Production
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The British supercar and sports car brand McLaren has built 20,000 cars since 2010, which is quite a feat for a brand that builds each of its cars by hand.
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Ford fitting line workers with bionics to help build cars
Ford is channeling the $6 Million Man for its latest technological achievement. After partnering with Ekso Bionics, Ford now offers the EksoVest for employees to reduce worker fatigue and lessen the chance of injury on the job. The EksoVest is an exoskeleton that provides lift assistance from 5 to...
Sean Szymkowski -
2017 Ford GT production fell short, but Ford will make up the difference
Ford initially committed to building the second-generation GT for two years, with 250 units promised for each year. The Blue Oval said later it would add another two years onto the run of the race-bred supercar, bringing the total to 1,000. Well, things haven’t gone exactly as planned. Motor...
Kirk Bell -
Tesla Model 3 production booms, automaker reports building 5,000 electric sedans last week
Tesla took every hour—including a couple extra hours Sunday—to meet its self-imposed deadline of building 5,000 Model 3 electric cars in seven days. The automaker reported Monday that it had concluded the three-month period ending Saturday by building 53,339 vehicles, including 28,578...
Aaron Cole -
More 600-hp, carbon-fiber Polestar 1 coupes coming, and you can have one too
Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said Wednesday that the newly minted electrified performance brand could produce more versions of its first car than the company had originally planned. When the Polestar 1 was announced the automaker said it would build 500 cars per year for three years starting next...
Aaron Cole -
Chevrolet will only build the 2018 Corvette for 4 months
The 2018 Chevrolet Corvette's model year will be one of the shortest in nameplate's history. After the Corvette's Bowling Green, Kentucky, assembly plant went offline in August 2017, production of the 2018 Corvette will restart next month. But the plant will stop building the 2018 model year not...
Sean Szymkowski -
For the first time ever, the Detroit Big Three will likely cede the North American production crown this year. A new automotive manufacturing forecast says General Motors, Ford, and Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles will build fewer cars in North America than foreign automakers (plus Tesla) on the continent. Specifically, the forecast expects the Big Three's total production figure to total 8.6 million vehicles in North America, which includes Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Foreign automakers and U.S. automaker Tesla will just inch out GM, Ford, and FCA with 8.7 million vehicles built...
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German customers can now track their new Mercedes-Benz as it's being built
Buying a new car is an exciting time, but waiting is the hardest part. While most American buyers will take delivery directly from dealer inventory, that's not the case in Europe. To help placate its customers in Germany, Mercedes-Benz is letting customers make that waiting time a little more...
Sean Szymkowski -
Tesla's Musk says air suspension coming to Model 3 in 6 months
Those eager to get their hands on a Tesla Model 3 may be better off waiting until the options list rounds out a tad more. Right now, a Tesla Model 3 is limited to only a few options such as colors, wheels, and the choice between a short- and long-range variant. In fact, colors other than black cost...
Sean Szymkowski -
The last Dodge Viper has rolled off the assembly line
We knew this day was coming, but that doesn't make it any easier. The final Dodge Viper ever built has now rolled off the Conner Avenue assembly line. Chrysler executive Ralph Gilles took to Instagram to post photos of the finals cars coming off the assembly line. In one photo, Gilles stands in...
Joel Feder -
Watch a Bentley Mulsanne come to life on the assembly line
The Bentley Mulsanne isn't your typical automobile. It aims to redefine what luxury means. In fact, it's referred to as a "pinnacle car," rather a "luxury car." This is the pinnacle of Bentley's capability. It's not uncommon for the production process of a Bentley Mulsanne to approach 400 hours of...
Sean Szymkowski -
300,000th Mercedes-Benz G-Class rolls off the assembly line
Magna-Steyr's Austrian factory behind the Mercedes-Benz G-Class has reached a milestone after producing the 300,000th example of the boxy, brick of an off-road SUV. We say "boxy" and "brick" lovingly because there's no confusing the G-Class for anything else, which is likely one of the reasons why...
Sean Szymkowski -
The end is nigh for an American sports car icon: the Dodge Viper will officially exit production on August 31, 2017, and the Connor Avenue Assembly plant where all Vipers have been built will be closed for good. Previously, designer Ralph Gilles let the date slip during a speech at the 2017 Chicago auto show held in February, but this is the first time Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has made the date official, according to ClickOnDetroit. The Dodge Viper and its 8.4-liter V-10 engine have been hand-assembled at the facility since the car was launched in 1992, with the current team composed of 87...
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Lamborghini builds 5,000th Aventador
Lamborghini has reached a milestone for its V-12-powered Aventador: 5,000 have been built at the Italian automaker's Sant'Agata Bolognese assembly plant. If you're counting, that's 60,000 cylinders slid into the wedgy supercars since the first Aventador rolled off the line in February of 2011...
Andrew Ganz -
Nissan details how its GT-R engine is built: Video
The divide between mass production and hand crafting has reached the world of mainstream car brands, albeit only for a few select models. One of these is Nissan's GT-R. Earlier this week at the New York Auto Show, Nissan took the wraps off of an updated version of the R35-series GT-R, which in...
Andrew Ganz -
VW ends Phaeton production, plans to repurpose Transparent Factory
Volkswagen has finally ceased production of its Phaeton, a full-size luxury sedan first shown at the 2002 Geneva Motor Show and discontinued in the United States midway through the last decade due to poor sales performance. And it wasn't only in the U.S. where the car suffered from slow sales...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Acura finally ready to start building the NSX
You may have heard a thing or two about the revived Acura NSX for, oh, the past four years. Well, now it seems that Acura is ready to begin production of the 2017 NSX and really actually finally put it up for sale. It's been a long time coming, so you'll have to pardon our jokes. Still, it's quite...
Jeff Glucker -
Mercedes parent Daimler building additional battery plant for future electric cars
Tesla Motors’ [NSDQ:TSLA] much-hyped Gigafactory battery plant is currently under construction in Nevada, but it's not the only plant of its kind from an automaker. Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, has confirmed plans to build a new battery plant to supply lithium-ion batteries...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Strong early interest in Bentley's Bentayga, one of the world's most expensive SUVs at $230k, has sparked the automaker to consider boosting production even though only a small number have been made so far. Bentley said last fall that its first year of production was sold out, and back in December it boosted its production estimate from 3,600 to 5,500 for the first full year the model is on sale. Now, in an interview with Reuters, the automaker's CEO suggested that an even high number is under consideration. "We are evaluating whether we can do a little bit more," CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer...
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End Of The Road For Bold Plan To Save Holden Plant
General Motors Company’s [NYSE:GM] Australian division Holden will cease production for good at the end of 2017 at which point the company will exclusively offer imported vehicles from other GM brands. There was a mission on to save Holden’s plant in the state of South Australia but...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Toyota To Suspend Japanese Production Due To Blast At Steel Supplier
Toyota confirmed over the weekend that it will need to suspend production at all its plants in Japan due to a blast at a plant of its main steel supplier. The blast at the plant of Aichi Steel Corp actually took place on January 8, but with the plant offline for repairs it meant steel supplies for...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Dodge Viper Production Ending Due To Airbag Regulations?
If you didn’t already know, production of the Dodge Viper is scheduled to end in 2017 and there are no plans at present for a successor—although that may change at some point, according to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles [NYSE:FCAU] CEO Sergio Marchionne. FCA hasn’t come out and stated...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
More Details On Mission To Save Holden Plant
Earlier this week we learned that a Belgian entrepreneur with a habit of buying distressed businesses and turning them around is looking to acquire the production facilities of General Motors Company’s [NYSE:GM] Australian subsidiary Holden, as the facilities are scheduled to close at the end...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Mission To Save Australian Commodore Production Is On
Almost exactly two years ago, we learned that General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] had committed to ending production of Holden cars and engines in Australia by late 2017. Just two models are built by Holden in Australia, a version of the previous-generation Chevrolet Cruze and the locally-developed...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran