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AUTOMAKERS NEWS USA & WORLDWIDE
* USA - Ford hails upgrade in credit. Investment grade rating by Moody's is comeback milestone
Detroit,MICH,USA -The Detroit News, (Comment) by Daniel Howes -May 23, 2012: -- Seven years to the month after seeing its credit downgraded to "junk" status, the Ford Motor Co. led by CEO Alan Mulally is proving that the phrase American industrial renaissance is no longer an oxymoron... Moody's Investors Service Inc., in an expected but nonetheless historic statement Tuesday, declared the Dearborn automaker to be once again "investment grade," a step that returns the encumbered assets of Ford — including the trademark Blue Oval — to its rightful owners and marks a critical milestone in its long turnaround...
* USA - Ford upgraded, reclaims Blue Oval
Dearborn,MICH,USA -The Detroit News, by Jaclyn Trop -23 May 2012: -- Ford reclaimed its Blue Oval and other mortgaged assets Tuesday when it received a long-awaited investment-grade from a second ratings house, the final step it needed to get back the assets it pledged six years ago... Moody's Corp. upgraded Ford's debt from junk status, one month after Fitch Ratings did the same. The automaker needed two investment-grade ratings to reclaim the company logo, the F-150 and Mustang trademarks, the Glass House headquarters in Dearborn, and plants and machinery. It had used all of them to secure the $23.5 billion loan that kept the company afloat during the recession...
* USA - GM begins $380M Mo. plant expansion. Wentzville factory to build next generation of midsize pickups
Wentzville,MO,USA -The Detroit News,by Melissa Burden -May 22, 2012: -- General Motors Co. broke ground Monday on a $380 million expansion at its Wentzville, Mo., assembly plant, where the automaker will build the next generation of midsize pickups, a move that will retain or create about 1,260 jobs... GM has given no details yet on when the plant 500,000-square-foot expansion may be finished or if it will build additional products at the plant...* Worldwide
* Japan - Toyota's cumulative hybrid sales hit 4 million
Toyota City,Aichi,Japan -The Detroit News (USA) -May 22, 2012: -- Toyota Motor Corp. has sold 4 million hybrid vehicles since 1997 when it introduced its first gas-electric car in Japan... Toyota currently sells 18 hybrid models in 80 countries, amounting this year to 15 percent of its global vehicle sales, the company said Tuesday... Toyota calculates that the hybrids it has sold globally since 1997 have resulted in a reduction of about 26 million tons in carbon dioxide emissions, compared with the amount that would have been generated if those vehicles had been similarly sized gas-powered models...
* Italy - Fiat may announce alliance with Mazda today
Milan,Italy -The Detroit News (USA), by Bryce G. Hoffman -May 23, 2012: -- Reports out of Japan suggest that Fiat SpA — the parent company of Chrysler Group LLC — may be ready to announce a new alliance with Mazda Motor Corp... Japan's fifth-largest automaker has struggled since Ford Motor Co. sold most of its stake in the Hiroshima-based company and industry insiders say it is desperately needs a new partner if it is to survive... Fiat was not available for comment, but earlier this month CEO Sergio Marchionne told The Detroit News that he is still looking for another partner and said an Asian partner would make sense...
* Japan - Nissan to build Datsun cars in Russia
Nishi-ku, Yokohama,Japan -The Detroit News (USA), by Christine Tierney -May 21, 2012: -- Nissan Motor Co., seeking to expand its presence in the fast-growing Russian market, will build low-cost cars under the Datsun brand at the facilities of its Russian partner AvtoVAZ... Nissan, the leading Japanese carmaker in Russia, announced this month that it would join its alliance partner Renault SA in a $750 million investment deal that would allow them to acquire control of AvtoVAZ in 2014... State-owned AvtoVAZ is Russia's leading carmaker. Together, the three manufacturers constitute the largest auto-making group in Russia, accounting for 30 percent of sales in 2011...
* Germany - BMW wins 'carmaker of the future,' most valuable brand
Munich,Germany -The Detroit News (USA) -May 22, 2012: -- BMW was selected "carmaker of the future" by IHS Automotive and the German magazine Automobil Produktion, followed by runners-up Daimler AG, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co... Munich-based BMW also was rated the world's most valuable brand, according to the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study compiled by market research company Millward Brown. In awarding the "carmaker of the future" title for the first time, IHS Automotive and Automobil Produktion cited BMW's impressive track record of creating innovative vehicles, which are both powerful and fuel-efficient...* South Korea - Korean automakers' success threaten slumping European competitors
Detroit,MICH,USA -The Detroit News (Opinion), by Neil Winton -May 23, 2012: -- Hyundai and its sibling company Kia have successfully set up operations in Europe and America, initially based on low prices, rock-solid reliability and breathtaking guarantees. The fact that their cars often displayed grimace-inducing ugliness and/or looked like boxes on wheels didn't matter. Value was everything... But a second wave of product development has produced a much more frightening threat to European incumbents. Kia and Hyundai have now added style to their product lines and sell on excitement as well as retaining the basic virtues that led to early success. Handsome cars like the Hyundai i30 and ix35 and Kia Optima and Sportage make many of their European competitors look like commodity producers...
* Germany - Mercedes G Class Rolls On
(Photo: 2013 Mercedes-Benz G Class)
Stuttgart,Germany -The Car Connection, by Viknesh Vijayenthiran -May 22, 2012: -- Mercedes-Benz is offering an updated G Class SUV for the 2013 model year, which will once again offer both a regular model and high-performance AMG variant. Updated with new drivetrains and safety features for the 2013 model year, the G Class now will be in production through at least 2015, Mercedes-Benz confirms, and we could even see it still after that.
* Canada - Westport surges on Volvo plan for truck engines
(Photograph by: Jason Payne , PNG: A Volvo XC60 R-Design at the annual Vancouver International Auto Show at BC Place Stadium Tuesday, April 3, 2012)
Vancouver,BC,Canada -Bloomberg/The Vancouver Sun, by Christopher Donville -May 22, 2012: -- Westport Innovations Inc., a Canadian maker of natural-gas powered engines, rose the most in more than two years after saying Volvo Group will begin North American sales in 2014 of a heavy-duty engine built with Westport technology... Volvo’s new truck engine will use Westport’s high pressure direct injection system, Westport said in a May 18 statement. Volvo expects to begin selling the 13-liter natural gas engine in North America in 2014...
posted by Unknown @ 5:09 PM
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