Latest News & Features – Page 91
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ArticleMercedes employs 1,000 at engine plant
Poland - Two years after construction plans were announced, the plant in Jawor is nearing completion, and will become home to the production of four-cylinder diesel and petrol engines in 2019. These will be used in vehicles that have conventional powertrain structures as well as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).The OEM ...
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ArticleSEAT to steer VW in North Africa
Spain - The Spanish OEM will reportedly start coordinating the strategy of VW Group in the region as it hopes to decentralise its territorial structure and improve efficiency. The news comes soon after SEAT started making the Ibizia in Algeria."The VW Group has trusted SEAT with being the lead brand ...
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ArticleNEVS builds factory in Shanghai
China - The Swedish EV maker has started construction of a new car factory in Shanghai. It will be a copy of the plant that was recently completed in Tianjin - a city situated an hour south of the capital Beijing.Both these plants will have an annual production capacity of ...
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ArticleKamaz teams up with Kuka
Munich - The two companies have signed a global strategic agreement that will give the vehicle maker exclusive rights to purchase certain industrial robots and technologies from Kuka. Although they have been working together for 25 years, the companies think that the agreement "takes the cooperation of the two companies ...
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ArticleGAZ starts producing Vector variants
Russia - The company has started making three new variants of its Vector NEXT bus - one for ease of use by disabled people, one for intercity travelling and one with a compressed natural gas (CNG) powertrain for urban transport. It hopes to increase sales of the buses by 60% ...
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ArticleVW invests in solid state batteries
Germany - The OEM has started a new joint venture with QuantumScape - a start-up based in San José, California, that holds around 200 patents and patent applications for solid state battery technology. VW has promised to invest US$100m in the Stanford spin-off, and the two companies will now work ...
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ArticleOEMs face tough choices over Iran
When Iran reached agreement with the global community in 2015 regarding denuclearisation, resulting in the lifting of sanctions in early 2016, almost immediately Renault and PSA announced their return to the country. Prior to Iran being ostracised, both companies had been active there via joint venture (JV) manufacturing operations, mostly ...
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ArticleDiesel – is the final curtain about to fall?
Car companies across Europe are facing a serious problem with their diesel line-ups; whether it is the loss of consumer confidence following the VW crisis, or a rising environmental awareness among consumers, coupled with evident official policy moving against diesel, barely a week goes by without reports of declining diesel ...
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ArticleVolvo reveals Charleston plant manager
Jeff MooreUS - Jeff Moore has been named vice president, manufacturing, Americas and plant manager for the Volvo Car Charleston plant - the OEM's first car manufacturing facility in the country. He has 33 years of experience in automotive manufacturing operations, having recently served as senior vice president at ...
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ArticleRenault invests in EV production
France - The OEM has said it will spend €1 billion (US$1.16 billion) on the development and production of electric vehicles (EVs) in France. This will play an important role in its 'Drive the Future' plan, in which one of the goals is to bring 8 pure electric models and ...
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ArticleMercedes makes 1m heavy-duty engines
Germany - The company's plants in Mannheim, Germany and Detroit, Michigan have reached a joint milestone, producing 1m engines for heavy-duty vehicles. These have all been based on Daimler's heavy-duty truck engine platform that was introduced back in 2007."Global Powertrain stands not only for integrated drivetrains, but also for the ...
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ArticleNissan commits to steel
Japan - The OEM has announced plans to make more cars with a new type of steel developed by Nissan and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation. The first vehicle to use the steel was the Infiniti QX50 with the front and rear side members.According to the companies, the steel ...
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ArticleTravel blog: China’s mountainous technology challenge
The 2018 Global Automotive Forum brought together government officials, senior executives, academic experts and journalists from all over the world in order to discuss China’s automotive industry. Key themes included technological innovation in the fields of autonomous driving, new energy vehicles and connectivity. There were also several debates centred on ...
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ArticleRenault builds plant in Faisalabad
Pakistan - The French OEM has revealed that it has bought an industrial plot of land on which it will build a "world-class facility" for the manufacturing and assembly of its vehicles. Production is expected to begin in 2020, with an initial annual capacity of around 50,000 units.Located in Faisalabad, ...
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ArticleNissan's Canton plant turns 15
Nissan Titan XD assembly in CantonUS - The OEM has been making vehicles at its plant in Canton, Mississippi for 15 years. Covering an area of 4.7m sq.ft, it has an annual output capacity of 450,000 units, and currently houses the production of the Altima, Titan, NV, Frontier and ...
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ArticleJLR opts for EU over UK
Uncertainties surrounding Brexit are causing some OEMs to move car production from the UK to Europe. Michael Nash investigatesIn November 2016, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said that it would make its all-new Discovery in the UK and Slovakia in order to meet soaring demand in the segment. But news that ...
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ArticleSuzuki achieves 20m milestone
India - The OEM has now made over 20m vehicles in India since it started operating in the country back in December 1983, with over 1.78m built in 2017 alone. The Alto is its most produced model, with approximately 3.17m units made to date.Production of 16 Suzuki models is currently ...
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ArticleHyundai starts making new Santa Fe
US - Production of the 2019 Santa Fe has started at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA). The OEM expects to make over 84,000 units of the model before year end as demand for SUVs continues to rise."As we launch the new Santa Fe, [we will] take pride in every step ...
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ArticleMitsubishi hits 5m milestone
Thailand - The company's plant in Laem Chabang has churned out over 5m passenger vehicles, just two years after it had reached the 4m mark. According to Osamu Masuko, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, the news reflects increasing demand in the region."We have always had the confidence in Thailand's potential ...
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ArticleFirst 'Full Flex' factory build underway
Hungary - Construction has begun on Mercedes-Benz's first “Full-Flex Plant“ in Kecskemét, 90km in the south of Budapest.The company is investing €1bn in the new facility that will comprise presses, bodyshop, paintshop and assembly lines. It is anticipated that more than 2,500 jobs will be created.Its first global “Full-Flex Plant”, ...