by Joseph Szczesny | Dec 15, 2010
Chrysler Group LLC has disclosed it plans to pull ahead the production of 8-speed transmissions that will replace aging gearbox designs and help the maker meet strict new fuel economy standards. The automaker has confirmed that it is looking to invest another $85...
by Joseph Szczesny | Dec 15, 2010
General Motors is offering buyouts to approximately 2,000 skilled tradesmen from 14 plants that have closed during the company’s restructuring. The automaker will pay eligible workers $60,000 to retire with full benefits. Younger workers will have the option to...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 14, 2010
With a $550 million upgrade largely completed, Ford Motor Co.’s Wayne Assembly Plant will become battery central for the automaker, rolling out an assortment of new electric vehicles due to start production next year. The suburban Detroit facility will be able to...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 14, 2010
While Chrysler is today struggling to rebuild its reputation for dramatic – and occasionally outrageous – design, nothing in its line-up today better recalls its former glory days than the 300 sedan. Its retro, slightly menacing styling made the big 4-door an instant...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 14, 2010
The Senate wants motorists to sound off. Or, to be more precise, it wants those driving a battery-electric vehicle or a hybrid operating in electric mode to provide a little warning to avoid taking pedestrians by surprise. The good news for motorists, it seems, is...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 14, 2010
The Moscow billionaire made his fortune, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, by getting into both banking and metals. He’s since expanded his horizons, starting ventures in insurance, nanotech and professional sports, among other things. Now the 6-foot-eight...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 14, 2010
Long-time General Motors executive Jim Taylor apparently has a thing for extreme machines. In his last job for GM, Taylor headed the Hummer division, leaving the Detroit maker only when it decided to close the big SUV brand after an effort to sell it to the Chinese...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 13, 2010
Toyota is ending 2010 much the way the year began, with another recall, though this latest safety action is significantly smaller than the sudden acceleration-related callback that shut down a sizable share of Toyota’s production operations last January. The newest...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 13, 2010
It’s become conventional wisdom that Chrysler is sitting out the 2011 model-year, waiting until it can line up an assortment of new models with its Italian partner, Fiat. While it’s true that some of the most significant launches, including all-new midsize and...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 13, 2010
Honda has confessed to an open secret: a much-awaited new version of the popular Civic model will make its debut at the Detroit Auto Show, next month, and this official rendering offers a hint of what’s to come. The image of the ninth-generation Civic, one of two...
by Marty Bernstein | Dec 13, 2010
Two signs the automobile industry is recovering from the economic maelstrom: one, there are more and better hors d’oeuvres at events sponsored by auto brands and two, satellites and cable transmissions are spewing out a seemingly endless variety of mind-numbing snow...
by Joseph Szczesny | Dec 13, 2010
Minivans just don’t get no respect, as Rodney Dangerfield might have expressed it. Not only do the people movers take their regular hits from the likes of Letterman and Leno, but they’ve seem demand steadily shrink, in recent years. Yet, in an auto industry where...
