GM’s upper management is shaking again, as the Detroit Free Press reports that Jamie Hresko, The General’s global powertrain boss, has left the building. And unlike the last round of management shuffling, this move doesn’t seem to have been planned. The Freep reports:

Hresko’s departure comes about a month after CEO Dan Akerson took the product-development organization from powertrain engineer Tom Stephens and put most of it under Mary Barra, a manufacturing engineer. Stephens, a GM vice chairman, became chief technology officer and retained responsibilities for research and development. But Hresko’s resignation was his decision and not part of a management shakeup, a person familiar with the situation said.

As a 28-year veteran of GM who previously held top positions in US and Global quality departments, Hresko’s resignation is not inconsequential. Especially given his lack of post-GM plans. GM’s auto industry experience-free CEO Dan Akerson now has one less experienced advisor to rely on… or is that one less recalcitrant insider to fight?

Remember the phrase “jobless recovery”? Well, the auto industry is having something of a “price dropping recovery.” The headline for February auto sales may have been “the buyers are back,” but beneath the big volume boosts there’s trouble a-brewing. According to TrueCar’s transaction price forecast (above), Hyundai CEO John Krafcik was right to warn of an industry price war, as the industry has lost .3% of its average transaction price during the last year of recovery. Over the last year, Honda, Kia, Toyota and GM have all seen declines in average transaction prices, led by GM’s staggering two percent drop. And falling transaction prices are just the beginning: as we explore after the jump, incentives are also remaining high, and yet another volume-boosting technique is enjoying a boom as the industry once again starts to redline its sales.

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Ferdi Piech is trying his hand at instigating a velvet revolution. He is dangling huge sales increases at Alfa in front of workers and customers, hoping that they string up Marchionne and ask Volkswagen to take over Alfa. Or something along these lines. Anyway, Piech said in Geneva that Volkswagen could nearly quadruple the annual sales of Alfa Romeo, if Fiat would only do the right thing and sell Volkswagen the ailing Alfa brand. Read More >

Hyundai and Kia are on a tear in the European market, having recently passed Toyota to become the best-selling Asian automaker in the EU (at 605,386 units, some 50k away from Daimler’s 2010 sales). And with its first Europe-centric product coming online, aimed at the heart of Europe’s 896k unit midsize segment, it hopes to keep the growth coming. In service of that goal, Hyundai is moving European production of its iX35 (Tucson) CUV from Kia’s plant in Zilina, Slovakia, to its own factory in Nosovice, Czech Republic, and adding an extra shift according to the WSJ. And unlike many of its European competitors, Hyundai is keeping its Euro-zone production capacity on the slim side, importing the forthcoming i40 from South Korea and the i10 from India, helping to keep the Korean automaker out of the overcapacity trap that plagues its competitors. Though Hyundai has good prospects for growth in Europe, production capacity expansions are being targeted at the developing markets that show more promise for growth.

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Three usually reliable research organizations agree: When automakers release February sales this coming week, they will be strong. Analysts see a sales increase of about 20 percent, and a SAAR in the 12 million territory. Read More >

In January, car imports to Japan shot up 53 percent, reports Automotive News’ [sub]Asia Editor Hans Greimel from Tokyo. Quick, who do you think takes top honors? Read More >

Today was the big day when Geely-bought Volvo wanted to announce its plans for the future. They did not disappoint. Read More >

In an extended interview with Reuters, Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn talks about the balancing act of leading two global automakers while maintaining their unique identities, a balance Ghosn says he wants to try to preserve even as the alliance looks to restructure its capital. Renault’s 44.3% stake in Nissan has caused some trouble with financial analysts because, as Ghosn puts it,

we are challenged (by financial markets) over how much capital we have imprisoned into the structure of the alliance. It’s a fair challenge. We are going to be studying and analyzing this with outsiders also, what are the ways to respond to these expectations from the financial markets without challenging the operating model which consists of keeping the two companies vibrant, motivated, engaged and keeping their identities

Does that mean a full merger? A new corporate structure? Where is Ghosn looking for answers as he attempts to give the markets what they want while maintaining the delicate balance between the needs of his two firms?

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Toyota Motor Corporation released global production, domestic sales and export results for January. Two words: Not good. While Toyota’s global peers can boast of surprising numbers for January, TMC’s worldwide production dropped by 3.9 percent across Toyota, Daihatsu and Hino. The Toyota brand has even less to show: Minus 4.7 percent. And this while the competition is busy dethroning the leader of the pack. Read More >

If you’re a brontosaurus, and you’re reading this, then your hindbrain is just now finding out about mommyblogger Crissy Kight Page and her refusal to spread (the good news about Toyota) for ten bucks. Well, there’s more news about Toyota out there now, and rather than wait for poor Tiffany Lewis of the recently deceased “Mommy Networks” to get the word out, I’m going to put my own money into this new publicity effort.

Mommybloggers, read on to find out how you can earn a $20 Amazon gift card, courtesy of yours truly,this very afternoon!

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One of the strongest criticisms issued in the Congressional TARP Oversight Panel’s most recent report on the auto bailout concerned GM’s lack of effort to bring its former captive lender GMAC (now called Ally Financial) back to the fold, an omission the Panel termed “disconcerting.” After all, Ally’s business is still closely intertwined with GM’s, as the financial firm provides 82% of GM’s dealer floorplanning and 38.2% of GM’s consumer loans. And, as bailed-out businesses (Ally is now 73.8% owned by the US Treasury), any competition between GM and Ally will result in a lose-lose scenario for taxpayers. In recent months it seemed that the two firms were moving towards a deal at the initiative of GM CEO Dan Akerson (and likely motivated to some extent by the COP’s criticisms), but now Bloomberg reports that there are no negotiations between GM and Treasury about a reconciliation of the two firms… in fact, with an Ally IPO planned for this year, it seems the two firms are going to war.

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Start the video, then click on the 3D button in the menu bar to select 3D or 2D format. You can also select resolution up to 1080p HD. Video courtesy of Ford Motor Company and Cars In Depth, where you can also find 3D images of Ford’s VR lab.

With a big push from the film, computer, video game, camera, and television set industries, 3D seems poised to become rather commonplace, particularly when passive display panels requiring no special eyeglasses will soon be at consumer level price points in just a year or so, I’d say. Some of the most sophisticated 3D technology in use today, though, is not in use in Hollywood, California, or Redmond, Washington, it’s in places called Dearborn, Auburn Hills and Warren, Michigan. The domestic automakers were early adopters of advanced computer aided design and manufacturing (CADCAM) as well as advanced computer imagery. They have some of the the most advanced tools available today and some of the most skilled and creative engineers and designers who develop and use those tools. Virtual reality is one of those tools. By projecting a realistic holographic or stereo display, stylists and exterior designers can get an accurate perspective on how their ideas will look without having to make time consuming and expensive scale and full size models. I think it’s pretty understandable that car companies would use 3D and VR for exterior design studies. Perhaps even more valuable to automakers, though, is how stereo image technology can be used in the interior design and engineering of modern cars.
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What ever happened to the fabled Japanese job security? Instead of kaizen (continuous improvement), there is continuous change. A week ago, The Nikkei [sub] predicted that Toyota will cut its sprawling board from 27 members down to a more manageable 10-15. The announcement will most likely come at a press conference on March 9. The announcement hasn’t even been made, and Honda is already following suit by reducing its number if suits. Read More >

“Kyo no asa nikkei wo yomimashitaka?” – did you read this morning’s Nikkei?

Today, this is the most uttered sentence in the Japanese auto industry. Under the headline “fast action needed to revamp carmakers”, Japan’s leading business daily rips its own carmakers several new orifices. The editorial doesn’t mince words:

“Japanese automakers lack the momentum of their South Korean and German rivals and may find themselves losing out big on the global stage unless they rethink their strategies.”

As far as the Nikkei is concerned, Japanese carmakers messed up big-time. Let’s start where it counts, at the bottom line: Read More >

Why does Warren Buffett have a headache? For quite a while, China’s BYD had been nothing but a miracle. Now, the Buffett-backed wunderkind turns outcast. To move their cars, BYD slashes prices down to the bone. Read More >