Industry

Toyota may be the world's biggest carmaker but that title appears more and more likely to pass on to Volkswagen as the Japanese carmaker announces another round of production cuts and plans to change up to 40% of its senior management. The news comes as Toyota reports its first operating loss in 71...

Of the Detroit 3 carmakers, Ford is easily the strongest and compared with its global competition the Blue Oval isn’t looking too shabby either – impressive considering U.S. new car sales are at their lowest level in decades. Furthermore, Ford insists it will be able to reach...

Cutting back production and right-sizing brands and lineups is just one aspect of the restructuring underway at the hands of the U.S. federal government. Earlier this week hard cuts in both labor and dealership numbers were discussed, foreshadowing the next steps to come, and today a Chrysler memo...

Just days after reporting its first loss since Carlos Ghosn took the helm in 1999, Nissan is looking for ways to get back on track, and Ghosn thinks that means tightening its relationship with Renault. More cooperation could mean lower total costs and therefore more profitability, but the specifics...

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has often been praised for his job turning around the two companies nearly a decade ago, and since then Nissan has shown nothing but profits. But in 2008, Nissan returned its first loss in 8 years, showing $2.4 billion in the red. Operating losses were a somewhat...

Less than 24 hours after GM CEO Fritz Henderson announced that a new buyer for Opel would be picked by the end of this month, Russia’s GAZ Group has confirmed that it would be interested in creating a joint venture with Magna International and Opel. Magna, as previously reported, is competing...

Just a few days ago we told you General Motors would be looking to build more and more cars overseas as part of its restructuring plans, and that China was one of the first places they'd look. Today news that GM will in fact be bringing Chinese cars to the U.S. has begun to trickle out into the...

Before Chrysler was ever involved in alliance dealings with Fiat, the Auburn Hills-based carmaker was already tied with Nissan over several platform swapping and production sharing deals. In February of this year, however, plans for Nissan to build a Chrysler compact car based on its Versa in...

Though bankruptcy is looking more and more like the way General Motors will go, the company is fighting to preserve its most adored models - one way or another. In the case of the Camaro, the car will live on within GM as a 'core model' says CEO Fritz Henderson. The Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky...

The purchase of an average-priced new vehicle took only 21.5 weeks of median family income in the first quarter 2009, according to Comerica Bank's Auto Affordability Index. This reading is down 1.3 weeks from the fourth quarter of last year, which is quite a substantial change over such a short...

It's an old story, one that's been told with increasing regularity since the end of World War II. Jobs are moving overseas. Today, it's General Motors that will be shifting more of its production elsewhere as part of its restructuring plan. Lower wages, lower production costs, cheaper plant...

The alliance between Fiat and Chrysler still has just been finalized and with the government’s deadline for restructuring falling at the end of this month dealers understandably are nervous. Add a looming bankruptcy to the mix and stress levels for most dealers will likely be going through...

Toyota, often considered the industry leader when it comes to earning profits, has forecast an annual loss of $8.6 billion for the financial year ending March 2010, as it weathers one of the worst sales slumps in decades. As this is a forecast the final figure could easily change, however, the...

The landscape of the automotive industry is changing, and before things are done, the changes may be massive. Already Fiat and Chrysler are forging an alliance, and Fiat is also going after part of Opel. Now a source says General Motors wants a piece of any merged Fiat-Opel operation that might...

Although most of the news of late tends to focus on GM and Chrysler, these Detroit-based carmakers are not the only companies trying to gain vital government support in order to stay propped up in the current economic climate. While there's no doubt the global financial crisis has affected the U.S...

As the U.S. struggles to bootstrap itself out of one of the worst economies in decades, the federal government continues its spending spree, earmarking $787 million to biofuels. The goal is ostensibly to meet a target set by former President George Bush of 36 billion gallons of biofuel in the...

Many have wondered what will happen to all the new Opel products being brought to the U.S. now that Saturn is facing sale or termination in the next few months. The answer may lie in a new report that the Astra - built by Opel, sold in the U.S. as a Saturn - may be branded as a Buick in North...

The last thing we heard about Saab was that the struggling General Motors division had up to 20 interested buyers and a May 20 deadline to restructure under the guidance of Swedish courts. Now it’s been revealed that Saab is open to talks with Fiat, which is currently eyeing a takeover of...

It's no secret that hybrid and small car sales have been among the hardest hit in the ongoing market downturn. They've fallen at rates well beyond the total market's decline and continue to do so, dropping 45.5% in April against the same time a year ago. But total hybrid sales are up 1.4% against...

Chrysler's vehicles, like all of America's cars, have improved greatly in recent years. But not-too-distant memory reminds us of the Le Baron and even of another ill-fated Italian tie-up and its Maserati-branded spawn. So Fiat's poor scores in the most recent JD Power survey in the United Kingdom...