#manufacturing

General Motors announced today that it will invest $174 million in a new stamping facility as part of its Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant.

The automotive business is a lot like nature; only the strong survive. Accordingly this industry’s slow lane is littered with the bloody corpses of deceased marques. Once-proud companies like Pontiac, Hupmobile, Willys-Knight and Hudson are long gone but not all of them are forgotten.

China is the wild, wild east of the automotive industry. Home to more than 1 billion people and counting, it’s a hugely important market for car companies. There are many domestic brands over there but curiously foreign companies are making significant headway.

Buick will soon be able to market itself, at least in part, as a company with “German car quality.”

Toyota said today that it plans to shutter its Australian auto manufacturing operation by 2017.

Chrysler executives are examining the possibility of adding a third truck plant to meet strong demand for Ram pickups. 

An announcement  about Chrysler’s next generation of minivans is expected very soon although it in’t clear when that will happen.

General Motors might have already come to a final decision about the future of its vehicle manufacturing operation in Australia.

Michigan, it’s more than just Great Lakes, the Big Three and the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. To the surprise of many, GM, Ford and Chrysler aren’t the only games in town. Practically every major OEM and supplier company has offices, technical centers or test facilities in the mitten state, and Toyota is making a major investment its facilities.

Ford has developed a new technology to rapidly form sheet metal, allowing the company to deliver prototypes in as little as three business days.

There will be fewer boxes to check for Chrysler vehicles starting with the 2014 model year.

Production of the Porsche Cayenne has resumed at a slow pace after being stopped because of floods in the Czech Republic. 

Aston Martin confirmed that its partnership with Italian investment fund Investindustrial is complete.

Production is outpacing demand at Volkswagen’s first U.S. manufacturing plant since 1988, prompting the brand to cut 500 contract jobs.

Chrysler made a series of big announcements today at its Mack I Engine Plant in Detroit.