GM CEO Dan Akerson’s interest in a dialogue with Korean President Geun-hye Park shocked union officials, who say the two sides had just begun negotiations on a new 2013-2014 collective bargaining agreement and were looking forward to productive discussions.
As the WardsAuto Interiors Conference gets under way today, various sectors of the industry strive to deliver the newest technology, the cleanest fit-and-finish, the most advanced human-machine interface and the most comfortable seats at the best price....More
With almost the entire world playing by the same rules, the process from invention to filing will have to be quick, or else one runs the risk of losing patent rights to another company or individual filing first....More
Kia’s boxy Soul surprised the auto maker and industry-watchers alike with 31,621 deliveries in 2009, its first year in the U.S., outselling the Scion xB, Honda Element and Nissan Cube. By 2011, the car surpassed the 100,000-unit mark....More
OEMs that ignore the government’s incentive programs do so at their own risk, says an executive from the association of vehicle importers. In practice, companies that do not adhere to the program will have their IPI tax hiked 30% on imports....More
Union rank-and-file workers have criticized their own negotiators, saying they rejected an April 26 deal because Hyundai was demanding a productivity increase in return for a small pay raise....More
The auto maker needs stocks to remain above the industry average of roughly 80 days, because it has been idling assembly plants to changeover tooling for the ’14 models trickling in to dealers now....More
The achievement makes the auto maker a leader in local environmental responsibility, which is especially important as the heavily industrialized Rayong region is suffering the effects of growing pollution....More
The truck is part of the Global Vehicle Trust’s aim to provide cost-effective mobility for people in developing regions to perform daily tasks such as collecting drinking water and hauling grain or building materials....More
In addition to the new pickups, Chrysler will expand its commercial offerings with the upcoming Ram ProMaster van, which it hopes will draw Dodge Sprinter owners back to its showrooms....More
The Piquette plant built 12,000 Model T’s by 1910, and by then the car’s runaway success gave birth to yet another big idea: Ford’s Highland Park plant 4 miles (6.4 km) to the north, a hulking complex 10 times larger than the humble wood and brick Piquette facility that later was used to produce Studebakers....More
If John Wayne were asked to mosey in to a design studio and help create a pickup truck, chances are he'd rustle up something like the Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn....More
If you wager on where the automotive market is going, look at what will be required by future government regulations, what will be affordable and what will not resemble an economic stimulus for trial lawyers....More
Union rank-and-file workers have criticized their own negotiators, saying they rejected an April 26 deal because Hyundai was demanding a productivity increase in return for a small pay raise....More
OEMs that ignore the government’s incentive programs do so at their own risk, says an executive from the association of vehicle importers. In practice, companies that do not adhere to the program will have their IPI tax hiked 30% on imports....More
The auto maker needs stocks to remain above the industry average of roughly 80 days, because it has been idling assembly plants to changeover tooling for the ’14 models trickling in to dealers now....More
The achievement makes the auto maker a leader in local environmental responsibility, which is especially important as the heavily industrialized Rayong region is suffering the effects of growing pollution....More
For the second consecutive month, U.S. light vehicles attained record fuel efficiency even as sales continued to shift toward traditionally less-efficient segments....More
Ford and Nissan are the two biggest reasons industry capacity utilization is running at 100% or more, but they are getting a lot of help from manufacturers with only one or two facilities, nearly all of them on 3-shift/crew schedules....More
WardsAuto/AutomotiveCompass Global Vehicle & Powertrain Forecasts.
Interest in autonomous vehicles continues to grow, but technical, legal, regulatory and cost hurdles remain. When will true driverless cars reach the U.S. market?
“Until cars assume complete responsibility for driving, the critical challenge is to design vehicles so that drivers clearly understand how the car works. Even small design changes can violate drivers’ expectations and confuse them.”...More
Most early connected-vehicle safety technologies making their way into volume vehicles, such as lane departure and forward collision alert, are bundled into expensive option packages....More
If you wager on where the automotive market is going, look at what will be required by future government regulations, what will be affordable and what will not resemble an economic stimulus for trial lawyers....More
Researchers are developing the capability to assess and rate the new technologies’ effectiveness and promote their adoption and uptake in new cars....More
Fully automated driving may come eventually, but in the meantime the technology’s building blocks could be the ultimate answer to distracted-driving concerns....More