* Germany - Daimler seeks to extend van partnership with Volkswagen
Stuttgart,Germany -Reuters -Sep 9, 2012: -- Daimler will reach out to Volkswagen in September to see whether a partnership to build light commercial vehicles can be extended, as VW forges ahead with closer ties to truck manufacturer MAN... Daimler and VW currently cooperate on transporter vans. As well as building the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Daimler makes VW's Crafter van, which shares the same technology platform... Daimler builds around 40,000 Crafter vans at a plant in Duesseldorf, but this deal is set to expire in 2016... In March, VW said it may decide not to extend the pact with Daimler to develop the Crafter's successor model after Volkswagen took a majority stake in MAN last November... Daimler is large enough to survive even if the partnership deal is not extended, Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans said, adding Daimler would again offer to include VW in an alliance with French car maker Renault...
* France - Peugeot adds a Partner Electrique LCV to the range
(Image: The existing petrol-engined Peugeot Partner)
Paris,France -Gizmag -September 10, 2012: -- Peugeot is to add an electric version of its Partner LCV (Light Commercial Vehicle) to the range during the 2nd quarter of 2013. With a drive train developed in conjunction with Mitsubishi, the Partner Electrique runs a single permanent magnet, synchronous electric motor producing 49kW (67bhp) and torque of 200Nm and has a range of 170km (105 miles) based on the European cycle (NEDC). The LCV will be available in short and long wheelbase versions (4.38m and 4.63m), both with claimed class-leading load volumes...
* Opinion - Two Volvos try to navigate rocky road
(Photo: Volvo Truck FH16 700)
London,EN,UK -The Financial Times, by Richard Milne -10 Sept 2012: -- More than a decade after their split, the two Volvos occupy very different positions... Volvo Group is the world’s second-largest truckmaker and one of Sweden’s biggest companies by revenues and market capitalisation. On the other hand, Volvo Cars, sold off in 1999 to Ford, struggled for much of the period following the separation and is now owned by Chinese carmaker Geely... But with both companies in highly cyclical industries and facing up to another period of economic uncertainty, the messages of their respective chief executives last week were remarkably similar. And they were also a sign of how managers round the world are grappling with how to run their businesses in the face of a new downturn... The answer for both companies is to be significantly more flexible than they were before the financial crisis of 2007-08. Volvo Group provided perhaps the most vivid illustration of the impact of the crisis on the real economy when it revealed that net new orders for its trucks in October and November 2008 were negative...
* Sweden - Volvo Trucks to open Iraq factory in early 2013
(Photo from Volvo Trucks: Construction is underway on Zim Zam Spring Group's large Volvo Trucks service centre and warehouse in Baghdad)
Gotenborg,Sweden -Construction Week Online, by Stian Overdahl -Sep 12, 2012: -- Volvo Trucks is planning to open a truck assembly factory in the burgeoning truck market of Iraq on April 1, 2013, as it looks to rebuild its presence in a market the Swedish truck maker once dominated... The CKD (complete kit knock-down) assembly plant will be located in Al Iskanderiyah, 60km south of Baghdad... Stefan Soenchen, vice president of Volvo Trucks Northern Africa and Middle East, told that the total truck market for Iraq is currently 1500-2000 units per year, with demand for trucks to deliver basic services such as waste disposal, as well as long-haul freight and construction... Much of the construction effort in Iraq is currently concentrated on building infrastructure – roads, electricity, water, and waste disposal - and the vast majority of trucks that are sold are bought by government ministries...
* South Africa - Chinese car maker gets going in Coega
(Photo: A FAW truck)
Coega IDZ,S.A. -Business Report, by Roy Cokayne -Sep 11 2012: -- Construction of the R600 million vehicle and truck assembly plant in the Coega industrial development zone (IDZ) for First Automobile Works (FAW) was set to start in November, the Chinese vehicle manufacturer said last week... An estimated 1 000 jobs would be created in the construction phase. About 500 permanent jobs were expected to be created when the first phase of the truck assembly facility was commissioned... The construction contract is worth about R200m, with funding for the entire project provided by FAW and the China-Africa Development Fund... The first phase is FAW’s truck plant, which will be built on 400 000m2 of land in Zone 2 of the Coega IDZ... It is expected to produce 5 000 trucks annually... The plant’s production will be extended in a second phase to include light commercial vehicles and passenger cars...
* New Zealand - Allison Transmission helps New Zealand loggers get the job done
Auckland,NZ -MHW Magazine -10 September 2012: -- Steep hillsides, narrow dirt tracks, green valleys and ancient forests abound 150km north of Auckland. The breathtaking topography presents an uncompromising challenge for a New Zealand company transporting pine logs from the forest floor to a ridge-top loading site... In this rain-sodden forest, a Scania G44 8x8 truck equipped with an Allison
automatic transmission gets the job done every time, under some of the harshest logging conditions imaginable...
* Belarusia - MAZ-MAN trucks among 2012 Truck of the Year in Russia winners
(Photo)
Minsk,Russia -Belarusia Telegraphic Agency -7 Sept 2012: -- New-generation trucks produced by the joint venture MAZ-MAN is in the list of finalists of the contest for the best commercial vehicle of the year in Russia. MAZ-MAN trucks placed third in the most prestigious category Vehicle of the Year... The awards ceremony took place at the Autotrans 2012 in Moscow. MAZ-MAN was the only Belarusian company in the final stage of the competition. MAZ-MAN competed with such world brands as Ford Cargo and HINO...
* China's: Foton to build $300 million Brazil factory
Sao Paulo,Brazil -MarketWatch -Sept. 11, 2012: -- Chinese auto maker Foton Motor Co. will invest $300 million to build its first Brazil factory in the state of Bahia, the state government said Tuesday... Foton, a maker of heavy trucks, expects production to start at the end of next year, with output ramping up to 30,000 vehicles a year by 2017, the press office of Bahia's government said on its website... Foton is the latest overseas auto maker to announce plans to build a factory in Brazil. The Latin American country, the world's fourth-largest auto market by sales, has been attracting new manufacturers since it imposed a 30-percentage-point increase on import taxes in an effort to protect its onshore auto industry... The government is expected to release details of new auto-sector rules that go into effect at the start of next year that allow auto makers to avoid the tax by building cars locally, buying Brazil-made parts and investing in local research and engineering...
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