Industry
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Ford today reported a pre-tax operating loss of $424 million in the second quarter of 2009 (excluding special items), a $609 million improvement compared with the second quarter of last year. The gains made during the quarter were the result of cost reductions, net pricing, positive Ford Credit results and improved market share, all of which helped offset the continued impact of the global financial crisis. Including a $2.8 billion gain related to debt-reduction actions sees Ford earning a net income of $2.3 billion, or $0.69 per share. These results compare with a net loss of $8.7 billion...
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Designer Bryan Nesbitt To Take On Chief Role At CadillacGeneral Motors Company’s [NYSE:GM] management shuffle following its bankruptcy proceeding shows no signs of slowing, with news today that designer Bryan Nesbitt is set to become the new chief of Cadillac. Already we’ve seen CEO Fritz Henderson personally take on the role of chief of...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Chrysler unveils ‘Double CA$H For Your Old Car’ incentive program
Chrysler today announced a new incentive program dubbed ‘Double CA$H for Your Old Car’ that can save consumers up to $9,000 toward the purchase of a new Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge vehicle. Under the program, everyone shopping for a new car or truck qualifies for an incentive of up to...
James Martinez -
Aston Martin joins Ferrari and Nissan with Nürburgring store
The Nürburgring has long been a must-do pilgrimage for the hardest-core fans of motorsport, but its rapidly becoming a retail destination for fans of the world's top marques as well, with Aston Martin joining the retail fold with its new store at the 'Ring. It's all part of the track complex's...
Kenneth Hall -
Bob Lutz kills rumors of Pontiac G8 becoming Chevy Caprice
Pontiac may be dead in the water but some enthusiasts - and until today, Bob Lutz among them - have been clamoring for at least one of the brand’s cars to be rebadged and sold under another GM brand - the Australian-built Pontiac G8. Designed and constructed by GM's Holden subsidiary Down...
Ralph Hanson -
J.D. Power APEAL: Porsche Tops Rankings For 5th Year Straight
Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout - APEAL - is how J.D. Power measures the 'gratification' a car owner experiences with each new model on the market. For the fifth year running Porsche took top honors, but several trends in the market show a wide range of improvements. First up: American...
Kenneth Hall -
Everyone in the industry is feeling the burn of a long, slow summer, but few are feeling as keenly as Lexus. Perhaps that's because the luxury import carmaker had so far to fall, having been the dominant force in American luxury cars for most of the past decade. But there's a plan afoot to help turn things around even as the market continues to falter. How? By shifting its focus to the entry-level luxury segment, reports Automotive News. The idea is to catch younger buyers that might not be ready to commit to a top-end vehicle, but want more than the mainstream carmakers offer. The core...
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GM CEO Fritz Henderson to personally run North American operations
General Motors may be losing market share in North America but winning here remains crucial for the viability of the automaker, so much so that its CEO Fritz Henderson will personally run operations in the all-important market. Henderson has long said GM must make money in North America to survive...
James Martinez -
Bob Lutz stays on at GM, switches to marketing role
Bob Lutz, the iconic and often polemic Vice Chairman of General Motors' global product development team, announced back in February that he would be retiring from the company at the end of the year. With GM emerging from bankruptcy protection earlier this week as a leaner and more focused company...
James Martinez -
There's a new carmaker in town, and its name is...General Motors
Lighter, smaller, quicker and more responsive to customer needs - that's how the new General Motors Company is comparing itself to the now-defunct General Motors Corporation it replaces. Today's emergence from bankruptcy - just 40 days after it went in - marks the start of what the new GM hopes...
Nelson Ireson -
Chinese bureaucrats cause a ruffle by approving Mercedes and BMW cars for government use
China is now the single biggest market in the world for new cars but that doesn’t mean the government is slowing down on the purchase of cars for its official fleets. While this usually would not be worthy of reporting, the fact that the Chinese government has approved luxurious Mercedes Benz...
Kenneth Hall -
China overtakes U.S. as world’s biggest auto market for first half of 2009
America’s days as the world’s biggest auto market are coming to an end, with China for the first time ever overtaking the U.S. in vehicle sales for the first of 2009. On the back of strong sales in the month of June, which itself was up 36.5%, China’s total vehicle sales for the...
Jeremy Weber -
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week granted California a long-anticipated Clean Air Act Waiver. Under the plan, California - along with 13 other states - will enforce its own emissions standards until the 2012 model year, when the federal government will begin phasing in new national standards that will require a fleet average of 35.5mpg by 2016. The issue dates back to 2004, when California adopted standards that were then significantly tighter than those of the federal government. Under the Bush administration, California had been denied the permission by the Environmental...
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BMW edging past Lexus to become America’s top-selling luxury brand
Since as far back as 2000 Lexus has been the top-selling luxury brand in the U.S., a positioned it appeared the Toyota premium division would be to hold on for years to come. Despite top marks in dependability and satisfaction surveys, Lexus has conceded its number one spot to BMW based on...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
McLaren expanding with Middle Eastern office in preparation for 2011 launch
McLaren's plans to introduce new models in the next couple of years has been met with much anticipation from fans of the brand, which is unsurprising considering the company engineered and built one of the fastest and most acclaimed production cars of all time - the McLaren F1. With three new...
Kenneth Hall -
Chrysler will sell four different Fiat 500 variants in U.S.
Many in the U.S. have been hoping to receive the wildly popular Fiat 500 minicar for the past couple of years but a lack of interest in small cars has largely held it back. Now, with Fiat's alliance with Chrysler in place the Italian auto giant has a gateway to the lucrative U.S. market and the...
James Martinez -
Report: Hummer deal on the rocks, China doesn't want gas guzzlers
General Motors' deal with China's Tengzhong to buy Hummer was thought to be as good as done in early June, but today reports of chatter on China's state radio casts the sale in a different light. The gas-guzzling SUVs just don't fit with the conservation plans in place in Beijing. So now the AP is...
Ralph Hanson -
Tesla will use DOE funding for Model S and electric drivetrain factories
Despite its small size, Tesla Motor Company, builder of the famed Roadster electric sports car, is as embattled as any major manufacturer these days. Between a lawsuit from a former CEO and materials costs far beyond the asking price of the Roadster, things haven't been going well lately. Things...
Ralph Hanson -
Last year a spate of bankruptcy threats and possible acquisitions or closures hit the coachbuilding industry, but today Karmann, perhaps most famous for the Karmann Ghia conversion, is closing its doors. Bankruptcy is the next step, and it's not clear if the firm will come out the other side. The final car built by Karmann, which also does contract work for other carmakers, was a Mercedes-Benz CLK - now replaced by the E-Class Coupe. The convertible rolled off the line on Monday. A company statement said simply, "Today, the last car built entirely by Karmann rolled off the assembly line,"...
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Study: Domestic North American production outpaced by European, Asian brands by 2012
As a side effect of the current industry downturn and the subsequent realignment of capacity at America's major domestic car manufacturers, the once-Big Three could be outstripped in North American production by a combination of foreign companies by 2012, including BMW and Porsche-owned Volkswagen...
Ralph Hanson -
Mini planning 20% expansion in dealer network to meet growth targets
Even as the rest of the industry - including its parent company, BMW - contracts, Mini USA is getting ready to expand with 17 new dealerships across the country. The new outlets will bring the total up to an even hundred. Bigger cities and markets completely new to Mini are the focus for the...
Alex Kaufmann -
Saab's New Buyers Want To Reawaken The Carmaker's "Soul"
Many gearheads remember fondly the days when something like a first-gen Saab 900 Turbo might rumble past, sounding vaguely like the airplanes that were its ancestors and wearing an endearingly awkward shape. But once General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] took over the carmaker much of the eccentricity...
Nelson Ireson -
Lamborghini waiting times cut in half on the back of slow sales
Last year was Lamborghini’s most successful year on record but even it cannot escape the effects of the world economic crisis. Lamborghini sales are down more than 30% for the first five months of the year and the company is expecting things to stay this way until at least 2011. While the...
Ralph Hanson -
Chrysler resumes production post bankruptcy, starts with Dodge Viper SRT10
With the Dodge Viper business safely in Fiat’s hands for now, production at the car’s Conner Avenue plant in Michigan has finally resumed. Chrysler stopped production at all of its North American plants when it filed for bankruptcy on April 30. The information was confirmed to the Wall...
Ralph Hanson
