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Molly Brookshire

VW's labor boss Osterloh says U.S. operations a 'disaster' - 0 views

  • VW last month ousted U.S. divisional chief Jonathan Browning, who oversaw the 2011 launch of the mid-sized Passat, sales of which declined 6 percent in the United States last year after a surge in 2011-2012
  • Michael Horn, who this month said that VW headquarters had paid little heed to the dynamics of the U.S. market
  • won't improve until 2016 and it needs more models there, including a pick-up truck
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  • At the Detroit auto show in January, VW announced plans to make a mid-sized SUV for North America as part of a $7 billion investment in the region. Osterloh lamented that a year after the CrossBlue SUV concept was unveiled, it's still unclear where the model will be built
Molly Brookshire

Nissan team to tackle inventory problems - 0 views

  • "the right car at the right place at the right time"
  • Nissan has assembled a team of sales managers, forecasters, planners, retailers, factory engineers and logistics managers in North America and Japan to execute its right-car mission.
  • After spending the past two years redesigning, reintroducing and repricing most of its vehicle lineup, the automaker is convinced that all of its products are competitive in their segments, and in some cases segment-leading.
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  • But one problem continues to hold the franchise back -- a U.S. inventory chain with a few holes in it,
  • "Rather than trying to assess market needs from here at our headquarters or relying on our retailers to guess, we're designing a new approach to make sure we can deliver the right car at the right place at the right time." The process will give Nissan's sales regions more voice in production planning and make it easier for dealers to find cars in the factory order banks.
Molly Brookshire

Renault, Nissan to combine manufacturing, r&d for $4 billion annual savings, report says - 0 views

  • Under the planned structure, Nissan and Renault will be able to assemble cars, using shared parts, at the same factories, the Nikkei said.
  • Nissan and Renault will adopt the new structure first at their jointly held factory in India as early as 2015, expanding to more than 10 countries by 2020, the report said. The alliance, which together owns nearly 50 factories worldwide, plans to bring Russian affiliate AvtoVAZ into the fold, the paper added
Molly Brookshire

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

  • 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

Toyota weighs adding truck capacity - 0 views

  • 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

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

  • 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 begins production of 2014 Highlander in Indiana - 0 views

  • 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

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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

GM to split engineering into 2 divisions with new leaders; Calabrese to retire - 0 views

  • GM said it will divide vehicle engineering into two organizations: Global Product Integrity and Global Components and Subsystems.
  • The product integrity organization will include the new global vehicle safety group that GM created in February, led by Jeff Boyer. That unit also will oversee supplier quality and include vehicle, powertrain and electrical-systems engineering; vehicle performance; industrial engineering and validation, GM said.
  • GM said the product integrity organization will use "advanced analysis tools and processes to flag and prevent issues during vehicle development." It also will analyze field reports "to react quickly to safety and product quality issues customers may experience."
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