plants

Even though Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has repeatedly said he won't pick up, leave Italy and take his Fiat factories with him, his occasional pointed comments about the challenges of running operations in that country has worried Italian politicians dealing with government, economic and ...

In discussing how Kia planned to use a focus on quality to raise its brand perception and take the fight to BMW and Audi instead of Toyota, a recent article in Automotive News Europe said one of the primary constraints was production capacity; Kia simply doesn't have the ability to make enough ...

Wards Auto began tracking North American light-vehicle production capacity utilization in 2005, and last year produced the highest amount on record: 97.8 percent of available production was utilized, an improvement of 9.3 percent versus the year before. The number represents straight-time ...

After the turmoil of last year, 2013 is getting off to a much better start for Mazda. The company has issued a release indicating that the forthcoming plant in Salamanca, Mexico has had its production capacity raised even though it isn't scheduled to go online until March 2014. The original plans ...

Ask Subaru about the difficult car market and it is likely to ask in response, "What difficult car market?" The little Japanese brand has its XV sitting on top of sales charts in (one small corner of) Europe, the BRZ is still allergic to sitting on dealer lots, the company has raised its ...

The photo above was taken July 23, 2008 at the production kickoff for the Mazda6 at the AutoAlliance International plant, jointly owned by Mazda and Ford, in Flat Rock, Michigan. And as of this week, though neither company made a big deal about it, the AutoAlliance facility stopped building the ...

Trying to make the best of a nasty situation for everyone involved, Opel has reportedly worked out an agreement with its Works Council and the IG Metall union to reduce working hours at two of its plants. From the end of September until the end of the year, there will be 20 days of short shifts ...

Production of the "Earth Dreams" powertrains that will slot into the 2013 Honda Accord got underway at the Japanese automaker's Anna Engine and Honda Transmission Mfg. plants last week, and both facilities have begun feeding engines and gearboxes to the Marysville, Ohio, assembly lines where the ...

Mazda taped the ceremony commemorating production of the 2014 Mazda6 at its Hofu No. 2 plant in Japan, and now we have it. There are a few dark glimpses of the Euro-spec Mazda6 wagon as a couple of them roll out and do loops for the factory workers, but the cameras don't spend a lot of time on ...

The strong yen has Japanese carmakers looking to optimize every efficiency in order to keep their cars competitive in export markets. One strategy gaining momentum is to do some island hopping, specifically, moving plants and manufacturing to Kyushu, the southernmost main island in the Japanese ...

The 2013 Ford Escape is now a production reality, the completely redesigned crossover now rolling off the lines at Ford's Louisville assembly plant. Still a top seller in its last model year, the brand-new 1.6-liter EcoBoost Escape gets 22 mpg city, 33 mpg highway and yes, the $23,295 base model ...

Toyota's Huntsville, Alabama production facility, which makes the company's four-cylinder, V6 and V8 engines, is getting a couple of big boosts: $80 million and roughly 125 new jobs. When the spending and hiring is complete, the enlarged factory and the plant's 1,150 workers will raise ...

Volkswagen has the honor of being this year's top producing North American automotive manufacturer by a wide margin with its Puebla, Mexico facility. The factory managed to produce 510,041 units last year, beating out second-place Nissan and its Aguascalientes, Mexico plant by a staggering ...

Mercedes-Benz and Nissan plan on working together in the future, sharing the Mercedes A-Class platform and engines in an effort save cash on engineering and manufacturing resources. A big part of that collaboration is now official with a joint engine announcement. Nissan will produce high-end ...

The Detroit Three are in much better financial shape than three years ago. General Motors and Ford are now profitable, and Chrysler appears poised to begin making real money soon. That success has lead to plans to spend billions of dollars on North American plants, but Automotive News reports ...

The Detroit Free Press reports that, of the 267 automotive plants that have closed in the U.S. since 1979, 128 have reopened with a new purpose. Astonishingly enough, 40 percent of those reopened sites were purchased between 2008 and 2010 as General Motors and Chrysler underwent restructuring, ...

All Jaguars, whether steel or aluminum, are fashioned in one place: Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands of England. The factory complex originally made RAF Spitfires and Lancaster bombers for World ...

Although the Hummer sale isn't officially official – which is to say, the Chinese authorities haven't told Tengzhong "Proceed!" – it is official enough that GM has restarted production of the 2010 H3 and H3T at its Shreveport, LA ...

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 holdup is the upcoming BMW X3, which is ...