manufacturing


REPORT: BAIC/Koenigsegg may produce Saab 9-5 in China

Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. (BAIC), announced as a minority partner in Koenigsegg's deal to purchase Saab from General Motors two months ago, plans to produce the Saab 9-5 on Chinese soil next year. The involvement of BAIC in the Saab transaction helps Koenigsegg close the deal and gives the Chinese company leverage to re-badge the previous-generation Saab 9-5 as its own or to simply expand the brand's existing reach within the country. In September, Saab CEO Jan-Ake Jonsson told reporters he wanted to double the number of ... Read more →

REPORT: Mini 'Countryman' crossover skipping Detroit for Geneva? Jonathon Ramsey

Everyone is getting ready for the Mini Countryman -- including, perhaps, the WRC -- but everyone is going to have to wait, according to a report by those Mini-mad folks at Motoring File. The ...

REPORT: Labor unrest in India to cause Ford to idle key NA crossover plant Jonathon Ramsey

Rico Auto Industries in India makes transmission parts for Ford's Flex and Edge, along with its upscale Lincoln MKT and MKX twins. Unfortunately for the Blue Oval, Automotive News is reporting ...

Shreveport, LA mayor lobbies D.C. to close the HUMMER deal, already Jonathon Ramsey

Cedric Glover, the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, went to Washington, D.C. to plead his case for the sale of Hummer to Tengzhong. The only thing is, we're not sure why he went. To be more ...

REPORT: Toyota adding 850 jobs in San Antonio truck factory Jonathon Ramsey

Toyota's arrangements for its San Antonio plant are coming together after the closure of NUMMI and the announced relocation of Tacoma pickup production. The company will be adding 850 permanent ...

Fitting Irony: Detroit Mayor Bing's own auto supply company hurting and on the block? 20 days ago on Autoblog

No one is allowed to escape the grinding maw of Detroit's woes -- not even Detroit Piston extraordinaire and hometown mayor Dave Bing. The mayor owns an automotive supplier called The Bing Group that provides stamped parts for carmakers. The recession has put the company on such slippery footing ...

Border Drive? Umm... No. Mexico car production reportedly down nearly 40% 23 days ago on Autoblog

Mexico hasn't accounted for nearly as much ink as the U.S. and Canada in recent discussions of the auto industry. But in case anyone was wondering, they're in a big hurt south of the border as well. While the American market's decline in auto sales factors in at about 25% overall, the Latin ...

Ford Fiesta U.S.-spec gets caught in Mexican factory 26 days ago on Autoblog

What is reported to be the coming U.S.-spec Ford Fiesta has been photographed during assembly in Mexico, and the minor changes we can glean so far center around the grille. Compared to its European counterpart, the American version gets a much chunkier front end which has pushed the leading edge ...

REPORT: Analysts chide GM for boosting production [*UPDATED] 26 days ago on Autoblog

General Motors has announced its planned production for next year: 2.8 million vehicles. That's a 45% increase over its production this year – 1.9 million cars and trucks – and according to some analysts, it's completely unwarranted. GM says it arrived at that number based on "real ...

REPORT: Production lines halted at MG's Longbridge plant. This is not a repeat from 2005. 1 month ago on Autoblog

It is a travesty that the initials "MG" are coming to be a convenient epithet for the term "woe." The British sportscar maker has had an exceedingly trying history recently, and things haven't got any better with word that its owner, MG Motor UK Ltd. (which is really Nanjing Automobile ...

REPORT: GM halting Duramax production for 10 weeks 1 month ago on Autoblog

The revamped 6.6-liter Duramax V8 engine will go into production in April 2010 and the current Duramax, which doesn't meet emissions requirements that go into effect January 1, 2010, will cease production the day before the new year begins. In the interim, GM will be retooling the factory and ...

REPORT: Fiat to close Bertone purchase this week 1 month ago on Autoblog

On Thursday, Fiat is expected to put its John Hancock on a preliminary agreement to close its purchase of Carrozzeria Bertone, the coachbuilding arm of the Bertone company. In August Fiat won the right to acquire the builder, and it will throw €150 million at its operations over the next ...

Porsche to pull Boxster production from Magna over Opel stake? 1 month ago on Autoblog

After a great deal of international haggling, Magna ended up winning the competition for Opel. One of the many questions to be answered now is: How will the deal affect Magna's engineering and assembly business? Even as companies like VW and BMW have said they would be looking closely at ...

Mercedes-Benz pondering C-Class production in Alabama? 1 month ago on Autoblog

The C-Class is Mercedes-Benz's biggest seller Stateside, and a report in a Stuttgart newspaper indicates the company could be looking to stabilize the revenue from its bread-and-butter sedan. The C-Class is currently produced in Sindelfingen, Germany, and that makes it prey to currency swings on ...

FYI: UAW releases list of 2010 cars and trucks made in union shops 1 month ago on Autoblog

There's "Buy American!" and then there's "Buy Union!" If you're among the most serious about keeping your red-white-and-blue money in the U.S. of A North America and organized labor is close to your ticker, then you'll want to check out this list put together by the United Auto Workers. It lists ...

BMW plant in Spartanburg, SC produces 1.5 millionth vehicle 1 month ago on Autoblog

BMW invaded the South in 1993, and it's first U.S.-made product was popped out in September a year later. Fifteen years after that there have been five factory expansions, 5,000 jobs created, a methane gas pipeline installed, a center for automotive research created, a golf tournament started, ...

Ron Bloom, Obama's chief auto advisor to become manufacturing czar? 2 months ago on Autoblog

Ron Bloom's role in the bankruptcy and re-emergence of Chrysler and General Motors has proven that his experience driving negotiations with the United Steelworkers union is portable. Pushing the two automotive giants through restructuring in an impressively quick manner has given the Obama ...

REPORT: Toyota moving Tacoma production to San Antonio 2 months ago on Autoblog

Now that Toyota has decided the fate of the NUMMI plant, the company has to decide where to move production of the Tacoma and Corolla models built there. The Corolla hasn't been spoken for yet, but Toyota is confirming that its Tacoma line is moving to the San Antonio factory that currently makes ...

After divorcing Daimler, going steady with Fiat and cutting off Nissan, Chrysler looking for Chinese partner? 2 months ago on Autoblog

Over the past couple of years, Chrysler has been in discussion with seemingly every carmaker in the world about some sort of tie-up to achieve some particular end. Before it was battling for its very survival, it was in serious talks with Chinese automaker Chery about building a car or two, ...

Ford boosts production (slightly) of F-150, Escape 2 months ago on Autoblog

Two of Ford's vehicles are moving well enough that the automaker is adding production to its plants in Missouri and Michigan. Ford says its F-150 and Ford Escape are looking to earn their highest sales of the year in August, with the F-Series truck line looking good for its first year-on-year ...

Toyota cutting production capacity by up to 1 million vehicles? 2 months ago on Autoblog

Japan's Nikkei has reported that Toyota is will cut production by 10% in its next fiscal year, from ten million to nine million vehicles. To do that, Japan's largest automaker is said to be shutting down an entire production line in its home country for a year-and-a-half starting next spring. There ...

Land Rover increases production of new Discovery and Range Rover Sport 2 months ago on Autoblog

It's a little difficult to keep track of what's happening at Tata and JLR these days. While the XF sales continue apace and the XJ is promising, the JLR division lost £673.4 million pounds ($1.11B U.S.) last year, and parent company Tata was $520 million in the red at the end of its 2008 ...

Follow-up: Toyota may not produce hybrid Yaris after all 3 months ago on Autoblog

A Toyota insider is countering yesterday's report that the automaker is planning a Yaris-based hybrid to be built in France. Such a vehicle would be unnecessary, according to the unnamed source. Today's Toyota Yaris is already a fuel miser. The European variant is currently quipped with a ...

REPORT: VW chooses Mexican plant for new compact sedan 3 months ago on Autoblog

Adding a vote of confidence to Mexico's struggling auto industry, Volkswagen has announced that it will begin assembly of a new compact car (working title "New Compact Sedan") in the country next year. The German automaker will invest about $1 billion in the program, with $400 million of the ...

Korean police to storm Ssangyong factory occupied by fired workers? 3 months ago on Autoblog

Earlier this year, when Ssangyong was allowed to continue as a going concern, the company had to let go of around 900 workers. Those workers (above) then effectively said "all your factory are belong to us," and staged a sit-in at the South Korean production facility that subsequently turned ...

REPORT: Ford Transit Connect to be built Stateside in 2012 3 months ago on Autoblog

A welcome splash of news for the UAW and the U.S. economy: Ford will commence production of the Transit Connect at a U.S. assembly plant by mid-year 2012. Currently built in Turkey on a version of the Euro Focus platform, the next generation Transit will also migrate to the FWD compact platform ...

REPORT: GM to give China dedicated vehicle, launch up to 30 models there in five years 3 months ago on Autoblog

According to Automotive News China, at least one new inexpensive model from Buick or Chevrolet will be dedicated to the Chinese and other emerging markets. The undisclosed model will arrive before 2011. In addition, two more Buick-badged vehicles, and four more wearing Chevrolet logos, will roll ...

REPORT: Toyota bankrolling $500 million into Indiana plant; no comment on NUMMI 4 months ago on Autoblog

The world's biggest automaker has confirmed that it is investing 44.9 billion yen (or about $467.2 million at current exchange rates) to upgrade its Indiana plant. Toyota Motor Corp. will reportedly spend the next three months retooling in order to build its Sequoia and Highlander SUVs on the same ...

REPORT: Two plants saved from closing under new GM/UAW agreement 5 months ago on Autoblog

According to the Detroit Free Press, the 14 plants that General Motors is expected to announce for closure on Monday was going to be 16 plants until the UAW got its way on Capitol Hill. The union charged GM with closing factories, but instead of a commensurate reduction in production, GM was moving ...

Honda UK workers vote in favor of 3% pay cut to save jobs 5 months ago on Autoblog

The numbers for the UK car industry in April point to a 50% drop in production, and factories that aren't shut down completely are being run at glacial paces. After closing its Swindon, England plant for four months, the choice Honda gave workers there fit the template of the times: take a pay cut ...

McLaren intends to build new production facility to rival Maranello 5 months ago on Autoblog

First came Paragon, the terrifically high-tech McLaren Technology Center that is the corporate and production HQ for Ron Dennis' various company interests. Now, Dennis is planning a McLaren Production Center (MPC) that will engineer and build "McLaren Automotive's range of innovative ...

Rolls-Royce to double workforce ahead of Ghost production 5 months ago on Autoblog

The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost will not only mean more sales for the company, it will mean more workers. Rolls is adding 300 production workers to the payroll, bringing its Sussex workforce to 900. The majority of new positions will be in the wood, leather and paint shops, but there will be ...

REPORT: Chrysler affidavits reveal crippling problems that hurt chances for success post-bankruptcy 5 months ago on Autoblog

History could eventually reveal that Chrysler declaring bankruptcy may have just been the easy part. According to CNN, affidavits taken from Chrysler engineers and executives do a pretty good job of showing that things will get really tough when it's time for the automaker to start making cars ...

Rumormill: Could the Fiat-Chrysler deal yield a North American Ford Ka? 6 months ago on Autoblog

It's a long shot, but according to The Detroit Free Press, Chrysler's deal with Fiat could result in Ford offering the cutesy Ka for sale in North America. As you may recall, Ford co-developed the Ka's platform with Fiat (it shares its chassis with the 500), and the Italian automaker builds ...

Opel reportedly mulling reviving Wartburg as low-cost brand 6 months ago on Autoblog

Despite an uncertain future, Ward's Auto is reporting that Opel is looking at the possibility of starting a new low-cost line under the revived moniker "Wartburg." Made by East German company VEB AEW until 1991, in their most recent guise, Wartburgs were cheap transportation for the Communist set, ...

More cuts across the board: General Motors to slash dealers, plants and employees 6 months ago on Autoblog

General Motors' spate of announcements this morning was bad news for enthusiasts (e.g. the shuttering of Pontiac) and even worse for GM's debt-for-equity swap (without a 90% take-rate the automaker is bound for CH 11). But for dealerships and workers, GM's re-revised restructuring plan is going to ...

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Autoblog Podcast #151: With Car and Driver's Eddie Alterman

Eddie Alterman wades in with Sam, Chris, Dan, and Jonny to talk about SEMA and other recent events.

 
 

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