US ECONOMY FORCES CHRYSLER REVIEW:Chrysler is re-examining its recovery plan in light of the downturn in the US vehicle market and may jettison some of its Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models, Bob Nardelli, the carmaker's new chief executive, said last week.
Making his first public appearance since taking the reins at Chrysler last month, he told the Automotive Press Association in Detroit that his motto was "listen, learn and lead", and that "my goal is not to slow things down but to speed things up".
HARLEY-DAVIDSON CUTS:Sagging US consumer demand for recreational products has led motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson to cut production, resulting in a projected 4 to 6 per cent drop in 2007 profits. The company's shares fell 9 per cent to $49.28 (€35.63) yesterday. Though the cut came as little surprise to analysts, it was bigger than most had estimated. Harley now expects to ship between 86,000 and 88,000 motorcycles in the third quarter, down from its earlier estimate of 91,000-95,000 units.
MERC'S 'MILD' HYBRID S-CLASS FOR 2009:Mercedes is set to become the first car firm to sell a hybrid vehicle with lithium ion batteries when it introduces its "mild" hybrid S-Class in 2009.
The German firm has stolen a march on Toyota, which had planned to have the lighter lithium batteries in its next generation Prius, due in 2010.
US HOUSING MARKET BLAMED FOR DROP IN SALES:The chief of General Motors said yesterday that the company was watching the downturn in the US housing market closely and blamed the softness there for weakness in vehicle sales.
In an interview at the Frankfurt Motor Show, chief executive Rick Wagoner said the company was watching the situation because the property market's woes were spilling over into car showrooms.
"It's created an environment where people are a little tense and when they get a little tense they hold onto their dollars and hold their cars a little longer," Wagoner said.
CYRIL McHUGH TO RETIRE FRM SIMI:Cyril McHugh has announced that he is to retire as chief executive of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).
McHugh became the face of the Irish motor industry after taking up the SIMI position in 1991. In that time he has been at the forefront of several major motor industry campaigns, most notably the "Axe the Tax" sticker campaign of the late 1990s that aimed to pressurise the government into reforming Vehicle Registration Tax.
He was also instrumental in getting the 1995 car scrappage scheme introduced, which was extended by the Minister for Finance until December 1997, by which time some 60,000 old cars were taken off the roads.
HONDA SALES UP 20%:Honda expects to sell 370,000 cars in Europe this year, up 20 per cent from 2006 and above a previous forecast of 350,000 units, the head of its European operations said yesterday. "We may even get close to 390,000 units," Honda Motor Europe president Shigeru Takagi said at the Frankfurt show.
Honda's sales in Europe climbed 23 per cent to 194,600 vehicles in the first half of 2007, with sales in Russia soaring 220 per cent to 13,610 units.