by Paul A. Eisenstein | Apr 15, 2011
After taking a 10-day break for the annual “Golden Week” holiday, Toyota plans to get its Japanese plants back into production, it says, though at a rate well below normal. According to various estimates, Japanese makers have already lost at least 500,000 units of...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Apr 15, 2011
Just days after boosting its stake in Chrysler to 30%, Fiat is preparing for another big increase – though to get to 46%, it will have to pay off or refinance a large chunk of the money loaned to the U.S. maker as part of its 2009 bankruptcy bailout. With Chrysler’s...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Apr 15, 2011
The Korean carmakers are making record inroads into the U.S. market – and are determined to keep the momentum going. So, look for some big news from Kia when it gets its turn in the spotlight at the upcoming NY Auto Show. The smaller sibling of Hyundai has several...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Apr 15, 2011
You may be too young to remember the “Miracle 100 mile per gallon carburetor” that was routinely offered to desperate motorists during the twin oil shocks of the 1970s – but don’t worry, there are plenty of scam artists trying to make a quick buck taking advantage of...
by Detroit Bureau | Apr 15, 2011
Thanks for your patience, anyone who might have tried accessing TheDetroitBureau.com late Thursday night or early Friday morning. We were down periodically due to extensive system maintenance. A heavy increase in traffic strained our old server to the breaking...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Apr 14, 2011
The good news is that TheDetroitBureau.com has been experiencing a big bump in traffic in recent months. The bad news is that we have completely outgrown our server. That means we’re going to need to migrate to new hardware — and that will require some...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Apr 14, 2011
Chevrolet will pull the wraps off the Sonic Z-Spec Concept at next week’s New York Auto Show. If you don’t quite like the flying hamburger design shown here, don’t worry, the maker plans to offer a wide array of custom styling options when the new subcompact comes to...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Apr 14, 2011
Under pressure from federal regulators who had expanded an investigation into a reported airbag problem, Ford Motor Co. now says it will recall another 1.2 million F-Series pickups, increasing more than tenfold a recall first announced in February. The maker initially...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Apr 14, 2011
It’s been said that there are few secrets in Detroit, a town that has, historically, leaked like the proverbial sieve. And General Motors certainly proved that point when it inadvertently let a sneak peek of the next-generation Chevrolet Malibu appear on its media...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Apr 14, 2011
A former Ford engineer will be spending as much as six years behind bars after being convicted of stealing trade secrets with the intent of selling them to the Chinese. Xiang Dong Yu, arrested in October 2009, will also have to pay a $12,500 fine after pleading guilty...
by Marty Bernstein | Apr 14, 2011
No risk, no reward, right? Corporate graveyards are littered with the decaying remains of corporate business ventures and significant investments into unknown businesses about which little was known, technology was paramount, executive management was inexperienced or...
by Bryan Laviolette | Apr 14, 2011
Well, this would certainly be a different direction for Scion. The Toyota hipster brand has been entirely focused on smallish, low-power runabouts aimed at the youth market. Now it appears Toyota could be ready to introduce a Scion version of the hot rear-wheel-drive...
