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AUTOMAKERS NEWS * WORLDWIDE
* USA - Auto sales could see 30% hike for May. Economy, pent-up trade-in demand cited in forecasts
(Photo by John T. Greilick / The Detroit News: 2012 Ford Focus vehicles moves along the assembly line at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne)
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -25 May 2012: -- Auto sales may jump as much 30 percent in May as lower gas prices bring more truck buyers to showrooms, auto analysts said Thursday... Auto sales have been a major bright spot in the U.S. economy, accounting for half of the first-quarter 2.2 percent growth in gross domestic product.In the first four months of the year, auto sales are up 10.3 percent and on pace for the best year since 2007... Barclays Capital said it expects May sales for the light trucks segment — SUVs, minivans and pickups — will still be below the average in 2010-11, when it was 51 percent of the passenger market.Japanese automakers, which are recovering after supply disruptions last year from the tsunami and earthquakes, are likely to be dramatically up in May...
* Michigan / USA - SAIC transfer would give GM equal control of Chinese partner
Detroit,MICH,USA -Bloomberg News/The Detroit News, by Tim Higgins -25 May 2012: -- General Motors Co. said the board of its China partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. approved the transfer of 1 percent ownership in their joint-venture to the U.S. automaker.
The move, which still requires Chinese government approval, allows Detroit-based GM to regain equal control of the partnership in the world's largest automobile market.
The SAIC board approved the transfer on May 24, Lori Arpin, a spokeswoman for GM, said Friday in an e-mail. She didn't disclose a purchase price...
* Italy - Fiat announces alliance with Mazda for new roadsters. Work on roadsters could pave way for more cooperation
Milan,Italy -The Detroit News, by Bryce G. Hoffman -May 24, 2012: -- Fiat SpA and Mazda Motor Corp. announced a new collaboration on Wednesday that could be the first step toward a deeper tie-up between Japan's fifth-largest automaker and Chrysler Group LLC's parent company.
At this point, the only thing the two companies have agreed on is a memorandum of understanding that calls for them to jointly develop two new, rear-wheel-drive roadsters based on the Mazda MX-5 Miata platform.
One would become the next Miata. The other would be an Alfa Romeo. Both would be manufactured by Mazda in Hiroshima...
* France - Peugeot Gefco Trucking Unit Attracts at Least Six Suitors
* RECALLS
* USA - GM recalling 4,300 Malibu Ecos over air bag issue
Detroit,MICH,USA -The Detroit News, by Melissa Burden -May 24, 2012: -- General Motors Co. said Thursday it is recalling 4,304 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Ecos sold in the United States to reprogram a part that controls the deployment of air bags... The automaker said no crashes or injuries have been reported but GM authorized the recall after it found the problem during a development test in which the vehicle was performing "extreme maneuvers," according to a GM statement... GM said it's rare but possible that in an "extremely aggressive turning maneuver, the roof rail air bags might inflate inadvertently. Under another recall scenario, the air bags and safety belt pretensioners might not deploy" ... The vehicles were manufactured from Oct. 24, 2011, through March 31, 2012...
* USA - Honda recalling 52K Acura TLs over fire concerns
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -May 24, 2012: -- Honda Motor Co. is recalling more than 52,000 Acura TL vehicles over fire risks from leaking power steering hoses — the third time the automaker has recalled Acura models to fix the problem since 2007... The recall covers 52,615 2007-08 TL cars because hot temperatures under the hood and in the power steering fluid may cause the power steering hose to fail, resulting in cracks and leaking fluid. The fluid can leak onto a catalytic converter, causing smoke or a fire, the Japanese automaker told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration... In total, Honda has now recalled more than 370,000 vehicles to address the problem in three separate recalls...
* POLITICAL / Italy / USA
* Italy - Fiat stops sales to Iran
Torino,Italy-The Detroit News (USA), by Bryce G. Hoffman -May 25, 2012: -- Fiat SpA announced Friday that it is suspending sales to Iran.
"Fiat supports the international efforts for a diplomatic solution of the issues relating to the relations with Iran," the company said in a statement. "Effective immediately, (Fiat's) subsidiaries will no longer carry out business activity related to products or components where the ultimate destination of such products is known to be Iran, other than to the limited extent required to fulfill already existing binding obligations."
The Italian automaker, which owns Chrysler Group LLC, said its Iran business was "totally immaterial in a quantitative and qualitative sense" and stressed that "any concerned products were sold for commercial and civilian use only" ...
* DC / USA - Obama rips Romney on Michigan supplier's jobs loss
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -May 24, 2012: -- The Obama re-election campaign says Republican Mitt Romney's tenure at private equity firm Bain Capital resulted in the loss of more than 1,000 jobs at a Michigan auto supplier... President Barack Obama's campaign has sought to highlight Romney's record at private equity firm Bain Capital, co-founded by Romney in 1984, to examine some of Bain's failures... In 1995, Bain Capital acquired a 39 percent stake in Madison Heights-based Cambridge Industries, a supplier of plastic parts for automakers. The following year, Cambridge closed its Ionia plant, laying off 210 workers. By 1997, Bain Capital held majority control of the company... Romney defended his record at Bain on Wednesday, but didn't get into many details...
* UK - MINI updates its John Cooper Works options
Labels: automakers news worldwide
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