Free Republic

Ford has said it will postpone $12billion of investment into EVs because its current generation of electric cars is facing a 'challenging market'. The new plan will see construction pause on some of the company's EV factories, including a battery plant in Kentucky, its executives noted during its third quarter earnings call on Thursday. Ford's EV unit, called Ford Model e, lost $1.3 billion on an operating basis in the quarter - roughly double its loss in the same period last year. Shares of the company were down almost 10 percent in the hours after markets opened on Friday. Its...

Conservative commentator Mark Levin blasted the Ford Motor Co. and other automakers for removing the AM radio frequency from their vehicles. Levin labeled the move an assault on conservative talk radio...

Swirling rumors suggest that one of America's oldest remaining automakers could be on the chopping block. Sergio Marchionne will hold an investor's meeting in Italy on Friday, June 1, in Balocco, Italy, where the CEO will possibly kill one the corporation's most historic brands. FCA specialist Larry P. Vellequette of Automotive News reports that "a source told a European colleague" that Marchionne would declare the end of the Chrysler brand in the speech to investors. In addition, Marchionne could detail plans to pull Fiat out of the United States and China, according to Automotive News. The brand would re-focus on...

A Chinese automaker kicking the tires at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and its most profitable asset, Jeep, is raising alarms and could run into strong opposition from the U.S. government. China’s Great Wall Motor Company on Monday said it was interested in buying Jeep from Fiat Chrysler. It’s not yet clear whether Great Wall has already submitted a bid for Fiat Chrysler’s Jeep or whether one is being prepared. Fiat Chrysler said on Monday that it had “not been approached by Great Wall in connection with the Jeep brand or any other matter relating to its business.” Any attempt to sell...

The Donald Trump effect: Ford will invest $1.6 billion in two U.S. factories. Ford Motor Co will invest $1.6 billion in two U.S. factories to start making a new automatic transmission and expand output of certain commercial trucks, the company said on Tuesday. Ford said the moves would support a total of 650 jobs but would not say how many new ones would be created. The announcement comes three weeks after Ford said it would spend $1.6 billion to build a new vehicle assembly plant in Mexico, drawing fire from Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. Ford has countered that...

France’s ailing industrial sector took another blow on Tuesday when Renault said it planned to cut 7,500 domestic jobs by 2016, or about 17 percent of its French labor force, as it adjusts production capacity to the crushing downturn in the European car market. The plan, which the company said in a statement would save 400 million euros, or $540 million, in annual fixed costs, is needed to lower its break-even point — the amount of revenue needed to cover all outlays — and to “clear the way for the new hiring needed for the future.” The company said that...

What was designed as a “man-on-the-street” style commercial for Ford Motor Co. turned into a potent political statement when F-150 owner Chris McDaniel, asked about the importance of buying American, explained why Ford was the company for him: “I wasn’t going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government,” McDaniel explained. “I was going to buy from a manufacturer that’s standing on their own, win, lose or draw.” The TV spot was so popular, the video went viral on YouTube. But it was not until the ad was pulled off the air that people really started talking...

Reporting from Detroit — Detroit's on a roll. But can it last? American auto brands Chevrolet and Ford are outselling Toyotas in the United States for the first time in years, thanks to a new stable of better designed and more reliable cars. General Motors Co., meanwhile, has become the top foreign automaker in the fast-growing Chinese market. At the same time, painful cost cuts — including trimming employment and health expenses, and rewriting union contracts — have fattened the bottom line for domestic automakers, with General Motors and Ford Motor Co. earning nearly $4 billion combined in their most...

Title only. Link given below as per posting rules on FR.

DETROIT -- General Motors Co. on Monday reported a $1.15 billion loss on an unaudited basis for the period from July 10 to Sept. 30, providing the first evidence of the auto maker's improvement since emerging from bankruptcy protection.

In a stark reminder of how some battered financial firms remain dependent on government lifelines, GMAC Financial Services Inc. and the Treasury Department are in advanced talks to prop up the lender with its third helping of taxpayer money, people familiar with the matter said.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler LLC will offer new buyouts to factory workers at seven of its eight U.S. plants slated for closure under its bankruptcy plans, the United Auto Workers union said on Tuesday. The U.S. Treasury has told Chrysler the buyouts must be completed by May 26 for the automaker to stay on schedule for coming out of bankruptcy, UAW Vice President General Holiefield said in a memo to local union presidents. "In the next few days, each member at these facilities will be sent a letter from the corporation listing the special program options," Holiefield said in the...

General Motors is open to considering moving its headquarters from Detroit, selling off U.S. plants and even renegotiating parts of its restructuring plan with its major union, the new chief executive said Monday. CEO Fritz Henderson, on a conference call with reporters, said it was more probable that GM [GM 1.44 -0.17 (-10.56%) ] was headed for bankruptcy by June 1—the U.S. government-imposed deadline for the automaker to restructure or face bankruptcy. "It's more probable that we would need to accomplish our goals in a bankruptcy," Henderson said. "There's still a chance for it to be done outside a court...

FRANKFURT (AFP) — Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker, said on Monday its 2008 profit rose 15 percent and it expected to gain market share during the current global automotive sector crisis. A VW statement said 2008 net profit came to 4.75 billion euros (6.0 billion dollars) as sales rose 4.5 percent to a record 113.8 billion euros, with operating profit up 3.0 percent to 6.3 billion euros. The 2008 dividend was increased seven percent to 1.93 euros per share. "We met our target and surpassed our record results for 2007 even though conditions were tougher," chairman Martin Winterkorn said. VW...

General Motors Corp.'s chief operating officer said Monday that the automaker has presented a worst-case scenario to Congress in which it would need more money than the $13.4 billion allocated by the Treasury Department. But Fritz Henderson would not speculate on whether GM will need all of the $18 billion in government loans it sought from Congress in December. Speaking to reporters at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Henderson said he is confident GM will work out concessions from the United Auto Workers. GM, Chrysler and the union have been talking about labor cost reductions and other...

Obama says Big Three automakers must not fail President-elect voices opposition to court-supervised bankruptcy By John Spence, MarketWatch Last update: 12:14 p.m. EST Dec. 7, 2008 BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that the auto industry is the "backbone" of American manufacturing and that top automakers can't be allowed to go bankrupt. Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama said management at the Big Three auto companies -- Ford Motor Co. (F) , General Motors Corp. (GM) and Chrysler LLC -- made "repeated strategic mistakes." But he added that millions of Americans rely on the Big Three for...

WASHINGTON — A top executive of Chrysler cautioned today that a carmaker collapse could send the economy spiraling into a depression, as the United Auto Workers union braced for contract concessions.

Next Bailout May Be for Automakers McCain, Obama Back Loan Guaranties By RUSSELL BERMAN, Staff Reporter of the Sun | September 16, 2008 http://www.nysun.com/national/next-bailout-may-be-for-automakers/85937/ WASHINGTON — The beneficiary of the next government bailout may not be Wall Street but Motor City. The nation's top car manufacturers are pushing Congress to act by the end of this month to guarantee $25 billion in loans to help them invest in the production of fuel-efficient vehicles. The idea is being greeted warmly by both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, who see it as a way to win votes in the swing state...

DETROIT, (AP) -- Struggling auto parts maker Delphi Corp. reached a tentative wage-cutting agreement Friday with its largest union in what may set the pattern for future pay in the U.S. automotive parts industry. The deal, which still must be voted on by Delphi members of the United Auto Workers, was signed just before a 1 p.m. meeting between the UAW leadership and presidents of the union's locals. Details of the agreement were not released, but Delphi said in a statement it's a "significant milestone" in the company's quest to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Union officials speaking on...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. INDIANAPOLIS - DaimlerChrysler AG will close its Indianapolis foundry and eliminate 881 jobs by Sept. 30, reducing the automaker's once formidable Indiana manufacturing presence to just the city of Kokomo. DaimlerChrysler recently notified the Indiana Department of Workforce Development of the closure under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act. The law requires employers to give 60 days notice before certain plant closings and layoffs. The loss of 881 jobs is the largest in Indiana under WARN this year. A provision in the four-year labor agreement struck by the...