Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
A government investigation into runaway Toyotas has found no new safety defects beyond problems with accelerator pedals that explain reports of sudden acceleration in the vehicles, according to preliminary findings released Tuesday.
Safety experts have said vehicle electronic systems could be to blame for the problems that have led to Toyota’s massive recalls but the review by the government, while still at an early stage, has not found any evidence of those problems. Get the full story »
2003 Honda Civic is involved in the ignition interlock recall.
Honda Motor Co. said Monday it was recalling more than 428,000 vehicles in the United States and Canada because of a defect that could cause the cars to roll away if they are parked incorrectly.
The Honda recall covers Accord, Civic and Element models from the 2003 and 2004 model years in the U.S. That recall includes 384,220 vehicles. Get the full story »
A year after emerging from bankruptcy protection, Chrysler is stanching its losses and seeing demand for its cars and trucks rise. But it’s far from healthy, and its CEO says the company has more tough work ahead.
Chrysler Group LLC said Monday that growing car and truck sales helped it narrow its second-quarter loss to $172 million, compared with a first-quarter loss of $197 million.
After a five-year wage freeze, Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. is getting paid again. It’s another sign that the automaker founded by his great-grandfather Henry Ford is healthy enough to award its top executives generous pay packages.
Bill Ford will be paid $4 million in salary and in stock options with a current value of $11 million to $12 million. The total represents pay he has earned over the last two years.
President Barack Obama today told workers at a South Side Ford plant that his bailout push helped save an “industry on the brink.” More » Get the full story »
(Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)
It’s the roar that made Milwaukee famous — the distinctive throaty rumble of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. But that much-loved racket could be rumbling away to another state if the company cannot bring down its labor costs.
Harley-Davidson warned employees in April that it will move its Wisconsin manufacturing operations elsewhere if it cannot cut millions of dollars at the factories that build the bikes known as “Milwaukee Iron.” Get the full story »
Nearly a third of male drivers admit to ogling — and being distracted by — scantily clad women during the summer, a new insurance study shows.
Sheilas’ Wheels, an insurance company geared to women, found that 29 percent of male motorists admitted to being distracted by the skimpier skirts and plunging necklines worn by members of the opposite sex during the summer. Get the full story »
Toyota reported a quarterly profit of $2.2 billion, reversing from red ink a year earlier as the world’s top automaker benefited from a global sales recovery that offset lingering doubts about the safety of its cars.
The company, which makes the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid, raised its full year earnings forecast Wednesday, and said it now expects to sell 7.38 million vehicles worldwide for the year through March 2011, up from 7.24 million the previous year. Previously it forecast sales of 7.29 million vehicles.
U.S. auto sales ticked higher in July in an uneven recovery that left Toyota Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. sputtering with declines from strong year-earlier results.
By contrast, the two U.S. automakers run through government-funded bankruptcies last summer, General Motors Co. and Chrysler, posted sales gains of 5 percent each.
Ford Motor Co. only kept pace with a 5 percent gain excluding results for its now-sold Volvo brand, disappointing investors who had hoped for an outsized gain for the only U.S. automaker to have avoided a bailout. Get the full story »
Navistar International filed a WARN notice anticipating mass layoffs in Springfield, Ohio as its master contract with the United Auto Workers is set to expire. The WARN notice filed Monday, Aug. 2, with Ohio Department of Job and Family Services states up to 370 workers may be laid off on or about Oct. 4.
U.S. Auto Parts, an online provider of automotive parts and accessories, has signed a deal to acquire Chicago-based Whitney Automotive Group for $27.5 million. Get the full story »
Geely Holding Group completed its acquisition of Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo unit Monday in a $1.5 billion deal that gives the small-but-ambitious Chinese automaker a global brand and huge management challenges.
General Motors said Friday that it is boosting production capacity for its new Chevrolet Volt due to strong public interest in the electric car that goes on sale this year.
GM will now have a production capacity of 45,000 vehicles in 2012, up from previous plans for 30,000.
The automaker made the announcement as President Barack Obama toured the Volt production facility in Detroit.
Get the full story »
