Tag Archives: automotive news

April Marks Third Straight Month of Declining U.S. Job Growth as Unemployment Remains at an Official and Understated 8%

Posted on 4 May 2012 by Ken Zino

The struggling U.S. economy added a measly 115,000 jobs last month, the third straight month of declines in job growth. More than 15 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed. This poor performance comes years after Washington declared the recession caused by the reckless and unpunished practices of Wall Street officially over. Continue reading →

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Renault-Nissan Take Control of Russian Automaker Avtovaz

Posted on 4 May 2012 by Ken Zino

Total auto industry volume in Russia last year was 2.65 million vehicles, including light commercial vehicles. Volume in 2012 is expected to be 2.9 million units. The economy went through a bubble and subsequent collapse a few years back, and Lada has been steadily losing share all through the recession. Continue reading →

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Chevrolet Corvette Goes on Sale in Korea Tomorrow

Posted on 3 May 2012 by Ken Zino

Chevrolet Corvette, goes on sale for the first time on Friday 4 May in the heretofore government restricted auto market in South Korea. The Corvette Coupe is priced at KRW 86.4 million ($76,399) and a special leather interior package is available at KRW 3 million ($2,653) – a 50% premium over the U.S. price of $50,575. Corvette coupe models are powered by the 430-horsepower (321 kW) LS3 V8. Continue reading →

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Ford Thailand Opens New $450 Million Plant

Posted on 3 May 2012 by Ken Zino

FTM is Ford’s second plant in Thailand, and one of eight new Ford manufacturing facilities across the Asia Pacific and Africa region the company will open by 2015 as part of its global expansion. FTM has an initial production capacity of 150,000 vehicles – increasing the company’s annual capacity in Thailand to 445,000. Mazda, which runs the other plant in Thailand in a joint venture with Ford, is not part of the new entity, the latest example of the ongoing divergence of the two companies. Continue reading →

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California Drivers Unaware Motorcycle Lane Splitting is Legal

Posted on 3 May 2012 by Ken Zino

The California Office of Traffic Safety today released results of the first-ever survey of California motorists and motorcycle riders on the subject of lane splitting, where motorcycles travel between two lanes with other vehicles travel ling the same direction. Lane … Continue reading →

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Chevrolet and Prince Fielder Give Kids a Pro Baseball Field

Posted on 3 May 2012 by Ken Zino

Prince, of course, benefited from the Tiger’s family-friendly policy of playing on the Tigers field and taking batting practice and coaching as a kid when his father, Cecil, was tearing the cover off the ball in Detroit. Sort of takes some of the fear out of it when a pitcher is trying to stare you down, if as a kid you’ve been in the cage in a big league park looking at fastballs curves, sliders and brushbacks. Continue reading →

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Ford Sells Former Visteon Trim Plant to Faurecia

Posted on 3 May 2012 by Ken Zino

ACH was formed in 2005 to sell or close 23 former Visteon plants. The sale of the Saline, Michigan plant is expected to close in June. Nearly all of the 2,100 mostly UAW employees at the business have been offered employment, Ford said in a statement. Continue reading →

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GM Makes $1 Billion in Q1. Down from $3.2 Billion in 2011

Posted on 3 May 2012 by Ken Zino

GM stock has been trading $22-$23 range, well down from the $33 level of GM’s 2010 initial public offering, to say nothing of what is happening to small investors who subsequently bid the stock – which pays no dividend – up to $39 before reality took hold. Continue reading →

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Offshore Brands Down Slightly in U.S. Market Share in April

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Ken Zino

Auto brands from offshore automakers held a 55.3% of the U.S. auto market in April, a slight decrease from a 56.3% in March. In raw numbers this accounted for 654,086 units, compared with 791,169 in March.

This is hardly a ‘Buy American’ trend though, because in the first four months of 2011, foreign-owned brands averaged a strong 55.6% share of the U.S. auto market. Simply put the Detroit Three in spite of the demonstrably best most fuel efficient car offerings in history haven’t laid a glove on the invaders. Continue reading →

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PBGC, Bendix Reach Settlement, End Litigation over Pensions

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Ken Zino

Critics of the federal agency say it has been lax and ineffective in protecting pensions. Under today’s settlement, PBGC won’t require Bendix to put up collateral for the remaining $8.4 million in pension liability, provided the company remains financially strong until the end of the year. Continue reading →

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Speedway Motorsports, NASCAR Track Owner, Posts Q1 Loss

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Ken Zino

The entertainment company, which owns many NASCAR tracks including Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, is suffering from declining fan attendance and weak corporate sponsorships. Continue reading →

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SAE Auction of Unique Roush Mustang Coming to Ford Field

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Ken Zino

What’s said to be a unique pony car has a custom silver body and graphics, a Roush 5-liter supercharged V8 engine using Ford Racing’s “Aluminator” long block. The engine is rated at 625 horsepower and 540 ft-lbs of torque, numbers you can believe because of SAE standardized test procedures that stopped creative math calculations by performance car marketers. Continue reading →

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Hyundai Sales Flat in April as Capacity Constraints Hurt

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Ken Zino

“Never has a relatively flat sales month felt quite so good,” said Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America’s executive vice president of national sales. The question facing Hyundai remains how to increase production to find out what is the true demand for its hot selling, highly styled vehicle lines? It has been clear for more than a year now that Hyundai needs another plant, a risk that management has so far been reluctant to take. Continue reading →

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April Sales at Toyota Motor up 12%. Honda and Nissan Flat

Posted on 1 May 2012 by Ken Zino

The strong April sales performance at Toyota Motor Sales brought it to within a rounding error to surpass a slumping Ford Motor Company for the Number Two ranking in U.S. auto sales. TMS was only 1,614 units behind Ford Motor, according to numbers from the consultancy AutoData. Continue reading →

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Chrysler Group April 2012 U.S. Sales Increase 20% to 141,000

Posted on 1 May 2012 by Ken Zino

Chrysler Group today reported April U.S. sales of 141,165 units, a 20% increase compared with sales in April 2011 of 117,225 units. It was the comeback car company’s best sales performance in the month of April since 2008 when it was speeding toward bankruptcy and a taxpayer bailout.

During April Chrysler Group recorded its 25th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains and its 11th-straight month of sales increases of at least 20%. Based on preliminary sales numbers, Chrysler Group beat the average sales increase for the auto industry for the 14th-consecutive month. Continue reading →

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