Americas

Honda crash death exposes weaknesses in recall system

2:24 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 30, 2015

The driver of a 2002 Honda Accord who died earlier this month in a crash involving a ruptured Takata airbag inflator hadn't been notified that his vehicle was recalled in June 2014 for the suspect inflators, a Honda spokesman said. The fatal crash in Texas marked the sixth death linked to inflators made by Takata and highlights some of the pitfalls of the current vehicle recall system....
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Lear Q4 profits surge on North America growth

10:12 am U.S. ET | Jan. 30, 2015

Seating and electronics supplier Lear reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profits due to strong demand from North America....
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Denso to expand Tenn. plant, add 400 jobs

11:24 am U.S. ET | Jan. 30, 2015

Denso, the world’s second-largest automotive supplier, is set to expand a plant and add about 400 employees in Athens, Tenn....
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THE TAKATA RECALL CRISIS

Honda confirms crash death caused by ruptured Takata airbag

6:21 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 29, 2015

American Honda on Friday confirmed a Takata airbag ruptured in the fatal crash of a 2002 Accord on January 18 in Texas....
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Group 1 and Prestige settle Fla. buy-sell dispute

3:50 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 29, 2015

A dispute between Prestige Motor Car Imports and Group 1 Automotive over a buy-sell deal in Florida gone wrong is settled and the deal is back on -- for now, both sides said....
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Bollore eyes Los Angeles in car-sharing expansion

Jan. 29, 2015 11:45 CET

Vincent Bollore is targeting Los Angeles and Singapore as the next markets for his electric-car sharing service after its debuts later this year in London and Indianapolis.The French car-sharing service currently has about 70,000 subscribers in Paris....
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Auto bosses say billions in savings at stake if EU-U.S. trade deal fails

Jan. 28, 2015 19:41 CET

The CEOs of Germany's top auto companies said Wednesday that they could save roughly 5 billion euros in annual costs if the European and U.S. governments can agree on a landmark free trade deal....
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Bentley names industry veteran Winkler to head Americas unit

4:01 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 28, 2015

Bentley said it appointed Michael Winkler as president and CEO of Bentley Motors in the Americas, replacing Christophe Georges, who will become director of product and marketing for Bentley’s global organization....
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Cost-cutting VW baffles experts with Phaeton plans

Jan. 28, 2015 10:05 CET

With VW having embarked on a big cost-cutting drive, industry experts are baffled why the "people's car" maker plans to spend millions of euros upgrading the money-losing Phaeton premium sedan. Analysts say the costly car should be axed....
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Mercedes plans to move R-class production to AM General in Indiana

10:18 am U.S. ET | Jan. 27, 2015

Mercedes-Benz plans to shift production of the R-class crossover from its Alabama plant to contract manufacturer AM General in Indiana this summer. The German automaker said it needed to free up space in its assembly operations near Tuscaloosa, Ala....
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2014 N.A. output up 6%

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 26, 2015

North American car and truck production rose 6 percent to 17,568,729 vehicles in 2014, according to preliminary estimates. It is the third-largest year ever, surpassed only by 17,598,866 in 2000 and 17,582,611 in 1999....
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BEST PRACTICES

Urban-living trend a chance to branch out and up

2:00 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 24, 2015

Few dealers would get far offering a $2,500-a-month lease. Not on a car, anyway. But outside San Francisco, where the booming technology sector has sent real-estate prices into the stratosphere, one Volkswagen dealer is betting that apartments are a different story....
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LINDSAY CHAPPELL

Sometimes success comes from a loving push

12:00 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 24, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO -- A few months ago, I interviewed a West Virginia car dealer named Mike Wood. You might have caught the article we ran in Automotive News.
...
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GM to cut production of Chevy Sonic, Buick Verano

11:02 am U.S. ET | Jan. 23, 2015

General Motors is cutting production of its Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano small cars amid higher-than-normal inventories, a sign that low gasoline prices could be weakening the sales outlook for small cars....
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Missouri dealers file suit to block Tesla sales

1:20 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 23, 2015

Missouri auto dealers filed suit to block Tesla Motors' direct manufacturer-to-consumer sales in the state. The Missouri Automobile Dealers Association on Thursday filed a lawsuit in a state court, accusing the Department of Revenue and its director, Nia Ray, of violating Missouri law by allowing Tesla to sell its vehicles without a franchise dealer....
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Ford takes charge of $800 million on Venezuelan currency

9:06 am U.S. ET | Jan. 23, 2015

Ford said it will take a one-time pretax charge of $800 million in its fourth quarter results because the inability to exchange US dollars for Venezuelan bolivars has restricted operations in the South American country....
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BMW, VW will build fast-charging stations for EVs in U.S.

Jan. 23, 2015 12:18 CET

BMW and Volkswagen are joining with ChargePoint, a company that provides EV charging facilities, to build nearly 100 fast-charging stations in the U.S. Both automakers seek to boost interest in their electric or plug-in vehicles, including the BMW i3 and the VW e-Golf....
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About 100 EV stations planned for high-traffic east- and west-coast locations

2:30 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 22, 2015

Around 100 new electric vehicle quick-charging stations will be installed along high-traffic highway corridors on the east and west coasts by year-end under a new deal announced today by BMW, Volkswagen and EV-charging network operator ChargePoint....
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Ford to open r&d lab in Tesla's backyard

4:16 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 21, 2015

Ford CEO Mark Fields, seeking to burnish his company's high-tech credentials, will announce Thursday the opening of a Silicon Valley r&d center that is believed to be one of the auto industry's largest....
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Toyota breaks ground on N.A. headquarters in Texas

3:15 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 20, 2015

A Toyota Tundra bulldozed through soil today in Plano, Texas, breaking ground on the automaker's new North American headquarters. Toyota in April said it would relocate the headquarters to Plano from Torrance, Calif. The move will consolidate engineering, sales, marketing, finance and corporate staff....
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Four former Chrysler dealers could reopen under U.S. appeals court ruling

2:58 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 20, 2015

One Las Vegas dealership and three former Detroit area dealerships -- Livonia Chrysler Jeep, Fox Hills Chrysler Jeep and Village Chrysler Jeep -- could get a chance to reopen more than five years after a Chrysler Group LLC decision to close them, according to a federal appeals court ruling....
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LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE

Why Marchionne's Wrangler conundrum will require creativity

12:22 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 19, 2015

I truly believe that FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne would prefer to write a big check and keep the next generation Jeep Wrangler in its historic home in Toledo, Ohio. The problem? There's not much wiggle room right now in the corporate checking account....
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Assault on Fortress Detroit

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 19, 2015

Tougher specs, more rugged designs and ample new trim levels -- all wrapped in copious red-white-and-blue marketing. Japanese brands are upping the stakes in the pickup wars with products debuting at the Detroit auto show in hopes of making deeper inroads into the one segment in which the country's carmakers still trail their Detroit rivals....
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Mercedes 'will lose talent' in move

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 19, 2015

Steve Cannon, CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, says only about 40 percent of its 1,053 employees are likely to move when the U.S. headquarters moves from New Jersey to Atlanta. Mercedes has made offers to the employees it wants to keep....
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

An unwise move for Mercedes

12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 19, 2015

Yes, the Northeastern United States is more costly for business because of a higher standard of living and more choices that allow corporations to be global and be near the world center for commerce, New York City. But why Atlanta?...
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