Audi
The A4 will offer Audi's new 1.5-liter, V-6 turbodiesel in the UK starting in May. The engine debuted on the A6 Avant station wagon in March.
'We have every right to be optimistic' about 1998 results, said Audi Chairman Franz-Josef Paefgen. First-quarter sales are up 5 percent to 144,200 cars, and 1997 was a record.
Audi said that last year it sold more than 500,000 cars for the first time (546,436), and its sales were DM22.4 billion ($12.1 billion).
Diana K. Kurylko
BMW
Partners BMW and Chrysler broke ground for their joint-venture engine plant in Brazil. Tritec Motors Ltd., a joint venture in Campo Largo, will have the capacity to turn out up to 400,000 engines annually. The $500 million plant will start production in the second half of 2000. The first engine, a 1.6-liter model, will power the new Rover Mini. Chrysler will use the engine in its Neon sedans for international markets.
Joe Vieira
Citroen
At this month's meeting of the Council of EU Environment and Transport Ministers in Chester, UK, officials will get a first look at Citroen's Dynalto engine system. The engine combines the starter motor and alternator in one electronic unit. The engine shuts off if a vehicle stops for two seconds, and it restarts silently in one-tenth of a second when a gear is engaged and the accelerator pressed. The system will appear on Xsara and Saxo models in 2000.
Ian Morton
Fiat
The Fiat Auto Recycling project in Italy handled half the cars turned in for a special government rebate last year. Over 300 ecological demolition units in Italy were involved. The bumpers, seat padding and glass they removed became 880,000 air ducts and 13.2 million bottles.
Ford
Ford's fleet customers in the UK can get up-to-date product and pricing information via the Internet. The Ford Fleet Internet was launched 15 April.
In addition to product news and pricing, customers have access to warranty information. They cannot order from the system.
'We want to be more ingenious in the way we relate to customers,' said Mike Wear, director of Ford Fleet Operations in the UK.
Almost half of all vehicle sales in the UK are fleet sales. Last year fleet orders totalled about one million units. Wear said Ford was the fleet leader with sales of 222,648. About one third of Ford's fleet customers have access to the Internet. The service is at www.fordfleet.co.uk.
Kathy Jackson
General Motors
GM will stop assembling Astras in its Szentgotthard, Hungary, plant at the end of the year. But the carmaker will add a $129 million transmission plant at the site.
The transmission facility will employ 500 people and have an annual capacity of 250,000 units in 2001.
Astras for Hungary will be sourced from Poland, where a greenfield factory goes into production this fall. The factory will make the previous generation Astra, using tooling from existing European plants.
Last year, Opel Hungary built 12,700 Astras, 368,000 engines and 135,000 cylinder heads.
Diana T. Kurylko
Honda
The company has set up a subsidiary, Honda Finance, to offer leasing, servicing and finance plans in Europe.
Honda hopes that one plan, called Aspirations, will lure more private buyers to lease higher-specification cars. The program offers private leasers similar payment and deposit options to those already offered to fleets.
Diana T. Kurylko
Exports from Japan rose 37 percent in the year ending March to 557,548 units. Honda's Japanese out-put in the year was up 15 percent. Production outside Japan rose 1 percent to 1,067,000 in the same period. Japanese sales for the year were down 2 percent ot 764,931.
Reuters News Service
Hyundai
Romanian carmaker Dacia said it will equip its Nova cars with Hyundai-built engines. Dacia had previously announced a deal to produce Hyundai cars in Romania, starting next year.
Gordon Feller
Russian carmaker JSC Izhmash will take delivery of 10,000 Hyundai engines this year for its Izh-2126 model. The two carmakers started assembling Hyundai Accents at their Izh-Avto International joint venture in January. Planned production is 5,000 units in 1998.
Gordon Feller
Isuzu
The European Investment Bank will lend Isuzu $120 million to help build a $220 million diesel engine plant in Katowice, Poland. The engines will go mainly to Opel cars assembled in several EU countries.
Production is due to start in June 1999. Capacity will be 300,000 diesels a year. Planned annual sales are $650 million.
Isuzu is looking for suppliers, but insists that they must be able to communicate in English and that they have had no strikes for five years.
Gordon Feller
Mazda
The new Demio wagon will be introduced in Europe in June. At the same time, the 323 sedan and five-door will go on sale in Japan. They will make their European debuts at the Paris auto show in October. European sales will start later this year.
Mazda is developing a multipurpose vehicle similar to the Renault Megane Scenic that is likely to arrive next year. The vehicle will have a commercial version, but a Mazda spokesman said it would not be a 'Mazda version of the next generation Ford Transit.'
Knut Moberg
Mercedes-Benz
Next year Mercedes-Benz will centralize Danish and Swedish sales operations in offices based in Copenhagen. The German carmaker aims to raise combined sales in the two countries to 20,000 units a year in 2000, from 14,000 last year.
Tege Tornvall
Mitsubishi
Toyoo Tate, former president and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors, died on 9 April from heart failure. He was 78. During his tenure, Mitsubishi Motors emerged as a major global carmaker.
Tate was president and CEO from 1983 to 1989, a period in which the automaker evolved from being an affiliate of Chrysler to a stand-alone, publicly traded company.
Tate joined Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1942, shortly after graduating from Tokyo Imperial University.
James B. Treece
Nissan
The Micra was the highest-scoring supermini in the latest J.D. Power UK customer satisfaction survey.
The Nissan brand overall was rated fifth among 34 marques included in the report. The Micra owners bought their cars between August 1995 and July 1996.
Diana T. Kurylko
Renault
Jean-Luc Menard, Renault's executive director for the Mercosur region, said the company aimed to increase its market share in Brazil to 6 percent in 2005 from 1 percent today. Meanwhile, Renault Argentina plans to raise output by 25 percent to 100,000 vehicles this year.
Reuters News Service
Renault Argentina President Manuel Antelo and other company officials have been acquitted of 'aggravated smuggling' of vehicles to and from Uruguay, Chile and Peru.
The indictment alleged that they collected export subsidies for sending van parts out of Argentina, then re-imported the components as assembled vehicles.
Reuters News Service
Six major suppliers are building facilities next to Renault's Sao Jose dos Pinhais plant in Brazil. They will supply systems just-in-time to the Scenic and Clio, starting next year.
They include: Bertrand Faure for seats; Ecia for exhaust systems; SAS for cockpits and doors; and Vallourec for front and rear suspensions and wheels.
Joe Vieira
Rover
Rover Group has been awarded a Queen's Award for Export Achievement for 1998 in the UK. Sales outside the UK accounted for 56 percent of the group's output last year, making it the second-largest exporter of manufactured goods in the UK.
Skoda
Skoda will offer liquid petroleum gas versions of its Felicia van and estate car in the UK. The conversion, carried out by specialist Tickford, will add about $2,500 to the cost of vehicles. Octavia hatchback and Combi conversions are also being engineered for conversion and Skoda will have LPG versions across its complete UK range by the end of this year, said Dermot Kelly, managing director of Skoda UK.
Ian Morton
Toyota
Output in Japan fell 15.8 percent in March to 312,987 units, compared with a year earlier. In the year to March, production was down 2.3 percent. Japanese sales fell in March for the 12th consecutive month, on a year-on-year basis.
But exports rose 10.9 percent to 114,365 vehicles, compared with a year earlier. Exports for the year were up 17.3 percent to 1,538,205 units.
Reuters News Service
Toyota is likely to start assembling HiAce multipurpose vans near Moscow by the end of the year, initially at the rate of 1,000 units annually.
Reuters News Service
ITT Automotive has been awarded a contract to supply its Electronic Stability Program to Toyota cars built in North America, starting with the 2001 model year.
Reuters News Service
Volkswagen
VW has appealed against the record $110 million fine imposed by the European Commission after VW prohibited its Italian distributor from selling cars to buyers from outside Italy.
The carmaker may have to wait up to 18 months for its case to be heard, but it must still pay the fine by the end of April. If the appeal fails, VW could take the case to Europe's highest court, the European Court of Justice.
Diana T. Kurylko
Volkswagen Group aims to take 12.2 percent of the French car market this year.
The target of 226,000 registrations comprises: 150,000 Volkswagen brand (130,000 in 1997); 36,000 Seat (27,500); 30,000 Audi (27,000); and 10,000 Skoda (8,200).
'We target 64,000 Golfs and 60,000 Polos, but also 10,000 A3 and 6,000 A6,' said Michel Le Paire, Volkswagen France chairman. Le Paire admitted that VW lost 15,000 Golf sales in 1997 due to the car's delayed introduction, but said sales would reach their planned monthly level by June.
The Seat and Skoda dealer networks will be reorganized starting this year.
Stephane Farhi
Volvo
Volvo will open an $82 million safety research center next to its Gothenburg plant in mid-2000. The site will have one fixed and one moveable track for crash tests of cars, buses and trucks.
Tege Tornvall
First quarter net profit at Volvo Car Corp. fell 14.3 percent to SKr915 million ($116 million) compared with a year earlier. Sales were up 11 percent to SKr23 billion in the period. Net income at parent group AB Volvo fell 65 percent to SKr1.6 billion in the period.
The city of Gothenburg has sold land that once belonged to the Eriksbergs shipyard to Volvo for a supplier park.
The Swedish automaker bought a 265,000-square-meter section of land and 60,000 square meters' worth of factory buildings. While it intends to build a supplier park, Volvo has not announced any immediate plans.
Tege Tornvall
