- Death toll from blast at Chinese GM supplier rises to 75 – Automotive News: The death toll from the explosion at the factory of a GM. supplier near Shanghai rose to 75, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
- CHINA: GM “extends sympathy” to explosion victims – Just-auto: GM China says it extends its “deepest sympathy” to the families of those killed and injured in this weekend’s (2 August) dust explosion, which ripped through Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products’ factory in the east of the country.
- CHINA: GM seeks alternative alloy wheel supplies after factory explosion – Just-auto: A dust explosion at a tier two supplier in eastern China has killed at least 75 people, two officials of the firm have been arrested and supplies of alloy wheels to General Motors’ Shanghai Automotive joint venture are in jeopardy though the automaker has sufficient stock for now.
- Fisker to be revived by Chinese supplier – Via Google News: Wanxiang has $23.5 billion in global sales annually, a large part of it being represented by sales of auto parts. In the United States, Wanxiang has …
- SAIC, Alibaba developing internet-connected cars – Via Google News: The partnership is the latest of a recent series of collaborations between car companies and internet giants, such as Apple’s launch of the CarPlay …
- 3D Printing in the Automotive Industry – Via Google News: Car manufacturers and Tier 1 automotive suppliers use 3D printing to print out the initial prototypes of things such as door handles, bits of the interior …
- Daimler Cuts Parts Prices in China – WSJ: German luxury car, which will cut prices for its Mercedes-Benz cars in China, is the latest auto maker to respond to an antitrust campaign in the Chinese auto industry.
- Honda says July China auto sales down 23pc y/y – Via Google News: Honda will double the number of car models it sells in China over the next two years to increase its market share, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported …
- Electric vehicles go from status symbol to company workhorse – Via Google News: If press coverage is any measure, it appears that electric vehicles (EVs) have finally arrived. Tesla’s Model S was named Automobile Magazine’s Car …
- Kia aims to take lead on leads – Automotive News: Kia Motors America wants to cut its outsize dependence on third-party shopping sites for online sales leads. Now, 80 percent of the online leads Kia sends to dealerships come from third-party vendors or sources other than its retail Web site.
- Ford, GM play with numbers for bragging rights – Automotive News: Ford and GM delete the weight of some heavy parts, such as spare tires and rear bumpers, in calculating the maximum payload of some profitable pickups. The practice is raising questions of confidence.
- Chinese supplier lays plans to revive Fisker and give itself a jolt – Automotive News: If Lu Guanqiu has his way, his Wanxiang Group will bring the Fisker Karma back to life and establish the Chinese supplier as a high-profile coach-builder in the United States. There are big ifs. But Lu is not accustomed to failure.
- Chinese suppliers quickly finding a home in the U.S. – Automotive News: North America may seem like a distant dream for China’s automakers, but that’s not the case for suppliers. No longer content to export parts from China, a core group of enterprising suppliers is establishing factories in North America.
- U.S. sales of luxury brands through July outpace overall market – Automotive News: Memories of the recession have all but disappeared in the rearview mirror for Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, BMW and most other luxury brands, with their sales rising considerably faster than the rest of the industry this year.
- Acura hopes awd helps it recoup sales – Automotive News: Acura expects its improved, next-generation all-wheel-drive technologies in two upcoming sedans to help make up lost ground from a delayed product launch as the brand chases a full-year U.S. sales increase.
- Mercedes-Benz’s autonomous driving features dominate the industry — and will for several years – Automotive News: Silicon Valley is making waves with news about self-driving cars. But the most-advanced vehicles that consumers can actually buy today came out of Mercedes-Benz in Germany.
- Daimler Cuts Spare Part Prices in China – WSJ: German luxury car, which will cut prices for its Mecedes-Benz cars in China, is the latest auto maker to respond to an antitrust campaign in the Chinese auto industry.
- Why Volkswagen’s secret plan to buy Fiat-Chrysler failed – Autocar: The Volkswagen Group had an ambitious plan to create the world’s biggest car maker by taking over Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – but it has all come unstuck. Ferdinand Piech, chairman of Volkswagen’s supervisory board, has long wanted to see the VW Group become the largest auto maker in the world. It currently has 12 brands, whose production spans everything from city cars to heavy trucks.
- Toyota dreams of green car future, but tied to gas-guzzler present – Reuters: Toyota Motor Corp is hitching its future to green cars, investing billions of dollars in gasoline-electric hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles, but for now its record profit performance is being powered largely by a gas-guzzling U.S. market.
- Victims of Defective G.M. Ignition Switches Begin Filing Claims – NY Times: The process will ultimately help calculate how many people were killed or seriously hurt by the flawed switches.
- Technology: New Frontier in the Efficiency Quest: Cutting Heat Losses – NY Times: Here’s how you know that automakers are feverishly pursuing ways to improve fuel efficiency by harnessing engine heat: They won’t talk about it.
- Hyundai Issues Third Recall in One Week – thedetroitbureau.com: After recalling 889,000 Sonatas a few days ago, the company added another 420,000 vehicles to its recall list, including the Sonata again, for brake, electrical and rust issues. The maker, which has garnered a reputation for building quality vehicles, is involved three separate actions this time. For all the details, go to TheDetroitBureau.com.
- Toyota Looks for Repeat of July Sales Performance in August – Wards: Toyota sold 215,802 light vehicles last month, marking a 7.3% gain from year-ago, a performance it credits to “rising consumer confidence, coupled with momentum in the marketplace.”
- Detroit three rebound on SUV boom – FT: Strong demand for pick-up trucks and sport utility vehicles saw large domestic sales gains in July that helped the industry rebound after slow winter
- Majority of Americans Have Had Sex in a Car – thedetroitbureau.com: Passion can strike anywhere, and the automobile has often provided a refuge for lovers, as so many movies have reminded us. But fantasy does reflect reality in this instance, a new survey revealing that nearly three out of five have had at least one intimate encounter inside a car, and most often, it was a Pontiac.
- Shareholders approve Fiat-Chrysler merger – FT:Approval paves the way for the new group’s US listing and will allow it to fund more easily its ambitious industrial and business goals
- Fiat Shareholders Approve Chrysler Merger – thedetroitbureau.com: Just over five years after the Italian automaker effectively took control of bankrupt American manufacturer, Chrysler, shareholders at Fiat SpA have voted their approval of merging the two companies into what they hope is a much more powerful, global automotive firm.
- Mercedes-Benz plans new AMG Sport range – Autocar: New AMG sub brand created to rival performance divisions from Audi and BMW, with new C450 AMG Sport among the first models to arrive.
- New Hyundai i20 revealed in design sketches – Autocar: Sleek, sporty shape for Korean manufacturer’s new Ford Fiesta rival, which will be officially revealed at the Paris motor show.