News watch April 2011: today's auto industry news
By Mark Hamilton
Motor Industry
14 April 2011 12:23
Come to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour
Thursday 13 April 2011
• Fiat is reported to be targeting an increase to 46% of its share of Chrysler by the end of June (Reuters)
• The AA claims UK auto insurance rates are rising at the highest rate on record, with an average rise in premiums of 40% in the last 12 months (BBC News)
• Mopar, Chrysler's parts division, has formed a partnership with Fiat-owned Magneti Marelli to expand parts and servicing business through its dealer network (Detroit News)
• Microchip manufacturer Renesas is believed to be accelerating the reopening of its earthquake-damaged plant in order to regain capacity. A shortage of microprocessors for automotive components is disrupting automotive production worldwide, and Renesas supplies 41% of the industry's microcontroller chips. (Automotive News Europe)
• Ford CEO Alan Mulally asked Lincoln dealers to be patient as dealerships are being asked to improve their dealerships and services without an expanded product line to sell (Automotive News)
Wednesday 13 April 2011
• Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn says he never considered resigning over the spy scandal that has seen the resignation of COO Patrick Pelata (Les Echos via Reuters)
• MG volume production restarts today, with the first MG6 scheduled to leave the production line at Longbridge (BBC News)
• The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) World Congress in Detroit has seen a significant growth in job opportunities and recruitment presence in 2011, as companies seek new employees amidst a shortage of automotive engineers in the US (Detroit News)
• BMW confirmed it has hired Frank Weber, Opel/Vauxhall's head of product development. Weber, who was lead engineer on the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, will be overseeing BMW's EfficientDynamics fuel efficiency technology development amongst other responsibilities (Automotive News Europe)
• Jaguar has succeeded in winning funding support in the first round of UK Regional Development Fund applications (Jaguar Land Rover, Coventry Telegraph)
Tuesday 12 April 2011
• Fiat has successfully increased its share of Chrysler to 30% after meeting revised US government conditions on export sales of Chrysler vehicles (Automotive News)
• Patrick Pelata, Renault Chief Operating Officer, has resigned. Pelata had offered his resignation to CEO Carlos Ghosn last month, but Ghosn declined. However Pelata will now step down from the COO role, and move to an undisclosed new role with Nissan (Bloomberg)
• Japan's seven major automakers have lost over 500,000 units of production capacity in the month of disruption caused by March 11 earthquake and tsunami (Automotive News)
• Daimler has entered into negotiations with Bosch to create a joint venture firm for the production of electric vehicle motors for Daimler and other manufacturers (Bloomberg)
• The new Chevrolet Malibu midsize saloon will now enter production four months sooner than scheduled, in order to better compete in the highly-competitive family saloon market in the US. (Detroit News)
Monday 11 April 2011
• Alfa Romeo's return to the US is believed to have been delayed to 2013, due to manufacturing and styling issues with the Giulia and its platform sister Dodge Avenger/Chrysler 200 replacement midsize autos. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is said to be dissatisfied with the styling proposals for all three vehicles (Automotive News Europe)
• New auto sales in China were up 6.5% in March, to 1.35m vehicles, a 39% surge after slow sales in February (BBC News)
• Ford and Toyota have announced small price rises in the US, but analysts see an industrywide rise in transaction pricing due to supply disruptions and a reduction in sales incentive funding (Financial Times)
• General Motors has established a cross-functional taskforce working on alternative parts sourcing and contingency plans to mitigate manufacturing disruptions due to the Japan earthquake and tsunami (Detroit News)
• Renesas, the Japanese firm which produces 41% of the automotive industry's microcontroller chips, is moving production from its crippled Naka plant (responsible for 25% of the firm's capacity) in eastern Japan to other facilities in Japan and Singapore, but analysts fear that supply disruptions will continue for several months as production is re-established (Automotive News)
Friday 8 April 2011
• Russian new auto sales increased 77% in March 2011 with 223,479 sales recorded. AvtoVAZ's Lada was the top-selling brand, benefitting from Russia's scrappage scheme (Automotive News Europe)
• Toyota have announced that it will restart production at all of its Japan production plants on April 18. Plants will operate at 50% capacity until April 27, with production plans after the Golden Week national holidays in the first week of May undecided (Bloomberg)
• Honda has not revised its US sales targets for 2011, believing it can make up for production disruptions due to the disaster in Japan (Automotive News)
• Chrysler's plan to sell vehicles through Fiat's dealer network in Latin America is nearing implementation as Fiat seeks to meet conditions to increase its share of Chrysler to 30% (Automotive News)
• Toyota and Microsoft will collaborate on in-car electronics systems to deliver infotainment and energy efficiency monitoring data for hybrids and EVs (Detroit News)
Thursday 7 April 2011
• Nissan is suspending production at its Sunderland plant for three days due to parts shortages from Japan (BBC News)
• Toyota has cancelled planned overtime at its Burnaston and Deeside manufacturing plants, due to disruption of parts supply from Japan (Automotive News)
• Chrysler has also cancelled overtime at its plants in Toluca, Mexico and Brampton, Canada due to parts supply problems (Automotive News)
• Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has announced a £108m funding extension for Russia's auto scrappage scheme. The scheme provides a 50000 Rouble (£1082) credit to buyers who trade-in autos over ten years old (Reuters)
• Renault's head of EV development Thierry Koskas (interviewed recently by CAR) confirmed that the ongoing industrial espionage and fraud case has not affected progress on Renault's EV programme (Reuters)
Wednesday 6 April 2011
• Honda halves production plans at its Swindon, UK plant due to parts shortages from Japan (BBC News)
• Fiat's plan to increase its stake in Chrysler to 30% is believed to take place within weeks (Bloomberg)
• Toyota City's supplier network is facing tough times as Toyota plants remain idle following the earthquake and tsunami two weeks ago (Automotive News)
• Mercedes-Benz have issued a global recall for 2000-2002 ML-class SUVs, for cruise control disengagement problems. An estimated 190000 vehicles, including some 200-2004 AMG products, are affected. (Reuters)
• Volkswagen marks 50 years as a publicly-listed company, now a markedly-larger business than the Wolfsburg-based maker of the VW Beetle was in 1961. (VW)
• Maserati have announced their first dealerships in India. In a joint venture with local luxury retailers the Shreyans Group, the first Maserati dealership will open this year in Mumbai, followed by a dealership in New Delhi planned for 2012. A network of seven dealerships in major Indian cities are planned by 2015. (Maserati)
Tuesday 5 April 2011
• Victor Muller denies Saab is near financial collapse (Reuters)
• Fiat/Chrysler will launch a new Dodge compact saloon in China and Russia next year, based on the new 'compact wide' platform (a 40mm wider version of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta platform) which replaces the Dodge Caliber in 2012 (Automotive News Europe)
• Ford has added 500 new jobs and boosted production at its plant in St. Petersburg, Russia following growing demand for the Focus and Mondeo, (Reuters)
• Kia design chief Peter Schreyer is determined to add a roadster to the Kia range, but must update the Rondo and Sedona first (Automotive News Europe)
• Ford CEO Alan Mulally is the recipient of the 2011 Edison Achievement Award for innovation (Detroit News)
Monday 4 April 2011
• Citroen report that their DS line of premium vehicles is performing beyond expectations, with the DS3 accounting for a quarter of total C3 sales (Automotive News Europe)
• Japan new auto sales have fallen 37% in March compared with the previous year, in the aftermath of last month's devestating earthquake and tsunami (BBC News)
• Conversely, US market new vehicle sales for the month of March were up 17%, beating analysts expectations (Automotive News)
• All 3 US auto makers posted sales gains in March versus the same period in 2010, with Ford up 19,1%, GM up 9.9% and Chrysler up 30.9%. Passenger auto sales overall rose 21.1%, and truck sales were up 12.7% (Detroit News)
• Fiat CEO Sergo Marchionne says the current economics of producing electric vehicles don't work, and claims that Chrysler will lose 000 (£6200) on every Fiat 500 BEV it sells in the US, and a similar amount in Europe (Automotive News Europe)
Friday 1 April 2011
• Renault denies a report in the French newspaper Liberation that there will be job losses at its Douvrin engine plant following recent decisions to manufacture two new engine lines at plants in Romania and Spain (Automotive News Europe)
• Reports emerge that VW Group has approved funds for Bugatti to launch a four-door saloon based on the Galibier concept (Bloomberg)
• Saab's dramas continue, as parent company Spyker Cars N.V warns that the Swedish marque's future is doubtful without further financing (Automotive News)
• Dongfeng Group, China's second-largest auto maker is in talks to buy a 30% stake of German transmission manufacturer Getrag (Reuters)
• RIP Edward Stobart, founder of the Eddie Stobart haulage firm, who died yesterday from heart problems, age 56. (BBC News)
• Frank Stronach, founder and chairman of parts and contract manufacturer Magna International has stepped-down from his role as Chairman but will retain a seat on the Magna board. (Reuters)
• The Office for Fair Trading is taking enforcement action against used auto buying company Webuyanycar.com after complaints its online valuations were misleading. The OFT found that 96% of customers who sold their auto to Webuyanycar.com received less for their vehicle than the original website valuation (OFT)
• BMW M division has a new boss: Dr Friedrich Nitschke is the new managing director of BMW M Gmbh effective 1 May 2011. He was previously responsible for developing Minis and he replaces Dr Kay Segler, who moves to take over Mini brand management (BMW)
Share
No comments:
Post a Comment