Top News:
- Ford to move production of Focus, C-Max cars from Michigan – Reuters: Ford Motor Co will move production of its Focus small cars and C-Max hybrids from its Michigan Assembly Plant near Detroit in 2018, it said on Thursday, highlighting difficulties U.S. automakers are having building fuel-efficient vehicles profitably at home.
- Great Wall Seeks Up to $2.7 Billion for New-Energy Cars – Bloomberg: Great Wall Motor Co., China’s largest sport utility vehicle maker, plans to raise as much as 16.8 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) in a private share placement…
- China car sales forecast slashed in wake of stock slump – Reuters: * Recent stock plunge seen impacting auto sales
- JAPAN: Suzuki targets sharp rise in Thai exports – Just-auto: Suzuki Motor expects to export 40,000 eco-cars from Thailand this year, a 285% increase on last year’s 10,380 units.
- Carmakers to tech partners: Keep your hands off our data – Reuters: Auto companies hope that the vehicle data will one day generate billions of dollars in e-commerce, though they are just beginning to form strategies…
- Tesla hires ex-Burberry exec to lead N.A. sales – Automotive News: Tesla has hired former Burberry senior vice president Ganesh Srivats, adding a sales executive to help the electric-car maker extend its reputation for automotive luxury to an increasingly global audience.
- Measure to permit more rental cars under recall draws fire – Automotive News: A U.S. Senate panel unveiled a plan to roll back protections consumers get when renting cars with potentially lethal safety defects, an approach a safety advocate called a step backward.
- Mercedes Beats Audi on Sales Gains in Sluggish China – Bloomberg: Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg … Mercedes-Benz, the world’s third-largest maker of luxury cars, beat Audi in global deliveries in June,…
- Nissan, Honda to Ship More Cars From Home – WSJ:
- JAPAN: Takata airbag causes Nissan fire, injury – Just-auto: Nissan Motor has revealed a Takata air bag in an SUV had deployed with too much force and caused a fire in a light crash in Japan, the automaker’s first such case in the country.
- China Slashes Vehicle Sales Forecast to 3% Amid Stocks Rout – Bloomberg: The 1 billion yuan ($161 million) in funding will be paid to distributors selling VW brand cars made by the company’s joint venture with China FAW…
- Tesla Hires Ex-Burberry Executive to Lead North American Sales – Bloomberg: “Tesla is not an automobile company, it’s a luxury company.” … X SUV late in this quarter and says it will sell 55,000 vehicles worldwide this year.
- FCA invests $166 million at Sterling Stamping Plant – Detroit News: No new jobs expected with investment at world’s largest stamping plant that employs nearly 2,300
- The 16-Year Legal Battle Over This $16.5 Million Ferrari – Bloomberg: “This vehicle, along with a number of others, has entered into the realm of fine art,” Dave Kinney, publisher of the Hagerty Price Guide for classic cars,…
- Takata Says No to Fund for Victims of Defective Airbag – New York Times: The Japanese supplier of airbags, involved in the largest automotive recall in American history, says it will give the matter further consideration.
- Ford’s Wayne plant cuts vault Mexico into union talks – Detroit News: UAW memo says Focus production will move outside the U.S.
- Honda Recalls Another 4.5M Cars for Takata Air Bags – Bloomberg: Honda called back another 4.5M vehicles globally in connection with Takata airbags, expanding the largest recall ever. Bloomberg’s Craig Trudell…
- Oil rises on hopes for China, Greece but demand worries weigh – Reuters: Traders said China’s slowing economy and car sales were preventing … Auto sales there dipped for the third straight month, falling 2.3 percent in June…
- Bipartisan push in Senate for auto safety reform – Detroit News: The sweeping auto safety reform bill that would require automakers to install warning lights on vehicle dashboards
- TrueCar’s Painter says split with AutoNation presents consumers with ‘a choice’ – Automotive News: TrueCar founder and CEO Scott Painter is portraying the split with dealership giant AutoNation as a clash of old and new approaches to auto retailing.
- Volkswagen Said to Pay $161 Million to China Car Dealers – Bloomberg: The funding will be paid to distributors selling VW brand cars made by the company’s joint venture with China FAW Group Corp., according to two…
- Elemental RP1 – Autocar: British start-up sports car company Elemental launches the lightweight, track-focused RP1 roadster.
- Facelifted Alpina D3 Touring spotted testing – Autocar: Fast 3 Series estate gets subtle styling tweaks and chassis mods but will stick with its 345bhp six-cylinder diesel motor