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BMW has warned that it may be forced to reduce investment and slash its workforce at its Spartanburg, South Carolina, production facility if President Trump succeeds in imposing a 20 percent tariff on imported EU-built vehicles. This plant happens to be BMW’s largest in the world and ships more than 70 percent of its annual production output to other countries. But how can US tariffs on imports affect Spartanburg? Because other countries, such as China, have threatened to retaliate against the US imposed tariffs on their goods with tariffs of their own. China being one of Spar...
Ford is very proud of its smallest engine, the 1.0-liter three-cylinder EcoBoost. And it decided to bring it stateside in the Fiesta while offering it as the base engine in the EcoSport. Despite its size, it makes respectable power: 123 horsepower and 125 lb-ft of torque. Unfortunately, the engineering brilliance of this little mill has been greatly overshadowed by life-threatening issues. In fact, Ford may be facing a class-action lawsuit over this engine. The lawsuit stems from Louise O’Riordan, who purchased a Ford Focus with the 1.0-liter EcoBoost back in 2014. Even ...
Volkswagen and Ford are in preliminary talks over an alliance to develop and produce products, most likely starting with commercial transporter vans. An announcement from Ford came after Volkswagen’s supervisory board gave its managers a green light to strike a deal with U.S.-based Ford. The goal is a partnership to share development and production costs. Preliminary talks have already started. Ford’s announcement said that the potential projects could span a number of areas, including commercial vans. Ford said that they look forward to exploring with the Volkswagen tea...
For car dealers, a sunny sales outlook at the start of 2018 has been overshadowed by rising interest rates, shrinking customer budgets and cost increases. Their optimism for the next quarter lost 14 points to just 56 on a 100-point scale, according to the Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index. The report, based on a survey of more than 1,000 independent and franchise car dealers from April 30 to May 14, shows prospective buyers grappling with tight finances despite a Republican tax cut that many sales executives had expected to boost consumer spending. The biggest challenges they re...
The average U.S. light-vehicle dealership managed their fixed operations department very well, considering their final repair and costs figures. In 2017, total repair orders written by that average dealership were flat, and so was the total parts inventory it carried — after both had risen at a double-digit clip the year before.That dealership also added more technicians — with the total rising to 19 per store from 16 in 2016 and 15 in 2015 — which helped to boost total parts and service sales, despite the repair-order slowdown. In addition, the total parts and service revenu...