by Joseph Szczesny | May 28, 2013
Volkswagen AG agreed to a new labor contract with its principal German labor union, IG Metall, to raise wages by 5.7% over 20 months. VW will increase base pay of its German workers by 3.4% as of Sept. 1, and another 2.2% as of July 1, 2014, the Wolfsburg,...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 28, 2013
Los Angeles has become an unwilling symbol of America’s worsening traffic congestion – its highways and byways often frozen during the steadily expanding period still know as rush hour. But city planners are betting they can significantly speed things up in the months...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 28, 2013
Forced out earlier this year after a disagreement over management policies, Fisker Automotive founder Henrik Fisker is hoping to regain control of the struggling maker of plug-in hybrid vehicles which is expected to file bankruptcy unless it can quickly find a White...
by Joseph Szczesny | May 28, 2013
Better Place, the Israeli company once considered in the vanguard of the movement for electric vehicles has filed for liquidation after its efforts to establish a commercially viable battery-swap operation in Israel failed. Founder and electric car advocate Shia...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 24, 2013
It looks like your run-of-the-mill Chevrolet Cruze, albeit with a nicely loaded interior. But it only takes a second, after you slip behind the wheel and turn the key, to recognize something’s different. There’s that chattering sound from under the hood that tells you...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 24, 2013
The company that all but killed the diesel engine is now hoping to bring it back. For the first time since 1986, General Motors began selling a diesel-powered passenger car this week, and company officials say that a successful launch of the 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Turbo...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 24, 2013
General Motors’ former “car czar” and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz reportedly is part of a group making a bid to purchase the assets of fast-failing plug-in carmaker Fisker Automotive. The $20 million offer would be part of a pre-packaged bankruptcy deal, according to the...
by Joseph Szczesny | May 24, 2013
Nissan will launch five new models as part of an ambitious plans to bring back the Datsun brand – which will make its debut in India, starting in March of 2014. The re-introduction of the Datsun brand, which Nissan shelved in the early 1980s, is a key part of an...
by Joseph Szczesny | May 23, 2013
It wasn’t all that long ago when Lexus dominated the U.S. luxury market, but despite its continuing strength in quality and customer service surveys, the Toyota luxury brand has been losing momentum to European makers BMW and Mercedes-Benz, never mind upstarts such as...
by Joseph Szczesny | May 23, 2013
Ford Motor Company plans to roll-out 200,000 additional vehicles this year to meet customer demand in the U.S. where the market is continuing to gain momentum after the worst industry downturn in decades. The maker expects to pick up a large chunk of that added...
by Joseph Szczesny | May 23, 2013
Sales of new vehicles appear to be holding steady during May with strong demand for pickup trucks helping set the pace, analysts are reporting. Just how much the market will be up for the month is a matter of debate, with forecasts ranging from 6% to 9%. ...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | May 23, 2013
It began with a seemingly innocuous statement from Tesla Motors but has quickly escalated into a spitting match with Detroit’s third-largest automaker, Chrysler. On Wednesday, the battery-car start-up announced that it would pay back the remaining $451.8 million that...
