We’ve already got the Renault/Nissan Alliance, so why not a General Motors/ PSA Peugeot-Citroen one? Well according to PSA Chief Executive Philippe Varin that might just be a possibility, at least from a manufacturing standpoint.

Varin says that PSA is currently in talks with General Motors, discussing the possibility of GM teaming up with the French automaker to help stem the latter’s stagnant sales in Europe (on which it heavily relies) as well as helping reduce manufacturing costs.

The idea is to see both automakers develop and manufacture cars and powertrains through a joint effort in Europe, though each manufacturer would retain its separate branding, marketing and distribution network.

This is seen as adding benefits to both PSA and Opel, GM’s  European arm which, like Peugeot, is currently struggling to compete against giants like Volkswagen and Renault, thanks to high labor costs and limited manufacturing capacity.

The venture will also give Peugeot improved access to overseas markets such as China and South America; it could possibly even witness a return of the brand to the US for the first time since 1992.

However, any joint venture between the two companies will have to receive the blessing of the Peugeot family, which still controls some 30 percent of PSA stock. In addition with failed merger talks between Peugeot and Mitsubishi still relatively fresh on some minds, Varin is understandably cautious about any future alliances, though with European sales dropping by 8.8 percent last year and Peugeot stock halving in value over the last 12 months, any joint venture would certainly be welcome news.

In the meantime while discussions take place, Peugeot is doing what it can to weather the current economic storm, Varin having recently announced that the company will be selling some 1.5 billion euros ($1.98 billion) in assets to help alleviate debt, which currently stands at around 3.4 billion euros ($4.5 billion).

[Source: Auto News]

Of the major Japanese Automakers, Nissan Motors has been one of the least affected by natural disasters and the strengthening yen, effectively minimizing exposure to regional risks by erecting facilities overseas.

Nissan has announced plans to build another manufacturing complex in Aguascalientes, Mexico, to expand North American production. An investment worth $2.0 billion USD, the new facility will be joining two other Mexican Nissan factories already in place. When construction is completed, operations are projected to begin late in 2013, with an initial production capacity of 175,000 vehicles annually.

Operations in the new complex include body, trim, and chassis installation, paint manufacturing, associated parts warehousing, as well as an on-site test track for quality assurance tests of new vehicles. All this means that the manufacturing complex will provide up to 3,000 new jobs at the facility, and approximately 9,000 new jobs from supply chain and wider community. All in all, Nissan’s expansion will allow a total of 13,500 jobs provided for Aguascalientes.

Nissan currently makes up six of the ten most popular vehicles sold in Mexico. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said, “Mexico is a key engine for Nissan’s growth in the Americas. Together with our new plant in Brazil, this new manufacturing facility in Aguascalientes is an important pillar in our strategy to ensure that Nissan has the capacity it needs to increase sales volume and market share across the Americas.”

Jose Munoz, president and general director of Nissan Mexico adds, “No other automaker is investing in Mexico more than Nissan. Nissan’s investment in new manufacturing, engineering and technology resources in Aguascalientes validates what thousands of our employees, suppliers, and customers already know. Behind our market leadership is an unparalleled commitment to deliver the best vehicles for Mexico and more than 100 international markets.”

At least that’s the findings from Evalueserve’s White Paper, entitled “Platform Strategy Will Shape  the Future of OEMs.” Like many facets of  the auto industry, the concept of platform sharing is nothing new, automakers have been doing it for decades.

Yet, the realities of doing business in the 21st century mean that not only is it no longer acceptable for automakers to offer a range of badge engineered models (think back to GM’s J-cars of the 1980s), it simply isn’t financially feasible to have a range of unique, dedicated platforms either.

According to Evalueserve’s own analysis, last year, the top 20 global passenger car platforms accounted for some 40 percent of global sales, with realistic projections set to see these top 20 account for almost 50 percent of all global vehicle sales by 2015.

Yet as we move forward and automakers seek to maintain economies of scale, the number of vehicle architectures is expected to shrink still further, even as many brands aim to proliferate their model offerings as well as adding localized production, all in an effort to make their products appeal to a wider range of consumers in different global markets, while minimizing supply and tariff issues.

Evalueserve estimates that by 2020, the  major vehicle manufacturers; Daimler AG, Fiat/Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, PSA Peugeot/Citroen, Renault/Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen Group will have reduced the total number of vehicle architectures they use by a third.

In fact, not too long ago, GM declared that by 2018, it will have reduced its number of global vehicle architectures to just 14, down from 30 in 2010. The company also said this strategy should help it save some $1 billion each year, money that’s primarily contributed by product development programs.

Cutting costs these days seems to be all about building factories in the country meant to buy your products. Audi is following that mantra by announcing designs to build a plant in North America.

Doing so would help the brand avoid the pitfalls of the European economy and make the actual act of bringing vehicles to market much simpler.

“It’s not a matter of if we will do a plant in North America, but when,” Audi of America president Johan de Nysschen told WardsAuto. “The decision to do a plant, technically we’ve reached that conclusion. It’s a matter now of waiting to pull the trigger.” So that means we, and most everyone concerned with the auto industry, are asking just that— when? Though there isn’t a date settled, Audi might be motivated to move quickly in an effort to meet their 150,000 U.S. unit sales goal by 2015.

“One advantage of Mexico is that you could support the growing markets down in South America, Brazil,” said De Nysschen. “More so, you have the benefit of exporting cars into Europe duty-free.” Despite that, Mexico isn’t a definite destination. He also said there are definite advantages to building the plant in the U.S., though using Volkswagen‘s Chattanooga, TN plant isn’t an option because it is expected to be running at maximum capacity.

“Getting a plant allows us to have a higher degree of U.S. content. It allows us to have a natural hedge against that,” he said.

Even with such discussions, the fact remains heavily on Audi’s radar that their sales don’t currently justify building such a plant.

“We’ve got to build our business to get to the point where, with a combination of production for the U.S. and some exports to other markets, we can get the economies of scale to make that factory work.” In other words, the company is looking for much greater sales before staking out territory for their North American plant.

[Source: Wards Auto]

Ohio Governor John Kasich and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon made a visit to Detroit this week during the North American International Auto Show in an effort to bring U.S. automotive manufacturing to their respective states.

John Kasich said, “Contrary to popular opinion, the auto industry is getting stronger.” Ohio currently possesses the second-largest automotive industry work force in the nation behind neighboring Michigan. Home to Chrysler Group, Ford Motors and Gerneral Motors, Michigan also is the home to most of the world’s automotive parts suppliers. It is also in Michigan where government regulators are tasked with policy making in auto safety, emissions and fuel economy.

The chief engineer of Honda Research and Development in Detroit, Toshiaki Shimizu said, “People may have the wrong idea. Detroit is not becoming less important. It is more important. It remains the center of the automotive industry. We all come here because we must.”

Well aware of Michigan’s relevance, Ohio Governor John Kasich and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon spoke to a number of auto executives to reach agreements that prove to be mutually beneficial. Ford committed to $1 billion over a span of four years to upgrade Ohio’s driveline manufacturing plants. Honda will invest $400 million in improvements to its Ohio facilities to prepare for the production of its new Acura NSX hybrid sports car. Chrysler will add another 1,100 jobs and invest $1.7 billion into its Jeep plants of Toledo, Ohio. GM continues to build its Chevrolet Cruze in the Lordstown, Ohio, plant and will put in another $204,000 to upgrade its Toledo transmission plant.

On his first day in office, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon assembled the Automotive Jobs Task Force to attract investments to the state. In October, Ford announced that it will spend $1.1 billion  and add another 1,600 workers to assemble the Transit van alongside the F-150 Ford pickup trucks at the Kansas City, Missouri plant. GM will also invest $380 million into its Wentzville, Missouri plant, adding another 1,660 jobs as it expands assembly to include the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon.

Nixon explains, “we are here not just to talk to the manufacturers, but also to the suppliers. As the manufacturers invest and production rises, we are asking the suppliers what we can do to help them make the investments they need to make to support this.”

[Source: Detroit News]

It’s no secret that General Motors’ European arm, Opel/Vauxhall has been struggling. With an ongoing debt crisis in Europe, high labor costs in Germany and regional status, Opel is finding the going difficult against many rival automakers in its homeland, including traditional competitor VW, whose tentacles stretch far beyond the boundaries of Europe.

Last year, Adam Opel AG lost some $1.6 billion and although GM has been looking at plans to sell the ailing company, recent news suggests that it plans to keep Opel under it’s wing, at least for the time being. One aspect which would appear to confirm that is the appointment of Stephen Girsky to the role of chairman of the board, replacing Nick Reilly who is officially retiring.

During a recent statement, Girsky said that “in order to fully leverage [Opel's] potential we will continue to work on optimizing the cost structure, improve margins and make use of economies of scale within the group.”

One of the biggest obstacles is very high assembly costs, which have continued to put a major dent in Opel’s profitability even though its research and development arm remains first rate. In order to help deal with that issue, as well as Germany’s powerful IG Metall manufacturing union, GM is bringing in Peter Thom as it’s Opel manufacturing chief. Thom’s is armed with experience working in China and a mandate to significantly cut costs, two things that will no doubt have far reaching effects.

Despite concerns within Jeep, Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne confirmed yesterday that the Wrangler will continue to be manufactured in Toledo, Ohio exclusively.

The question about moving production comes for a couple of reasons. First, because of remarks made in September by Jeep brand CEO Mike Manley that Chrysler was exploring production of Jeep vehicles in China. Second, because Wranglers are selling better than expected, and breaking monthly sales records.

“This plant has been at the heart of what we’ve done. I’ve said publicly that I would never build the Wrangler outside the U.S. and outside of Toledo. These are things that are unthinkable — to assemble a Wrangler somewhere else,” Marchionne said.

Marchionne’s comments came during a press conference where he talked about Chrysler’s recent $500 million investment into the same Toledo plant to build the next generation of Jeep Liberty.

Yesterday, union officials said that November produciton for the Wrangler surpassed the monthly sales record of 14,355 set in July. Sales for the Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited collectively rose by 28 percent through October. It’s a sign that the brand is still expanding steadily, but that could be cause for concern.

Chrysler has yet to expand production capacity at the Toledo Supplier Park, which assembles the Wrangler and is part of the Toledo Assembly Complex. That means Jeep might not be able to keep up with demand for Wranglers, especially given that they are expanding into Europe.

“The horrible thing about Jeep is that it’s never had the chance to be exploited internationally. We’ve started a very active marketing effort in Europe now with Jeep, and we’ve had phenomenal results. Sales are doubling almost every 12 months,” Marchionne said.

“As we open up the distribution network to Jeep, it’s becoming probably the star of the European market, and I have similar expectations for Jeep, especially in the eastern part of Europe, and in China and Russia,” he said.

Gallery: 2011 Jeep Wrangler

[Source: Automotive News]

In defiance of a largely stagnant economy, Audi is ramping up production of its A8 flagship sedan in anticipation of steady demand for luxury cars, particularly in China.

Albrect Reimold, who runs Audi’s second largest assembly plant in Nerkarsulm, in Southwestern Germany, which builds the car, along with A7 Sportback and R8 recently stated “we’re extremely busy and have reason to believe this trend will continue for some time.”

The plant has been hiring staff and Reimold expects output to jump by some 21 percent during 2011, which would result in a record production total of some 260,000 cars for the year.

In similar moves, Audi’s chief rivals, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are also increasing production and are even building new factories, despite the debt crisis and economic uncertainty that continues to plague much of Europe. BMW says it predicts global vehicle sales of some 1.6 million for 2011 (up from original estimates of some 1.5 million), while Mercedes says demand for M-B and Smart models should outstrip 2010 totals, which were some 1.35 million units.

Nevertheless, despite bucking the current economic trends, there are some industry analysts who feel that this apparent growth from the big three German luxury car makers probably won’t sustain itself over the longer term.

Marcus Kappler, deputy head of economic analysis at the ZEW Center for Economic Research in Manheim, Germany, believes that the automakers won’t be able to ‘de-couple’ themselves from an economy that’s clearly normalizing.

His sentiments are echoed by Henner Lehne, a Frankfurt based analyst with research firm IHS Automotive, who believes that economic realities will probably hit the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes next year. “Customers are becoming more cautious,” he says. “Big-ticket items sell less well in difficult times.”  However, he did say that even in such circumstances, luxury buyers still tend to have more money to spend, therefore an economic slowdown might not hit high-end carmakers as hard as those catering to the mass market.

It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out.

GALLERY: 2011 Audi A8

[Source: Automotive News]

This year hasn’t been the kindest to Japanese automakers Honda and Toyota. The devastation wrought by March’s earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, resulted in severe disruptions to their supply chains, causing dealer inventories to run low and other automakers to gain ground in sales.

However, after a dismal July, there are signs that both Honda and Toyota are gaining momentum; supply from Japan has improved, while factories in North America are running in overdrive in an effort to boost vehicle inventory to more ‘normal’ levels.

Even though rivals, including Detroit’s big three, have gained ground this year as a result of problems facing the Japanese duo, most seem to view  Honda and Toyota’s improving fortunes quite favorably.

Don Johnson, General Motors’ US sales head, believes that more Hondas and Toyotas on dealer lots will help stimulate overall growth in new car sales, bringing back buyers who’ve been sitting on the fence. ”A lot of brand-loyal customers have chosen to sit on the sidelines until selection and price improve,” he says. “They will be coming back into the market.”

That said, it is likely to be some time before inventory levels reach pre-March totals. Randy Pflughaupt, group vice president of sales administration for Toyota, believes it will be 2012 before the automaker achieves year-over-year sales increases; Honda meanwhile, is currently running at around 95 percent of normal production in Japan, with full inventory achieved on all US product lines bar the Civic which traditionally is one of it’s most popular models.

According to a number industry analysts, it’s inventory that defines the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the marketplace and right now, as it stands, Domestic brands are leading the way, Chrysler boasting a 72 day supply on its vehicles, allowing it to post a 20 percent gain in sales during July, as Honda and Toyota combined, slipped 6.9 percent. Ford, with a 54 day supply has seen sales jump by 13 percent for the bread and butter brand and 40 percent for Lincoln in the same period. GM, with a 73 day supply has reported gains of some 8 percent.

“Whoever has the cars, outsells everybody,” declared Ralph Martinez, a Chrysler dealer principal from Wilsonville, Oregon. “People are out there buying,” he said, but “they’re going to places that have a good selection.”

[Source: Automotive News]

Ford will invest over $1 billion in new factories located in northwest India, to better capture its growing market.

The plants will build around 250,000 cars aimed at two sectors Ford lags in sales, the Asian and African markets—including India itself, where car sales grew 29% in the last year, with 2.5 million cars. Ford only claims 3% of the car market there: compare this to Brazil, where Ford enjoys a 10% hold on new car sales.

Ford will build two factories by 2014 that will employ 5,000 people and be able to build 240,000 cars and 270,000 engines. The northwest state of Gujarat was chosen for Ford’s investment because of its pro-business regulations as well as easy access to international ports. Further south in India, Ford already has a facility that also employs 5,000 people in manufacturing and another 5,000 in office work.

[Source: New York Times]