In November, Ford Motor Co. will drop one of two production shifts at its Chicago assembly plant. The move will result in the loss of jobs of 600 part-time workers. The plant employs a total of 2,175 hourly workers.

The Chicago assembly plant makes the Ford Taurus X crossover, Mercury Sable and Lincoln MKS. Reportedly, the production at the plant fell 15 percent last year to 131,646, which was half of the plant’s capacity for two shifts. The company said, the sales of Ford, Mercury and Lincoln cars dropped almost 9 percent in August from a year ago. Ford’s overall U.S. sales were down 26.5 percent, as compared to last year. (more…)

Although, the much anticipated 2010 Ford Mustang will debut later this year, Ford has released an image of the new Mustang logo. The updated pony looks more defined and muscular. Ford says the new pony is “faster looking,” with sharper and more defined edges.

“We wanted to give the Mustang pony a more realistic feel,” said Douglas Gaffka, chief designer for the 2010 Mustang. “We lifted the head to make the pony more proud, tipped the neck into the wind to give it a feeling of greater speed and better balance. It’s more chiseled and more defined and looks more like a wild horse.” (more…)

Stephen Odell, the Chief Operating Officer of Ford of Europe will replace the Fredrick Arp as President and Chief Executive Officer of Volvo Car Corporation, said Ford Motor Co. Odell will take over the charge on October 1, who will report to Ford of Europe and Volvo Chairman Lewis Booth. Odell will be responsible for the global operations of Volvo, out of its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden.

“Stephen Odell brings to Volvo a wealth of experience of strong leadership in the automotive industry,” said Alan Mulally, President and CEO of Ford Motor Co. (more…)

In a recent press event, Derrick Kuzak, the product development chief of Ford Motor Co. said the company is considering an inclusion of a new compact crossover vehicle  to its luxury brand, Lincoln. “We do think that there is room for a smaller car in the Lincoln brand,” he said.

The Lincoln brand might get the C-segment car at the same time, when it will replace the Ford Escape early next decade. However, Kuzak didn’t go into details, but the upcoming car is likely to be based on the European Ford Kuga crossover vehicle. (more…)

General Motors announced that it will unveil a production version of its Chevrolet Volt  later this month, as part of the company’s centennial celebration. The automaker will celebrate the 100th anniversary on September 16. The preview of the plug-in hybrid will be shown to employees and media at the company’s headquarters in Detroit.

“The rumors that a production version of the Volt will show up at the celebrations are true,” said an inside GM source. “The car will be a true representation of what the production version looks like and be somewhat different from the concept versions.” (more…)

August proved to be a very difficult month for Toyota and the Detroit 3. Nissan Motor Co., on the other hand managed to post a solid gain in terms of its US Sales. Their sales are up 1 percent for the year to date. The company confirmed that its US sales rose by a huge margin of 13.6% in the month of August, to 108,493 vehicles, due to the increased demand for large trucks and SUVs.

Nissan-brand sales were up 14.2 percent to 97,417 vehicles in August, driven by a 32.6 percent jump in light-truck sales, Al Castignetti, who is the vice president and general manager of Nissan Division, told Reuters. (more…)