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AUTOMAKERS NEWS * WORLDWIDE
* Michigan / USA - General Motors Co. bought a stake in the French carmaker Peugeot
Detroit,MICH,USA -Bloomberg News -July 12, 2012: ... BMW and Paris-based Peugeot said on June 21 that they were looking at the venture's future after General Motors Co. bought a stake in the French carmaker...
* Germany - BMW sign a MOU with Toyota
Munich, Bavaria, Germany -Bloomberg News -July 12, 2012: ... The German manufacturer BMW signed a memorandum of understanding on June 29 with Toyota Motor Corp., the maker of the Prius hybrid car, to collaborate on the development of fuel cells, lightweight materials and electric powertrains...
* Michigan / USA - Ford Focus ST certified for 32 miles per gallon fuel efficiency
Dearborn,MICH,USA -The Detroit News, by Karl Henkel -July 12, 2012: -- Ford Motor Co. says its 2013 Ford Focus ST has been certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a highway fuel-efficiency rating of 32 miles per gallon... The Focus ST, which will come with a 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, will top the highway fuel efficiency of competitors Volkswagen GTI (31 miles per gallon highway) and MazdaSpeed3 (25 mpg), Ford said... The Focus ST's has 252 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque...
* California / USA - Hyundai faces suit over fuel economy. Automaker accused of inflating Elantra's efficiency claims
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Los Angeles Times, by Jerry Hirsch -July 12, 2012: -- A consumer watchdog group has joined with a car buyer to file a lawsuit alleging Hyundai Motor America misleads consumers with inflated fuel economy claims for its popular Elantra... The lawsuit is the second of its type filed recently against an automaker and highlights the aggressive use of mileage numbers by manufacturers in advertising their vehicles... The litigation also underscores growing consumer frustration over mileage claims as the auto industry has shifted its marketing focus from performance attributes such as horsepower and speed to fuel economy, now among the top features consumers look for when buying a new car... Hyundai, among the most aggressive brands in advertising fuel economy, bases all of its claims on EPA tests that rate the Elantra at 40 mpg on the highway, 29 in city driving and a combined efficiency of 33 mpg... In independent testing, Consumer Reports magazine found that the Elantra averaged 20 mpg in city driving, 39 mpg in highway driving and 29 mpg combined...
* Germany / France - BMW, Peugeot joint hybrid research team to end
Munich, Bavaria, Germany / Paris,France -Bloomberg News, by Alex Webb and Mathieu Rosemain -July 12, 2012: -- BMW AG intends to continue hybrid-vehicle research on its own as it holds talks with PSA Peugeot Citroen about breaking up a joint venture... Operations of the BMW Peugeot Citroen Electrification partnership, established in October to develop, purchase and produce electric powertrains and components, will be retained by BMW... BPCE comprises a research and development center in Munich and a manufacturing plant in Mulhouse, France, where 250 workers would be employed to electrify about 10,000 vehicles starting in 2015... BMW will buy Peugeot's 50 percent stake in BPCE, France's La Tribune newspaper reported Wednesday...
* Michigan / USA - GM to hire IT workers in bid to hike profits
Detroit,MICH,USA -The Detroit News, by Melissa Burden -July 13, 2012: ... General Motors Co. plans during the next three to five years to hire thousands of information technology workers, as the company embarks on a major IT transformation that it believes will improve its competitiveness and help drive profits and market share... Today, 90 percent of GM's IT function is handled by about 10,000 workers outside the company, while about 10 percent is handled by GM's global IT work force of about 1,500... The company will be hiring workers in areas such as software development, infotainment, telecommunications, data engineering, and IT operations and security...
- AUTO MARKETS: briefly news -
* China - Slow Chinese automotive market gets jumpstart
Beijing,China -The Detroit News -July 12, 2012: -- China's auto sales rose 9 percent in June, despite a slowing economy, as buyers rushed to beat possible limits on car registrations aimed at curbing traffic. Automakers sold 1.58 million cars, trucks and buses during the month, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, a government-sanctioned industry group, said Wednesday.
* Mexico - Auto growth to slow amid global setbacks
Mexico,DF,MEX -The Detroit News -July 12, 2012: -- Growth in automobile production will probably slow in the second half of the year because of a trade dispute with Argentina, limits on exports to Brazil and economic weakness in Europe, an industry official said. Auto output may climb to about 2.8 million units for 2012, a 9.5 percent increase compared with last year, Eduardo Solis, president of the Mexican Automobile Industry Association, or AMIA, said at a press conference in Mexico City. That would be a smaller percentage increase compared with the 13 percent first-half gain from a year earlier as Mexico-based factories hiked production to almost 1.42 million units, a record. Mexico's auto industry has bounced back since the recession, and production and exports rose to records during the first half of this year.
* Germany - Volkswagen sales soar, but not in west Europe
Wolfsburg,Germany -The Detroit News -July 12, 2012: -- Europe's largest automaker Volkswagen AG is reporting a 13.7 percent increase in June passenger vehicle sales, with booming results outside western Europe, where the debt crisis slowed spending. The company said Tuesday that June sales rose to 498,600 cars from 438,400 in June 2011. Half year sales were up 10.2 percent to 2.79 million vehicles delivered. While sales were up in North America, the Asia-Pacific region and eastern Europe, Western European sales, excluding Germany, for the half year slipped 4.7 percent. Volkswagen is warning of "considerable uncertainty" in Europe ahead in the second half.
* Spain - New Spanish tax puts pressure on auto dealers
Madrid,Spain -The Detroit News -July 12, 2012: -- An increase in Spanish value-added tax will further depress car sales as dealers are unlikely to be able to afford an extra cost estimated at an average 650 euros ($798) per car, vendors group GANVAM said in an emailed statement.
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