Manufacturing

Sogefi profit falls 25% in 2013 on restructuring costs

Feb. 26, 2014 13:42 CET
Italy's Sogefi reported a 25 percent drop in net profit last year as the supplier was hit by higher financial charges and restructuring costs.... Read More »

 

BASF targets EV battery market as growth area

Feb. 25, 2014 06:01 CET
BASF says new and safer batteries with a higher capacity will boost the range of electric cars, helping the market for electric-vehicle batteries to be worth $20 billion by 2020.... Read More »

 

Autoliv preps new China airbag plant to supply Great Wall

Feb. 25, 2014 10:34 CET
Autoliv will start building an airbag plant in the second half of this year in the north China city of Baoding, where Great Wall Motor Co. is headquartered. The plant will make airbags mainly for Great Wall's Haval SUVs.... Read More »

 

BMW plans to double engine capacity in China to close Audi gap

Feb. 25, 2014 09:34 CET
BMW is expanding engine production in China to potentially double capacity as it seeks to close the gap with Audi in the world's largest car market. A new plant will build four-cylinder gasoline engines for locally built cars starting in 2016.... Read More »

 

Daimler battery-unit savings push threatens Evonik JV

Feb. 25, 2014 10:23 CET
Daimler is seeking savings at its Li-Tec battery joint venture with Evonik, which the chemical maker says is leading to uncertainty about the future of the cooperation.... Read More »

 

Dealers advise Mitsubishi at U.S. plant

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 24, 2014
Mitsubishi wants more product input from its dealers.... Read More »

 

Exec: Think plastics for lightweight, durable parts

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 24, 2014
Lanxess AG, a German chemical company spun off from Bayer AG in 2004, is working on plastics that can replace metal in auto parts such as springs and brake pedals.... Read More »

 

Nissan's homegrown star in Smyrna

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 24, 2014
If having the neighborhood root for you counts for anything, Randy Knight should have an easy time running Nissan's big assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn., this year.... Read More »

 

BASF undeterred by EV market's setbacks, invests in battery tech

10:00 am U.S. ET | Feb. 24, 2014
BASF is betting customers will flock to electric cars, using its chemical products to create a battery that will enable vehicles to run longer.... Read More »

 

Fisker, new Chinese owner to restart Karma output this year

7:23 am U.S. ET | Feb. 24, 2014
Fisker Automotive, which has been acquired by China's largest auto parts company, plans to restart production of its Karma plug-in hybrid luxury car "within a year" and will also complete the half-finished development of a second model, according to a senior executive.... Read More »

 

MEXICAN STRATEGY

Mazda expects many advantages from new Salamanca plant

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 24, 2014
Mazda's new assembly plant in Salamanca, Mexico gives the company a low-cost production base; an export platform for shipping cars; and a natural hedge against swings in the yen's exchange rate.... Read More »

 

Consolidation is a tough tonic for interiors

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 24, 2014
Give credit to Johnson Controls for pulling the plug on part of its interiors operation.... Read More »

 

Paper: GM moves toward aluminum pickups in 2018

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 24, 2014
General Motors' executives insist they're not sweating Ford's 2015 aluminum F-150.... Read More »

 

Honda's Celaya plant boosts Mexico factory presence

2:00 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 21, 2014
In opening its $800 million assembly plant here to build the 2015 Fit subcompact hatchback and crossover variant, Honda is joining a rapidly growing slate of automakers and suppliers in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.... Read More »

 

UAW appeals VW plant election to U.S. labor board

3:36 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 21, 2014
The UAW filed an appeal today with the federal government, asking it to set aside the results of an election last week where workers at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant voted not to join the union.... Read More »

 

Ford uses hefty men to test durability of 2015 F-150 seats

11:42 am U.S. ET | Feb. 21, 2014
Ford went to unusual lengths to ensure that the seats in its 2015 F-150 pickups, which go on sale this fall, were durable enough to handle the daily demands of heavyset drivers.... Read More »

 

Johnson Controls to sell headliner, sun visor business to private equity firm Atlas

Feb. 20, 2014 06:01 CET
Johnson Controls plans to sell its headliner and sun visor business to an affiliate of private equity firm Atlas Holdings. Johnson Controls expects to close the deal by April 30. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.... Read More »

 

Porsche recalls all GT3 cars delivered this year in fire probe

Feb. 20, 2014 12:51 CET
Porsche will recall all of the 785 GT3 sports cars that have been delivered worldwide this year as it continues to investigate fires that broke out in two cars.... Read More »

 

Johnson Controls to sell headliner, sun visor business to private equity firm Atlas

4:03 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 19, 2014
Johnson Controls plans to sell its headliner and sun visor business to an affiliate of private equity firm Atlas Holdings. Johnson Controls expects to close the deal by April 30, the supplier said today. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.... Read More »

 

GM readying aluminum body trucks by late 2018, report says

9:10 am U.S. ET | Feb. 19, 2014
General Motors is working towards a largely aluminum-bodied pickup truck by late 2018, under pressure from federal fuel efficiency standards, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.... Read More »

 

2014 GENEVA AUTO SHOW

Opel expands Adam range with off-road-inspired and high-powered variants

Feb. 18, 2014 13:21 CET
Opel/Vauxhall will expand its Adam minicar range with the Adam Rocks, an off-road-inspired variant, and the Adam S high-performance version.... Read More »

 

Dealers order more than 8,000 diesel-powered Ram 1500s in 3 days

3:55 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 18, 2014
Chrysler Group dealers ordered more than 8,000 diesel-powered Ram 1500 pickups in the first weekend that they could do so -- a figure that represents nearly half of the light-duty pickup's normal monthly production.... Read More »

 

Magna forms Chinese joint venture to produce front-end modules

Feb. 18, 2014 12:47 CET
Magna has created a joint venture with Chongqing Guangneng Rongneng Trim to produce front-end modules for automakers in China.... Read More »

 

Fat profits put 2-tier pay on UAW agenda

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 17, 2014
As billions of dollars in profits pile up for the Detroit 3, so does resentment within the UAW toward the two-tier wage system that has helped produce those profits.... Read More »

 

Canadian spiffs for Chrysler?

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 17, 2014
Chrysler Group's Windsor minivan plant is poised to grab a share of funds that Canada's federal government has pledged to keep auto plants operating there. A budget approved last week by federal lawmakers in Ottawa included more than $500 million Canadian in incentive money.... Read More »

 


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