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AUTOMAKERS' WORLD NEWS digest
* Car sales across Europe up 3.2 percent in first quarter
BRUSSELS, Belgium -The Detroit News/AP -Apr 15, 2006: -- VW, Fiat lead European sales boost... Car sales across Europe picked up by 3.2 percent in the first three months of the year compared with the same period a year earlier, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said... About 4.13 million cars were sold across Europe in the first quarter, the ACEA said in a statement... Germany's Volkswagen AG and Italy's Fiat Spa profited most from the first quarter upswing, while France's Peugeot PSA, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.'s sales stayed flat and Renault SA lost market share, the figures showed...
* Two Hyundai executives detained in slush fund scandal
SEOUL, South Korea --The Detroit News/AP -Apr 15, 2006: -- Investigation centers on bribes to seek business favors from South Korean government... Prosecutors said that they detained two top executives of Hyundai Motor Co. and a former executive of a state-run bank in an escalating scandal over allegations the company created a slush fund to buy influence with government officials... Chief Financial Officer Lee Jung-dae and Kim Seung-nyun, a vice president in charge of procurement, were the first Hyundai Motor executives to be detained in the investigation. Also detained on was Park Sang-bae, former deputy governor of the state-run Korea Development Bank, prosecutors said...
* Japan to test train powered by fuel cells
TOKYO,Japan -The Detroit News, by Hans Greimel/AP -Apr 15, 2006: -- Japan's biggest rail company soon will test using fuel cells to help power a train, following the lead of automakers in rolling out cleaner, more efficient transportation... Pollution-free fuel cells generate electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, producing only water vapor as exhaust... East Japan Railways Co., will start test runs of the NE Train, or New Energy Train, in July... As with automobiles, however, hydrogen-powered trains will need to overcome a current lack of fueling stations, which would be needed to make long-distance travel practical...
* Sterling Heights assembly line to be shipped to Russia
MOSCOW,Russia -The Detroit News, by Hans Greimel/AP -Apr 15, 2006: -- DaimlerChrysler sells equipment to Russian automaker, which will build vehicles under license... Russia's OAO GAZ automaker agreed to buy DaimlerChrysler AG production lines in Sterling Heights and move them to Russia, where it will produce DaimlerChrysler cars under license... The Sterling Heights plant will get new equipment to build the company's next generation Sebring and Stratus, the Chrysler Group said, and will have the ability to produce a second, small-vehicle line as well...
* U.S. automakers try to fill every niche
NEW YORK.NY,USA -The Detroit News, by Dee-Ann Durbin/AP -Apr 15, 2006: -- Glut of new models is a boon to consumers, but expensive for automakers... Automakers seem to be a little frantic these days. At this season's major auto shows in Detroit, Chicago, Geneva and New York, they offered vehicles powered by diesel fuel, hybrid systems and ethanol, massive pickups and tiny subcompacts, nostalgic muscle cars and futuristic crossovers... Finding the right formula to whet car buyers' appetites has become more essential than ever... Automakers are responding with more products to fill every niche, which is a boon for consumers but painful and expensive for U.S. automakers...
* A third of plant jobs evaporate in Michigan
DETROIT,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Josee Valcourt and Louis Aguilar -Apr 20, 2006: -- Midwest losing clout as one of world's major automaking hubs, study finds... Michigan has lost nearly 1 in 3 manufacturing jobs since 1999 and impending factory closures by automakers and suppliers could further erode the state's position as a major global automotive hub, according to a new analysis by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor... Michigan faces a confluence of forces that threaten its bread-and-butter industry, including overseas competition, the rise of the auto industry in the American South and the continued loss of U.S. market share by Detroit's Big Three automakers...
* Automakers clear the air
DETROIT,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Josee Valcourt -Apr 20, 2006: -- Americans with allergies welcome in-vehicle air filters... Very soon, that new car smell might just be clean, fresh air as automakers make more vehicles with air filtration or ionization systems... Vehicles such as the Chrysler 300 and Ford Mustang are equipped with air filters that keep certain particles on the other side of powered windows. Toyota Motor Corp.'s new Camry sedans are rolling off factory lines with ionizers that release positive and negative ions into the cabin to attack invading allergens and pollutants... Such features could help attract some of the estimated 40 million Americans who suffer from seasonal allergies. Mounting environmental concerns in general and a throng of consumers purchasing home purification systems also are driving the trend...
posted by Unknown @ 3:11 PM
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