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Reuters | No definitive decision on German aid for carmaker Opel
should be expected Tuesday, economy minister Rainer Bruederle said,
leaving open the fate of thousands of jobs at the General Motors unit.
The steering committee of Germany’s rescue fund is to meet Tuesday to
recommend whether taxpayers should backstop loans to Opel worth about
$1.6 billion that would finance 8,300 upcoming job cuts.
Associated Press | In a rare defeat for President Barack Obama,
the Senate on Monday called for auto dealers to be excluded from the
regulations of a proposed consumer financial protection bureau.
The nonbinding 60-30 vote provides direction to lawmakers as they
assemble broad Senate and House bills setting new, sweeping controls on
Wall Street. The Senate passed its bill last week; the House acted in
December.
A 2010 Lexus LS 460 L vehicle. (AP Photo/Toyota)
Associated Press | Toyota Motor Corp. has stopped sales of the Lexus LS sedan for about three weeks while it works to get parts to dealers to fix a problem with the vehicle’s steering system, a spokesman said Monday.
Get the full story: Toyota suspends sales of Lexus LS.
Dow Jones Newswires | The U.S. auto market will sell 12 million vehicles in 2010, a 15 percent increase over last year, as the economic recovery continues, said Nissan
Motor Co. Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn.
The U.S., which was passed by China last year to be the largest market,
will never again regain its crown, Ghosn said in an interview Monday.
European sales have been better than forecast so far this year, but may
be dragged lower if the debt crisis in Greece pulls down the regional
economy.
Reuters | Ford Motor Co plans a $135 million investment in two Michigan-area
plants to assemble battery packs and transaxles for new hybrid vehicles
in 2012, adding 170 jobs, some likely at a new lower entry level wage.
Ford’s president of the Americas, Mark Fields, also said Monday that
U.S. auto industry sales were running in the low to mid 11 million-unit
annualized rate favored by economists, a double digit increase from May
2009.
Ford, which has said it expects to be solidly profitable in 2010, plans
to hire 130 workers at a plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, to make
electric drive transaxles now built in Japan. It will also add 40
positions at a plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, to make battery packs now
assembled in Mexico by suppliers.
Fans protesting a possible Toyota sign at Wrigley Field on April 30, 2010. (Phil Velasquez/ Chicago Tribune)
From the Chicago Sun-Times | The city and the Chicago Cubs may have struck a deal to give a a permit to the team erect a Toyota billboard in left field at Wrigley Field in exchange for a four-year moratorium on towering outfield signs.
Get the full story: suntimes.com
Associated Press | Toyota said Wednesday it will recall 4,500
Lexus vehicles in Japan to fix a computerized steering problem, with
another 7,000 vehicles overseas also likely affected.
The world’s biggest automaker has received 12 complaints about the
problem within Japan, but knows of no accidents that it has caused
worldwide, according to spokesman Paul Nolasco.
Associated Press | Toyota has paid a record $16.4 million fine
for a slow response to its accelerator pedal recall. A Transportation
Department official says the Japanese automaker paid the fine on
Tuesday. The company agreed to the fine on April 19 and had 30 days to
pay it. The official was not authorized to speak publicly before an
announcement was made.
General Motors’ headquarters in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, file)
Associated Press | General Motors Co. rode expense cuts from its
bankruptcy and strong sales of redesigned models to its first quarterly net income in nearly three years.
The $865 million first-quarter profit is a dramatic reversal from the huge $6 billion loss in the same period last year. The last time the company made a quarterly profit was the second quarter of 2007, when it earned $891 million.
By Kristin Samuelson
| Chrysler Group LLC is recalling approximately 40,131 model year 2010 Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Dodge Ram, Jeep Commander and Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles because of an ignition defect, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall is expected to begin in July of 2010.
Get the full story: The Problem Solver.
From the Detroit Free Press | Production is set to begin at the end of the year in Chicago on Ford Motor Co.’s redesigned Explorer that will be built on a car frame, instead of its existing truck frame. The redesign has been kept under wraps, but a photo showing the hood and a headlight hint at big changes.
Get the full story: freep.com.
Associated Press | Ford Motor Co. will restore college tuition help for
factory workers as it tries to settle a dispute over benefits with the
United Auto Workers union.
The company notified union Vice President Bob King of the change in a
letter sent last week, and The Associated Press obtained a copy of the
letter. Union leaders were told of the move at a meeting on Thursday in
Chicago.
Associated Press | Ford CEO Alan Mulally told shareholders Thursday that the automaker should be “solidly” profitable in 2010 as it recovers from a sharp downturn in the auto industry. At the company’s annual meeting in Delaware, Mulally said that Ford should also see “continuing improvement” into 2011.
His predictions follow four consecutive profitable quarters for Ford Motor Co., which has rebounded better than most rivals from a historic plunge in auto sales during the recession. Ford posted staggering losses in 2008 and early 2009.
Get the full story: Ford CEO says improvement to continue into 2011.
A Nissan Leaf, an electric car with zero-emission, on display at Beijing Auto China 2010, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
Associated Press | Nissan’s chief executive says the automaker
has received over 13,000 orders in the U.S. and Japan for its new
electric car, the Leaf, exceeding production capacity.
Carlos Ghosn said Thursday the company is seeking to boost capacity to
meet the demand. Currently it can produce fewer than 12,000 of the cars
by next March. The first models of the zero-emissions Leaf will be
delivered to customers in December.
