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A battle is raging for the tens of thousands of customers Toyota has lost since its recall crisis erupted six weeks ago -- "a dogfight," says one analyst who sees Toyota losing market share over the long term.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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If you're puzzled by the serial reorganizations of General Motors Co.'s sales and marketing staffs, here's the simple explanation: Ed Whitacre wants to sell more cars -- NOW.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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Marco Mattiacci has a challenge as the new CEO of Ferrari of North America Inc. Mattiacci took over Jan. 1 amid faltering U.S. sales. Volume fell 14 percent in 2009 to 1,467.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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After media days at the Geneva auto show, half a dozen reporters and a couple of analysts got drive time in the Chevrolet Cruze and Spark, cars destined for U.S. sale.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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U.S. sales are still sputtering along at about two-thirds of pre-recession levels. And unemployment is pain-fully high at about 10 percent. So that means customers are paying less for vehicles, right? Wrong.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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Chrysler Group, traditionally the industry's high-incentive bargain basement, has a new philosophy on pricing -- and so far its deal-oriented customer base isn't buying it. Yes, Chrysler Group ended a 25-month year-over-year sales skid in February.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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General Motors Co. says it is meeting with rejected dealers who are seeking additional wind-down money under an agreement negotiated by the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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Ikuo Maeda, the new design chief at Mazda Motor Corp., earned the nickname "Speedy" for his lead-footed driving on the race course and off. He may be the only standing auto executive to have had his license revoked -- twice.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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Spyker CEO Victor Muller says his company's acquisition of Saab last month was nothing less than the steal of the young century.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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GENEVA AUTO SHOW
Audi is developing a reincarnation of the A2 small car that will slot between the A3 and the A1 minicar introduced last week.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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| GENEVA AUTO SHOW
For the first time, General Motors Co. studios across the world have submitted design studies for the next-generation Chevrolet Corvette.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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GENEVA AUTO SHOW
Mercedes-Benz plans to offer a compact car and a small SUV for sale in the United States but has not decided on the timing.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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| GENEVA AUTO SHOW
After long insisting that a compact car was not in Lexus' U.S. product plans, Toyota officials last week confirmed that the CT 200h hybrid hatchback will be sold in the United States by early next year. The hybrid will team a 1.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit will roll out plug-in hybrids and fuel cell cars in every segment over the next few years, doubling its investment in green technologies in the next two years. Mercedes intends to spend $1.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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The federal government is likely to order brake-override systems on all light vehicles because of Toyota Motor Corp.'s unintended-acceleration problems, and observers say General Motors Co. and Honda Motor Co. probably will feel the biggest impact.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
In response to "Caddy in Europe? Heard it before -- it won't happen," (March 1): Cadillac does have the potential to be a viable brand in Europe, but not until the right models are selected and priced below the premium European brands, aiming for...
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
In the Feb. 22 story "Lawmakers focus on Tacoma complaints," I noticed something that is overlooked in the controversy over sudden/unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles: "complaints."
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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OPINION
General Motors Co. needs to settle on a roster and a game plan for selling more automobiles -- then stick with the team long enough to generate results.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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| COMMENTARY: KEITH CRAIN
For everyone connected with the automobile business, whether in engineering, design, manufacturing or retailing, hope springs eternal.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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On the morning of Dec. 16, 1982, Ford Motor Co. engineer Stephen Kozak was driving to Ford's assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., for a special assignment. He never arrived.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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When Plex Systems Inc. hooked up Inteva Products' 14 plants worldwide with a new manufacturing management information system in just 12 months, Dennis Hodges was pleased and relieved.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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GMAC Financial Services now will arbitrate disputes for dealers who find previously undisclosed problems with vehicles they bought through GMAC's SmartAuction online remarketing channel -- no matter the seller.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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Despite the distractions of bankruptcy and reorganization, General Motors Co. last year more than doubled its output of technology patents in alternative-powered vehicles.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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Nissan and Infiniti will return to more U.S. auto shows this year after paring back for cost reasons. The new plans come in response to urgings from both brands' dealers.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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| FINANCE & INSURANCE
Dealership managers like J.T. Laughridge are a big reason credit unions are thriving in automotive lending. In the past, Laughridge, general manager of Terry Reid Kia in Cartersville, Ga., didn't work with credit unions much.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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FINANCE & INSURANCE
Leasing has plunged since 2007 but is on the upswing and will continue to rebound this year, analysts and financial institutions predict.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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| FINANCE & INSURANCE
Things are looking up for the subprime auto loan sector despite lingering consumer wariness about taking on high-interest car loans.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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| FINANCE & INSURANCE
Over the past two years, Westlake Financial Services has been snapping up the business that many other lenders left on the table. Westlake, of Los Angeles, was founded in 1988 to make car loans to customers with risky credit.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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| FINANCE & INSURANCE
Auto lenders are learning that hip teens and 20-something consumers aren't really so hip, except in how they communicate.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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| FINANCE & INSURANCE
Rising interest rates, fragile consumer confidence and lukewarm demand still threaten the first green shoots of a recovery in auto lending. But lenders are having an easier time raising funds -- a prerequisite to a continued recovery.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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| FINANCE & INSURANCE
Since Michael Carpenter became CEO of GMAC Financial Services in November, he has been listening to dealers to fine-tune GMAC's business model.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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FINANCE & INSURANCE
DealerTrack Inc. believes that in GMAC Financial Services it has landed a key partner in making its credit application software more attractive to dealers. But that new partnership did not come cheap.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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| FINANCE & INSURANCE
AutoNation Inc., the nation's largest dealership group, sold 35,000 prepaid maintenance plans in the fourth quarter last year -- about 40 percent of them from the service drive.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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GENEVA AUTO SHOW
A look at some of the concepts at the 2010 Geneva auto show.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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GENEVA AUTO SHOW
Mini's new crossover, the Countryman, goes on sales in the United States next year, giving the premium small-car brand a fourth vehicle.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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GENEVA AUTO SHOW
The redesigned Mazda5 compact minivan is the first production iteration of Mazda's "Nagare" styling philosophy, and Mazda hopes the swoopy styling will take some of the sting out of the capitulatory purchase of a family-hauler.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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GENEVA AUTO SHOW
Ford Motor Co. said it will produce a global performance car based on the re-engineered, restyled Ford Focus. Previously, Focus performance models were developed and sold regionally.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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GENEVA AUTO SHOW
General Motors Co. is introducing its first in-house diesel engine control unit on the Opel Meriva small minivan unveiled at the Geneva auto show. GM now is independent of unit suppliers such as Robert Bosch AG and Magneti Marelli.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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| GENEVA AUTO SHOW
The Volkswagen Group welcomed Porsche as the newest member of its growing collection of brands by rolling out a surprise plug-in electric hybrid concept for the sports car brand.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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Honda Motor Co.'s new CR-Z sporty hybrid is the car that nearly wasn't. The wedge-shaped, two-seat hatchback was almost killed twice because engineers weren't convinced it was a unique concept and because U.S. bosses originally didn't want it.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who retires May 1, says General Motors Co. finally has its priorities straight. He spoke with reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, last week.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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Bob Lutz, Detroit's No. 1 car guy, called it quits last week. In a 47-year career, he has held a host of jobs at General Motors Co., Chrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co. and BMW AG.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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Seeking peace with dealers, General Motors Co. plans to reinstate 661 dealerships. Late this week, GM will start sending letters that say the automaker wants to reinstate those rejected dealerships without arbitration.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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Nissan North America Inc. has rejected the high bidder in a hotly contested Nissan dealership sale in Columbus, Ga.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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PRODUCTION
Citing poor sales, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is re-evaluating the product mix at its Normal, Ill., assembly plant. "We are having a hard time in the U.S.," Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko said in an interview at the auto show here.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8
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| FINAL ASSEMBLY
How's this for a sign of the times? Toyota recalls more than 6 million vehicles in the United States, and five months pass before President Akio Toyoda visits the epicenter of its global quality crisis to apologize.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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| COMMENTARY: EDWARD LAPHAM
Bob Lutz once told me that real car guys, guys with vision -- he seemed to be describing himself -- didn't need consumer clinics to develop hot new products.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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| FINAL ASSEMBLY
Hyundai was all ready to bombard Sunday night's Oscars with a raft of commercials -- seven different spots were locked, loaded and ready to go.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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| FINAL ASSEMBLY
In recent years, General Motors on a national magazine cover has meant one thing: a gloomy account of a corporation on the brink.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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| FINAL ASSEMBLY
Volvo CEO Stephen Odell says 2010 will be another tough year, but "it just may be more fun" than 2009. That means a market that will react in "fits and starts," says Odell, 55. Whether his career will follow the same path, Odell isn't saying.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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| FINAL ASSEMBLY
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche says the best thing journalists can do for Wolfgang Bernhard is to stop referring to him as Zetsche's heir apparent.
12:01 am U.S. ET | March 8 |
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