Americans are saying “yes” to the 2012 Volkswagen Passat and the German giant is responding in kind by boosting production and adding jobs.

200 more positions are being created at the Chatanooga, Tenn. plant that already manufactures the car. According to Automotive News, the company will achieve this goal by increasing the number of cars produced per hour from 31 to 35. The plant opened in 2011 as part of VW’s plan to boost American sales to 800,000 by 2018.

We’re certainly not complaining about more Passats being available. Changes to the 2012 model make it feel a lot more like a luxury car. Some folks may struggle with the $33,000 price tag for the top-end model, but the base S starts at just $19,995. Read our review here and decide for yourself.

GALLERY: 2012 Passat SEL V6

[Source: Automotive News]

Chevrolet‘s Cruze conundrum is causing collateral damage for Buick and continuing longer than expected.

General Motors halted production at the Lordstown, Ohio plant of the globally distributed sedan, citing problems with a parts supplier, though the company didn’t disclose specifics.

“A further process review shows General Motors is not ready to resume production of the Chevrolet Cruze at the Lordstown Complex as announced earlier,” said the company in a statement.

The Cruze isn’t the only car being affected by the shortage: the Buick Verano (pictured above), which uses many of the same parts and shares its platform with the Cruze is also being stalled. The Verano is manufactured at a different plant near Detroit, but is suffering the same production delays.

GM remains tight-lipped about what is causing the delay, but according to Automotive News sources close to the situation say struts shared by both car’s suspensions are a likely culprit.

Production will resume at the Lordstown plant at 10:30 p.m. today after production of the popular car sat stagnant for four days.

There is no information so far on when the Michigan plan will resume production.

Gallery: 2012 Buick Verano

[Source: Automotive News]

Honda announced today that they would use excess capacity at their Alabama plant following a $300 million investment in the facility. The investment will allow for a total of 340,000 units anually.

Rising exchange rates are forcing Honda to devote more resources to North American production while reducing exports. Honda will shift their Acura MDX luxury SUV to the plant from their Canadian factory in Ontario, and use their Ontario plant to produce the 2012 Honda CR-V crossover.

[Source: Reuters]

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]

While Thailand is mostly known for sandy beaches, fake watches and other pleasures that need to be paid for in cash, Thailand has a strong manufacturing base, with many automakers producing vehicles and components in the developing nation.

October’s flooding, which ravaged the Southeast Asian country, made a major dent in the production figures of Japanese automakers in particular. Toyota estimates that it lost 87,000 vehicles alone due to the flooding. Other automakers, like Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi are just re-starting production as well.

Honda was impacted fairly strongly, although their power products and motorcycles seem to have been hit the hardest. Honda’s CBR250R motorcycle, a popular entry-level bike, is built in Thailand, though the flood’s effect on their automobiles (like the Brio city car) has not been fully discovered.

[Source: Automotive News]

According to Inside Line, Saab may be ready to re-start production at its factories in as little as 8 weeks, after being sold to two Chinese automakers for $142 million.

While Saab was valued at $660 million this summer, both Pang Da and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. managed to purchase the company at a rock bottom price after a number of other deals failed to materialize. Chinese companies now own both Saab and Swedish automaker Volvo.

Saab’s Swedish factories have been idled since March, but could be up and running in as little as 2 months. The company claims to have 11,000 vehicle orders on the books, and may even bring the 2012 9-5 SportCombi station wagon to this April’s New York Auto Show if all goes smoothly in the upcoming months.

[Source: Inside Line]

The world’s economy stinks, gas is expensive and we’re all watching our wallets closely.

You might assume that would also indicate less car parts being sold, but not for diesel engine manufacturer Cummins. “Several of the economies where Cummins operates are clearly weakening,” COO Tom Linebarger told analysts last month. “We really don’t know how deep it will go. We are confident in the long-term profitable growth of the company.”

The Columbus, Ind. based manufacturer builds natural gas and diesel engines and despite the worlds money woes is projecting a sharp rise in diesel fuel demand. Last month Cummins told analysts they forecast to grow by more than 60 per cent and reach $30 billion in 2015.

Over the next five years the company also plans to hire 7000 new engineers to compensate for increased demand. They hope doing so will allow them to develop new engines to meet increasingly stringent efficiency standards.

They owe their expansion in large part to overseas demand in emerging economies like China and South America and India where there is still high demand for construction equipment, but it isn’t the only reason.

The company is also expanding its production for consumer vehicles. Nissan is currently working on putting a 2.8-liter direct injection turbocharged four-cylinder from Cummins into its 2015 Titan pickup. Once available, the new generation Titan will be one of the most efficient full-size pickups on the market.

Cummins also supplies diesel engines to Chrysler Group in the U.S. light vehicle market and to Dodge for its line of Ram pickup trucks.

[Source: autonews.com]

Kia will hold off on expanding its production facilities and sales targets in favor of improving the quality of its vehicles, CEO Lee Sam-ung told Automotive News at a launch event for its new Rio hatchback.

“Quantitative growth is important, but qualitative growth is also important. We plan to focus on improving product quality and our brand,” said Sam-ung. Industry analysts worry that limited production capacity will be the biggest factor stunting Kia’s future growth. Sam-ung set a goal of 2.5 million vehicles sold in 2011, and wants to boost Rio sales from 110,000 in 2011 to 260,000 in 2012.

Sam-ung also said that Kia will get an all-electric compact car in 2015, one year after Hyundai launches their own model.

[Source: Automotive News]

General Motors will idle its Fort Wayne, Indiana plant for one week in November to help bring pickup truck production in line with slowing demand.

The plant will be idled for the week of November 7th, and no Chevrolet Silverado or GMC Sierra pickups will be produced at that time. GM has reported a 108 day supply of full-size pickups for the month of August, while an 80-day supply is considered a normal figure. GM said that sales of the Silverado and Sierra are up 7 and 18 percent respectively.

[Source: Automotive News]