by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 12, 2011
The deal with Chinese automaker that was supposed to rescue cash-starved Saab has collapsed, the Swedish maker revealed this morning, leaving it scrambling to find an alternative source of cash to pay suppliers and re-open its shuttered factory. The collapse of the...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 12, 2011
Seemingly every year for much of the past decade, one or more of the ambitious Chinese automakers has paid cash for a spot at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show, promising to soon have a product ready for the U.S. market. This past January, BYD outlined...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 12, 2011
It won’t be a good year for Japanese automakers large or small. The disaster that shook the island nation two months ago all but shut the industry down for a month and makers will be operating at a fraction of normal levels for some time due to shortages of parts...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 12, 2011
Nissan has become the only one of the major Japanese automakers to post an increase in earnings for the January to March quarter, profits rising 7.2% despite the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that virtually shut the Japanese auto industry down. The...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 11, 2011
A half century after they first teamed up on the legendary DB4 GT, Aston Martin and Zagato are joining forces once again, this time on a “collaboration,” as they are describing it, that will make its debut at the upcoming Villa D’Este Concours, on the shores of...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 11, 2011
General Motors has been telling potential buyers to plug in with the new Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle. Now the maker wants to do the same thing, plugging into a new solar power array at the Volt plant in Detroit. The 516-kilowatt grid will be the...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 11, 2011
Indiana-based electric vehicle maker Amp electric has landed a major deal that should be worth about $100 million over the next four year, a significant sum for a battery-car start-up. Amp will deliver a Mercedes-Benz ML sport-utility vehicle, today, that it has...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 11, 2011
Toyota is partnering with Shell, among others, to expand the availability of hydrogen to the small but growing fleet of fuel cell-powered vehicles roaming around Southern California. The new station, near Toyota’s U.S. headquarters, has a critical advantage over the...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 11, 2011
This is an updated version of the report TheDetroitBureau.com initially posted. Slammed by a devastating earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis, Toyota Motor Co. says its profits for the first three months of 2011 plunged 77%, dipping to their lowest levels...
by Joseph Szczesny | May 11, 2011
With its new investors on board and a new chief operating officer in place to direct its business in the U.S., Saab AB expects to restart its main assembly plant in Trollhattan Sweden, the company’s chief shareholder and acting chief executive officer told...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 10, 2011
The automotive world is about to become a little more colorful thanks to the resumption of production at a plant in Onahama, Japan that produces some key paint pigments used by automakers around the world. The plant, owned by the chemical giant Merck, is the only...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 10, 2011
U.S. automakers are receiving unfair subsidies that amount to illegally dumping cars on the Chinese market, Beijing regulators have ruled. Chinese authorities have decided they will not levy penalties against the American makers cited by the complaint – ostensibly to...
