According to reports, Nicole Nason, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA will be resigning next month.

Nason joined the NHTSA on May 31, 2006. She has been the nation’s chief motor vehicle safety regulator since then and she has been responsible for the implementation of several important auto safety regulations. Earlier, she was the assistant secretary for government affairs in the Department of Transportation since July 2003. (more…)

Europe’s largest and world’s fourth largest car producer, Volkswagen AG favored Huntsville in North Alabama as the site for its new U.S. car plant, according to sources. The plant would cost $800 million to $1.2 billion and it would create as many as 2,000 jobs. The production at the plant is slated to start in 2010, with an annual capacity of 300,000 cars to be reached by 2018.

After considering several states for a new U.S. manufacturing facility, Volkswagen seems ready to break ground for the plant in Huntsville, Alabama. The German automaker is planning a U.S. plant to help reach its ambition of more than tripling its annual U.S. sales by 2018 to 1 million, including 800,000 VW brand and 200,000 Audi sales. In April, the automaker had narrowed the finalists for a possible U.S. assembly plant to sites in Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan. (more…)

The record gasoline price of $ 4 per gallon has not only shifted the consumers’ demand from pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles to cars but, also from six-cylinder models to four-cylinder models. The demand for four-cylinder engines is at its highest since the energy crisis of the early 1980s and many automakers simply don’t have the capacity to keep up with the demand.

A wild swing towards four-cylinder engines that has been caused by high gasoline prices ultimately made most of the automakers including Detroit Big 3 suffer badly in the June U.S. auto sales. A shortage of four-cylinder engines cost General Motors Corp. 10,000 sales last month, says GM sales chief, Mark LaNeve.

According to a report of the Power Information Network, more than half of all new cars and trucks purchased in June had four-cylinder engines. But, the scene was different a year ago, when barely
one- third of new-vehicle buyers chose four-cylinders. (more…)

One of the Detroit Big 3, Chrysler LLC plans to idle its St. Louis South assembly plant that makes minivans and cut the production at St. Louis North plant as the U.S. sales for larger vehicles continue to fall.

Both the plants are located in Flenton, Missouri in St. Louis County. The tough decisions have been taken due to the slow sales of the larger vehicles in the market. The moves will affect a total of 2,400 employees in both the plants.

Chrysler LLC will close its St. Louis South assembly plant indefinitely, effective October 31.

The automaker’s co-president Tom LaSorda said that the plant is not likely to reopen in future. He further added, "We see no intent to rerun this plant. We’re idling it and it will likely be fully closed." (more…)

The eBay Motors has launched the Certified Pre- Owned (CPO) showroom on Wednesday, June 11, featuring certified used cars and trucks listed for sale.

The eBay Motors, a part of the eBay Inc. is the Internet’s largest marketplace for buying and selling all automotive things. The site offers everyday cars for everyday drivers, as well as collectors cars, motorcycles, auto parts and accessories. (more…)

United Auto Workers union has finally ratified the new four-year contract with American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. on late Thursday, ending the three-month-long strike against the company by a margin of 78 percent votes at its Detroit plant.

With the approval of the agreement that calls for wage cut & costs and closing of two plants, the production of various motor parts for General Motors Corp. will resume. The contract was proposed to the workers on May 18 in a hope to settle down the wage-and-benefit dispute at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (more…)

India’s premier automaker, Tata Motors has announced David Smith as the new CEO for Jaguar and Land Rover, after the automaker has completed the purchase of the two brands from Ford Motors.

Tata Motors went on a deal to buy Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford on March 26 this year and the purchase was supposed to be completed by the second quarter of the year. (more…)

Nissan Motor Company is likely to make work shifts at its North American car and truck plant in Canton, Mississippi to boost up the production of Altima cars while reducing the production of pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles.

The dramatic drop in sales of pickup trucks and SUVs and strong increasing demand for the Altima mid-size sedan in the U.S. market has been the reason behind the move, as said by the company officials. (more…)

The sales and marketing vice president of Nissan Mexicana, Julio Panama has recently become the president of the Mexico subsidiary.

Panama, 54 has earlier headed Nissan Mexicana as the purchasing director, sales and marketing vice president as well as president of Nissan South Africa. He became the subsidiary’s sales and marketing vice president in April. (more…)

Jaguar Land Rover is moving its North American headquarters from Irvine, California to Northern New Jersey, after Ford has completed the sale of the brand to Indian automaker Tata Motors Limited last week.

Tata Motors went on a deal to buy Jaguar Land Rover from Ford on March 26 this year and the purchase of the brand was completed last week. The brand was sold to to Tata by U.S. automaker for a collective $2.3 billion. (more…)