GM offered $2.6M tax break to stay at RenCen

The state Tuesday approved additional tax incentives to ensure General Motors Co. keeps its headquarters in Detroit and help several companies create jobs in a state stung by manufacturing cuts.---...More

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Chrysler revamps electric program

Chrysler Group LLC is restructuring its electric program as it works to develop hybrids and electric vehicles for its own brands as well as for partner Fiat SpA---...More

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GM to put electric Cadillac Converj into production

General Motors Co. will expand its electric vehicle lineup by building the Cadillac Converj, a luxury car some feared would never move beyond the concept stage because of GMs financial troubles.--...More

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GM's Reilly to manage Opel/Vauxhall until CEO is found

General Motors' head of international operations, Nick Reilly, will assume responsibility immediately for GMs Opel and Vauxhall operations in Europe until a new CEO is appointed.---...More

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GM hourly workers face permanent layoffs

Detroit -- While General Motors Co. does not plan any deep job cuts, the automaker still has too many hourly workers and could permanently eliminate some of the 6,000 to 7,000 workers currently on layoff---...More

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Chrysler lays out lofty revival plan

Auburn Hills -- Chrysler Group LLC Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne laid out an ambitious, detailed plan Wednesday to revive the struggling Auburn Hills automaker by replenishing its lineup with high-quality and attractive models to more than double sales within five years and start generating profit in 2011.---...More

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GM will cut jobs in Opel strategy

Washington -- General Motors Co. said Wednesday some 10,000 European jobs will be sacrificed at its money-losing Adam Opel GmbH unit, which the automaker decided this week to keep, rather than sell to Canadas Magna International Inc. and its Russian partner, Sberbank.----...More

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Marchionne: Man with the plan to rescue Chrysler

CEO to unveil his 5-year strategy Wednesday

From the dark rumpled sweaters he wears most days to his modest, fourth-floor command post at the Chrysler Tech Center in Auburn Hills, Sergio Marchionne has said that he is intent on debunking the "Great Man" theory of leadership.
"At Fiat, we have created a culture where everyone is expected to lead," he wrote last December in the Harvard Business Review....More

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Toyota Designs Fuel Efficient Cars, but can't design a floor mat- 3.8 Million Recalled

3.8 Million Toyota cars recalled for floor mats. They have balled up under brakes and caused accelerators to stick.

Washington -- Toyota Motor Corp. began mailing notices this week to 3.8 million vehicle owners, urging them to remove their floor mats while it seeks a remedy for reports of sudden, unintended acceleration.....More

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$5.6 billion in new capital in GMAC

The Treasury Department plans to inject up to $5.6 billion in new capital in GMAC -- the latest effort to help the auto finance giant, a government official confirmed late Tuesday....More

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2010 Dodge Ram truck intro to be well financed

Scott Burgess / The Detroit News
The 2010 Dodge Ram Heavy pickup will hit dealerships in a few weeks with a new look and the same powerful engines, but with a well-financed marketing campaign in tow, Chrysler LLC executives said Tuesday.

"There is pent-up demand in all of the markets, especially the truck market," said Mark Heber, director of Dodge Ram marketing. "All we need is a little bit of an uptick in the economy and things could take off."

Heber said the automaker, which emerged from bankruptcy in July, remains committed to the truck and will have a substantial marketing budget. He declined to give figures or say how soon the campaign will begin....More

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Chrysler's product plans to be shown in 'six-hour extravaganza'

WINDSOR, Ont. — Some industry analysts are calling it "a six-hour extravaganza." That's the length of time Chrysler Group LLC has allotted for the public unveiling of its long-awaited, five-year product and business plan.

Journalists and auto analysts will gather at the Technology Centre at the automaker's Auburn Hills, Mich., headquarters Nov. 4 to hear CEO Sergio Marchionne finally release details of how he intends to integrate Fiat and Chrysler in a way that ensures the No. 3 automaker's survival.

Although his revival efforts face an avalanche of skepticism, the Italian-Canadian CEO is being compared to industry icon Lee Iacocca. Following a speech recently to the Detroit Economic Club, U.S. Transportation SecretaryRay Lahood said Marchionne is "the next generation of Lee Iacocca....More

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