News watch December 2011: today's auto industry news
Fri, 30 Dec 2011
Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour
Friday 30 December 2011
• Fisker has recalled all 239 Karma plug-in hybrids manufactured between 1 July and 3 November this year to fix a glitch in its battery. Supplier A123 Systems says the problem affects the battery's cooling system, but Fisker is adamant no customers have complained and this is a precautionary step (Automotive News)
• Supplier Continental says business looks brisk in the first quarter of 2012, thanks to strong demand in the US and Asia (Automotive News Europe)
• Toyota chief executive Akio Toyoda is gradually changing the culture at Japan's biggest car maker, according to the Detroit News. It reports how Toyoda is introducing cooperations with other car makers, such as the engine supply deal with BMW, in order to bring better technology to market faster (Detroit News)
Thursday 29 December 2011
• China plans to stop encouraging foreign investment in its auto sector - after seven years of sweeteners. Bloomberg reports that incentives such as reduced tariffs on imported factory equipment will be stopped, although Chinese authorities still plan to support investment in more fuel-efficient vehicles (Bloomberg)
• European car sales are forecast to drop about 4% to 13 million vehicles in 2012, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. That would be the fifth consecutive annual fall from 2007's peak of around 16 million sales (Bloomberg)
Wednesday 28 December 2011
• GM is idling three US factories building full-size pick-ups for 21 weeks in 2012, it has emerged. The company plans new trucks for 2013, so the slowdown will cater for tapering sales (Bloomberg)
• Renault-Nissan may sign a deal to take control at Russian car maker AvtoVAZ in March 2012 - giving the alliance a vital lead in Europe's most populated country (Automotive News Europe)
• Ernst Lieb, the fired head of Mercedes-Benz USA, is fighting his dismissal. He claims he misused no company funds at all - he was dismissed after Daimler's crackdown on 'ethics violations' (Automotive News)
Tuesday 27 December 2011
• Daimler plans to increase Mercedes-Benz car production by 13% in 2012, according to documents seen by ANE. That'd take Merc production up to 1.4 million vehicles, buoyed by the new small Merc and Smart products in the pipeline (Automotive News Europe)
• Lotus parent company Proton should sell its British sports car specialist, according to investors in Malaysia. Gan Eng Peng, head of equities at HwangDBS Investment Management in Kuala Lumpur, said Proton and Lotus were not a good fit (Automotive News)
Monday 26 December 2011
• Audi CEO Rupert Stadler has warned that 2012 will be a tougher year for Ingolstadt than 2011. But he sounded a note of optimism that the outlook for the next decade was positive, as emerging markets bought cars in increasing numbers (Automotive News Europe)
• Saab activists are making 15 January 2012 a key date for rallies to demonstrate the love for the floundering Swedish car maker. Saabs United is reporting that 200 staff have been employed by a new R&D company at Trollhattan, called Combitech (Saabs United)
• Volkswagen in Germany has struck an agreement with unions to limit Blackberry usage out of hours. Staff complained their emails never stopped, but now work emails will only be sent between 7.00am-6.15pm. The rule doesn't apply to senior executives (BBC News)
• A new survey by Warranty Direct claims that Honda models are the least susceptible to pothole damage on UK roads (Autoblog)
Friday 23 December 2011
• American car sales look set to top 13 million on an annualised basis, according to JD Power. They forecast that 2011 will finish at 12.7m, up from 11.6m in 2010 (Automotive News)
• Stefan Sielaff, the current head of Audi design, will jump ship to head up Volkswagen's design centre in Potsdam, Germany. He will replace Thomas Ingenlath, who is leaving the business (Automotive News)
Thursday 22 December 2011
• Toyota has announced plans to increase production by a fifth in 2012, as it aims to catch up for lost sales caused by supply problems from this year's earthquake and Thai floods. It said it plans to build 8.48 million vehicles next year (BBC News)
• Automotive News has speculated what could happen if the Euro broke up - leaving southern states outside the Eurozone. It predicts that a return to the Deutschmark, or a stronger, more selective Euro, would raise production costs in Germany - lifting bills and prices for Volkswagens. By comparison, a Panda produced outside the Eurozone would become more attractively priced. Researchers at AN spoke to a variety of analysts for their piece, which is well worth reading (Automotive News Europe)
• Subaru's parent company confirmed today that its production has slupmped this year, on account of the disruption caused by the Japanese earthquake. It's built 14% fewer vehicles in the first 11 months of the year (Fuji Heavy Industries)
• However, Subaru said that exports and domestic sales both rose in November, as the company made up for lost ground (Subaru)
Wednesday 21 December 2011
• Alfa Romeo is preparing a station wagon version of its Giulietta for launch in 2013, according to ANE. Fiat, Alfa and Lancia have not sold a single compact estate since 2008, which is when the Stilo Multi Wagon was discontinued (Automotive News Europe)
• China is likely to overtake Germany as the world's second biggest luxury car market, according to researchers. Luxury car sales are tipped to leap 39% in China in 2011, to around 939,000 vehicles (Automotive News Europe)
• Honda plans to raise US sales by 24% - thanks to rushed-through upgrades to the 2013 model year Civic (Bloomberg)
• Saab's assets are most likely to be broken up and sold to pay off debts, reports Bloomberg. Hans Bergqvist and Anne-Marie Pouteaux have been appointed as administrators (Bloomberg)
Tuesday 20 December 2011
• Investors may yet save Saab, according to CEO Victor Muller. 'There are parties out there that have expressed an interest to pursue a possible acquisition of Saab from bankruptcy,' he said. 'Although this may seem like the end, it is not necessarily so.' The receivers will have to weigh up these options now, he added (Automotive News Europe)
Monday 19 December 2011
• Honda today started mass production of the new Civic at its Swindon, UK, plant. It announced it would take on 500 more staff to cope with an anticipated increase in production in 2012 (Honda)
• Saab Automobile AB today filed for bankruptcy. Workers have not been paid since last month, reports the BBC (BBC News)
• Saab Automobile Tools AB and Saab Powertrain AB have also filed for bankruptcy (Automotive News Europe)
• See our separate news story on Saab's collapse here
• America's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it is investigating more than 8000 Infiniti M45 saloons over possibly faulty petrol gauge readings (Detroit News)
• Daimler has postponed the launch of the electric Smart to September 2012, several months later than originally planned (Automotive News Europe)
• Magna Steyr is rumoured to be involved in the build of Infiniti's new small compact car based on the Mercedes A-class. This is the planned small Infiniti to challenge the Audi A3 and BMW 1-series - a deal could be struck in early 2012, according to ANE (Automotive News Europe)
Friday 16 December 2011
• Silverstone has been given outline planning consent for its 'Masterplan'. The Northamptonshire-based circuit wants to develop business and technology parks, a motorsport museum and new retail, leisure and spectator facilities, creating up to 8,400 jobs (Silverstone Circuits)
• The spectre of double-dip recession dented European new car registrations last month. Sales for the 11 months to December, declined by 1.1% to 12 million registrations, with France and Italy leading the decline (Automotive News Europe)
• Fiat will miss its target of 2.7 million sales next year, by half a million units. Combined Fiat-Chrysler sales remain on course to swell by 400,000 to 4.6 million cars, and CEO Sergio Marchionne is confident of shifting 5.9 million cars in 2014 (Automotive News Europe)
• Lola and Drayson Racing Technologies will unveil their new electric race car at the 2012 MIA International Low Carbon Conference (Lola-Drayson)
• UK trade body the SMMT reports that car production rose 8.5% in November 2011. This reflects the year-long rise in output at British car factories, swelling by 6.1% year to date (SMMT)
Thursday 15 December 2011
• The grandchildren of Louis Renault are taking the French government to court, in a bid to get the family firm back. Renault was nationalised in 1945 after founder Lois Renault was labelled a Nazi collaborator (Automotive News Europe)
• California-based Fisker has announced two new appointments - former Chrysler Group chief, Tom LaSorda to the newly created role of Vice Chairman, and Chairman of Fisker's strategy board. Ex-Lincoln Mercury and JLR man Richard Beattie, also joins as Chief Commercial Officer, to take charge of the sales and marketing functions at the upscale plug-in EV manufacturer (Fisker Automotive)
• Saab's administrator, Guy Lofalk, is to quit amid reports of disagreements between Lofalk and Saab management. Both Saab and Lofalk have requested that lawyer Lars-Henrik Andersson is appointed in his place. The first tranche of funding (3.4 million euros) arrived earlier this week from Chinese investors Youngman (Automotive News Europe)
• GM may accelerate Chinese output after China announced punitive import levies on vehicles imported there from the US. Analysts predict that additional duties will have a limited impact on the Detoit-based car maker, given just 1.3% of the 2.43 million cars it sold in China last year were imported (Bloomberg)
Wednesday 14 December 2011
• Porsche sales in the year-to-date are up 25%, although European growth is on the wane. Porsche shifted 109,709 units across its range, with the Cayenne SUV's order books proving the most robust (Porsche AG)
• Philippe Varin, Peugeot-Citroen CEO, has told France's National Assembly he expects PSA to post a second-half operating loss of 405 million euros, citing poor consumer demand thanks to Europe's ongoing economic woes (Automotive News Europe)
• China has announced intentions to slap punitive import duties on vehicles imported from the US, after it failed to block US import tariffs imposed on Chinese tyres. GM and Chrysler Group face duties as high as 12.9% on cars over 2.5-litres and US-built European brands will also be affected (Bloomberg)
• Fiat has signed a labour agreement aimed at increasing the efficiency of its 86,000-strong workforce in Italy. The deal includes a 5.2% salary increase and production bonuses, in return for shorter breaks and longer shifts, as CEO Sergio Marchionne aims to halt Fiat Group's losses by 2014 (Automotive News Europe)
• "No email, no text, no update, no call is worth a human life" said National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Dobrah Hersman, as the US safety body recommended an outright ban on mobile phone use whilst at the wheel. 9.4% of road deaths in the US last year were blamed on driver distraction, according to US Government figures released last week (Automotive News)
Tuesday 13 December 2011
• The first instalment of Saab’s elusive funding lifeline from Chinese suitor Youngman has trickled through, according to the ailing car maker. Saab will learn its fate on Friday when Swedish courts decide whether to let it continue with the reorganisation or end creditor protection, edging it closer to bankruptcy (Automotive News Europe)
• Spain faces a ‘Cayenne crisis’, as eurozone misery hits the premium car sector in southern Europe. Porsche sales in Spain and Portugal have plummeted by 34% since 2007, whilst BMW has fared miserably with a drop of 47% over the same period. Continuing economic woes and massive unemployment in the region means Spain’s premium car market is unlikely to recover any time soon (Bloomberg)
• Looming economic meltdown in Europe doesn’t appear to be harming global sales of the VW brand, latest figures showing an increase of 14.5% to 452,900 for the year to November. China continues to consume German metal at a huge rate with 1.61 million VWs shifted over the same period, and growth remains ‘robust’ in Europe (Automotive News Europe)
• GM is working hard to restore the reputation of the Volt, its embattled range-extended electric car. A series of unexplained fires triggered a congressional safety hearing and sales have fallen far short of GM’s targets (Detroit News)
Monday 12 December 2011
• Toyota president and chief executive Akio Toyoda, 55, tells the BBC he's on a mission to make Toyota more fun and more relevant to European buyers. 'I have travelled repeatedly to the Nurburgring to understand European auto culture,' he says. 'We have a lot to learn' (BBC News)
• But Toyota's US division is having a tough time of it, reports Bloomberg. The Camry has been the best-selling car in the US for 13 of the past 14 years, but the Thai floods, currency exchange rates and burgeoning competitors - especially from Korea - are putting its popularity under pressure (Bloomberg)
• BMW and GM plan to cooperate on fuel-cell development, according to reports in Germany at the weekend. The deal would give Munich access to GM's research, while future funding would be supplied by BMW (Automotive News Europe)
Friday 9 December 2011
• Toyota has cut its profit forecast for the year in half - owing to the floods in Thailand. It now expects 180bn yen profit in the year to 31 March 2012. That's around £1.5bn (BBC News)
• Opel has made an ambitious pledge to hit €1 billion in profit by 2016, in an internal newsletter sent by CEO Karl-friedrich Stracke to employees (Automotive News Europe)
Thursday 8 December 2011
• BMW has exceeded 2010's sales in the first 11 months of 2011. It's a new record already - with 1,510,862 sales achieved so far, and a 1.6 million target forecast for the full year (BMW)
• The Chinese government has approved Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive's plan to build a 13th factory in China. From 2013, the new site will manufacture up to 50,000 cars a year in the north-west province (Automotive News Europe)
• Saab needs funds from its Chinese suitors 'within days', Swedish Automobile chief Victor Muller admits, to stave off bankruptcy (Automotive News Europe)
• Muller said Saab needed a loan of some €600m to keep operating in its current form
• Commentators in Detroit are saying Saab is reaching 'the end of the road' as the administrator Guy Lofalk applied for termination of the voluntary reorganisation at a district court in Vänersborg, Sweden (Detroit News)
• The big year for the Fiat Chrysler group will be 2013, not 2012, chief exec Sergio Marchionne says. That's the year he'll return Alfa Romeo to the US, launch a slew of new product and finally combine Fiat and Chrysler into one company (Automotive News Europe)
• GM is renewing negotiations with Malaysia's Proton over a possible joint venture to manufacture cars together in south east Asia (Bloomberg)
Wednesday 7 December 2011
• Volkswagen is planning a smaller crossover to slot beneath the Tiguan, head of design Walter da Silva told ANE. It has eyed the success of the Skoda Yeti with interest (Automotive News Europe)
• Buyers in the US are losing confidence in the Chevrolet Volt range-extender hybrid, according to the BBC (BBC News)
Tuesday 6 December 2011
• Car makers will use a record $7 billion of platinum in catalytic converters in 2012 - up about 17% on this year, analysts report. It marks a rise in use as production declines for the first time since 2008. Some 3.82 million ounces will be used in exhaust after-treatment (Bloomberg)
• Ford has started searching for a successor to CEO Alan Mulally, 66, according to the Wall Street Journal. He joined from Boeing in 2006, but is expected to leave within two years, the newspaper reports (via Automotive News)
• Successors to Mulally at Ford include Mark Fields, in charge of the Americas division, and Joe Hinrichs, head of Asian operations
• Car sales in the UK fell 4.2% in November to 134,027 vehicles. So far this year, sales are 4.5% down, at 1.8 million cars (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders)
Monday 5 December 2011
• Saab is in talks with a Chinese bank to help bankroll the rescue package by Youngman and Pang Da. Media reports say the Bank of China, the fourth largest bank in the country, is replacing Pang Da (Automotive News Europe)
• Sergio Marchionne will replace Daimler's Dieter Zetsche as the president of Europe's trade body ACEA (Automotive News Europe)
• The US car market is bouncing back faster than expected, reports Bloomberg. It says 12.8 million sales are forecast for 2011 - its best effort for three years (Bloomberg)
• GM hasn't ruled out making changes to the lithium-ion battery in the Chevrolet Volt, according to Mary Barra, a senior vice president in product development. The US has been gripped by the latest scare story of batteries catching fire (Bloomberg)
Thursday 1 December 2011
• BMW and Toyota have announced a technology sharing partnership. Munich will supply Toyota with 1.6 and 2.0-litre diesel engines for Europe from 2014. In return, BMW will benefit from Toyota's expertise in battery technology (BBC News)
• The Chevrolet Volt, recently berated for a handful of fires, has come top in the Consumer Reports' owner satisfaction survey. After a year of ownership, 93% of owners said they would definitely buy one again (Automotive News)
• Swedish Automobile, the parent company of beleaguered Saab, today posted a €367 million loss in the nine months to 30 September. Last year in the same period, it made a net loss of €104m. CEO Victor Muller said: 'We will consider all options for the company, including an orderly wind-down' (Automotive News Europe)
• Renault plans to cut production at its Spanish factory in Valladolid in 2012, as European demand dries up. It said it would lay off 2295 staff for as many as 29 days in the first half of next year. The plant makes Clio and Modus models, but will soon start manufacturing the Renault Twizy two-seater (Automotive News Europe)
• Honda will launch a hybrid version of the Accord family car in 2012, according to president Takanobu Ito. At the Tokyo motor show, he said: 'We are currently developing a hybrid engine system for mid- to large-sized vehicles' (Bloomberg)
By Tim Kendall, Tim Pollard, Ben Pulman, Sarah-Jayne Harrison