Author: Automotive News Feed

FandI managers need a polished sales pitch to persuade customers that the service contract the dealership sells trumps the mechanical breakdown policy their insurance company sells.

Italy’s Sogefi reported a 25 percent drop in net profit last year as the supplier was hit by higher financial charges and restructuring costs.

UK supplier GKN says profits rose 17 percent last year on strong demand for car parts. The company now sees its auto business outpacing an anticipated 3 percent expansion in the market this year.

General Motors is rolling out an initiative to forge deeper strategic partnerships with suppliers, promising a better business relationship to speed innovations to market.

Ford’s head of advanced randd in Europe doubts Carlos Ghosn’s prediction that Renault-Nissan — or any automaker — will have self-driving cars on the road by 2020.

Toyota is giving design unprecedented clout in a management shuffle that puts the company’s global design chief, Tokuo Fukuichi, in charge of the Lexus division and on the board.

Ernst and Young was accused by the United States of failing to comply with an Internal Revenue Service request for documents in an investigation of the tax liability of Georg Schaeffler, chairman of the German supplier of the same name

Effort targets innovation partners; when GM knew of ignition woes; designer to run Lexus; Honda Insight’s end; fuel-cell plans.

Toyota expects the majority of future European sales of the Verso minivan will be versions equipped with a BMW-sourced diesel engine.