Month: June 2013

Exide Technologies, the 125-year-old battery maker, filed for bankruptcy after California environmental regulators shut down one of the company’s lead-recycling plants.

Federal auto safety regulators are investigating claims that the airbags in 2003-04 Honda Odyssey minivans can deploy without a crash.

Eaton is weighing a sale of its auto-parts unit to focus on its growing power and lighting operations, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Federal auto safety regulators have stepped up their investigation into the Pontiac G6, bringing the discontinued sedan a step closer to a recall for brake light problems.

IHS has agreed to acquire privately held RL Polk, the owner of used-car history provider Carfax and a leading provider of auto industry data, in a deal valued at $1.4 billion.

A new app available in Audi vehicles makes it easier to find parking spaces. ParkMe Inc., a Santa Monica, Calif.

GM engineers have been chatting with dealership service managers about how they diagnose problems and deal with snags on new vehicles. They’re shadowing salespeople in showrooms and chatting up customers about what they like and don’t like.

If you’re a supplier and you’re worried about fluctuating costs of your raw materials, Honda, Ford, Toyota and Nissan are the best customers to deal with. According to a survey of 88 suppliers published last week by IRN Inc., Honda Motor Co.

In 2005 Jonathan Sobel bought an M3 convertible at a BMW dealership. At the time, he was a partner at Goldman Sachs. Five years later, Sobel — by then a financial services and real estate entrepreneur — came back and bought the dealership.

Some automakers say turbochargers offer high fuel economy and quick acceleration, the best of both worlds. Well, yes and no. Turbocharged vehicles allow automakers to keep power output high while they downsize engines for better fuel economy.