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Contents contributed and discussions participated by Molly Brookshire

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Molly Brookshire

VW poised for SUV go-ahead as U.S. slide threatens goals | Reuters - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...w-us-suv-idUSBREA090GJ20140110

VW

shared by Molly Brookshire on 29 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • needs more models designed for U.S. consumers and manufactured competitively in the region, analysts say
  • VW's U.S. deliveries fell 7 percent in 2013 as a push into competitive midsize cars lost traction, with the brand languishing in the bottom third of quality rankings - a mirror image of its European standing that puzzles German bosses.
  • The Passat, Golf and imported Tiguan and Touareg SUVs lost ground to fresher models from U.S. and Japanese rivals, which increased sales in a market that grew 7.6 percent overall.
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  • To price cars competitively, it tried offsetting the cost of its sophisticated mechanics by stripping out features and using entry-level trims in the Passat and Jetta.
  • ranks 23rd out of 33 brands, with 120 problems reported for every 100 new cars within the first 90 days.
  • "The Passat is up against a redesigned Nissan Altima, a redesigned Honda Accord and a redesigned (Ford) Fusion - all undercutting VW on pricing," said Alec Gutierrez, an analyst with Kelley Blue Book, which tracks U.S. car values.
Molly Brookshire

VW to Spend $7 Billion to Revive U.S. Growth With New SUV - Bloomberg - 0 views

www.bloomberg.com/...7-billion-investment-plan.html

VW Dec-2013 Passat

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  • Demand for its namesake brand fell 6.9 percent to 407,700 autos last year on declining demand for the U.S. version of the Passat
Molly Brookshire

Subaru's latest record: a 26% jump in 2013 - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...atest-record-a-26-jump-in-2013

Subaru 2013 sales

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  • best December in Subaru's history
  • Subaru said more than 60 percent of its customers last year were new to the brand.
  • The redesigned Forester crossover was a major factor in Subaru's performance, with a 62 percent increase in 2013 to 123,592 units.
Molly Brookshire

New capacity helps Nissan roll to records - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...y-helps-nissan-roll-to-records

Nissan capacity production

shared by Molly Brookshire on 29 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • December was the first full month of sales for U.S.-built Rogues from Smyrna, Tenn. Rogue sales rose 28 percent to 14,676 for the month. Retailers are also now receiving a flow of Sentras from a new plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico, that opened in November.
  • The Maxima, a Smyrna-built sedan that is nearing the end of its model life, benefitted from an incentives campaign of short-term bonus cash in December. Maxima sales rose 57 percent to 6,509 for the month.
Molly Brookshire

Toyota begins production of 2014 Highlander in Indiana - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...-of-2014-highlander-in-indiana

Toyota Highlander TMMK Russia Australia

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  • The popularity of the Highlander led Toyota to invest $430 million in the Princeton plant, creating an additional 600 jobs,
  • The company said it will export Highlanders from Indiana for the first time, shipping vehicles to Russia and Australia.
Molly Brookshire

Subaru, Toyota discuss ending production of Camry in Indiana - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...production-of-camry-in-indiana

shared by Molly Brookshire on 29 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • Toyota owns 16.5 percent of the small Japanese automaker
  • But it poses a big headache for Toyota, which is also strapped for capacity in North America as the market quickly accelerates.
  • SIA has annual capacity for 100,000 Camrys, and it may be tough for Toyota to absorb that at another North American plant.
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  • Subaru will stop building the Camry in Indiana by 2017
  • Subaru said earlier this year that it would boost the plant's annual capacity to build Subaru vehicles to 300,000 by the end of 2016, up from 170,000 currently. On top of that, the company has capacity to build 100,000 Camrys a year
  • Subaru also said earlier this year it would add production of the Impreza to the factory, its only plant in North America
  • The additional capacity Subaru plans to add by 2016 would come from the Toyota line, meaning that Subaru vehicles would be made in mixed production with the Camry on the same line.
  • Subaru needs more capacity, as it aims for annual U.S. sales of 500,000 by 2016. That's up from an estimated 420,000 units expected this year.
Molly Brookshire

Toyota weighs adding truck capacity - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...a-weighs-adding-truck-capacity

Toyota TMMTX truck segment production capacity

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  • Toyota can produce a combined 250,000 Tundra full-sized and Tacoma compact pickups in San Antonio, running two shifts plus overtime and Saturdays, Fay said. Toyota's knockdown assembly plant in Tijuana, Mexico, can add another 50,000 Tacomas, but many of those trucks go to Mexico and Canada.
  • Assembly line tweaks could add about 7,000 units at each plant, Fay said. But that might not be enough.
  • Even if Tacoma sales were to stay flat next year, the combined pickup sales would exceed what San Antonio and Tijuana could produce for the United States. The quick rebound in pickup sales has caught Toyota by surprise.
Molly Brookshire

For now, Toyota chooses shortfall over costly expansion - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...hortfall-over-costly-expansion

Toyota truck segment production TMMTX

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  • a key point of Toyota's midterm strategic plan through 2025 is to determine whether to expand the San Antonio plant. The plant already is one of Toyota's fastest-moving factories worldwide, with a capacity of about 200,000 units, without overtime or Saturdays.
  • to build another line in San Antonio could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Plus, Toyota is still unsure if there's an additional 100,000 units of demand for its trucks -- the typical minimum volume for adding a new assembly line -- without resorting to costly incentives to push demand.
  • With truck demand returning, expansion is tempting
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  • demand for Toyota trucks is about 30,000 units over present volumes. He added: "None of us has the stomach to add another 100K."
Molly Brookshire

Ford plans to add thousands of jobs, 3 plants and 23 vehicles - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...-jobs-3-plants-and-23-vehicles

Ford production

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  • A confident Ford Motor Co. said today that it plans to add 5,000 U.S. jobs in 2014, open two plants in Asia Pacific and one in South America, and launch 23 vehicles globally.
  • Ford plans 16 launches in North America. They include the Ford Mustang, Ford Transit Connect, Ford Transit and Lincoln MKC.
Molly Brookshire

Chevy sees gains from new models, fleets - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...s-gains-from-new-models-fleets

GM truck

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  • GM has said there is pent-up demand for the redesigned 2015 Silverado heavy-duty pickups, which are expected to begin arriving in showrooms by the end of January. In
Molly Brookshire

Marchionne insists Jeep can hit 1 million sales in 2014 - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...an-hit-1-million-sales-in-2014

Chrysler Jeep

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  • Jeep will achieve its goal this year of selling 1 million SUVs around the world.
  • Marchionne reiterated that the Wrangler and the Grand Cherokee will not be built outside the United States.
Molly Brookshire

Jeep will put next Wrangler on a diet - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...ll-put-next-wrangler-on-a-diet

Chrysler Jeep

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  • Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne worries that Chrysler can't build enough Wranglers to meet demand. Wrangler's U.S. sales rose 10 percent in 2013 to 155,502 units. "The problem we have with Wrangler is that we are at capacity," he said.
  • The Jeep Compass and Patriot are the "weakest links" in Chrysler's North American lineup, but those deficiencies will be partially addressed when Jeep introduces its new subcompact SUV this year.
Molly Brookshire

VW Group targets 10 million sales this year on model expansion - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...s-this-year-on-model-expansion

VW Sales

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  • Volkswagen Group may sell more than 10 million vehicles in 2014, four years earlier than planned, as Europe's largest automaker accelerates model introductions in a strategy to overtake Toyota Motor Corp. as the global sales leader.
  • Volkswagen, which has budgeted 84.2 billion euros ($117 billion) in investments through 2018 to pursue a goal of taking the No. 1 spot from Toyota, said it will introduce more than 100 models this year and next, including vehicles for the mass-market VW nameplate and the Audi and Porsche premium marques
Molly Brookshire

Honda's U.S. light-vehicle output hits 20 million - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...vehicle-output-hits-20-million

Honda US production

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  • Honda Motor Co. hit a U.S. milestone today by producing its 20 millionth vehicle since it began making cars in Ohio more than 30 years ago, the company said.
  • Honda’s plant in Marysville, Ohio, churned out its 10 millionth Accord sedan today, bringing cumulative production from Honda’s four U.S. vehicle assembly sites to 20 million units since it began producing cars in the United States in 1982
  • Honda also exported more vehicles from its U.S. factories in 2013 than it imported into America from Japan -- a first for the automaker. Honda exported 108,705 U.S.-made Honda and Acura vehicles, compared with the 88,537 it brought in from Japan last year.
Molly Brookshire

VW preps reworked diesel engine for '15 - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...-reworked-diesel-engine-for-15

VW sales Toyota Prius 2015MY

shared by Molly Brookshire on 29 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • diesel
  • went into about 22 percent of the cars that VW sold in the United States in 2013.
  • It will also be more efficient, VW says, though the company has not released estimates for city and highway
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  • VW has started launching TDI “value editions” of select models to better position diesel as a money-saving option on par with hybrids
  • The value Jetta starts at $22,115, including shipping, with a TDI engine and a manual transmission -- a $2,300 price cut that has bolstered its position as the least expensive diesel car on the U.S. market. That puts it squarely between the base Toyota Prius C ($19,890, including shipping) and the base Toyota Prius ($25,010, including shipping).
  • Molly Brookshire on 29 Apr 14
     
    VW to leverage its diesel engine to grow sales in States and compete with hybrids like Prius in price and fuel economy. VW dominates diesel sales in the US, which accounted for 22% of their sales in 2013.
Molly Brookshire

Tesla's push to replace side-view mirrors sparks safety fears - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...ew-mirrors-sparks-safety-fears

Tesla side-view mirrors

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  • Tesla Motors and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
  • filed a petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seeking permission to replace side mirrors with cameras.
  • Cameras are smaller than side mirror assemblies, so they could help aerodynamics and fuel economy. They also can be placed just about anywhere on the vehicle, whereas mirrors have to be installed in the driver's line of sight.
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  • Tesla has been pushing to use cameras in lieu of side mirrors since at least 2012
Molly Brookshire

'15 Genesis is worthy of premium label - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...sis-is-worthy-of-premium-label

2015MY Hyundai-Genesis

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  • the Genesis will help Hyundai continue its so-called intercept strategy.
  • If you think about Lexus in 1989, most of their customers came out of nonluxury products," O'Brien explains. "They were customers that were on their way to a German manufacturer, but they were intercepted with a better value and a better product. We're basically in that mode now."
  • Hyundai considers the Genesis' main competitors to be the Lexus GS, Cadillac CTS and Mercedes E class.
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  • Mid-sized luxury sedans from Mercedes, BMW and Audi still have the edge, but the 2015 Genesis takes a big whack at their advantage.
Molly Brookshire

Toyota's North America chief seeks fuel cell sedan supply boost - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...s-fuel-cell-sedan-supply-boost

Toyota Hydrogen 2015MY

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  • Toyota Motor Corp.’s North American chief, preparing to sell Camry-sized hydrogen sedans next year
  • wants more U.S. supply of the Japan-built cars.
  • Toyota, the world’s largest seller of hybrid-electric autos, is to sell the as-yet unnamed four-door model in California in 2015, as well as in Japan and Europe
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  • Battery models carry electricity in their lithium-ion battery packs while fuel cell vehicles make electricity on board in a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, with only water vapor as a byproduct. While hydrogen vehicles have a range comparable to gasoline vehicles and need only a few minutes to refuel -- compared with hours for most battery autos -- there are few hydrogen pumps currently open to the public.
  • California has said it will provide as much as $200 million over the next decade to help open stations across the most populous U.S. state.
  • Fuel cell autos will need three to five years to build a market presence in California, and at least a decade to get to U.S. sales of half a million or more annually, Lentz said. Still, advances in the technology and an industrywide push, with Daimler AG, General Motors Co. and Nissan also planning to sell fuel cell models, may help the vehicles get a market foothold faster than hybrids, according to Lentz.
Molly Brookshire

Toyota's major midcycle revamp aims to keep Camry on top - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...vamp-aims-to-keep-camry-on-top

2015MY Toyota Camry incentives

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  • The midcycle revamp is an apparent response to consumers' indifferent reaction to the bland 2012 redesign and Toyota's subsequent need to crank up incentives. Camry sales were flat in 2013, just keeping pace with the overall segment, and the car's 2014 sales through February fell 17 percent, compared with an 11 percent drop for the segment.
  • Since the redesigned Camry was launched in October 2011, the car's incentives have risen above the average for the mid-sized sedan segment -- this from an automaker that has prided itself on having some of the lowest incentives in the industry. But the Camry incentives didn't help lackluster sales.
  • Through February, the Nissan Altima was the top seller, although one large multibrand dealer said that was the result of big sales to daily rental fleets, which will subside as the year progresses.
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  • Another worrying trend for Toyota could be slipping owner loyalty.
  • Camry owners who bought another Camry stayed level, at 30 percent,
Molly Brookshire

Panasonic hesitant to commit to Tesla battery factory - 0 views

www.autonews.com/...ommit-to-tesla-battery-factory

Panasonic 2014

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  • Joining Tesla's "Gigafactory" battery project would raise investment risks, Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga
  • The plant may require as much as $5 billion to build and employ about 6,500 people by 2020,
  • Tesla relies on Panasonic for the battery materials
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  • If Panasonic isn't involved, that will make the factory much more of a challenge,
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