Tag Archives: Automotive News

US to join EU in fighting Russian auto recycling fee as trade barrier

July 22, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

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If they’re not going to get you on the front end, they’ll get you on the back end. That’s what the European Union is accusing the Russian government of doing with automotive trade restrictions, and the US appears to agree, Reuters reports. The US is joining the EU in a World Trade Organization (WTO) claim that Russia is violating trade agreements by imposing an auto-recycling fees on cars imported into the country.

Russia doesn’t have such a fee for Russia-produced vehicles. Therefore, such a fee is no different than the import tax that the Russians were told to remove in order to become part of the WTO.

When it comes to the automotive industry, Russian trade agreements have become all the more relevant as more people buy cars in the country. By the end of the decade, Russian auto sales will increase to 4.4 million units annually, which would make it the world’s fifth-largest auto market, and will leapfrog Germany to become Europe’s largest, Automotive News reports, citing a report from Boston Consulting Group.

US to join EU in fighting Russian auto recycling fee as trade barrier originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 22 Jul 2013 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GM reportedly recalling select 2014 Silverado, Sierra pickups over airbag issue

July 21, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Brandon Turkus

2014 Chevy Silverado front three-quarter

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General Motors is recalling 843 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Crew Cab pickups, due to a fault with the vehicle’s airbags. According to GM, the airbags may not inflate properly in the event of a crash. There haven’t been any crashes or injuries associated with this recall, which is always good. Naturally, repairs will be free of charge, and GM will begin contacting affected owners soon.

GM has a lot hanging on the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. Not only is it banking over $12,000 per vehicle on these trucks, as reported by Automotive News, but GM is counting on the Sierra and Silverado to take the fight to cross-town rivals Ford and Ram. The F-150 and Ram 1500 have been on a tear over the past few years, with fresh updates, advanced powertrains, and plenty of solid press while the GM trucks have been waiting for the 2014-model-year upgrades.

It’s still entirely too early to judge the Sierra and Silverado, particularly as those 843 recalled trucks make up barely two percent of the over 40,000 units moved so far. But, as AN rightly states, these trucks are the most important vehicles to come out of GM since bankruptcy, with about 60 percent of global profits relating to pickups and SUVs. Starting an introduction of such a big product with a recall, however small, is not the preferred way to do things.

GM reportedly recalling select 2014 Silverado, Sierra pickups over airbag issue originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Jul 2013 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Cadillac sales chief fired over policy violation

July 21, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Damon Lowney

Cadillac US sales chief Chase Hawkins fired over policy violation.

Filed under: Amidst a good year for Cadillac, which is experiencing higher sales gains than any other US brand this year, the US sales chief has been fired over a policy violation, Automotive News reports.

The sales chief, Chase Hawkins, “has left effective immediately,” GM spokesman David Caldwell told Automotive News. Caldwell went on to say that Hawkins’ replacement would be chosen soon.

Hawkins became the US sales chief in June 2012, and before that was the regional sales director for Cadillac in the Northeast US, overseeing 168 dealerships.

In a brief phone interview, Hawkins told Automotive News that his firing had more to do with a personal issue than a company violation, and he left it at that.

Cadillac sales chief fired over policy violation originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Jul 2013 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Ford dinged by OSHA for asbestos at Buffalo plant

July 20, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Seyth Miersma

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Ford has come under fire from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for violations regarding asbestos exposure in a company metal stamping plant in Buffalo, NY. OSHA has cited Ford for eight violations in total, according to an Automotive News report, and faces fines of up to $41,800. 537 workers are employed at the stamping facility.

The violations include a pipefitter at the facility being exposed to asbestos-containing material while working on a steam line, other workers exposed to the material without respiratory protection and work areas that were not designed to limited the number of workers in contact with asbestos. Further, areas in which asbestos was present were not properly restricted, and levels of asbestos in the air were not monitored.

According to an unnamed Ford spokesperson in the AN report, the company feels that the OSHA citation is erroneous saying, “We have fully cooperated with the local OSHA officials and we don’t believe the citations are warranted.” Ford also maintains that it will work with the authorities to resolve the issue.

Ford dinged by OSHA for asbestos at Buffalo plant originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Jul 2013 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: More EU states may block Daimler cars as refrigerant battle heats up

July 20, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Damon Lowney

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The last time we checked in on the battle of refrigerants, France had enacted a registration ban on some Mercedes-Benz vehicles because their air-conditioning systems were loaded with R134a, which was found to be harmful to the environment by EU tests. Now, other EU states are considering banning the substance, according to Automotive News, as they push for a new refrigerant, R1234yf, to be used in new vehicles across the board.

EU testing has shown that the new chemical refrigerant, R1234yf, is safe to use in automobiles and less harmful to the environment than R134a. But after testing it independently, Daimler claimed that R1234yf could be the primary source of a vehicle fire in certain crash scenarios, if the pressurized refrigerant line broke and leaked onto the hot exhaust system. Germany, going against the EU ban, still allows vehicles with R134a to be sold within its borders.

In a meeting in Brussels with the EU’s Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles on Wednesday, representatives from the 28 member states discussed the issue and agreed that all vehicles sold within the EU must conform to the law. They stated vehicles that have already been sold with R134a must be withdrawn, just as France did by not allowing the registration of Mercedes-Benz A-class, B-class and SL cars built after June.

More talks between France and Germany will be organized to find a solution to the problem. But in the meantime, according to Automotive News, Daimler said that the vehicle ban in France alone could detract two percent from its global sales. Read the official EU press releases from the meeting in Brussels after the jump.

Continue reading More EU states may block Daimler cars as refrigerant battle heats up

More EU states may block Daimler cars as refrigerant battle heats up originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Jul 2013 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Ford sues Japanese wiring harness supplier over price fixing

July 19, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Damon Lowney

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The dirty secrets of the multibillion-dollar wiring harness industry are being uncovered bit by bit, as more suppliers are found to be connected to a global price-fixing scandal. Automotive News reports that Ford is now suing a Japanese supplier that admitted to fixing prices of wiring harness components in a previous criminal investigation.

The civil lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Detroit against Fujikura Ltd. and its Detroit subsidiary, Fujikura Automotive America, on Tuesday. The lawsuit claims that the aforementioned companies coordinated with other suppliers to fix the prices of wiring harnesses sold to Ford from January 2000 through at least February 2010. Fujikura agreed to pay a $20 million fine in the criminal investigation, and Ford is suing for triple the damages – as allowed by US law – on the $10 billion it spent on harnesses during the 10-year period, though it’s not known how much money Ford lost on them.

The wiring harness industry, in 2010, was a $26.9 billion business, and the size of the investigation into price fixing reflects this. In February, Scott Hammond, US deputy assistant attorney general, said the investigation into price fixing “has grown over time and is broader than what we’ve announced so far,” reports Automotive News.

Ford sues Japanese wiring harness supplier over price fixing originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Acura aiming for Chinese production by 2016

July 19, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Jeffrey N. Ross

Acura SUV-X Concept live at 2013 Shanghai Motor Show

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Not wanting to be left out of the emerging luxury car bonanza in China, Automotive News is reporting that Acura could begin producing vehicles in the Asian country by 2016. Like Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Acura will reportedly build vehicles in China using a local partner – Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. in Acura’s case – while Cadillac and Infiniti will build their own vehicles locally.

Guangzhou already produces Honda models in China, but the article says that the first Acura produced in that country could be a new compact model based on the Acura SUV-X Concept (shown above), a showcar revealed in April at the Shanghai Motor Show. China’s luxury car market is expected to grow to 2.7 million units a year by the end of this decade, which would put it on pace to make it the largest premium car market in the world.

Acura aiming for Chinese production by 2016 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Detroit pins hopes to bankruptcy as Motor City sags

July 19, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Brandon Turkus

Detroit from the air

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Detroit. The Motor City. Motown. Hitsville, USA. Hockeytown. The largest municipality ever to file for bankruptcy in US history. You can add that last one to Detroit’s many titles, as Republican Governor Rick Snyder authorized emergency manager Kevyn Orr to file a petition for bankruptcy yesterday.

Detroit’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy bid is likely to be very bad news for city employees, retirees and their families, but what does it mean for the auto industry? Automotive News spoke with Wall Street financial guru Steven Rattner, the same man that acted as President Barack Obama’s so-called auto czar, ushering General Motors and Chrysler through bankruptcies of their own, to see what parallels there will be between the two situations.

According to Rattner, bankruptcy for the city was inevitable, just like it was for GM and Chrysler. “It’s analogous to the auto companies, in that you have too many stakeholders whose claims are too underwater to realistically ever worked this out with some kind of bankruptcy,” Rattner told AN. But, Rattner cautions, “This will be much messier.” The auto bankruptcies took a brief six weeks, while the city’s case will likely last at least a few months, if not a year or more.

While the automaker presence in the city isn’t what it once was, GM still employs roughly 3,000 people at its Renaissance Center headquarters, right in the heart of downtown. Chrysler’s Detroit workforce is mainly blue collar, at the Jefferson North factory, which builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango. Ford, the only automaker not to go through bankruptcy, has limited its presence within Detroit city limits.

In a statement, GM said its “is proud to call Detroit home and today’s bankruptcy declaration is a day that we and others hoped would not come. We believe, however, that today also can mark a clean start for the city.” Ford shared a similar sentiment, with a release stating “The city has a difficult job ahead, and we are optimistic that governmental leaders will be successful in strengthening the community.” Chrysler, meanwhile, reiterated its commitment to the city, “We not only continue to invest in the city and its residents by adding to our presence in Detroit, we also are committed to playing a positive role in its revitalization.”

Detroit pins hopes to bankruptcy as Motor City sags originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: Honda reveals next-gen Fit Hybrid

July 19, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Chris Paukert

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Psst! Remember late last month when we showed you those Japanese magazine scans purporting to show the next Honda Fit? The ones with the markedly more aggressive snout and Cuisinart-blade alloys? Yup, they were the real deal, but they weren’t the standard model, they were images of the new Hybrid. We know this because Honda has just released a handful of images and some details on its forthcoming gas-electric hatchback, and the images line up perfectly.

The big story for the third-generation Fit Hybrid will be the fuel economy, naturally (Honda says it has achieved economy ratings of 36.4 kilometers per liter – 86 miles per gallon – on its home-market cycle, highest among all hybrid models in Japan and a 35-percent improvement over the current Fit Hybrid, a model not sold in the US.

Interestingly, the Fit brooms the company’s underwhelming Integrated Motor Assist system in favor of a new single-motor e-assist system dubbed Sport Hybrid i-DCD, and it eschews a CVT like most hybrids in favor of a “dual clutch drive” (i-DCD) with seven speeds. The architecture can completely uncouple the 1.5-liter Atkinson cycle four-cylinder engine and the i-DCD’s 22-kilowatt electric motor. The motor itself is backed by a lithium-ion battery that’s integrated into the power unit, and Honda is also touting a new servo brake system and electric compressor that increases the efficacy of the regenerative braking while curbing engine load. The Fit Hybrid will be able to putter along at speeds of up to 31 mph in pure electric mode for 1.9 miles.

Automotive News reports that while the Fit Hybrid seen here isn’t expected to be sold in the US, the technology will come to America in the form of a subcompact sedan and crossover based on the Fit’s architecture as early as next year. The conventionally powered five-door Fit will be built in North America for the first time, and should hit dealers in the third quarter of next year. Built in Honda’s new Ceyala, Mexico plant, the US car is likely to be offered with a 1.5-liter direct-injection engine paired to a CVT, both new components in Honda’s Earth Dreams arsenal. A 1.3-liter port-injected powerplant is also expected to be fitted elsewhere in the world.

Continue reading Honda reveals next-gen Fit Hybrid

Honda reveals next-gen Fit Hybrid originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 08:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Chevy ad compares Spark EV with Ferrari 458 Italia

July 18, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Damon Lowney

2014 Chevy Spark EV - front three-quarter view

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Chevrolet’s new commercial for the 2014 Spark EV emphasizes the little hatchback’s performance over pretty much everything else, and it even goes as far as to compare it to a Ferrari 458 Italia. That’s right, the electric bubble is pitched in the commercial as having a higher torque figure than the Ferrari – and it does, with a massive 400 pound-feet ready to be unleashed.

That doesn’t translate into a quicker car, however, as the 458’s V8 with 570 horsepower and not-exactly-quaint 398 lb-ft gives it a 0-60 time of 3.0 seconds compared to the Spark EV’s 7.6-second run.

“We think the fun-to-drive element is an area for us to differentiate ourselves,” Sam Basile, executive chief engineer for GM’s global minicars and emerging-market vehicles, told Automotive News.

EV makers who aren’t Tesla might want to take note of the Chevrolet ad, because, as the novelty of clean electric propulsion wears off, the Spark EV has planted something else in our minds: quick electric propulsion for the masses. That is, if its sales weren’t limited to California and Oregon.

Watch Chevy’s refreshing commercial below.

Continue reading Chevy ad compares Spark EV with Ferrari 458 Italia

Chevy ad compares Spark EV with Ferrari 458 Italia originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Jul 2013 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Mercedes considering Mexico for CLA production

July 16, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Brandon Turkus

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Would you buy a Mercedes-Benz if it were made in Mexico? That’s what the German outfit is wondering, as it considers localizing production of the its new budget model at a factory operated by Nissan, of which the automaker is a joint-venture partner.

According to a report from Automotive News, moving production of American-spec CLAs from Hungary to Mexico would protect Mercedes from currency fluctuations. “Mexico is the best location for the United States,” Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche told AN. The CLA is also expected to become the brand’s volume model in the US market, which makes North American production a logical move.

In the event that Mercedes approves the plan, Nissan would expand the capabilities at its Aguascalientes, Mexico plant, allowing production to begin in 2018.

Mercedes considering Mexico for CLA production originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Followup: Lexus coupe caught in spy shots actually RC, headed for Tokyo reveal?

July 16, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Brandon Turkus

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Lexus may have pulled a fast one on us. The car our spy shooters spotted yesterday may not, in fact, be an IS F Coupe as we indicated. Rather, the car shown above may be a new model, dubbed RC, that will arrive at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show.

Following a report from Automotive News, the RC is believed to be a pure coupe, rather than a hardtop convertible. This gels with information provided on the IS sedan’s launch, when Lexus spokespeople said the IS Convertible would remain on the current platform. With styling based on the LF-CC from the 2012 Paris show, the new car will share a rear-drive platform with the IS and GS sedans.

Power is expected to come from a 3.5-liter V6 that turns out 306 horsepower. That car will likely wear the RC 350 badge. A hybrid model is expected to follow, but in a twist, it won’t be coming to the US. The big news, though, is that the RC will spawn an RC F.

Sources told AN that a 460-hp V8 will replace the 416-hp mill found in the current IS F, allowing the RC F to really duke it out with Stuttgart, Munich, and Ingolstadt.

Where does that leave the IS F? We can’t be sure, but with Mercedes-Benz and BMW both offering (now or in the future) fast, compact sedans, we wouldn’t bet on Lexus sitting out. We can expect to see a production RC F at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, with examples arriving in dealers later that year.

Lexus coupe caught in spy shots actually RC, headed for Tokyo reveal? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Firing of M-B boss upheld

July 15, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Brandon Turkus

Filed under: Government/Legal, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Mercedes-Benz

Ernst Lieb, the disgraced former CEO of American operations for Mercedes-Benz, will not be getting any more money from the Silver Arrow’d teat. His wrongful dismissal suit against MB’s parent company, Daimler, was tossed out of a German appeals panel. This, followed the initial rejection by a lower court last year.

According to court documents acquired by Automotive News, Lieb was found to have “accepted payments of substantial value to which he – as he was aware – had no claim.”

Lieb took over American operations from former CEO Paul Halata in September of 2006. Reports surfaced in October of 2011 that Lieb was dismissed from his posting at MB, with a variety of rumors swirling. Eventually, news broke that financial wrong doing was responsible for the German’s firing.

Lieb misappropriated over $100,000 of corporate funds for home improvements to his Mahwah, New Jersey residence, which were used for new beds, a home gym, a theater and a built-in barbecue. Mercedes-Benz replaced Lieb with current CEO Steve Cannon in December of 2011.

Firing of M-B boss upheld originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 15 Jul 2013 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All of a sudden, Nissan doesn't have enough Leafs to go around

July 15, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Sebastian Blanco

2013 nissan leaf

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March: 2,236. April: 1,937. May: 2,138. June: 2,225.

Those are the US sales totals for the Nissan Leaf over the last four months. According to Erik Gottfried, Nissan’s director of electric vehicle sales and marketing, the numbers are a bit too high. Or production is too low. Or something. Point is, demand is apparently outstripping supply.

Nissan says it’s “going to be short on inventory all through the summer.”

Despite having a stated annual capacity of 150,000 Leaf EVs at its Smyrna, TN plant – over 10,000 a month – Leaf production in the Volunteer State has not yet ramped up to a level that can satisfy demand for 2,200 Leafs a month. According to Automotive News, Gottfried recently told dealers in Texas that, “we’re doing everything we can to get them more inventory. But it’s taking some time. … We’re going to be short on inventory all through the summer. It will be late fall before we can produce enough to satisfy everybody.”

Everybody in this case means the expanding markets outside the West Coast, where all the cool EVs have long been allowed to play. AN says that the third-largest market for the Leaf is now Atlanta, where there is only a nine-day supply of the EV. The world’s most popular highway-speed EV (over 60,000 have been sold worldwide, and around 30,000 in the US) got a big price drop earlier this year when the company started making the car in the US. Previously, all Leafs were exported from Japan.

All of a sudden, Nissan doesn’t have enough Leafs to go around originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 15 Jul 2013 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Could CAFE result in an eBay-style online auction house for credits?

April 21, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

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Automakers may turn to an online auction system to buy and sell carbon credits in the near future. As Automotive News reports, the Environmental Protection Agency will soon stop allowing automakers to simply pay fines for exceeding their carbon emission limits and will instead move to a carbon credit system. Under that plan, more efficient automakers will be able to sell the credits they don’t need or use to automakers that want to build less efficient products. Unfortunately, automakers are notoriously competitive and likely won’t be willing to help each other out, even if it means making a little extra cash.

The solution is to use an anonymous market where automakers can buy or sell credits without ever knowing who’s on the other end of the transaction. Several companies have already signed up for accounts with Mobilis Trading, though none have actually bought or sold credits just yet. That may change as the government puts ever more pressure on automakers to reduce emissions.

Could CAFE result in an eBay-style online auction house for credits? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Volkswagen lays off 500 Chattanooga workers

April 19, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Jeffrey N. Ross

Filed under: Sedan, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Plants/Manufacturing, Volkswagen

The redesigned Volkswagen Passat has been a decent seller since its debut in 2011, but sales have apparently dropped off enough that the automaker is trimming some of the employees from its Chattanooga, TN assembly plant. According to Automotive News, Volkswagen will be cutting shifts and laying off 500 contracted workers in response to slowing sales.

Currently, the plant has three teams running 10-hour shifts Monday through Saturday, but starting May 13, this will be reduced down to two teams running 10-hour shifts Monday through Thursday. This will be done to reduce dealer inventory (the article says that VW dealers, on average, have a 97-day supply of Passats) and production capacity (currently running at an annual pace of 170,000 units, which is more than the 150,000 annual units the plant was planned to produce).

This, of course, isn’t saying that the Passat has been a failure since VW added 200 full-time employees to the plant in February 2012 to keep up with increased demand. The AN article says that automakers frequently overstaff plants during the launch of a new product – or in this case, a new product and a new plant – but eventually reduce the workers as things run smoother and more efficiently.

Volkswagen lays off 500 Chattanooga workers originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Toyota offered $146.5 million to build Lexus ES in Kentucky

April 18, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Jeffrey N. Ross

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Toyota posted a media advisory yesterday saying that Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota, and Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America, would be making a production announcement tomorrow in New York City, and Automotive News reports that the automaker will be announcing a plan to domestically produce the Lexus ES. According to the report, numerous plants are competing to build the ES in North America, and the State of Kentucky has offered the automaker up to $146.5 million to build the luxury sedan at the Georgetown, KY assembly plant.

If Georgetown gets the ES, which has been built in Japan since its debut in 1989, it would be built alongside the Toyota Camry, which is somewhat ironic since in our review of the 2013 Lexus ES350, we wrote that this ES finally says “goodbye to its Camry roots.” In order to get the whole amount offered, the article states that Toyota would have to invest $531.2 million and hire 570 full-time workers at the plant, which doesn’t sound all that unreasonable since the plant would require an additional 50,000 units of annual production, not to mention the fact that the Georgetown facility is already at its capacity for building the Camry.

Toyota offered $146.5 million to build Lexus ES in Kentucky originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Acura built just 91 examples of the ILX last month, here's why

April 18, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Jonathon Ramsey

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The short life of the Acura ILX has been vexed by one glaringly odd standard equipment choice, mediocre reviews, getting outsold by its competition as it posted slower-than-projected sales and a pledge by Honda to upgrade its supposedly upgraded offering. Therefore, when Automotive News reports that just 91 of the Civic-based Acura sedans were manufactured last month – after a string of production months in double-digits – it would be easy to press the button for the alarm bells.

But that would be hasty, because it is actually the 2013 Honda Civic that is crimping the production pipeline of the ILX. The vastly higher sales numbers of the Honda meant that all three North American plants that produce it needed to crank up output to satisfy dealer inventory needs, including the Greenburg, Indiana plant that makes both the Civic and the ILX. As the classic guns-vs-butter Economy 101 lesson taught us – in which making more of one necessarily means making less of the other – well, the Civic is the gun.

Honda prepared for this eventuality by cranking out the Acuras while it got ready for Civic production. The ILX has held steady at about 500 units shy of company projections every month, and the current inventory represents about 90 days worth of sales. That makes Greenburg’s ostensibly low numbers in line with the realities of the ILX, and the situation probably won’t change much as Acura gets ready for the improved 2014 ILX.

Acura built just 91 examples of the ILX last month, here’s why originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Hyundai, Kia ratchet up fleet sales as retail transactions slide

April 16, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

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Automotive News reports both Hyundai and Kia have stepped up fleet sales in an attempt to offset disappointing first quarter results. The Korean automakers saw their sales decline by nine percent compared to last year, while all major competitors managed to increase their sales. That situation marks an inversion of two years ago, when both gained ground after Japanese rivals suffered production and inventory shortages after the country’s earthquake and tsunami tragedies.

Now, Hyundai can’t come up with enough volume models in popular trim configurations to satisfy buyers, and lower-volume models are also in a snag. At the moment, Hyundai can only build 20-30 percent of Veloster hatchbacks with turbocharged engines while the US market would apparently support closer to 70 percent.

In order to reverse the sales slide, Hyundai and Kia have stepped up fleet sales of the vehicles they do have by some 50 percent, ringing up a total of 42,400 units in the first quarter. By contrast, Automotive News reports the seven largest automakers increased retail volume by seven percent and fleet sales by four percent as a group.

Hyundai, Kia ratchet up fleet sales as retail transactions slide originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Next Mercedes-Benz C-Class to get diesel, hybrid versions

April 16, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Steven J. Ewing

Mercedes-Benz C-Class spy shots

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Mercedes-Benz is planning a more aggressive product strategy for its next-generation C-Class range. “We were fighting the 3 Series with two arms tied behind our back, and now we will change that,” Steve Cannon, the automaker’s US CEO, told Automotive News in a recent interview.

In addition to offering more body styles of the new C-Class, AN reports that the revamped Mercedes will also be offered here with hybrid and diesel powertrains. Currently, the C-Class comes in coupe and sedan variants, with only gasoline engines. The BMW 3 Series, however, is available as a sedan, coupe, convertible and wagon, and offers buyers the choice of gasoline, diesel (the upcoming 328d) or hybrid power.

Mercedes-Benz will show the next-generation C-Class at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, with sales of the US-built sedan following in August. Coupe, convertible and hybrid models will follow in early 2015, and while diesel and all-wheel-drive versions are planned, no specific timetable has been released regarding availability.

Automotive News reports that Mercedes will not be bringing over the wagon version of the C-Class, and we won’t be getting any sort of funky crossover-ish things to rival the BMW 3 Series GT. Furthermore, AN states that we will also not be getting any sort of low-cost entry-level C-Class to rival the new BMW 320i, as Mercedes-Benz will offer the swoopy CLA-Class to those looking for a cheaper entry into the brand.

Next Mercedes-Benz C-Class to get diesel, hybrid versions originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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