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Jul 3, 2012

AUTOMAKERS NEWS * WORLDWIDE

*Italy - Fiat boosts stake in Chrysler to 61.8 pct
(Photo by John M. Galloway / The Detroit News: Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who plans to fully merge the two automakers, said he sees “no reason” not to keep adding to Fiat’s stake in Chrysler)  
Turin,Italy -Reuters -Jul 3, 2012: -- Italian carmaker Fiat is to exercise an option to buy around 3.3 percent of U.S. peer Chrysler from the VEBA trust fund, boosting its stake to 61.8 percent... Chrysler, which offers Fiat a foothold in the North American market to offset weak car sales in Europe, has boosted the Turin-based carmaker's results in recent quarters... Fiat holds options to purchase up to 40 percent of Chrysler owned by union healthcare trust VEBA, or the Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association, which can be exercised until end-June 2016... An auto analyst, asking not to be named, said a ballpark figure for the price could be 200 million euros ($252 million)...
 
* China - Fiat SpA announces completion of plant in Changsha 
Changsha,Hunan,China -Reuters (UK) -28 Jun 2012: -- Fiat SpA announced that GAC Fiat completed a new plant in Changsha, in the Chinese province of Hunan and the rollout of the Fiat Viaggio, the first Fiat model produced in China. The new plant incorporates World Class Manufacturing and covers 730,000 square meters. It is part of the 50:50 joint venture between Fiat and GAC. The joint venture was founded in March 2010 with investment totaling RMB 5 billion... 


* Germany/Japan - BMW Group and Toyota Motor Corporation agree to further strengthen collaboration 
Munich,Germany /Tokyo,Japan -BMW (PR) -29 June 2012: -- Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), met today with Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, at BMW Group headquarters in Munich to announce the planned expansion of their existing cooperation initiated in December last year...   The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at long-term strategic collaboration in four fields: joint development of a fuel cell system, joint development of architecture and components for a future sports vehicle, collaboration on powertrain electrification and joint research and development on lightweight technologies... Also today, Norbert Reithofer and Akio Toyoda both signed a Joint Statement to reconfirm their companies' shared intention to strengthen the long-term, strategic collaboration between them... 


* South Korea - Kia breaks ground on third China plant
Seoul,SK -Bloomberg -June 29, 2012:    -- Kia Motors Corp. and its Chinese subsidiary, Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motor Co., Ltd., held the groundbreaking ceremony for its third plant in the Yancheng Economic Development Zone (Jiangsu Province) today, officially signaling the start of construction of the automaker's newest state-of-the art manufacturing facility... The plant, which will boast an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles when completed in the first half of 2014, is an aggressive move by Kia to further strengthen its presence in China, which has become the world's largest automotive market. Combined with the current annual capacity from its two existing plants in the Yancheng Economic Development Zone, which have annual capacities of 130,000 and 300,000 units, Kia will be able to produce a total of 730,000 vehicles locally in China... 


* Argentine: Suspends auto-trade accord with Mexico
 
Argentina suspends auto-trade accord with Mexico 
City Buenos Aires,CF,ARG -EFE/La Prensa (USA) -26 de junio de 2012:  -- Argentina announced Tuesday a three-year suspension of the automotive portion of a 2002 economic accord with Mexico, citing the impact on the Argentine auto sector of a side agreement Mexico City signed in March with Brazil... The Argentine government said the protocol limiting exports of Mexican vehicles to Brazil "constitutes a grave violation" of the ACE 55 pact between Mexico and the Mercosur trade bloc, comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay... ACE 55 mandates that any change in terms must be approved by all signatories, Argentine President, Cristina Fernandez, said in her executive order suspending the automotive part of the accord... Argentina posted a deficit of around $1 billion last year in automobiles and automotive parts with Mexico, up from $380 million in 2010... Buenos Aires' initial reaction to the March deal between Mexico City and Brasilia was to seek a similar arrangement. But Mexico flatly refused to consider any modification to the automotive clauses of ACE 55... The move by Buenos Aires to suspend the auto clauses comes as the Mexican government is preparing to accuse Argentina before the World Trade Organization of erecting barriers to imports from Mexico...


* China - BYD reduces employee wages in order to cut costs

Shanghai,SH,China -Gasgoo, by Carmen Lee -June 28, 2012: -- In order to cope with declining financial performances, Shenzhen-based BYD has enacted a series of different policies. Following its staff cuts last year, the company has recently thought up a new scheme: decreasing salaries for its management and staff. A China Business News report today revealed that the company will cut wages throughout all its departments...  Bonuses from June to September will also be reduced from 33 percent to 15 percent... When asked about the decision, a BYD official maintained that decreasing salaries will not affect the company's performance. The official also commented that it remains to be seen how long the policy will last. "The company has no choice," the official said, adding that BYD's solar energy and automobile operations have all been performing poorly...


* India - General Motors India to continue with production cut till festival season 
Mumbai,India -The Economic Times -Jun 29, 2012: -- General Motors India, which today rolled out a new diesel variant of its premium sedan Cruze said that it would continue to curtail its production and take a day off every week till the festival season. "It (the one-day production halt every week) is likely to continue until the festival season (around October)," General Motors India president and managing director, Lowell Paddock, told reporters here...


- AUTOS RECALLS - 

* India - Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers launches voluntary code on vehicle recall
Ahmedabad,India -The Economic Times, by Shramana Ganguly -Jul 2, 2012: -- The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers on Monday launched Voluntary Code on Vehicle Recall, a uniform framework for recalling vehicles by manufacturers. The code, which came into being since July 1, 2012, is applicable on the registered passenger cars, two wheelers and commercial vehicles, SIAM said... The Voluntary Code on Vehicle Recall will address potential issues that exist in a motor vehicle which do not meet the safety requirement due to manufacturing defect and the corresponding remedial actions. The vehicle shall be covered under safety recall for a period of 7 years, SIAM said...

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