern swing states. Now comes the hard part: unloading the government's stake, probably at a big loss.... Read More »

 

Obama victory may boost EV agenda, spur rules on emissions, safety

Nov. 8, 2012 06:01 CET
President Barack Obama's second term likely will include a return to an agenda of support for electric vehicles and also could clear the way for new rules on tailpipe emissions and auto safety.... Read More »

 

7 current and former auto dealers elected to Congress

11:19 am U.S. ET | Nov. 7, 2012
All seven current and former auto dealers running for seats in the House of Representatives won on Election Day, mostly by comfortable margins. Winners include Roger Williams, R-Texas, a former Texas secretary of state who runs a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram store in suburban Fort Worth, and Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, the co-owner of a Chevrolet dealership that was rejected as General Motors went through bankruptcy.... Read More »

 

Obama leverages auto bailout for crucial Midwest wins

7:16 am U.S. ET | Nov. 7, 2012
Support in Ohio for the bailout helped Obama to a victory Tuesday in the state, which together with Michigan has about 65 percent of General Motors and Chrysler Group's domestic factories. A projected Ohio win for Obama shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time and a win in Oregon pushed the president over the required 270 electoral votes, according to the AP.... Read More »

 

JAMIE LaREAU

Does what you drive to the polls indicate how you’ll vote?

1:57 pm U.S. ET | Nov. 5, 2012
Can Democrats and Republicans find some common ground behind the wheel? A survey by totalcarscore.com, a Web site that does car reviews, product comparisons and automotive research, suggests a relationship between the type of vehicles people drive and how they’ll vote on Tuesday.... Read More »

 

ANALYSIS

How Toyota misfires with Chinese buyers

8:42 am U.S. ET | Nov. 4, 2012
The roots of Toyota's China troubles run far deeper than the anti-Japan protests that swept the country this fall, stretching back to the 2008 launch of the Yaris subcompact -- a spectacular flop with price-conscious Chinese buyers.... Read More »

 

Detroit 3 profits underscore auto industry gains under Obama

12:01 am U.S. ET | Nov. 3, 2012
The Detroit 3 automakers would endorse four more years with profits like those this week. A second term for President Barack Obama, who made saving General Motors a campaign pillar, hinges on whether voters give him the credit.... Read More »

 

U.S. automakers protest distortions in Romney ad

7:36 am U.S. ET | Nov. 1, 2012
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, attacking President Barack Obama for his auto industry policies as he battles for votes in Ohio, is drawing pointed rebuttals from General Motors and Chrysler Group, which are being pulled into the election against their will.... Read More »

 

Obama campaign to respond to Romney's Ohio Jeep ad

7:53 pm U.S. ET | Oct. 29, 2012
President Barack Obama's campaign said it will air an Ohio television ad that rebuts what outside observers call a false impression left by Republican challenger Mitt Romney about Chrysler Group LLC moving Jeep production to China.... Read More »