This model is an E10 S, the 2.0 turbo car. But even since March, some notable changes have been made. The car was “95% right”, says Lubinsky, but there were problems. There were the weak-feeling brakes, which have been replaced by six-piston jobs, but there was also a really noisy air intake system, which sat… Continue reading The return of Zenos: the Brit sports car maker is back on track – Autocar
Tag: Ford
Car manufacturer: VW boss Diess must setback in the cooperation with Ford
Herbert Diess VW and Ford want to push the costs of developing new mobility concepts and electromobility with their planned cooperation. (Photo: AP) Dusseldorf, FrankfurtThe negotiations between the car manufacturers Volkswagen and ford over a deeper cooperation have faltered. Although there is a fundamental agreement on cooperation in the production of transporters, as the Handelsblatt… Continue reading Car manufacturer: VW boss Diess must setback in the cooperation with Ford
Fiat Chrysler plans extra down-time in January
Fiat Chrysler plans extra down-time in JanuaryFiat Chrysler Automobiles NV on Friday said four U.S. factories and one in Canada will have down-time in January.
The automaker's Warren Truck plant in Michigan and Brampton Assembly plant in Ontario will go down Jan. 2-4 and for the week of Jan. 7 to “align production with demand” following previously scheduled annual downtime for the holidays, the automaker said.
Other plants will remain dark for retooling and maintenance: Fiat Chrysler's Jefferson North plant in Detroit will be down Jan. 2-5; Sterling Heights will be down Jan. 2-5 and the week of Jan. 7; and Toledo North will be down Jan. 11-18
All of the plants will resume normal operations after the scheduled down-times. The automaker also plans to run production at Toledo North on Dec. 27 and at Jefferson North on Dec. 23, 24, 27 and 28 — all days on which the automaker's plants would normally be closed for the holiday break.
The Fiat Chrysler plants going down to adjust production to meet demand, Brampton and Warren Truck, build the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Challenger and Charger, and the previous generation Ram 1500, respectively.
Fiat Chrysler builds Jeep Wranglers in Toledo, and Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Durangos at Jefferson North.
The news comes a week after The Detroit News reported Fiat Chrysler's plans to resurrect a defunct engine plant in Detroit to build an all-new Jeep product.
Fiat Chrysler, General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. all in recent weeks have announced internal moves to adjust production to meet demand as sales in the U.S. plateau after record years and U.S. consumers continue to pivot away from sedans and small cars.
GM in 2019 plans to idle four U.S. factories, affecting 2,800 workers. The automaker said Friday it has space in plants around the U.S. to which those employees can relocate.
Ford has adjusted production by moving employees from plants making under-performing products to nearby factories in need of more workers.
ithibodeau@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Ian_Thibodeau
Staff writer Nora Naughton contributed
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Malaysia’s Proton launches 1st SUV with China’s Geely – ABC News
Malaysian national car maker Proton launched its first SUV on Wednesday in a fresh effort to transform its stale brand and turn around its fortunes, more than a year after China‘s Geely Holding Group Co. Ltd. bought a key stake in the company. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad launched the 1.8 liter (0.48 gallon) -engine X70… Continue reading Malaysia’s Proton launches 1st SUV with China’s Geely – ABC News
Macron calls Ford’s decision over Bordeaux plant “hostile”
French President Emmanuel Macron arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium December 14, 2018. Alastair Grant/Pool via REUTERS BRUSSELS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that Ford’s (F.N) decision to end production at its plant in Blanquefort, southern France next year was “hostile” and said his government was actively… Continue reading Macron calls Ford’s decision over Bordeaux plant “hostile”
Ford to move 230 workers from Van Dyke Transmission
Ford to move 230 workers from Van Dyke TransmissionFord Motor Co. is shifting more factory employees to meet rising SUV demand, the automaker said Thursday.
Ford will cut 230 jobs at its Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights, and offer those employees positions at other Ford plants, Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker said in a statement. The moves will happen in the first quarter of 2019.
Van Dyke Transmission currently has about 1,500 hourly workers making automatic transmissions for Ford SUVs and vans.
Last month, Ford announced plans to move 500 hourly employees from its Flat Rock Assembly Plant where it builds cars; they will be relocated to its Livonia plant to build transmissions for in-demand trucks and SUVs. Ford said the Flat Rock plant, where it builds the Ford Mustang and Lincoln Continental sedan, will go down to a one-shift schedule in the spring. That will displace 650 full-time hourly employees.
The automaker also will shift 500 people to its Kentucky Truck Plant to build full-size SUVs and trucks.
The news comes just more than two weeks after crosstown rival General Motors Co. announced it would idle three plants that make sedans, a transmission plant in Warren and one of two assembly plants in Oshawa, Ontario, as it adjusts its lineup. The automaker also plans to cut 8,000 salaried workers in the new year.
Ford is considering white-collar job cuts globally.
ithibodeau@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Ian_Thibodeau
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Trump says ‘GM is not going to be treated well’
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump, left, listens during a Strategic and Policy Forum meeting with business leaders and White House advisors in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017.
President Donald Trump criticized job cuts at General Motors as well as CEO Mary Barra again Thursday, saying the U.S. automaker isn't “going to be treated well.”
“I don't like what she did, it was nasty,” Trump said on Fox News.
The recent decision by the largest U.S. automaker to cut up to 14,000 jobs that span three states has brought the company controversy with lawmakers from the affected areas and drawn the president's ire.
Trump: General Motors won't be treated well
3 Hours Ago | 04:07
“To tell me a couple of weeks before Christmas that she's going to close in Ohio and Michigan, not acceptable to me,” Trump said Thursday on Fox News. “General Motors is not going to be treated well.”
Trump also criticized GM's use of Mexican labor and said the recently signed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement “really makes it uncomfortable for people to go out of the country, and I think it will be very uncomfortable for them.”
Trump is not the only U.S. politician who has been critical of the decision. Barra met with lawmakers from Ohio, Michigan and Maryland last week over the automaker's plans. Since then, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Republican Sen. Rob Portman, both from Ohio, sent a letter to Barra seeking more information about the company's plans for its assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, and asking Barra to consider retooling the plant for more popular vehicles.
“As we previously stated, our focus remains on our employees currently working at the impacted plants in Maryland, Michigan and Ohio,” GM said in a statement. “Our announcement was timed to enable interested employees job opportunities that are available at other GM plants beginning in early 2019.”
Mark Fields, Ford's former CEO, said GM is doing what's right for the business and investors, but closing factories always draws attention.
“Any time you close a plant or idle a plant around the world, you are going to get attention from the government because it's so important to the economy and jobs,” he said on CNBC's “Closing Bell.” “When you take these kind of actions, you need to make sure that you are doing it in a way that allows you to tell what the story is and at the same time make sure you have a narrative around why it's good for the business over the medium to long term, why you have to take these short-term painful actions.”
GM's shares closed down 1.6 percent Thursday.
UPDATE 2-Ford set to end production at Blanquefort in France, jobs at risk
FILE PHOTO: The Ford logo at the New York Auto Show in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 29, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) – Ford (F.N) will end production at its Blanquefort plant in France by late August next year after rejecting a rescue deal for the… Continue reading UPDATE 2-Ford set to end production at Blanquefort in France, jobs at risk
Ford’s rejection of deal for Blanquefort was “betrayal” -French minister
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire attends the questions to the government session at the National Assembly in Paris, France, December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau PARIS (Reuters) – Ford’s (F.N) rejection of a rescue deal for the Blanquefort site in France represented a “betrayal” by the U.S. carmaker, said French finance minister Bruno Le Maire… Continue reading Ford’s rejection of deal for Blanquefort was “betrayal” -French minister
Automakers face big fines in Europe for missing CO2 targets
Smokestacks pollution air quality
As global leaders meet in Poland to hammer out details about how to meet Paris Climate Accord targets, a new study shows that European automakers aren't introducing electric cars nearly fast enough to meet European standards—and the delay could cost them.
The European Union has set the strictest limits on carbon-dioxide emissions from cars anywhere on the planet: 95 grams of CO2 per 100 kilometers, which would require cars there to average the equivalent to about 57 miles per U.S. gallon.
And most of Europe's automakers aren't meeting that standard.
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A new study published by PA Consulting, a global consulting firm based in London, shows that 8 out of Europe's 13 largest automakers have fallen behind and will face serious fines for missing the standard according to a report in the Times of London (subscription required.) The automakers include, Volkswagen, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Mazda, Hyundai, BMW, Daimler, and the PSA Group.
The fines take effect in 2021 and will vary by how much each automaker has missed the targets. Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker, faces the largest fines of almost $1.6 billion (1.4 billion euros), equal to about 10 percent of the company's annual earnings.
French automaker PSA, parent of Peugeot, Citroen, and GM's former European arm, Opel, faces a fine of $682 million, about 20 percent of its annual earnings.
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Volkswagen has announced serious efforts to build and sell electric cars, investing $11 billion to build electric cars by 2023 and develop up to 10 new electric cars.
Even with such efforts, though, electric car sales remain slow in Europe, amounting to just 0.6 percent of the market in Britain in June, for example. Another study showed that emissions of CO2 from new cars in Europe rose for the first time last year, as automakers focused on reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides from diesels over reducing CO2 emissions.
Through a joint advocacy organization, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, automakers have said the standards are too rigid and called for more public charging stations to make electric cars easier for consumers to choose.