Author: World_Newz Mon

Ford to offer its factories in Russia for sale

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Ford carmaker will offer its closing plants in the Russian cities of Vsevolozhsk and Naberezhnye Chelny for sale, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told reporters.
“Ford has fully repaid the loan to Vnesheconombank in Naberezhnye Chelny and Vsevolozhsk, so as of today those Ford plants will be sold in compliance with the existing procedure through bidding,” the minister said.
Manturov did not elaborate on possible bidders.
In late March, Ford Sollers, a joint venture of the US automaker Ford and Russia’s Sollers, announced that it would cease production of passenger cars in Russia by the end of June 2019.
The production at the site in Naberezhnye Chelny, where Ford Fiesta and Ford Ecosport were manufactured, and the production of engines in Elabuga ended on June 3. The production at the plant in Vsevolozhsk were Ford Focus and Ford Mondeo were produced came to an end on June 20.
Ford and Sollers will create a renewed joint venture on the basis of the p..

French car maker PSA Group opens production plant in Morocco

RABAT, June 20 (Xinhua) — The French car manufacturer PSA Group inaugurated on Thursday a production plant near Morocco's northern coastal city of Kenitra, the Moroccan government said.
“This is the first PSA industrial complex in Morocco and is based on the creation of a complete automotive ecosystem,” Jean-Christophe Quemard, vice president of PSA for the Middle East and North Africa region, told reporters.
With an investment of 560 million euros (632 million U.S. dollars), this plant plans to produce 200,000 car engines and 100,000 cars per year by 2020, he said.
The group expects that 90 percent of the plant's products will be exported, especially to the rest of Africa and the Middle East.
This is Morocco's third automobile production plant. French Renault operates a plant in Casablanca, which manufactures 80,000 cars annually, and another site in the northern city of Tangier which has an annual production of 340,000 cars.

Renault and Nissan end standoff over post-Ghosn governance

Renault announced on Thursday that it had reached an agreement with its partner Nissan on the Japanese carmaker’s governance overhaul, paving the way for the French company to back changes decided in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal.The company’s chairman Jean-Dominique Senard will sit on Nissan’s new appointments committee, and CEO Thierry Bollore will sit on the audit committee.Since then Nissan has accused Renault of having too much weight in the alliance, and of keeping it in the dark over its tie-up plans with Fiat Chrysler (FCA).

Renault and Nissan partner with Waymo to develop self-driving services

The Renault-Nissan alliance has signed an exclusive deal with Google’s sister company Waymo to develop self-driving services in France and Japan.The tie-up between the car-makers and the autonomous vehicles company will focus on “all aspects” of driverless mobility services for moving people and goods.The deal does not currently extend to working together to build autonomous vehicles – unlike Waymo’s previous tie-ups with Jaguar Land Rover and Chrysler.

Aston Martin’s CEO says the company can’t reach all of its potential customers without hiring and promoting women in a meaningful way, but the company still has a long way to go in promoting gender parity

When Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer arrived at the luxury automaker in 2014, he felt its female employees were being held back from reaching their full potential.To build cars that would appeal to female customers, Palmer realised the company would have to integrate female employees in a meaningful way.And just 9.4% of the employees who ranked among the top 25% in pay were women in April 2018, down from 14.8% in April 2017.

Macron to discuss Renault/Nissan with Japan’s Abe next week – Elysee official

PARIS, June 19 (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss the situation regarding the alliance between carmakers Renault and Nissan with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next week, said an official at Macron's Elysee office.
“There will certainly be a discussion during the meeting with Prime Minister Abe about questions regarding the relationship between Renault and Nissan,” said the official.
“It will be an opportunity for the President to reaffirm the strong attachment France has regarding the Renault-Nissan alliance, an attachment which was again emphasised during the recent talks that took place with Fiat,” added the official.
The French state has a 15% stake in Renault, and French ministers have consistently highlighted the importance of ensuring that the Renault-Nissan alliance remains strong, before planning any further consolidation with the likes of Fiat-Chrysler.
The official in Macron's office added that Macron was not planning to discuss Fiat with..

Tesla alters Asia biz to put focus on China

Tesla Inc. is revamping its organization in Asia to put more focus on China as the company prepares to start manufacturing in the world’s largest electric-car market.A Tesla representative in China directed Bloomberg to the company’s U.S. headquarters.Zhu didn’t respond to several attempts to reach him by phone, and Ren didn’t respond to a text message.