- Cadillac CEO keeps brand’s prices high – FT: Executive says strategy may cost carmaker market share
- GERMANY: Mercedes adds Shooting Brake to CLA family – Just-auto: Mercedes-Benz has added the CLA Shooting Brake to the CLA compact car range.
- Russian oil tsar to meet OPEC as Saudis keep market guessing – Reuters: Russia’s most powerful oil official, Igor Sechin, was due in Vienna on Tuesday for talks with OPEC members as the group’s leader Saudi Arabia kept the market guessing about its response to flagging oil prices.
- Japanese regulators to oversee Takata recalls, investigate Honda’s recall errors in U.S. – Automotive News: Japan’s transport ministry will form groups to oversee airbag recalls tied to Takata Corp. and probe Honda Motor Co. for underreporting faults in the U.S., adding to regulatory scrutiny of the two companies.
- Researchers Tout Supercapacitors for EV Power Boost – Wards: Supercapacitors made into a thin film with a high power density could be embedded in an EV’s body panels, roof, doors, hood and floor, storing enough energy to charge the battery in just a few minutes.
- UPDATE 2-Russian oil tsar to meet OPEC as Saudis keep market guessing – Reuters: Saudi’s Naimi brushes off questions on oil price, supply (Adds Naimi meetings, analysts)
- GERMANY: Carmakers looking to use more carbon fibre, says SGL boss – Just-auto: More carmakers are looking to use parts reinforced with carbon fibre to help them make lighter and more fuel efficient vehicles, according to the CEO of SGL Group Juergen Koehler.
- US: Edmunds sees Black Friday boost for November car market – Just-auto: Edmunds forecasts that 1,261,813 new cars and light trucks will be sold in the US in November for an estimated Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 16.7m. It says the market will get a boost from the impact of Black Friday’s retail sales stimulus later this week.
- SWEDEN: Volvo Group makes EUR400m provision for EU antitrust probe – Just-auto: Volvo Group says it has decided to make a provision of EUR400m in respect of an on-going antitrust investigation by the European Commission into heavy truck pricing and the possibility of collusion between a number of European heavy truck makers.
- Japan transport min sets up task force to deal with air bag recalls – Reuters: Japan’s transport ministry last week set up a special task force to deal with air bag-related recalls and has urged automakers to speed up replacements of potentially defective Takata-made air bag inflators, Transport Minister Akihiro Ohta said on Tuesday.
- GERMANY: Volkswagen announces management changes – Just-auto: Thomas Schmall, currently president and CEO of Volkswagen do Brasil, has been appointed member of the Volkswagen brand board of management responsible for components.
- Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake revealed – Autocar: Swoopy, CLS-like looks and load capacity of up to 1354 litres for new Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake, which will go on sale in the UK in January. The new Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake has been revealed, and is shown here in a series of official pictures for the first time. The Shooting Brake is the final new body style to be based on the company’s front-drive architecture. It is set to go on sale in the UK in January 2015, with first deliveries in March. The compact estate’s dramatic styling follows…
- Ssangyong Motor Launches New SUV – Via Google News: About a third of some 95,000 new cars sold in Korea in September were SUVS, according to the Korean Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
- Honda fails to report 1,700 accidents – FT: Carmaker highlights 11-year lapse in reporting system for potential safety defects
- Hands-Free Driving Is Not Trouble Free – Via Google News: This year, the automobile industry set a record with over 50 million cars having recalls on items such as ignition switches, fuel pumps and air bags, …
- UPDATE 4-Honda admits under-reporting serious U.S. accidents since 2003 – Reuters: Honda Motor Co failed to notify U.S. safety regulators of 1,729 claims of injuries and deaths related to accidents in its vehicles since 2003, the automaker acknowledged on Monday.
- Woman Cleared in Death Tied to GM Switch – WSJ: A Texas woman had her conviction for criminally negligent homicide set aside hours after General Motors confirmed the vehicle she was driving was among those recalled for a faulty ignition switch.
- GM executives help scour social media to spot vehicle flaws – Automotive News: GM executives and other staff members have taken to social media to find customer complaints and identify quality issues long before they become a crisis.
- Honda Failed to Report Defects’ Full Human Toll – NY Times: An audit found that the automaker did not inform United States regulators of 1,729 claims of fatalities and injuries linked to a potential defect.
- GM president: U.S. economy holding up, other regions slowing or soft – Reuters: General Motors Co President Dan Ammann on Monday said he expects “more of the same” next year from a U.S. auto market that has been growing slowly, while he is bracing for continued soft demand in other parts of the globe.
- Takata to face U.S. House hearing into airbag crisis – Automotive News: Takata and Honda executives will return to Capitol Hill next week to testify about the growing safety crisis surrounding Takata airbag inflators that may explode in a crash.
- Senators press Takata for airbag recall documents – Via Google News: A pair of Senate Democrats is pressing Japanese auto parts manufacturer Takata for documents related to its recall of defective air bags that has …
- Lexus Certain of Surpassing 300,000, Two NAIAS Debuts Possible – Wards: December is “absolutely the best month of the year” for Lexus, says Group Vice President Jeff Bracken.
- Continental’s electronics, Korea units to plead guilty to price fixing – Automotive News: South Korean suppliers Continental Automotive Electronics and Continental Automotive Korea will plead guilty to rigging the prices of instrument panel clusters and pay a criminal fine of $4 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
- Ford to keep base price stable on Explorer, but raises top trim level – Automotive News: Ford has held the line on prices for the refreshed 2016 Explorer crossover, but a new top-of-the-line Platinum trim raises the ceiling on what a customer can spend for the hot-selling full-size crossover to well above $50,000.
- Fiat Chrysler Struggling to Speed Up Jeep Recall – thedetroitbureau.com: Under fire for the allegedly slow pace of a recall affecting 1.6 million potentially fire-prone Jeeps, Fiat Chrysler officials insist they’ve already been stepping up the pace of the safety campaign, despite taking sharp criticism from the nation’s top automotive safety official last week.
- Air bags prompt 8 million auto recalls – Via Google News: Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. displays the parts and function of a defective air bag made by Takata of Japan that has …
- Lawmakers May Bar Registration of Vehicles Not Repaired After Recalls – thedetroitbureau.com: Recalls have hit an all-time high of nearly 54 million vehicles. Despite the GM and Takata recalls dominating headlines, vehicle owners don’t seem motivated to get their vehicles repaired. However, lawmakers are considering measures to “motivate” owners.
- Flying-car dream a reality as S$363000 vehicle takes off – Via Google News: Critics have said flying cars are unlikely to be both great aeroplanes and great automobiles, but that misses the point, said Mr Dietrich. The way he …
- BMW and Lexus Heat Up the Compact-Crossover Market – WSJ: The growth in the compact-crossover sector is explosive. These cars offer the raised seating position and higher sightlines consumers love with the stability and versatility of a car-based wagon. Now, BMW and Lexus are entering the market in a big way.
- Lexus’ Bracken says 300,000 U.S. sales ‘is within our grasp’ this year – Automotive News: Lexus is raising its U.S. sales target to 300,000 vehicles this year, General Manager Jeff Bracken said. ‘We started the year with a sales goal of 290,000 units,’ Bracken told Automotive News. ‘Now 300,000 is within our grasp.
- 2015 Lincoln MKZ Black Label – Via Google News: Redefining what it means to shop for, purchase and own a luxury automobile, The Lincoln Motor Company is delivering Lincoln Black Label.
- Conviction of Saturn Ion driver thrown out after 10 years – Automotive News: A Texas judge today overturned a 7-year-old negligent homicide conviction against a woman whose boyfriend died when her Saturn Ion — now known to have had a defective ignition switch — crashed, her lawyer said.
- Fiat takes on ‘Fix It Again, Tony’ in spot for the 500X – Automotive News: Fiat global brand head Olivier Francois calls Tony ‘the elephant in the room.’ And for more than five years, Fiat has tried to run away from him, even though Tony does not exist, but no more.
- Two more deaths identified by GM ignition-switch program – Reuters: Two additional deaths have been attributed to a faulty ignition switch in General Motors Co vehicles, bringing the total to 35, according a report on Monday from the lawyer overseeing a program to compensate for deaths and accidents linked to the part.
- GM Investing More Than $1 Billion in Plants in Europe, North America – thedetroitbureau.com: General Motors is investing more than $1 billion in plants in Europe and North America to ensure the former achieves its goal of profitability while the latter can handle updates to existing vehicles as well as any new products. GM’s lost money in Europe for 17 years, but that may change in 2016.
- SOUTH KOREA: Hyundai Motor raises 2014 sales target – Just-auto: Hyundai and Kia have raised their 2014 global sales target to at least 8m vehicles, up from 7.86m, as they expect high volumes in China sales to offset slowing growth elsewhere, particularly in the US and Europe.