Industry

A modern global auto plant has no discernible nationality. Aside from language and perhaps the ethnicities of its workers, the inside of the latest engine plant on one continent is identical to the same location in a similar plant on another continent. That was clear at the opening of...

Lamborghini sales grew an impressive 30 percent last year to end the period with 2,083 sales in total. That’s still off the pace of the company’s record result in 2008, where it sold a total of 2,430 vehicles. Nevertheless, it’s substantially higher than the 1,602 vehicles sold in...

The Volkswagen Group, made up of brands such as Audi, Bentley and now Porsche, has confirmed a new record rate of sales. The German auto giant managed to deliver a staggering 9.07 million vehicles worldwide during 2012, an increase of 11.2 percent on 2011’s record of 8.16 million vehicles...

Joining the likes of Porsche, Hyundai and Toyota, Italian automakers Maserati and Lamborghini have announced their departure from the Iranian market. According to The Algemeiner, the move appears to be in response to pressure from a group called United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). Requests from...

Despite facing some of the slowest sales in decades in its home market, Opel remains committed to ending its money-losing ways, primarily by forming alliances and launching new models and technology. Today, at the start of production for its new Adam minicar, the General Motors Company [NYSE:GM]...

As ad slogans go, Chevrolet’s most recent effort, “Chevy Runs Deep,” was hardly the automaker’s most successful. Panned by critics and consumers alike, we really aren’t sure why the meaningless phrase has endured for the past two years. That’s about to change, as...

Scuderia Ferrari, the motorsport division of the famous Italian sports car manufacturer, has started construction of its new headquarters. The new building, located at the site of the former car park between a local restaurant and the Scuderia’s current headquarters in Maranello, Italy, is...

Saab’s new owner National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) has just entered a deal with the city of Qingdao, located in China’s Shandong-province, which will see the coastal city become the strategic gateway for Saab’s cars in China. Qingdao, via its Qingdao Qingbo Investment...

Chinese sovereign-wealth fund China Investment Corp. is reportedly seeking a stake in German auto giant Daimler, the parent of the Mercedes-Benz and Smart brands. The information was first reported by China’s People’s Daily newspaper, which said the wealth fund was looking to purchase...

General Motors’ Australian subsidiary Holden has started work on a new body shop that will be used to build two future models, the first of which, the next-generation Cruze compact car, will enter production in 2015. The second model will enter production in 2018 when the upcoming VF...

While other parts of the globe struggled in 2012, the U.S. has experienced its best year in auto sales since 2007, with close to 14.5 million light vehicle sales registering over the past 12 months, a 13 percent increase over 2011’s tally of 12.7 million sales. A significant portion of those...

According to data compiled by five industry consulting groups, new car production in China will surpass new car production in Europe for the first time in 2013. As the Financial Times reports, China is poised to build 19.6 million cars and light trucks this year, compared to a projected 18.3...

It was on January 1, 2003 that the first of the latest-generation Rolls-Royce Phantom sedans was delivered to its owner, marking the reign of the prestigious British brand’s ownership under German automaker BMW. At the time, production of the Phantom was trickling along at just one car per...

In 2010 industry giants Daimler and Renault-Nissan formed an alliance that was, among other things, to see the development of the next-generation Smart ForTwo and Renault Twingo shared between the two companies. According to the original alliance deal, the future Smart and Renault models would ride...

When Hurricane Sandy devastated the New York metro area last October, some 338 Fisker Karma sedans parked at Port Newark, New Jersey were destroyed by flooding or fire. Fisker believed the vehicles were covered by insurance, issued through XL Group Plc., so it submitted a claim as quickly as it...

After emerging out of the ashes of bankrupt automaker Saab and its local distribution arm Saab Cars North America last June, Saab Automobile Parts North America (SPNA), the exclusive provider of genuine Saab parts and accessories in the U.S. and Canada, has reached an agreement with General Motors...

Toyota waited until boxing day to announce it had reached a tentative settlement in an ongoing class-action lawsuit representing owners claiming they were negatively impacted in the value of their cars due to the recent recalls spurred by alleged unintended acceleration. The original recalls...

If you needed more proof that Ralph Gilles, head of Chrysler’s SRT division, is a car-guy’s car guy, the above picture should go a long way towards settling the argument. Last Tuesday, Gilles joined the crew at the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant to help build a 2013 Dodge Viper. While...

Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has ended months of speculation by confirming this week that production of the upcoming 500X crossover, as well as a planned Jeep variant, will take place at the company’s plant in Melfi, Italy. Preparing the plant for the production of the two new vehicles...

In March of this year, General Motors and France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen Group, two companies faced with overcapacity issues in Europe, surprised the automotive world by forming a strategic alliance, with GM even buying a 7 percent stake in the struggling French automaker. In October, they...