Richard Truett
Automotive News | October 16, 2008 – 4:26 pm EST
DETROIT — A barrel of oil is down about 50 percent from its July 3 high closing price of $145.29. Gasoline prices are below $3 per gallon in most parts of the country. So, automakers can crank up those SUV factories again, right?
Wrong.
Even [...]
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Kerkorian beefs up Ford credit line
Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News
Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian has pledged another 50 million shares in MGM Mirage to back a $600 million credit line used to purchase shares in Ford Motor Co., according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today.
The Las Vegas [...]
GM to lay off 1,500 hourly workers as demand slows
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Automotive News | October 16, 2008 – 2:00 pm EST
DETROIT (Reuters) — General Motors will lay off 1,500 hourly workers at plants in Michigan and Delaware where it builds pickup trucks, large cars and a two-seat roadster due to slowing demand, a spokesman said today.
GM, the [...]
GM to lay off 1,600 workers at 3 factories
Oct 16 02:55 PM US/Eastern
By TOM KRISHER
[...]
Nissan to recall 204,361 vehicles
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Automotive News | October 15, 2008 – 1:45 pm EST
DETROIT (Reuters) — Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. plans to recall 204,361 vehicles from its 2007 and 2008 model years in the United States due to the possibility that a passenger side airbag could fail to deploy properly in an accident.
The voluntary recall [...]
Toyota: U.S. likely to get 54-mpg premium subcompact
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Hans Greimel
Automotive News | October 15, 2008 – 12:26 pm EST
ENLARGE
Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe at the launch of the iQ today in Tokyo.
TOKYO [...]
GM launches campaign to ease credit worries, build traffic
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Donna Harris and Amy Wilson
Automotive News | October 16, 2008 – 12:01 am EST
General Motors will begin an unprecedented marketing campaign Friday designed to reassure U.S. customers that they can still obtain auto loans through GM dealerships even though credit through the automaker’s in-house lender remains [...]
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Auto troubles scare buyers
Already anemic vehicle sales further depressed by stigma from companies’ struggles for survival.
Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News
Falling stock prices and increasing talk of bankruptcy are beginning to frighten car buyers away from Detroit’s troubled automakers.
As if high gasoline prices and tight credit were not enough, General Motors [...]
Thursday, October 16, 2008
One plan: GM may absorb Chrysler
Possible scenario would eliminate rival, reduce excess capacity; pact similar to AMC purchase.
David Shepardson, Christine Tierney and Alisa Priddle / The Detroit News
General Motors Corp. could swallow Chrysler LLC and end the Auburn Hills automaker’s 83-year existence under one scenario being discussed by GM and Chrysler’s owner, [...]
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Daniel Howes: Commentary
Merger may be too big to ignore
Leave it to Klaus Franz, an unapologetic European unionist, to cut to the heart of General Motors Corp.’s potential acquisition of Chrysler LLC: It would be, the German labor leader was quoted as saying, an "absolute catastrophe."
He’s right. Seen from the viewpoint of blue-collar [...]
Thursday, October 16, 2008
GM, lender hype loan availability
Robert Snell and Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News
DETROIT — General Motors Corp. will launch a new advertising and finance campaign Friday to combat fears that car buyers can’t get new-car financing amid the credit crisis and tougher loan restrictions at GMAC Financial Services, the automaker’s own [...]
