The PSA Group has unveiled its plans to make Vauxhall and Opel a success following its acquisition of the firm earlier this year. Highlights include launching all future products on PSA platforms - including an all-new Corsa in 2019 - and setting the goal of keeping all current plants including Ellesmere Port and Luton in the UK open, although potentially on altered terms. Vauxhall and Opel declared losses of £190 million in the second quarter of 2017; daily losses at the firm under GM ownership were estimated to be in the region of £3m on average. PSA Group announced it...
You might not know that, but in Japan the relationship between the car dealer and the buyer is a much better one than here, in the U.S.. The last time Shujiro Urata wanted to buy a new car in Japan, his phone happened to ring. It was the local Toyota dealer on the phone, asking him if he was thinking about buying a new car. When he replied in the affirmative, the dealer and a coworker showed up at Urata’s doorstep an hour later with two demo cars, which Urata and his wife test-drove around the neighborhood. The Uratas decided to buy a car from the dealer. The dealer also handles their ca...
BMW AG is recalling about 1 million vehicles in North America for two separate issues involving fire risks and said it may expand the recalls to other countries. One recall covers 670,000 2006-2011 U.S. 3-Series vehicles to address a wiring issue for heating and air conditioning systems that may overheat and could increase the risk of a fire. The second recall covers 740,000 U.S. 2007-2011 vehicles with a valve heater that could rust and lead to a fire in rare cases. The recall includes some 128i vehicles, 3-Series, 5-Series and X3, X5 and Z4 vehicles. BMW spokesman Michael Rebstock...
The second best month of 2017 for U.S. new-vehicle sales goes for October, thanks to the surging demand in states recovering from hurricane damage, though volume is projected to fall slightly from the same month last year. Forecasts call for a 2 to 4 percent decline in industry sales this month. They estimate the seasonally adjusted, annualized selling rate will be 17.6 million to 17.9 million. While that's a drop-off from September's rate of 18.6 million -- which was the sixth-highest ever -- it would be well above the industry's sales pace in the first half of the year...
Bentley Motors plans a major shake-up of its executive ranks just a few months before launching the new Continental GT. Wolfgang Durheimer will step down as CEO of Bentley effective February 1, 2018; he will be succeeded by Adrian Hallmark, former global strategy director at Jaguar Land Rover.. Bentley's board members for engineering, sales and marketing, and human resources will also step down, effective January 1, 2018. Durheimer, 59, will stay on at the VW Group to assist with the automaker's motorsports efforts. It's a fitting culmination to a career that oversaw the...
