AUTOS WORLD NEWS
* Europe Wants to Raise IQ of Cars for Safer Roads
BRUSSELS,Belgium -Wall Street Journal/Global Auto -Feb 24, 2006: -- The European Commission put its weight behind high-tech ways to improve auto safety in launching its Intelligent Car Initiative, although it is more lip service than actual investment since the EC is giving very little money to manufacturers to pay for the project... The European Commission has published results of a study showing that 4,000 accidents per year could be prevented in Europe is just three percent of cars on European roads had high-tech accident prevention technology. Among the solutions would be laser systems that can sense road obstacles and ensure adequate braking to avoid accidents, as well as traffic warning and awakeness-alert systems in cars, the EC said...
* Toyota Places Among Most-Admired Companies
USA -Forbes/The Car Connection -22 Feb 2006: Toyota ranked ninth on Fortune magazine's annual Most Admired Companies list. It marks the first time a non-U.S. company cracked the top 10. The magazine ranked 303 companies... DaimlerChrysler, which made the list, is sort of an American company. General Motors and Ford did not rank in the top half of the motor vehicle segment and weren't ranked in the overall list... The top five in motor vehicles were: Toyota, BMW, Honda, Nissan, and DaimlerChrysler. Ford ranked number six, while GM finished number nine, between heavy-truck manufacturers: Paccar Inc. and Navistar International...
* Global Production Up at 4 Japan Automakers
TOKYO,Japan -LATimes/Associated Press -Feb 24 2006: Global production rose at four of Japan's top automakers in January from a year ago, but the country's second largest automaker, Nissan, reported a decline, the automakers said Friday... Toyota Motor Corp., the country's top and world's second biggest automaker after General Motors Corp., churned out 631,006 vehicles in January globally, up 13.6 percent from a year ago...
* Toyota, GM to end fuel-cell alliance
Tokyo,Japan -The Asahi Shimbun -23 Feb 2006: Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. plan to end their joint research on fuel-cell vehicle development at the end of March because of a lack of progress, sources said...
* Ford dangles more buyouts
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Bryce G. Hoffman -23 Feb 2006: -- Sweetened retirement offers are aimed at trimming 3,500 jobs at former Visteon plants... Ford Motor Co. is offering several buyout packages -- including one that provides free college tuition -- to about 3,500 blue-collar workers at the factories it took back from Visteon Corp. last fall... Though Visteon was spun off from Ford in 2000, its UAW-represented factory workers remained Ford employees. Under the terms of last year's agreement, Ford assumed responsibility for most of Visteon's North American manufacturing operations and won approval from the United Auto Workers to cut 5,000 hourly jobs through buyouts and early-retirement incentives...
* DaimlerChrysler labor representatives will not white-collar job cuts
FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters -23 Feb 2006: Labor representatives on DaimlerChrysler's supervisory board will not fight planned job cuts that will reduce the carmaker's white-collar staff by a fifth, a senior official said on Wednesday...
* Nanjing takes lease on MG Rover site
LONDON,UK -Reuters -23 Feb 2006: Chinese carmaker Nanjing Automobile took a lease on Wednesday on the former MG Rover plant at Longbridge, England, and said it still hoped to revive production at the site...
* China's SAIC to Make Cars Under Own Brand
SHANGHAI, China -AP, by ELAINE KURTENBACH -Feb 23, 2006: China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., or SAIC, a longtime partner of General Motors and Volkswagen, said Thursday it has won government permission to build its own brand of car for the first time. The automaker said it plans to launch its brand based on model designs bought from Britain's MG Rover Group Ltd...
* Honda to sell low-cost hybrid car in 2007/08
TOKYO,Japan -Reuters -22 Feb 06: Honda Motor Co. plans to sell a low-cost hybrid car, a version of its popular Fit subcompact, a Japanese daily reported, signalling the automaker's long-term commitment to the fuel-sipping powertrain...
* Audi shies away from profit target
INGOLSTADT, Germany -Reuters -23 Feb 2006: Audi AG expects another record year as car buyers snap up new models such as the Q7 SUV and the TT roadster, Volkswagen's premium unit said on Wednesday, though refraining from giving a profit target...
* Continental earnings up 17 percent
FRANKFURT,Germany -Reuters -23 Feb 2006: German automotive supplier Continental AG on Thursday forecast higher revenue and operating profit in 2006 after fourth-quarter operating profit rose 17 percent, missing market expectations...
* Spanish vehicle production up 7.1 percent in January
MADRID,Spain -Reuters -23 Feb 2006: Spanish vehicle production made a strong start to 2006, rising 7.1 percent in January, national carmakers' association Anfac said on Thursday. The industry bounced back after 2005 when overall vehicle output fell nearly 9 percent and car production slumped almost 13 percent...
* Skoda Auto profit jumps as it sells more high-end cars
MLADA BOLESLAV, Czech Republic -Reuters -23 Feb 2006: Czech Skoda Auto, a unit of German carmaker Volkswagen, said its 2005 net profit more than doubled thanks to a rise in sales of the more expensive models in its range...
* Honda Achieves Record Monthly Overseas and Worldwide Production
Tokyo, Japan -JCN Newswire via COMTEX -Feb 24, 2006: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced production, Japanese domestic sales, and export results for the month of January 2006. Honda achieved a new monthly record for overseas and worldwide production for the month of January...
* Mitsubishi Motors Announces Production, Sales and Exports for January 2006
Tokyo, Japan -Japan Herald -Feb 24, 2006: Mitsubishi Motors Corporation today announced global production, as well as domestic sales and export results for January 2006...
* Nissan Says Two-Year China Trucks Sales May Expand 18 Percent on Economy
Japan -Asia Pacific News -Feb. 24, 2006: Nissan Motor Co., Japan's second- largest carmaker, said its sales of light commercial vehicles including Pickup models can rise by about 18 percent in China in the next two years, as economic growth ...
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