Ford Motor Company will stop production at its manufacturing sites in Brazil – Camaçari (BA), Taubaté (SP) and Troller’s plant in Horizonte (Ceará) – and at the Pacheco plant in Argentina, in response to the growing impact of the coronavirus in South America.
Effective from 23 March in Brazil and 25 March in Argentina, this action “adjusts the production volumes to the lower consumer demand due to this unprecedented situation.” (Ford Motor Maxes Out Lines of Credit) Continue reading
The modular structure with individual layers – bucket seat, base substrate, 3D-printed comfort layer, perforated cover. Click to Enlarge.
Porsche is showing advanced alternative to conventional bucket seat upholstery with a concept dubbed “3D-printed body form full-bucket seat.” The central section of the seat and backrest cushions is partly produced by a 3D-printer.
Customers will be able to choose between three firmness levels (hard, medium, soft) for the comfort layer in the future. With this new technology, personalized sports seat follows the principles of driver-specific seat fitting customary in professional motor sports. Continue reading
Another giant step on the road to automated vehicles.
With its Geneva Motor Show debut canceled, Mercedes-Benz has released images of its new E-class due to start sales this summer. The long-wheelbase version of the Sedan (China), as well as the Coupé and Cabriolet, will follow soon thereafter. With more than 14 million Saloon and Estate (station wagon) models delivered since 1946, the E-Class is the best-selling model series in the history of Mercedes-Benz.
The tenth generation of the E-Class debuted in 2016 with what were then impressive innovations in the driving assistance systems. It carried on the sales tradition: to date, more than 1.2 million customers around the world have bought a current-generation E-Class Saloon or E-Class Estate. One out of every two E-Class Saloons sold worldwide in 2019 was delivered as a long-wheelbase version in China.
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Ford has seen Depressions before…
Ford Motor Company today notified lenders that it will borrow the total unused amounts against two lines of credit: $13.4 billion under its corporate credit facility and $2 billion under its supplemental credit facility. The cash from these borrowings will be used to offset the temporary working capital impacts of the coronavirus-related production shut downs and to preserve Ford’s financial flexibility.
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Ford and its U.S. dealers are offering customers who are dealing with their own challenges from the coronavirus six months of payment relief for new-car buyers under the new “Built to Lend a Hand” program.
Under the new program, developed with its dealers, Ford is offering six months of payment relief for eligible new-car customers who finance their purchases through Ford Credit. Ford will pay for three months and customers can defer for up to three more for a total of six months. The program is for people purchasing 2019 and 2020 model-year vehicles, excluding 2020 Super Duty trucks.
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Nissan today announced that it will temporarily suspend production of its manufacturing facilities in the U.S. starting March 20 through April 6. The company is taking this action to boost containment efforts where possible around the COVID-19 coronavirus. Currently, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus at any Nissan facility. (Little testing has occurred nationwide -editor) Areas deemed business-essential will operate with enhanced safety measures.
Toyota Motor Corporation says it has a new type of airless paint atomizer that uses static electricity instead of air to replace the conventional air atomizers used in the vehicle body painting process.
The newly developed airless painter, said to be the first of its kind in the world, achieves more than 95% coating efficiency (the amount of paint sprayed versus the amount that actually adheres onto the vehicle body compared to conventional efficiency of approximately 60-70%.) Continue reading
Soon we can simulate the drivers too…
The real – or is that original – Mobil 1 Twelve Hours has been rescheduled to the weekend of Nov. 11-14, but IMSA will simulate action from Sebring International Raceway via an iRacing 90-minute online affair with drivers playing video racing.
Starting at 2:30 p.m. ET, the race will be streamed live on iRacing’s Twitch channel and the iRacing eSports Network on YouTube. The commentary team will include the voice of IMSA Radio’s John Hindhaugh.
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No more hand shaking, for now…
General Motors executives have finally done the sales and public health math and listened to the UAW and Unifor labor groups and confirmed it will begin a systematic suspension of manufacturing operations in North America due to market conditions and to deep clean facilities and continue to protect people. The suspension will last until at least March 30. Production status will be reevaluated week-to-week after that. Continue reading
Bowing to pressure from the UAW and with a belated portion of common sense and awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ford Motor Company will stop production at U.S., Canadian and Mexican manufacturing facilities after Thursday evening’s shifts through March 30 to thoroughly clean and sanitize the company’s plants. The UAW had urged immediate closings this past weekend, but Ford executives refused to do so during the formation of a Coronavirus Task Force along General Motors and Fiat Chrysler management.
Ford temporarily closed Michigan Assembly Plant (MAP) final assembly building this morning after an employee tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus and is thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting the building, as promised as part of the company’s coronavirus emergency response protocol. MAP will halt production through March 30.
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The spirit of emergency…
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars announced today that production at the company’s Goodwood-based manufacturing plant will be suspended from Monday 23 March for two weeks. In order to further secure the health and welfare of the employees of the company this suspension will be followed by an already-planned two-week Easter maintenance shutdown.
The day-to-day operations of the German-owned company will be carried on by non-production employees who will remain at work at the company’s head office on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex or who will work from home on a rotational basis. Social distancing measures have been introduced throughout the company.
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It sure looks like racing – except for the smell and the roar of the crowd.
NASCAR and iRacing announced today the formation of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, an exhibition esports series featuring many of the sport’s most popular “drivers.” The simulation-style setting will include a cross-section of competitors from the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and a group of NASCAR bigwigs.
The multi-week series will kick off Sunday, March 22 at 1:30 p.m. ET on the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway. The remaining race and broadcast details will be announced at a later date.
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General Motors (NYSE: GM) today announced the following senior executive changes:
The new appointments are effective April 1, 2020. Continue reading
Kaput…
Next week Porsche will suspend production for an initial period of two weeks. By taking this step, the sports car manufacturer is responding to the significant acceleration in the rate of infection caused by the coronavirus and the resultant measures implemented by health authorities.
In addition to the protection of the workforce, bottlenecks in global supply chains no longer allow orderly production. At the same time, Porsche is preparing for a decline in demand and securing its financial strength with these decisions.
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Ford Britain Shuts Dagenham and Bridgend Engine Plants
Dagenham – 40 million engines made.
Ford Motor says that because of the “dramatic impact this ongoing crisis is having on the European market and the supplier industry, we have decided to bring forward part of the summer shutdown period for our UK operations to the Easter period. This means production at Dagenham Engine Plant in east London will temporarily cease from Monday, March 23. Bridgend Engine Plant in South Wales will temporarily cease production from the end of the day on Wednesday, March 25. Continue reading →