Industry

Fiat and Chery have officially announced plans today for the formation of a new joint-venture to produce both Alfa Romeo and Fiat branded cars for the Chinese market. Just yesterday, Fiat announced a deal to source even more engines manufactured by Chery for use in its own cars as a way to further...

Toyota has told its parts suppliers to expect its production numbers to surpass ten million vehicles next year as sales numbers in the US and new emerging markets continue to grow. Execs are predicting production will rise in ’08 by six percent on current levels, topping out at an estimated...

The owner of Russian carmaker GAZ, billionaire tycoon Oleg Deripaska, has bought a five percent stake in General Motors according to latest reports from Russian newspaper Vedomosti. Deripaska is the second richest man in Russia, commanding an estimated fortune of approximately $16.8 billion, and...

Former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser has traveled to the UK to visit the Jaguar and Land Rover facilities ahead of a possible purchase by his new employer One Equity Partners. Nasser, now a senior partner with the private equity group, was instrumental in organizing the original purchase of Land Rover by...

Volkswagen's deal with Daimler to use Bluetec engines in America is in trouble. VW, Audi, and Mercedes Benz had announced a collaboration where they would jointly market diesels under the Bluetec brand in November last year. However, VW is now announcing it will revert back to its own TDI branding...

The historic sale of Chrysler to private-equity company Cerberus Capital Management is now complete. The firm finalized its 80.1% takeover of the Chrysler Group today, ending the nine year old merger between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler. As per the agreement signed on May 14, 2007, DaimlerChrysler...

Fiat and Chery are likely to sign-off on a new joint-venture next week to start assembly of several Alfa Romeo models in China. The first cars to be assembled will likely be the Alfa Romeo 159 sedan, followed closely by the 147 hatch. Under the deal, Chery will be assembling the cars from imported...

For the first time in the US auto industry’s 102 year history American carmakers in July commanded less than 50% of the market. Import brands accounted for 51.9% of sales in July, with GM, Chrysler and Ford making up the remaining 48.1%. Only a year ago, the statistics were reversed. Actual...

Jaguar’s newly appointed Managing Director Mike O’Driscoll will have a tough task on his hands, having to juggle the carmaker's turnaround and its split from Ford's Premier Auto Group. Replacing the soon-to-be retired Bibiana Boerio, O’Driscoll will likely have to oversee...

According to latest reports, execs at Volvo are trying to ensure the carmaker goes into Swedish hands should there be a split from Ford’s Premier Auto Group. So far, Ford has denied that Volvo is up for sale but reports have emerged claiming there are several potential suitors eyeing Volvo...

Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has once again expressed interest over a possible a tie-up with one of America’s Detroit 3 carmakers. News of Ghosn and his US alliance dreams first surfaced a year ago when it was revealed that Renault-Nissan were conducting talks with General Motors...

Updated: The owner of the GAZ car group, Russian Machines, has released a statement denying claims that it’s interested in acquiring Land Rover and Jaguar. Original: The latest bidder reported to be interested in the Land Rover and Jaguar brands is Russia’s GAZ Group, a carmaker under...

Two of China’s biggest carmakers may work together on future projects if plans for a partnership go through. Nanjing and SAIC have signed a letter of intent, which basically means they’ll explore avenues to build cars together, share technologies, or even provide marketing and...

Fiat’s joint venture with China’s Nanjing Auto will soon start exporting cars outside of China with the first batch expected to be sold in Brazil and Egypt. The partnership has already received 8,300 firm orders for the Chinese built cars with the first shipments due to arrive later...

Ford has reported a surprise profit of $750 million for the second-quarter, which comes after seven consecutive quarters in the red. Reasons cited for the positive result include recent cost-cutting and an improvement in the Blue Oval’s core automotive operations. The carmaker is currently...

General Motors is planning to inject up to $6 billion in its Daewoo subsidiary over the next four years for both design work and engineering. According to GM Daewoo Chief Michael Grimaldi the South Korean outfit is a major export platform within the GM empire, and was also described as...

The legendary Italian marque De Tomaso may be revived if a group of American and Chinese investors have their way. In 2003, MG took over the label to secure a production facility for a new sports car but the plans went bust and Tomaso closed its doors just one year later. A new group of investors...

Cadillac sales have been so slow in Europe that execs have been forced to readjust sales forecasts downwards. New targets for Cadillac’s European sales have been reduced to just 10,000 units per year in the short term with the hope that this lifts to 15,000 eventually. This is a significant...

Private investment in car companies is all the rage these days, so it’s no surprise to see equity firms circling the Land Rover and Jaguar sales like vultures. The last firm to express its interest is TPG, an American firm that owns stakes in MGM, Neiman Marcus, Alltel Wireless and is even...

GM has surpassed Toyota in global sales for the second quarter of the year but still remains in the number two spot for the first six months. GM managed to regain the top spot despite falling demand for its products in its largest market, the US, and its global sales were up overall by 10,000 units...