News
24 Oct, 2012
Ford confirms it will close its Belgian plant in response to weak sales
Three weeks after its 1 October launch, Volkswagen's new ultracompact up! passenger car is a hit in Japan.
ROAD TEST EDITOR JONATHAN WONG: A few years ago, Nissan made a big deal about offering the most affordable new car in America: a version of the
The strike at supplier Toyota Boshoku, a parts supplier estimated to have cost Toyota Motor's South African unit about 3,000 units of lost production, has ended after agreement was reached with the union.
Ford will meet British unions on Thursday amid media reports that it is planning to close its factory in Southampton, southern England.
The National Automobile Dealers Association is seeking to meet with electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc. about its retail network plans.
In our third and final interview with Continental while at this year's commercial show at Hanover, Matthew Beecham talked with Wolfgang Gutbrod, Head of the commercial vehicles customer segment Business Unit Engine Systems.
Increased sales of top models is expected to boost profits at Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru vehicles, by about 34%.
The French government stepped in to rescue PSA by guaranteeing as much as 7 billion euros ($9 billion) in new bonds in exchange for greater influence over the company's strategy.
The Toyota group, which includes Daihatsu and Hino, is likely to fall short of its global production target of 10.05m units this calendar year, according to the Nikkei newspaper.
Ford said it will close a Belgian assembly plant and GM outlined a joint product-sharing plan with a French rival as the Detroit automakers battle mounting losses in Europe.
Belgian employer and technology body, Agoria, is estimating today's (24 October) news from Ford it is to shutter its Genk plant could cost a possible 9,500 jobs, will slash the country's GDP by 0.3% and affect 40 suppliers.
The decision by Ford to close its Genk manufacturing plant underscores the problem faced by volume car players in Western Europe's declining car market. The problem, in a nutshell, is matching supply with demand in a market that is more than 20% off where it was in 2007.
News
24 Oct, 2012
The Civic Type R will get a brand-new 250bhp 1.6-litre turbocharged engine when it arrives in 2015
With Google now testing its self-driving car on California highways, automakers and U.S. regulators are anticipating what safety hurdles must be overcome to make vehicle autonomy real.
Ford says it met its union representatives this morning to discuss the closure of the Genk plant, but that senior management have travelled directly to Brussels to see the Flanders President and Belgian Prime Minister.
Ford said on Wednesday (24 October) it had started "a consultation process" in Belgium on plans to close its Genk plant and to cease vehicle production there by the end of 2014.
VW's third-quarter profit fell by a fifth as the deepening slump in European car markets and costs of a technology overhaul weighed on the automaker's results.
Chinese electric car maker BYD - in which legendary US investor Warren Buffett has a stake - and greentomatocars have signed a memorandum of understanding to create London's first fleet of all-electric minicabs.