Friday, March 7, 2008
GM ends Wagoner’s pay cut
Salary of CEO restored to $2.2M, the level it was before 2006, when company lost $10B.
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
General Motors Corp. is ending the self-imposed pay cut Chief Executive Rick Wagoner took in 2006 just after the company posted a $10 billion annual loss.
Wagoner’s annual salary [...]
Toyota working on post-lithium ion battery technology
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Hans Greimel
Automotive News | March 6, 2008 - 7:04 am EST
TOKYO – Lithium ion batteries haven’t even hit mass production for hybrid and electric vehicles. But Toyota is already eyeing a new generation with twice the energy storage.
The goal is a battery that can run 80 kilometers (50 [...]
Ford rewards employees with $1,000 bonus
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Bernadine Williams
Automotive News | March 5, 2008 - 4:32 pm EST
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is paying every U.S. and Canadian employee a $1,000 bonus even though the automaker lost $2.7 billion last year.
In a companywide e-mail today to all employees, CEO Alan Mulally said that although Ford fell [...]
Mar.05
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9-Year Auto Loans?! ‘Crazy’ But True!
Posted By:Phil LeBeau
Here’s something that should make you realize what crazy times we are living in: 9-year auto loans are popping up around the country. That’s right, it wasn’t a typo. Nine years! 108 months! Almost a third of the time used to pay off a [...]
Congress may ban dealer-mandated arbitration
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Harry Stoffer
Automotive News | March 5, 2008 - 10:00 am EST
WASHINGTON — Auto dealers celebrated a lobbying victory in 2002 when they got Congress and President Bush to ban mandatory binding arbitration of disputes arising from their franchise agreements with automakers. Now comes the hangover.
Spurred by consumer groups, lawmakers have [...]
Chrysler minivan plant reopens
CAW ratifies new contract at TRW plant in Windsor, Ontario
queryvar=”chrysler,minivan,plant,reopens”;
Philip Nussel
and David Barkholz
Automotive News | March 5, 2008 - 8:05 am EST
The Canadian Auto Workers returned to work today at TRW Automotive Inc. after approving a contract agreement in Windsor, Ontario, late Tuesday with 96 percent of the workers voting [...]
Ford cuts 2Q production by 10%
Automaker also cutting shifts at three plants
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Amy Wilson
Automotive News
March 3, 2008 - 2:39 pm ET
UPDATED: 3/3/08 4:30 p.m. EST
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is cutting second-quarter North American production by 10 percent.
Ford plans to produce 730,000 vehicles in the second quarter of 2008, down from 811,000 vehicles [...]
LaNeve: Truck inventories in ‘great shape’
American Axle strike idles fifth GM truck assembly plant
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Richard Truett
and David Barkholz
Automotive News | March 3, 2008 - 9:57 am EST
DETROIT — General Motors has 60-90 days of pick-up truck inventories to cushion the automaker from the strike at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc., said Mark LaNeve, [...]
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Auto briefs
Ford to cut plant shifts in three states
Faced with slowing demand for some of its vehicles, Ford Motor Co . on Monday said it would temporarily cut shifts at factories in Chicago, Louisville, Ky., and Cleveland. The automaker said the cuts would idle about 2,500 workers at the three factories, although [...]
Toyota, GM, Ford, Chrysler all report Feb. declines
Nissan, Honda, Mazda, VW, and Mercedes post gains
queryvar=”toyota,gm,ford,chrysler,all,report,feb,declines”;
Richard Truett
and Mark Rechtin
Automotive News | March 3, 2008 - 1:30 pm EST
DETROIT — With Americans preoccupied with the festering economy, U.S. new-car sales suffered in February.
General Motors said sales for the month declined 12.9 percent to 268,737 vehicles. [...]
GM Announces Senior Leadership Appointments
Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive officer, announced that the GM board of directors approved the following appointments, effective immediately, at its meeting today:
Fritz Henderson, vice chairman and chief financial officer, is elected president and chief operating officer.
Ray Young, currently group vice president – finance, is elected executive vice president [...]
5th GM plant idled by American Axle strike
A fifth General Motors Corp. plant is slated to shut down tonight as a result of the strike at American Axle & Manufacturing Inc.
GM’s assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio, is slated to run out of parts late in tonight’s second shift, a spokesman said in a recorded message [...]
Camaro’s return will be late to the muscle-car race
Martin Zimmerman / Los Angeles Times
The new Chevy Camaro would seem to have everything going for it: a genuinely storied tradition, a built-in fan base, even a starring role in a blockbuster movie.
But as they say at the local comedy club, timing is everything. And in that [...]
