Did we say that the strike at a crucial Chinese parts plant is being closely watched? Last week, a 20 percent pay rise was given at a Honda-owned transmission plant, and slowly, everything went back to normal. Until today. Honda is in trouble again. (Read More…)

Toyota must have recalled what seems to be all its cars on the road (well, some 8m to 9m worldwide to be halfway exact.) Now it’s Chrysler’s turn. Last week’s announcement for pedals with sticktion was just the warm-up. The serious recalls are coming now.

Chrysler is recalling some 575,000 Jeeps and Dodge and Chrysler minivans, says Bloomberg. (Read More…)

China’s Changan could make an own-brand car, based on technology acquired from joint venture partner Ford, says Automotive News [sub]. It would likely be a mid-sized sedan, based on a Ford platform. It would be produced in Changan’s plant in Nanjing, near Shanghai. (Read More…)

On Wednesday, June 9 2010, the German government will decide whether they’ll grant Opel live support. Or whether Berlin gives Opel a pat on the head and best wishes for their future endeavors. That’s the current plan, says Die Zeit, based on reports by the German wire service DPA. Plans can change, as they did in the past.

It looks grim for Opel. (Read More…)

GM and Ford reported new monthly record sales in China, says the usually reliable government-owned China Daily. Really?

Ford said its China sales rose 17.8 percent. Ford is a relative nobody in China. File under “never mind.”

GM China’s May numbers are much more remarkable. They need to be carefully read. Tread carefully: Cleverly hidden landmines ahead! (Read More…)

After on-again and off-again attempts at an Eurasian marriage (which I would unreservedly endorse,) Mitsubishi and PSA are doing the thing currently en vogue in Europe: Live happily in sin, and produce little ones. Very little ones. (Read More…)

China is an important market for Daimler. China already buys more S-Class cars than any other country. Why not buy a chunk of Daimler and get it over with? The Chinese would find open doors: Daimler’s CFO Bodo Uebber “would welcome it if there are Chinese names in our shareholder structure.” (Read More…)

Chrysler is sending out recall notices to owners of 25,000 Dodge Calibers and Jeeps. The reason: Accelerator pedals could become stuck and cause unintended acceleration, Chrysler said according to a report in Reuters. Sound familiar? Wait, there is more … (Read More…)

Drivers tooling around East College Avenue that runs past the Penn State campus showed symptoms of distracted driving after an encounter with an electronic road sign. It flashed the common “Stay Safe PA,” followed by a highly uncommon “Check for Smegma.”

To those not in the know, Centre Daily provided the needed trivia: (Read More…)

The NHTSA has definitely shut down on-line access to attachments in their Office of Defect Investigation complaint database. It’s about time, but it isn’t enough. To quote Kris Kristofferson, the database has always been “a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction.” The database has been abused for political propaganda purposes. Now, that it has served its purpose, the database is being shut down. Partially. They have locked away the only content that is of real value: The evidence. We preserved some. To show you what you will be missing. (Read More…)

Got a nice empty property in an industrial park in Germany? Centrally located, close to a major airport like Frankfurt, or Munich would be a plus? Then we know some Chinese you may want to talk to. They are in Shenzhen and work for BYD. BYD is coming to Europe. And they want to put their European HQ right into the German hornet’s nest. (Read More…)

Customizing their own cars is the latest trend amongst carmakers. Now available at Shanghai Baozen Zhonghuan Automobile Sales and Service Co, an authorized BMW dealer in Shanghai: A 3-Series, blinged out with Swarovski crystals. On hearing the news, Global Times, the usually sedate English-typing sister publication of the usually very sedate party organ Peoples’ Daily, couldn’t help it and headlines: “BMW adds sparkle.” (Read More…)

Woken up by the Tata Nano warning shot (which so far seems to be a dud), everybody agrees that the key to making India “the next China” is to start small. Why does Suzuki own more than half of India’s market? Small cars.  And motorcycles. Another key to emerging markets is to give people an easy upgrade path from two wheels to four wheels. Remember how BMW got started? Remember that the initial business plan for the Volkswagen was to offer citizens of the Third Reich a car for the price of a motor cycle?

No wonder manufacturers are scouring their line-up for cars small enough for the huge Indian market. (Read More…)

If anybody would offer me Nick Reilly’s job, I would scream. I don’t have the nerves the assignment takes. Yesterday, Opel made headlines for losing 51.5 percent in May. In today’s mass publication BILD Zeitung, there is even worse news: (Read More…)

Remember carmageddon? It is not forgotten in Germany. As a matter of fact, Germany’s biggest carmageddon happened last month, in May. While champagne corks popped in the U.S., propelled by a 19 percent plus in May, the Germans are crying into their beers. According to numbers released by the German Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA,) the new car market collapsed by heart attack inducing 35.1 percent in May. That’s not the worst part of the story. (Read More…)