THE WEEK THAT WAS: A mixed start to 2012
The jury on the likely US sales tally for 2012 is still out after a January that (pleasantly) surprised our resident statistician Bill Cawthon and sparked off a bit of discussion at just-auto Towers this week – will the light vehicle market for the year break through 14m, as an increasing number of pundits suggest or will the remaining 11 months see it pegged back to the 13.5m-ish suggested late last year?
US: Chrysler adding 1,800 Belvidere jobs
Chrysler last night (2 February) confirmed it will add about 1,800 jobs at its Belvidere, Illinois assembly plant, including a third shift “and hundreds of jobs for the production of the new Dodge Dart”, by the third quarter of 2012.
SOUTH KOREA: New Mercedes chief arrives from Berlin
Thomas Urbach took up his new post as president and CEO Mercedes-Benz Korea, replacing Harald Behrend, this week.
JAPAN: Denso nine-month net income drops 71.9%
Denso announced financial results for the nine months ending 31 December 2011 showing that onsolidated net income fell 72% year on year to JPY36.4bn (US$467.8m) and consolidated operating income was off 53% to JPY82.1bn on consolidated net sales down 6.1% to JPY2,214.4bn.