Xinhua | American car manufacturer Ford announced Friday that it would invest 2.3 billion U.S. dollars in Brazil over the next five years

BRASILIA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The American car manufacturer Ford announced Friday that it would invest 4 billion reais (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) in Brazil over the next five years.

The factory in Bahia, northeastern Brazil, will be the destination for most of the investment, according to a source from the automotive sector.

It is the largest investment program since the company started operating in the South American country.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Governor of Bahia State Jaques Wagner attended the announcement ceremony in the courtyard of the plant in the city of Camacari.

As part of the plan, the government offered federal and state tax benefits to Ford.

The enlargement of the factory in Camacari has been negotiated for two years. According to the plan, the factory's production capacity will be expanded from 250,000 units annually to 300,000 units.

Reuters | GM says 10,000 jobs could go in European shake-up

The Local - Germany's News in English | Germans against offering aid to GM-owned Opel

Published: 8 Nov 09 11:16 CET

Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091108-23103.html

After last week’s shock decision by General Motors to hold onto Opel rather than selling it to the Canadian company Magna, a new poll shows that a clear majority of Germans against offering aid to the company if it asks for state aid.

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If General Motors asks the German government to offer loan guarantees to finance its planned €3 billion overhaul of the iconic carmaker, 66 percent of respondents to the poll, sponsored by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, said they were against such aid. Just 28 percent said they favoured assistance.

GM is highly likely to ask Germany, as well as other European countries where Opel facilities are located, to help pay for the company’s reinvention, though the political winds in Germany in particular are blowing against it.

When news of GM’s decision broke last week, the newly sworn-in Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle said the move was “totally unacceptable” and has since said he is sceptical that Germany will offer additional assistance.

Opel is currently operating in a trusteeship set up by the German government in spring to help facilitate a quick sale to another company. The government also extended a €1.5 billion line of credit to keep the company solvent through the process.

Brüderle and many other German politicians have demanded that GM repay the credit - initially due to be repaid by the end of November - immediately now that it has decided to hold onto Opel.

GM’s restructuring plans are said to be similar to the one put forward by Magna and will entail approximately 10,000 layoffs throughout Europe out of a workforce of approximately 50,000. Unlike the Magna plan, which to satisfy the German government proposed closing none of Opel’s German facilities, GM is thought to plan the closure of at least one German site.

MoneyMorning.com | Has Asia Dethroned Detroit as the Auto Sector Leader?

In China, the cheap-money policy of the People’s Bank of China has helped fuel a continued boom in automobile purchases, to the point that 2009 vehicle sales in China will reach the 11 million mark – making the Asian nation a bigger auto market than the United States.....

AP | GM to tap $50 Billion in US Aid to help restructure GM's European Opel unit

DETROIT — November 5, 2009 - General Motors Co.'s top executive said Thursday that the automaker could tap some of its $50 billion in U.S. government aid to help restructure GM's European Opel unit. The statement came as thousands of Opel workers walked off their jobs across Germany in protest of GM's decision to abandon the unit's sale to new owners.

CEO Fritz Henderson said GM would use U.S. government money for Opel only if necessary, and it would try to finance the $4.5 billion (3 billion euros) restructuring with loans from European countries, money generated by Opel and by reducing royalties that Opel pays GM for use of technology........

Reuters | U.S. auto supply sector must shrink

DETROIT (Reuters) - Mon Nov 2, 2009 6:49pm EST - The U.S. auto supply industry averted catastrophe during the implosion of vehicle sales this year but more than half of the private companies still standing are distressed, an industry consultant said on Monday.

William Diehl, chief executive of advisory firm BBK, told the Reuters Autos Summit the sector must shrink rapidly to match output with vehicle sales, which have declined from nearly 17 million units three years ago to just over 10 million this year....

Detroit Free Press | Ford sees bright future - nearly $1B profit - long way from nearly $30 billion in losses it racked up between 2006 and 2008

After closing more than 10 plants and slashing 45% of its workforce since 2006 in its long-ailing North American division, the Dearborn-based automaker today reported net income of $997 million, or 29 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $161 million, or 7 cents per share, a year ago. For the first nine months of the year, Ford has now posted a $1.8-billion profit. That’s a $10.6-billion improvement from the same period a year ago......

EVWorld.com | Louisiana Man Wins Hybrid Car Generator Patent - estimates an electric car using the generator could get the equivalent of 100-150 mpg

The Detroit News | Utilities onboard for electric cars

.. day of "The Business of Plugging In" conference in Detroit, a three-day event that drew more than 600 attendees to the MotorCity Casino-Hotel this week. ...

Guardian.co.uk | Former 'car czar' slams US auto bosses

Steve Rattner, a former private equity executive, served as treasury secretary Timothy Geithner's top adviser on the crisis-stricken automotive industry ...

BusinessWeek.com | Goldman Sachs investment lifts Chinese carmaker Geely

Similar to Warren Buffett's bet on BYD last year, Goldman Sachs' play likely will make Geely stand out among Chinese car companies

It took four months of negotiations for China's Geely Automobile to sell a 12% stake to a Goldman Sachs (GS) investment fund for $245 million. But the seeds of the deal, announced on Sept. 22, were planted a year ago. On Sept. 29, 2008, one of Geely's Chinese rivals said it had won a $231 million investment from a company controlled by Warren Buffett. That news made little-known BYD an investor favorite, and its stock has since surged 750%. China Photos/Getty Images

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UPI | Panel: U.S. won't recoup auto bailout

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- A congressional committee monitoring the U.S. financial firm bailout said it was unlikely the government would recoup its investment in the auto industry.