Auto News 5

Automakers in Europe are bracing for more supply chain disruption after Toyota Motor Corp. announced production cuts on the continent due to last month's earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Honda Automobile (Thailand) said it would temporarily halt production at its Thai assembly plants from 18 April in response to parts supply shortages in Japan.

Ford Motor Co. is shutting its factory in the Philippines for 18 days as a precautionary move to ensure parts availability following the March 11 earthquake in Japan.

Britain's MG sports-car brand began producing its first new model in the UK in 16 years on Wednesday using bodyshells, engines and powertrains shipped from China by Shanghai-based parent SAIC Motor Corp.

Britain's MG sports-car brand began producing its first new model in the U.K. in 16 years on Wednesday using bodyshells, engines and powertrains shipped from China by Shanghai-based parent SAIC Motor Corp.

A Scandinavian suppliers body says it has been communicating with crisis-hit Saab by text message as it estimates its members could be losing many hundreds of millions of Swedish Krone.

A Chinese engineer who stole Ford Motor Co. trade secrets was sentenced to almost six years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's office in Detroit said today.

Smaller engines, producing the same power as the larger engines they have replaced while using less energy and therefore generating lower exhaust emissions, are high up the priority list of every vehicle manufacturer. In truth it is part of a process that has been continuing for many years. In this interview, Matthew Beecham talked with Derk Geurts about trends in diesel engine downsizing. Derk is Delphi's chief engineer for diesel common rail systems (light duty and passenger cars).

MG Motor UK on Thursday (13 April) built its first car for customer sale. The red, petrol-fuelled, 1.8-litre, turbocharged five-door hatchback was driven off the line by Lisa, the only woman working on the final assembly line so far.

Chrysler Group LLC plans to start selling compressed natural gas-powered vehicles by 2017.

Volkswagen said a decision on a possible stake in Isuzu Motors was currently not on the agenda after a report that it was considering buying all or part of the Japanese truckmaker.

Volkswagen has said that there was a 10.4% year-on-year increase in deliveries of passenger cars by the Volkswagen brand during the first three months of the year.

SEAT hope to boost sales by expanding into the Chinese market, with Leon and Ibiza due to appear at the Shanghai Auto Show next week.

Nissan says that its all new NV400 panel van will present a 'unique, distinctive proposition' in the LCV market when sales begin in 2011.

Renault is likely to replace outgoing COO Patrick Pelata, who resigned in the wake of the industrial espionage scandal, internally, according to French media reports.

The debts to suppliers incurred by troubled carmaker Saab are likely to be in the range of several hundred million crowns, the FKG group representing suppliers to the car industry said.

Sales of Volkswagen's core VW brand increased 10.4 percent to 1.23 million vehicles in the first quarter, a record for the automaker. VW also reported record deliveries for March, with sales of more than 468,000 cars, a year-on-year rise of 4.

Pittsburgh Glass Works (PGW) is to establish a new North American manufacturing facility in Elkin to meet increasing demand for automotive glass products.

Autoliv has started an extension of its airbag and seatbelt assembly plant in Guangzhou in Southern China at a cost of almost US$4m.

BMW's genre-defying junior GT is coming - and our spies have caught it testing in Germany.