English Press / Presse anglaise

General Motors will not advertise in the upcoming Super Bowl, the company announced today in another sign that it's shaking up its marketing strategy just days after it said it would no longer pay for advertising on Facebook.

Government and industry leaders today gathered in Washington, D.C. for a technical workshop hosted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to discuss a wide breadth of safety and regulatory issues pertaining to electrical vehicles.

The carmaker will not advertise in the most watched US television event of the year in an unexpected move following a review of its advertising strategy

Toyota, continuing to flex its post-earthquake manufacturing muscle this year, plans to invest about $80 million to expand its Huntsville, Ala., engine plant to build more V-6 engines for the United States.

Billionaire Warren Buffett sought to buy Residential Capital from Ally Financial before the government-owned company put the home lender in bankruptcy, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Brazil is considering measures to facilitate new car loans and bolster local automakers, newspapers reported today, after slowing vehicle sales pushed auto inventories to their highest levels since the 2008 financial crisis.

Facebook may only have itself to blame for why General Motors rained on its IPO parade this week.

Federal safety regulators are investigating a Texas garage fire that destroyed a Fisker Karma, a $103,000 plug-in electric vehicle.

The awaited union between China’s Chery and the UK’s Jaguar-Landrover is likely to go ahead later this year if the joint venture receives approval.

Various government ministerys have to approve the joint venture, the JV is expected to land in Changshu city, close to Shanghai, and will use the same facilities as Qoros, another Chery joint venture partner. Total investment is expected to peak at 12 billion RMB with both parties investing 6 billion RMB to see production reaching 130,000 units per year.

Chinese media reports indicated that Chery is currently looking to raise the funds for the JV with multiple Chinese banks, but this was denied by Chery’s General Manager Mr. Jin Yi Bo. Chery’s Chairman also revealed to Chinese press that Chery are preparing to IPO soon.

Rumors circulating on the internet last week indicated that Chery would supply the engines to Chinese made JLR products from their own expansive ATECO range which includes large displacement V6, turbo assisted mid range displacements and smaller sub 1.0L units, although the chances of Chery engines being fitted in England’s finest is still rather slim.

JLR’s move into the Chinese market comes somewhat late when compared to German manufacturers who introduced themselves into China over a decade ago, or in Audi’s case two decades ago. JLR’ has seen its sales figures rise in China considerably, last year Land Rover sold 34,993 cars in the Chinese market, a sales increase of 58% over 2010, Jaguar sold 3897 units.

Volkswagen of America, riding a 38 percent increase in United States sales this year, has hired Kevin Mayer from General Motors to steer VW brand marketing.

Volkswagen of America, riding a 38 percent increase in United States sales this year, has hired Kevin Mayer from General Motors to steer VW brand marketing.

Group looks to lift dividend 20 per cent as annual sales top £1bn, with March and April trading above forecast and profitability strong

SEAT has aired its wares at various auto shows around China over the past two years, the Spanish brand is eager to enter into China to offset slow sales in Europe. The Spaniards are pushing the Leon Cupra first but other models are expected to follow rapidly, 8 dealerships have so far been set up across key Chinese automotive markets.

James Muir, Chairman of SEAT, said: “SEAT has arrived in China. We are launching our success story on this market with our state-of-the-art, attractive city showrooms and with the SEAT Leon as the entry model.

“Here in China, we are observing a groundswell of increasingly discerning customers that want to differentiate themselves with their cars. SEAT stands for emotional design and state-of-the-art engineering, for guaranteed driving fun mile-for-mile. Our unique combination of design and performance, of technology and precision secures for us an enormous potential within this key marketplace.”

The SEAT dealer network in China has planned to expand further over the next few months, reaching 15 operations by the end of 2012. This summer will see showrooms open in Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanning, Xi’an und Xiamen, with Beijing and Shanghai following.

The Leon Cupra is on sale in China from 240,000RMB to 290,000RMB.

So sayeth Bloomberg:

Chinese dealers are struggling with the rising number of unsold cars that’s threatening to deepen price cuts, according to the nation’s biggest automobile dealers’ association.

Dealerships for Honda Motor Co. (7267), Chery Automobile Co., BYD Co. (002594) and Geely (175) Automobile Holdings Ltd. carried more than 45 days of inventory as of the end of April, exceeding the threshold that foreshadows debilitating price cuts, Su Hui, vice president of the auto market division at the state-backed China Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview yesterday.

“Unsold cars are crowding dealer lots in cities from Guangzhou in the south to Xi’an to the west,” Su said in a phone interview yesterday from Beijing. “It’s like a contagious disease that will spread.”

The warning signals that vehicle deliveries reported by companies, which have risen more than analysts’ estimates for the past two months, aren’t fully translating to consumer sales. Demand was the slowest in the first four months since 1998, weighing on automakers from General Motors Co. (GM) to Volkswagen AG (VOW), which are counting on the world’s largest auto market to offset slumping sales in Europe.

Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's plan to improve slow sales of the Fiat and Lancia brands in Europe through rebadged Chrysler models is getting mixed results.

Toyota Motor Corp. said today it would invest about $80 million to expand its Huntsville, Ala., engine plant to produce more V6 engines for the United States market.

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said he hopes the automaker regains an investment-grade credit rating within the next year.

Fisker Automotive, facing funding issues and scrutiny from the federal government, plans to delay the launch of its new model, according to an industry Web site.

Drivers, start your cars and fire up your Wi-Fi. And please don't crash while tweeting or making dinner reservations on the interstate.

GM said today that it is shaking up its executive ranks in the United States, including moving Chevrolet sales boss Alan Batey into a newly created position as GM's vice president of sales and service.