Azure Dynamics Corporation and FoMoCo said yesterday that they have picked AM General LLC, best known as the maker of military Humvees and Hummers, to handle the final assembly of the Ford Transit Connect Electric, the all-electric version of the award winning Transit Connect. Ford will ship engine-less Transit Connect units from its factory in [...]
Toyota has said that it will recall 4,500 Lexus LS models in Japan and another 7,000 units overseas to fix a computerized steering problem. The company said it has received 12 complaints about the problem in Japan, but has no reports of any accidents worldwide, according to spokesman Paul Nolasco. Toyota is recalling four Lexus [...]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a formal investigation of 900,000 Ford Windstar minivans after receiving 234 complaints of rear-axle fracturing. The investigation covers Windstar models from 1999-2003. The NHTSA website said that while a snapped axle can result in loss of control to the vehicle, there have only been two reports of [...]
Adding on to the total of $50 billion in government aid that General Motors received through its bankruptcy process last year, the Obama administration proposed today a trust fund of more than $800 million to pay for the cleanup of closed GM sites in 14 states. Lead of the White House Council on Automotive Communities [...]
Toyota is receiving bomb threats… no really, we’re not kidding. A fake bomb threat led to the evacuation of a southern Indiana post office yesterday, the fourth since Friday sent to Toyota’s U.S. headquarters and production plants in three states. A company spokesman said that the package was addressed to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in [...]
Mercedes-Benz E-class vehicles have garnered the attention of the NHTSA because of concerns of improper deployment of airbags. The agency said today in an internet posting that approximately 100,000 vehicles from model years 2005-2006 may be affected. NHTSA officials have said they have received four complaints about failures in the module-wiring harness of the steering [...]
Gemballa, a tuning firm that provides aftermarket parts for mainly Porsche and Ferrari vehicles, has closed its doors following the disappearance of its founder Uwe Gemballa. Gemballa has been reported missing since February in Johannesburg, South Africa while on a business trip. Gemballa’s earnings went from €16.2m in 2007 to €8m in 2009. With that [...]
Nissan has expressed its concern that the world’s governments might begin to phase out the incentive programs currently in place to entice consumers towards more fuel-efficient vehicles. Company Senior VP Simon Thomas pointed out in a statement on Monday that governments will not be able to offer sales subsidies indefinitely and he is concerned that [...]
Larry Summers, head of the National Economic Council, said today that the Obama administration expects to recover “most, if not all” of the $50 billion bailout it provided to General Motors. At the current pricing of GM bonds, taxpayers are expected to lose about $10 billion on their investment in GM. Defending the $85 billion [...]
The head of research at Honda said that the company remains skeptical about electric-cars 10 years after it has stopped selling the EV-Plus battery-powered model. Nonetheless, the second-largest Japanese automaker plans to offer electric-vehicles in the United States. “We lack confidence” in the electric-vehicle business, Tomohiko Kawanabe, president of Honda’s research and development said. “It’s [...]
