Author: World_Newz Mon

Mexican motor city ‘getting desperate’ as GM’s U.S. strike takes heavy toll

SILAO, Mexico, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Half a continent away from the auto plants of Detroit, U.S. strikes at General Motors (GM) have sent shivers through the central Mexican city of Silao, where the local GM factory furloughed 6,000 workers last week when parts from the United States ran out.
Rich or poor, residents are anxiously hoping the labor dispute will end so the company reopens the plant, which has been an anchor of the local economy since GM arrived a generation ago, transforming the landscape forever.
“General Motors is the biggest source of income here. When General Motors stops, everything stops,” said Silao resident Francisco Vazquez. “Before General Motors, there was nothing.”
Once a provincial backwater with a handful of colorful old churches, Silao is now enveloped in a thick cordon of factories and warehouses serving automotive companies from all over the world.
In the years after GM opened the Silao plant in 1995, dozens of other firms followed, such as Volkswagen, Conti..

Renault board to meet, as CEO denounces potential exit as ‘coup’

PARIS, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Renault SA's CEO, Thierry Bollore, denounced as a “coup” his potential exit from the French carmaker, which has called a board meeting on Friday to discuss governance matters.
Bollore also told Les Echos newspaper on Thursday he was appealing to the key Renault shareholder, the French state, to avoid destabilising the company.
“The brutality and the totally unexpected character of what is happening are stupefying … This coup de force is very worrying,” Bollore said.
Earlier, Bollore had skirted the matter of his potential exit from the firm in a conversation with staff on Thursday, two company sources said.
A source close to the French government – a major Renault shareholder – earlier this week confirmed that a senior management shake-up at Renault was on the cards.
Le Figaro newspaper reported that Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard was poised to kick off a process to replace Bollore.
The French finance ministry expressed its support of Senard on Thursday..

No-deal Brexit tariffs would be unsustainable for Nissan in Europe

SUNDERLAND, England, Oct 10 (Reuters) – No-deal Brexit tariffs of 10% on cars would be unsustainable for Nissan in Europe, where the carmaker's operations include a British and Spanish plant, the Japanese firm warned on Thursday.
Nissan made nearly one in three of Britain's 1.5 million cars last year at its northern English Sunderland factory, although annual production levels at the site will drop this year.
The car industry, Britain's biggest exporter of goods, is concerned that World Trade Organisation tariffs of 10% on vehicles alongside new customs checks and delays could halt production if there is a disorderly Brexit on Oct. 31.
“That will represent a significant cost increase on our vehicles that will have to face the competition in Europe and they won't be affordable,” the firm's European Chairman Gianluca de Ficchy told reporters.
“If there will be a no-deal and a no-deal will be associated with WTO tariffs application, that won't be sustainable ..

Britain’s James Dyson scraps electric car project

* Project was not commercially viable
* Company said the car was a technical success
* Tried but failed to find a buyer
* Will seek to redeploy 500 engineers working on project (Adds further details)
LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) – James Dyson, the inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, has cancelled his ambitious plan to build an electric car because the project was not commercially viable.
Dyson said his engineers had built a “fantastic car” and that the project was not being closed due to any failures in research and development.
“However, though we have tried very hard throughout the development process, we simply can no longer see a way to make it commercially viable,” he told staff on Thursday.
The company had tried to find a buyer for the project but had not succeeded, he said.
Dyson announced two years ago that his engineers had been working a on a secret automotive project, building on its expertise in batteries and electric motors to develop a vehicle.
The company bet that its ba..

Renault CEO denounces ‘coup’ at Renault -Les Echos

PARIS, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Renault's CEO Thierry Bollore denounced on Thursday as a “coup” his potential exit from the French carmaker, which has called a board meeting on Friday.
Thierry Bollore told Les Echos newspaper he was appealing to the key Renault shareholder, the French state, to avoid destabilising Renault.