plants

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 ...