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AUTOMAKERS' short news
* Ford plans cuts in ChicagoChicago,Ill,USA -The Chicago Tribune, by Rick Popely -Apr 8, 2006: Declining demand hits Torrence plant... Ford Motor Co. said Friday that it will lay off an undetermined number of workers at its Chicago assembly plant by October as it trims production of the Five Hundred sedan to match declining demand... The layoffs will be the first since the plant received a $400 million overhaul in 2004 to become a flexible manufacturing facility that can produce several models on the same production line...
* Why Toyota’s nearly No. 1
Toyota, Japan -The Washington Post, by Anthony Faiola -8 Apr 2006: By combining efficiency and quality control, the Japanese automaker is soon to be world’s largest... Toyota is poised to overtake ailing General Motors this year as the world’s largest automaker in terms of units sold. It is a title, industry experts say, that the 69-year-old company could win through a combination of efficiency, flexibility, quality control and, most importantly, an uncanny sixth sense for what consumers want...
* Mercedes Car Group vehicle sales rise
Frankfurt, Germany -businessweek.com -8 Apr 2006: DaimlerChrysler AG said Friday its Mercedes Car Group, which includes its marquee Mercedes-Benz line, sold 17 percent more cars in March on demand for its S-Class sedan and 12 percent more for the first quarter... The German-American automaker said that Mercedes group car sales rose to 138,400 cars in March from 118,000 cars sold a year ago...
* GM to cooperate with creditors of Delphi
New York,NY,USA -fortwayne.com, by Paulette Chua/AP Apr. 07, 2006: General Motors Corp. has agreed to cooperate with unsecured creditors of Delphi Corp. that are looking to challenge GM if the auto maker attempts to seize big payouts from a restructured Delphi, attorneys in the case said Friday...
* GM Plans to Build New Plant in Russia
Moscow,Russia -mosnews.com -7 Apr 2006: General Motors Corp. is considering building an auto plant of its own in Russia amid mounting problems at its joint venture there, sources that wanted to remain anonymous told the Wall Street Journal... GM’s $340-million joint venture with Russian auto giant OAO Avtovaz began producing Russian-designed Niva compact sport-utility vehicles under the Chevrolet brand four years ago...
* Big 3 can turn junk vehicles into gas
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -Apr 07, 2006: Research group unveils green technology that converts some of landfill's trash into oil, fuel, carbon... Parts of that old clunker, destined for the scrap heap, might end up back in a gas tank, under new technology unveiled by Detroit automakers this week in Detroit... Every year 15 million vehicles are scrapped in the United States and nearly all are recycled. But a quarter of the content -- such as glass, rubber, tires and foam -- ends up in landfills to the tune of nearly 8 billion pounds a year...
* Smart cars could save lives
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Christine Tierney and David Shepardson -Apr 06, 2006: -- Latest safety devices can detect when drivers tire... Automakers and suppliers are working on features to monitor drivers, such as rapid blinking that denotes fatigue, and flash warnings... The focus on driver behavior is part of a broad industry push to help motorists avoid accidents -- not just survive them when they occur... Using electronic systems, sensors and cameras, automakers have devised ways to help prevent vehicles from skidding, improve visibility, notify drivers of obstacles ahead or vehicles rushing up from behind... In 2004, the latest year for which U.S. figures are available, more than 42,000 people were killed in road accidents, which totaled 6.2 million... But automakers are careful about introducing new technologies that would go further, allowing a vehicle to wrest control of the steering or brakes from the driver, for fear of litigation... If such a system reacted to a false alarm, lawsuits would undoubtedly ensue, said Priya Prasad, a technical fellow in safety research at Ford Motor Co... Some drivers also resent the intrusion...
posted by Unknown @ 2:29 PM
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