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TRANSFORMING AN ICON
ANOTHER BRIDGESTONE FIRESTONE BLUNDER
FIRESTONE AGREES TO EXPANDED RECALL
TIRE
SUITS MAY BE CONSOLIDATED
BRIDGESTONE FIRESTONE
PLANTS SHUT DOWN
BRIDGESTONE FIRESTONE
CONSOLIDATES OPERATIONS
FORD EARNINGS DOWN DUE TO
RECALL
CHEVRON BUYS TEXACO
GM
CUTS U.K. PRICES
END OF THE METRO LINE
HYUNDAI FAVORS SOUTHEAST FOR U.S. PLANT
FOCUS RECALLED
GM AND TOYOTA JOIN
FUEL-CELL PARTNERSHIP
LAND ROVER STRIKE
VW TO INVEST $1.4 MIL IN BRAZIL
HONDA
PRESENTS FUEL-CELL CAR
TRANSFORMING AN ICON Ford Motor Co.'s massive River Rouge assembly
complex is set for a massive renovation, the automaker's chairman, William Ford,
has announced. Built by the executive's great-grandfather, Henry Ford, the aging
facility was once the most modern manufacturing center in the world, with raw
materials entering on one end and finished cars rolling out the other. Today,
it's outdated and environmentally unsound. "We're going to transform this icon
of the 20th Century into the model of 21st (Century) environmentally sustainable
manufacturing," said Ford. Though he declined to discuss specific details, the
Ford heir is actively involved in efforts to show that environmentalism does not
have to be costly. "Preserving the environment, Ford declared, "is a competitive
advantage and a major business opportunity."—TCC Team
ANOTHER
BRIDGESTONE FIRESTONE BLUNDER Bridgestone Firestone has responded to
complaints regarding yet another of its tire models. The company says that it
has tested its Dueler HT 689 models for problems with small cracks in the
sidewalls, and the problem was found to be only cosmetic. The tire is installed
in Toyota's Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV, although Toyota has temporarily
suspended the use of the tire in new models. Bridgestone Firestone says that the
tires pose no serious safety threat, and that the visual defects were caused by
a problem in the manufacturing process. The tires are made at the same North
Carolina plant that makes Steeltex tires, which are currently under
investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA).
FIRESTONE
AGREES TO EXPAND RECALL The New York Attorney General's office says that
Firestone has agreed to replace an additional 1.4 million tires in 48 states, on
top of the existing 6.5 million tire recall. The tires affected, also commonly
installed on Ford Explorers, are also said to have higher-than-expected
separation rates. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
issued a consumer warning last month regarding the AT, ATX II, and Wilderness
tires, which share a common design with the tires that had already been
recalled.
TIRE SUITS MAY BE
CONSOLIDATED A judges' panel is scheduled to hear arguments on whether more
than 80 separate class-action lawsuits dealing with the safety of Firestone
tires should be consolidated, according to USA Today. Ford and Firestone
support the consolidation, although opponents say it could delay decisions for
years, and they already have most of the information they need to go ahead. If
the cases are consolidated, a committee of lawyers would question Ford and
Firestone a single time. The NHTSA has now brought the death toll due to tires
affected by the Firestone recall up to 119, and there are now more than 3500
complaints in the agency's database.
BRIDGESTONE FIRESTONE PLANTS SHUT DOWN Bridgestone Firestone has
announced that it will temporarily shut down three U.S. tire plants due to a
drop in demand caused by the Firestone tire recall. Plants in La Vergne,
Tennessee, and Oklahoma City will close for three weeks, and the infamous
Decatur, Illinois, plant will close for two weeks. Also, about 450 workers will
be laid off indefinitely. The company says that its passenger-car tires are
currently oversupplied, and the shutdown is to compensate for that by reducing
total company production by about 25 percent.
BRIDGESTONE FIRESTONE CONSOLIDATES OPERATIONS Bridgestone
Firestone has announced that it is consolidating sixteen existing business units
into four and bringing in Japanese executives to head the company's consumer
tire and manufacturing and technology operations. All four of the newly formed
business units will now report directly to the company's CEO, John
Lampe.
FORD EARNINGS
DOWN DUE TO RECALL Ford reported a seven-percent drop in third-quarter
earnings, crediting the costs of the Firestone tire recall as being one of the
contributing factors. So far, the automaker estimates the cost of the recall to
be about $500 million. For three weeks, Ford halted production of its in-demand,
best selling Ford Explorer SUV to make replacement tires available for the
recall effort. Ford says that it will not be able to make up the lost production
of the Explorer, as the factories are already running near
capacity.
CHEVRON BUYS
TEXACO San Francisco-based Chevron has purchased rival Texaco for $35.1
billion in stock and an assumed debt of $7.5 million. The new, combined company
will be called Chevron Texaco. Texaco has been plagued with poor stock
performance and a major racial-discrimination suit in recent years, bringing
down the company's finances. The deal is subject to approval by the Federal
Trade Commission.
GM CUTS U.K.
PRICES General Motors' U.K. division is the latest to follow suit in an
apparent price war in the country. Vauxhall has announced that all of its
British car prices will be cut by up to 12 percent. Ford, Toyota, and Rover have
already lowered prices in the past few weeks. The British government has
recently pressured automakers to reduce the vast price gap between auto prices
in the U.K. versus mainland Europe.
END OF THE METRO
LINE The joint venture between General Motors and Suzuki that builds the
Chevrolet Metro and Suzuki Swift has notified workers that production of the
cars will cease as of next spring, according to Wards Automotive Reports.
As a result, up to 500 of the 2300 workers at the London, Ontario, CAMI facility
could be laid off. The facility also has production lines that assemble the
Chevrolet Tracker and Suzuki Vitara compact SUVs—these will not be affected by
the change. The plant is operating well below its capacity, so GM may look to
add another model to the facility.
HYUNDAI FAVORS
SOUTHEAST FOR U.S. PLANT Hyundai has confirmed to Automotive News
that it will build both Hyundai and Kia cars in the United States starting in
2004. The company is looking at the Southeastern United States as the prime
location for the plant, which would have a capacity of 300,000 vehicles per
year. By then, the automaker hopes to have a full line of vehicles in the U.S.,
including a pickup truck. Although there have been no announcements regarding
the products that would be built at the new facility, the company would be most
likely to build its light trucks, SUVs, and larger sedans at the U.S.
plant.
FOCUS
RECALLED Ford Motor Company has recalled all North American Ford Focus
models for several unrelated problems. The retaining panel that holds the
windshield in place could be weak, a retaining nut for the rear brake assembly
could loosen, and there have also been reports that the cruise-control cable can
stick. The windshield problem affects all of the U.S. cars, and the other
problems affect only a portion of the cars. Ford will be notifying all 351,000
Focus owners.
GM AND
TOYOTA JOIN FUEL-CELL PARTNERSHIP General Motors and Toyota have announced
that they are joining the California Fuel Cell Partnership. The group, which
already includes Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, and Volkswagen,
cooperates in research on fuel-cell vehicles. The companies are reportedly
working on more than 60 fuel-cell vehicles, including the Honda FCX V3.
Previously, General Motors and Toyota have cooperated in fuel-cell and
alternative fuel vehicles.
LAND ROVER
STRIKE About 800 workers at Land Rover's Solihull, England, assembly plant
staged a one-day walkout on Tuesday to protest a change in vacation time for
workers. The plant, which makes Land Rover's compact Freelander SUV, lost
production of about 240 vehicles. The next-generation Freelander will be brought
to the U.S. in about two years.
VW TO INVEST
$1.4 MIL IN BRAZIL Volkswagen has announced plans to invest about $1.4
million into its Brazilian operations. The money will go toward retooling of an
existing facility at Sao Bernardo and also the modernization of existing plants
for new models. After the modernizations, the company will produce a new small
car that will share its platform with one used by VW's Czech division,
Skoda.
HONDA
PRESENTS FUEL-CELL CAR Honda has revealed the details of its fuel-cell car,
the FCX V3. The prototype car, which will be presented as Honda's contribution
to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, will give way to a fuel-cell vehicle
that Honda will eventually produce. The 1750-kg car is powered by a 60kW (81 hp)
electric motor that gets its power from hydrogen-fed fuel cells. The FCX V3 uses
a unique, computer-managed ultra capacitor system that helps to make power
delivery smooth. Honda estimates the range of the car, which borrows the
regenerative braking system and other componentry from the Insight gasoline
hybrid, to be between 100 and 150 miles. There are several great obstacles for
Honda to overcome before making the car viable, though, including finding a way
to create a network of hydrogen refueling stations and overcoming the extremely
high cost of the fuel cells themselves. Honda also put TCC in the driver's seat
of the FCX V3—an upcoming road test will give you all the
details.
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