Auto News 5

Hyundai Motor's union workers in South Korea have failed to reach an annual pay deal with the company and voted to authorise strike action. Strike action could follow next week.

KSPG's MS Motorservice International has set up a new plant for the production of small pistons on a site of around 50,000sq m in Chabarovice, Czech Republic. The location has now been officially opened.

Audi says its global sales edged up to 128,650 cars (+2.7% on last year) in the month of August. However, the premium brand also reported adverse developments in a number of key markets.

Opinion 11 Sep, 2015

Mike Rutherford thinks SsangYong is, in many respects, enjoying great success thanks to the likes of Hyundai and Kia moving upmarket

Toyota said it had cancelled the day shift at three of its factories in north-eastern Japan due to heavy rains that, earlier on 11 September, burst the banks of a river in the city of Osaki, in Miyagi prefecture.

Ford France has hired the country's one-time First Lady Carla Bruni to help counter the home-field advantage of Renault and PSA.

Ford has hired France's one-time first lady Carla Bruni to star in a brand-promoting video in which she ditches her guitar for the testosterone-charged job of a male soccer team coach.

New vehicle sales in China fell by 3% to 1.66m units in August, from 1.72m units in the same month of last year, according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). This marks the fifth successive monthly sales decline and reflects weakening domestic sentiment, with the country's financial and equity markets correcting sharply in August.

Indian utility vehicle manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra will start exporting its latest entrant in the family sub-4 metre segment, the TUV300, to South Africa and neighbouring countries, a senior company official said during the launch event in Pune.

Workers at a Ford plant in Brazil began an open-ended strike on 10 September to protest job cuts, adding to labour tensions that have rattled the nation's auto industry in the midst of its worst crisis in nearly 20 years.

Ford India has confirmed fresh spending to expand capacity at its manufacturing plant in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and set up a new global engineering and technology centre. Representatives from Ford and Tamil Nadu state government signed a memorandum of understanding at the Global Investor Meet, making way for a Ford campus across 28 acres of land, the company said in a statement.

Toyota's UK manufacturing operations are operating 'absolutely at full capacity' as Toyota ramps up for new models and higher demand from a recovering West European car market. Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK Deputy Managing Director Tony Walker has told just-auto that the company's Burnaston vehicle production plant - which makes the Auris and Avensis, both models recently revised - is planned to be working at full tilt (on the single line) through to January.

Cooper Tyre & Rubber, along with its Chinese subsidiary, Cooper (Kunshan) Tyre and former subsidiary Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) Tyre, filed summonses with the US Court of International Trade contesting the US Commerce Department's antidumping and countervailing duty findings against Chinese light truck passenger car tyres.

Lamborghini expects to hit a new sales record this year, benefiting from strong demand for the all-new Huracan, CEO Stephan Winkelmann said. The brand's current record of 2,530 deliveries, achieved in 2014, is likely to be surpassed this month.

Jaguar Land Rover's China joint venture named manufacturing expert Murray Dietsch as president in a management shuffle that takes place amid a sharp decline in the joint venture's China sales.

Bill Hayden, the former Ford of Europe manufacturing executive who is credited with modernizing Jaguar, died on Aug. 11. He was 86.

Continental has largely replaced its tire sales management team in China on suspicion of corruption, reports said. Several employees are said to have allegedly benefitted personally through business deals.

News 11 Sep, 2015

Brabus tunes Merc's latest sports car to 591bhp and 750Nm of torque, set to debut at Frankfurt show

Hyundai Europe's new focus is less on growing sales but more on boosting profits through a repositioning of the brand as an upscale product that can generate higher sticker prices.

The executives chosen as 2015 Automotive News Europe Eurostars rose above the rest by pushing their companies to new heights. Ricky Hudi, Audi chief executive engineer for electrics/electronics, is this year's winner for Connected Car.