The former Ford unit from Norway is scrambling back from its bankruptcy nearly a year ago and hopes to have a new set of diminutive wee small tiny electric cars on the road next year. Apparently, range has been upped to 80 miles from the previous 50, and the company is actively recruiting to fill positions. For some…
Themusicauto business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.
Pass the Stove Top and cranberry sauce, because GM has announced an initial $500 million-dollar investment in replacement-parts manufacturing in none other than Turkey. They're planning to create around 30,000 jobs in the nation, which is the automaker's sixth-largest market, according to GM Europe sales veep Jonathan …
If one thinks about it, the only truly great thing Malcolm Bricklin ever did was bring Subarus to America. Other than that, Yugo? The Bricklin? Entirely amusing vehicles, but only if other people own them. So who really expected his venture with Chery to succeed? Well, we kind of did. At least for a while. But now…
Chinese automaker Chery has teamed up with Argentine groupe Socma to build two models in Uraguay, presaging the invasion of the Sinomobiles in North America. The venture includes building both the QQ and the Tiggo SUV. The venture will be 51% backed by Chery, and the company with sell the South American-built models…
In a five-year retrospective on the effect that 9/11 had on the nation's economy, Slate's Daniel Gross asks why the financial first-responders have often ended up pushing up daisies five years after the fact, a portion of note to Los Jalopniks was the wave of zero-percent financing unfurled to keep America rolling and …
In contrast to the massive de-mobilization taking place at some automaking concerns, Honda and Suzuki are having trouble keeping up with demand. Suzuki, despite limited automotive success in the American market, is adding 380,000 more cars per year to its pool via construction of new plants in Japan and Hungary.…
Yowch. The machete-wielding rats on GM's listing ship have committed to cut a billion dollars from the company's global midsize car development programs by opening up the global parts bin to all, which means in a few years, nobody will be buying a hodgepodge of BLS93G6Malibu. This sounds like a train wreck waiting to…
Initially we believed — and frankly many GM PR staff seemed to confirm — the General's strategy for the next 90 days was going to be "Get Rick the hell away from cameras." However, we now think we were a bit hasty in snapping to that assessment. Exhibit A would be the above announcement for the Opel Corsa. Normally,…
The WSJ proves yet again despite being a newspaper on business often times they appear to know nothing about business. The triumvirate of WSJ talking heads, Rob Cox, Edward Chancellor, David Vise are offering up their version of a "solution" to GM and Ford's woes. For some strange reason Cox et al. believe the way to…
"I say MG, what do you think? When I say Geely, Chery, Shanghai, what do you think?" asks Duke Hale, head of North American operations for MG. Truthfully, Duke. We think, "Crappy Lucas electrics." Then we think of zippy little runabout droptops. But the reworked TF that Nanjing's going to sell here is actually a hardtop,…
Ron Gettelfinger, UAW President and potential next spokesperson for "Just For Men Gel", responded to questions from reporters today during a break in a hearing on Chinese trade practices at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The most important question asked was whether the UAW Prez saw a strike as a possibility.…
There are so many great combinations of "Dodger" and "Tom LaSorda" — we almost don't know where to start. Ok, well — we'll just play it straight down the plate then. Chrysler President and CEO Tom LaSorda sat down on CNBC's "Closing Bell" with Maria Bartiromo to answer some questions on the late-night dinner
In an attempt to counter some weekend wild-ass speculation
With Cadillac shedding Leo Burnett as its ad agency of record, so goes Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" from its media spots. The brand's got a new agency in the hipsters at Modernista!, and their mission (yes, they've chosen to accept it) is to lure even younger (younger than 65, that is), affluent buyers from their Euro…
We kind of knew Toyota wasn't going to stand by and let their big shot at being number one best automaker drop away like they were the last gal left standing at the Sadie Hawkins dance. Although it's rumorific like nothing else and complete conjecture — the weekly mag on all-things Business is reporting Toyota may…
The men in Berlin have given the okay to Porsche to purchase the remaining 3.5% of Volkswagen stock the sports-car maker needs to hold a controlling interest in Volkswagen, which through the years, has often been seen as the company's bigger half-brother. If we get any further into this analogy it's gonna turn into…
Rick and Carlos had dinner last night in Metro Detroit — and although folks may not know where, we do know they've now moved from an agreement to sit down and talk about an "alliance" — to an agreement to discuss for 90 days an "alliance." But for us anyway, the question of "where" they ate is much more interesting — and…
GM's Rick Wagoner took to the stage earlier this week, and yesterday it was Carlos Ghosn's turn on the runway. We already gave you a look at Ghosn's conquest of the beaches of Bartiromo
Although the 20,000 employees in the Hyundai Motor Union were wildcating and hourly-breaking their way to higher pay for hours at a time over the past two weeks
