Mazda is planning to close down their assembly plants again, while stopping orders from dealers in the United States for their made-in-Japan vehicles. The Mazda2, Mazda3, Mazda5, MX-5, RX-8, CX-7, CX-9 are all affected. Only the Mazda6 and Tribute will remain in production at their American plants, although the situation could change in light of...
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The latest hiccup deriving from Japan’s earthquake may cause global automotive production to fall by as much as 30 percent, as parts suppliers remain crippled by the quake and subsequent tsunami that devastated Japan. “We could lose up to 5 million vehicles in a worst-case scenario,” said Michael Robinet of IHS, in an interview with Bloomberg. “This...
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Volkswagen‘s Spanish subsidiary SEAT is preparing to take on the task of assembling Audi‘s Q3 compact crossover, at their plant outside of Barcelona. The move comes as a bit of a quid pro quo for Audi, since SEAT’s Exeo flagship is a re-badged Audi A4, and with SEAT’s flagging sales presenting an issue for Volkswagen’s...
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When dealing with an authoritarian state that exercises substantial government control of the economy, you generally know whose rules you’re playing by – and everyone from automakers to tech companies are happy to capitulate to the demands of the Chinese government, with car companies establishing joint ventures with local automakers for the sake of being...
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Mazda will resume production of vehicles on March 22nd, an encouraging sign for the Japanese auto industry as it battles a catastrophic series of events that has seen most automakers in the country suspend production. With Mazda based in Hiroshima, hundreds of miles away from the earthquake, tsunami and on-going nuclear incidents, the company has...
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With the recent earthquakes and tsunamis devestating Japan, automakers in the country are announcing a series of plant closures. Toyota, Mazda, Honda and Nissan have all announced plans to close various factories through the middle of March, although the plants could remain shuttered beyond that timeframe. Toyota led the pack by announcing that their plants...
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A fire at a Toyota assembly plant in Japan temporarily halted production at a facility that assembles the Prius, Camry and Scion tC. The fire broke out around 10 A.M. but was put out by now. Toyota reports that no production equipment was damaged, but the fire did affect the factory’s ceiling. An investigation is being...
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The Ford F-150 and its 8-cylinder bretheren may have a lock on America’s auto market, but rising gas prices and improving technology have helped the once-pedestrian 4-cylinder engine dominate the automotive world, with 65.4% of cars built in 2010 powered by a 4-banger. About 18 percent of light trucks were similarly equipped. While we lost...
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Surging demand and ambitious sales targets are causing BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz to expand factories in Europe and North America to simply keep up with production obligations. China and America are leading the resurgence for the German automakers, with Audi planning to roll out 13 new or upgraded models in 2011 alone, in the hopes...
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AutoGuide has learned that Honda will announce on Friday that production of their Element compact SUV will cease. No official reasons were given, but one can suspect that slow sales of the vehicle, combined with strong sales of the Honda CR-V, led to the decision. Stay tuned for more as we await official word from...
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MINI unveiled its new Roadster model alongside the the Coupe at the Frankfurt Auto Show. Sharing the same platform as the Coupe, the MINI Roadster is nearly identical to its sibling from the waist down. Above the waistline, the Roadster features a manually opening convertible roof. Like the MINI Coupe, the MINI Roadster’s windshield slopes...
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Toyota Motor Corp stock decline over the past 12 months. Source www.BigCharts.com According to Bloomberg news, Toyota will soon announce a possible dividend cut or profit loss. Following the announcement by Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe, stocks dropped (just 0.2 percent) but still remained strong. Bloomberg sources the Nikkei English News, which doesn’t give...
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Chrysler has just announced that starting this Friday (December 19th) it will cease production until January 19th – at the earliest. The month long “production pause” is not due to a lack of demand says Chrysler, which recently scheduled a meeting with dealers to assess the economic crisis. According to Chrysler dealers, 20 to 25...
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