Industry News
News for 8th December 2005
Jaguar XK’s pop-up bonnet wins Prince Michael International Road Safety Award
The all-new Jaguar XK was awarded the Engineering and Technology Award at the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards on 6 December. This year Jaguar has been recognised for the ‘pedestrian deployable’ bonnet in the new XK sports car.
US firm launches rooftop solar panels for hybrids
A Nevada-based alternative energy developer, Solatec LLC, has launched flexible, rooftop-mounted photovoltaic solar panels for hybrid vehicles, starting with a kit for the 2004-2006 Toyota Prius. The $2,195 kits will be made available through dealer franchises.
A prototype has been operating in North Eastern USA for several months under mixed driving conditions. With Solatec panels installed on the roof, the prototype ‘SolaPrius’ averages 55 mpg (city) and 62 mpg (highway) - an overall 10 per cent improvement over the pre-installation numbers. All-season testing is in progress.
Solatec's photovoltaic kit (patents applied for) adds two flexible, conformal panels that charge the hybrid automobile's auxiliary battery through a proprietary charger/current-limiter system concealed behind interior trim panels. The self-adhesive, rooftop-mounted panels are only 0.6mm thick and cause no change in aerodynamic drag.
Development of the hybrid vehicle solar panels came about as a side project of Solatec LLC's solar aircraft research, which uses the same flexible photovoltaic panels to sustain the aircraft in flight. The same aircraft grade adhesive is used on both systems.
Kits for other hybrid cars are presently in development and testing.
(www.solatecllc.com)
MG Rover Task Force 6-month report: collapse cost around 9,000 jobs
The MG Rover Task Force’s report six months after the company's April entry into administration shows fewer people than originally predicted had been made redundant in the West Midlands as a result of MG Rover's closure, and more than 1,300 jobs in the supply chain had been saved.
The impact on employment levels is likely to have been around 9,000 jobs – this is equivalent to roughly 1 in 250 jobs in the region. The initial fall in gross valuen added – GVA - is likely to have been in the order of 0.2% of the regional total. The Task Force’s assessment of the medium to longer term impact reflects the success of the Task Force and the overall resilience of the regional economy:
The prospects for former MG Rover and supplier workers of regaining employment are described as good – with a likely re-employment rate within 18 months of over 75%. This is in the context of the incomparable circumstances of an overnight mass redundancy with a major plant closure, an older work force (67% over 40), above average salaries, and a varied skills base.
The medium term impact on the economy could be £50-£90 m p.a. in GVA (0.1% of the regional total. In the longer term, it is possible that GVA will bounce back entirely or even improve, although the overall fall in employment could be from 1-3,000 jobs.
The impacts are very much concentrated in South West Birmingham, North Worcestershire, and the South Black Country, where the majority of former MG Rover workers live. The pattern for the supply chain is more dispersed, although there is a significant cluster in the Coventry area.
(www.advantagewm.co.uk/mg-rover-task-force)
Ford North America restructuring could cut 25,000-30,000 jobs – Detroit News
Ford’s restructuring plans, discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday by the company’s board of directors, could involve closing at least 10 assembly and component plants and eliminating 25,000 to 30,000 hourly-paid jobs in North America within five years, the Detroit News said yesterday. No details of Ford’s plans have yet been announced by the company itself, and are not expected to be outlined until 23 January next year.
The Detroit News report involves far more job casualties than other reports had forecast at the beginning of the week, and brings the number of forecast Ford job losses into line with GM’s recently-announced 30,000.
Wall Street took the normally well-informed Detroit News’ story at face value and saw Ford shares climb by 2 per cent yesterday.
A previous restructuring plan announced by Ford chairman and CEO Bill Ford would have cut about 20,000 job cuts in the company’s North American operations.
Coincident with speculation on Ford’s North American cost reductions, the US consumer website thecarconnection.com suggests that Renault is considering offering to buy Jaguar from Ford, having failed to make a significant market impact with its own larger cars. Quoting a report in the French business magazine L'Expansion, the site says Ford might be more likely to accept an offer for the consistently loss-making Jaguar than it was when Renault reportedly offered to buy Volvo Cars.
GM confirms discussions on board representation with Tracinda
General Motors issued a formal news release yesterday confirming that it is in discussions with Tracinda Corp. regarding possible representation on GM's Board of Directors.
Jerry York, a former chief financial officer of Chrysler Corp., is understood by US media to be representing Kirk Kerkorian, whose Tracinda Corp. holds about 9.9 per cent of GM's common stock, and stands to be paid 4 per cent of any profit Kerkorian may make on his GM investment, but is locked in until 2009, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Entrepreneur Kirk Kerkorian hired York as a consultant to his investment vehicle Tracinda Corp. when he purchased GM shares in June. Seven months later, his 56 million GM shares are worth $390 million less than the $1.7 billion he paid for them.
Daihatsu Terios successor will be also supplied under Toyota brand
Daihatsu Motor, which is due to start production of its next compact SUV early next year, will supply a proportion of its 40,000 p.a. output for sale by parent firm Toyota, the Kyodo News agency reported today. The model, called ‘Be Go’ in Japan, will replace the Terios model imported to Britain until production was halted last month.
Toyota has previously confirmed plans consolidate Japanese production of smaller vehicles at Daihatsu. Daihatsu Auto Body's plant, which commenced production late in 2004 with an initial annual capacity of 150,000 units, is now expanding capacity to 200,000 units for 2006, after investment of 9 billion yen, and is expected to expand further to 250,000 vehicles by the end of next year.
End of the road for Volga
Russia's GAZ (Gorky Automobile Plant) will stop manufacturing the Soviet-era Volga car model “which no longer corresponds to modern realities”, and will no longer design its own cars, according to its owner, the Bazovy Element company, whose chairman delivered the news in a speech to the Carnegie Foundation in Washington, DC yesterday.
The plant will henceforth concentrate on commercial and military vehicle and bus production.
(Itar-Tass agency)
Kia UK appoints new sales and operations directors
Kia Motors’ UK sales company is restructuring its sales, supply and planning operations following the departure of Howard Slade, sales director after four and a half years with the brand. Alex Smith has been appointed Commercial Director following a restructuring of the company.
Alex Smith joined Kia in December 2003 as General Manager of Sales Channel Strategy. In his new role he will bring under one roof the responsibility for sales programmes, logistics, the coordination of production and distribution, the implementation of systems and facilities such as the new import centre at Killingholme, the development of fleet programmes and used car programmes in the network as well as managing the firm’s field force.
California ‘NEV’ use surveyed
Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) users in California are eliminating one-third of ozone- forming emissions they would normally produce each year, according to a new study of street-legal EV use. In all, California's 15,000 owners of neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) cut the state's total ozone-forming emissions by 8.5 tons per year.
"About one-third of a NEV owner's yearly harmful tailpipe emissions are eliminated simply by using the electric vehicle instead of a conventional vehicle for short trips," said Larry Oswald of DaimlerChrysler Corporation, whose Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) subsidiary is the largest manufacturer of such vehicles.
Oswald is CEO of Global Electric Motorcars, LLC (GEM), a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler and the world's largest manufacturer of NEVS. Oswald and GEM President Rick Kasper presented findings of the recent California study during the Electric Drive Transportation Association Conference & Exposition in Vancouver yesterday.
Siemens VDO buys American Electronic Components assets
Siemens VDO yesterday completed the acquisition of some of American Electronic Components, Inc.'s (AEC) employees, assets and technology, to advance towards a market leadership position in the North American automotive sensors segment.
"This acquisition brings Siemens VDO additional engineering and design capabilities to grow our expertise in automotive sensor technology and secure a more competitive market position in the NAFTA region," said Siemens VDO Sensors Division General Manager Bret Sauerwein. "AEC has the ability to quickly take a product from concept to production using their experienced engineering team. They have a history of designing highly engineered sensors that can impact both existing and new market segments."
American Electronic Components (AEC), located in Elkhart, Indiana, designs, manufactures and markets sensors used in automotive, heavy truck, off-highway and marine applications. The company specializes in antilock brake system (ABS) camshaft, crankshaft and transmission speed sensors using both "Hall Effect" and variable reluctance (VR) sensing technology. AEC also produces a wide range of Hall Effect-based, non-contacting position sensors used in various applications, such as chassis ride height, transmission range and accelerator pedal position.
In the immediate future, Siemens VDO intends to use the former AEC location as the company's North American headquarters for its Sensors division.
Frost & Sullivan forecasts diesel penetration of North American market
Frost & Sullivan expects clean diesels to capture up to 10 per cent of North American light vehicle powertrain sales by 2015, around three to four times the penetration of 2004. New analysis in Frost & Sullivan’s Strategic Analysis of North American Automotive Light Diesel Technologies, shows that light automotive diesel powertrains captured unit sales of around 500,000 in model year 2004, and are estimated to reach 2 million units by model year 2015.
A favorable outcome for diesels is not yet seen as a done deal, however. By 2009, U.S. automotive diesels (under EPA tier 2, bin 5) are required to have tailpipe emissions just as clean as spark-ignited gasoline engines. That is, almost zero noxious emissions levels for both types of engines. That scenario requires near-heroic efforts for diesel engine designers involving elaborate and costly aftertreatments, and potential use of alternative lower-temperature combustion technologies.
Tier 1 system suppliers are working hard to help diesel engine builders minimize engine-out emissions (with various DI techniques, such as higher common-rail injection pressures and more injection events per cycle, combustion chamber/piston bowl modifications, and exhaust gas recirculation [EGR] technology), as well as reduced tailpipe-out emissions via effective exhaust aftertreatments downstream of the engine. The above strategies, plus alternative combustion schemes could help the automotive diesel industry to survive and prosper in North America.
Strategic Analysis of North American Automotive Light Diesel Technologies forms part of Frost & Sullivan’s Automotive Advanced Technologies subscription. An overview of the research is available by email from Tolu Babalola - Corporate Communications at tolu.babalola@frost.com to enquirers providing the following information: full name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail address, city, state, and country.
Japanese equity fund to sell $1.1bn MMC stake
Phoenix Capital, the Japanese private equity fund which led a $10bn rescue of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMC) with other Mitsubishi group companies, is to sell its entire $1.1bn holding in the company, to JPMorgan, which will then immediately sell the shares to a group of institutional investors and hedge funds, reports the Financial Times. Phoenix had already reduced its MMC holding from 17 per cent to 12 per cent earlier this year and sold those shares to JPMorgan.
DaimlerChrysler sold its 12.42 per cent holding in MMC to Goldman Sachs in November, which then resold those shares to other investors.
The latest transaction will leave Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as MMC’s largest shareholder with a 15 per cent of the equity, followed by Mitsubishi Corp with 14 per cent.
Toyota plans domestic fuel cell electricity supply development
Toyota is developing fuel cell systems to generate electricity in the home in collaboration with Aisin Seiki, according to company officials’ statements reported in Japanese media yesterday. Toyota has already collaborated with Toho Gas Co. to test fuel-cell cogeneration systems in Japanese homes.
Toyota is planning to take part in Japanese government-subsidised fuel cell demonstration tests, along with other utility firms. If a market for home fuel cell systems are to take off, their price will have to drop by about ten times to around 500,000 yen, and they will have to prove more durable, according to Toyota.
(The Japan Times online, 8 December)
