The decision was expected since General Motors went bankrupt. This officially becomes Toyota’s first experience in shutting down a manufacturing plant in the U.S. despite the effort of California lawmakers to come up with an amicable package.

With the closure, 40,000 jobs stand to be lost. But lawmakers are still hoping for the best to keep the plant up despite the decision handed down by the Toyota execs. There were two vehicles being manufactured at the California plant; the Toyota Corolla and the Tacoma pickup truck.

G.M. stopped building the Pontiac Vibe, a small crossover vehicle, there last week.

(Source) The NY Times

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Apparently the cost reduction here is aimed at the storage facilities which are expectedly not meeting the sales. The trend is something we see familiar in most companies and while this is a big shot in the arm for the Philippines, Goodyear will continue to serve the country in terms of service to wholesale, retail and original equipment customers.

“Due to high costs compared to other plants in the region, tires produced in the Las Pinas plant are not competitive in the marketplace,” said Pierre E. Cohade, president of Goodyear’s Asia-Pacific Region.

(Source) Press

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The new battery business will be a part of GE Transportation and will serve customers in the rail, marine, mining, telecommunications and utility sectors. As the leading producer of diesel-electric locomotives, GE has a rich history of delivering breakthrough technologies that are today commonplace in the rail industry.

GE has invested more than $150 million to develop advanced battery technologies, including a high energy-density sodium-based chemistry battery that will provide energy storage for a variety applications, including GE Transportation’s ecomagination certified Evolution Hybrid Locomotive, mining truck drive system and tugboat electrification.

The new $100 million production facility will be located in upstate New York in the Capital Region and will create 350 new manufacturing jobs. New York State has partnered with GE in this project by pledging more than $15 million in incentives. GE also is in the process of filing an application for U.S. Department of Energy stimulus funding for this project.

(Source) Press

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With the demand for lithium-ion batteries expected to increase, ExxonMobil takes the initiative in making sure that they distribute quality and efficient batteries once that happens. ExxonMobil Chemical continues to extend its technology leadership with the development of two new grades of V series co-extruded battery separator films. These new developmental grades will help make lithium-ion batteries (LIB) safer than ever before for hybrid and electric vehicles, power tools and electronic devices including laptop computers.

Featuring improved thermal stability and lower shutdown temperature for a higher safety margin, the developmental grades add to the company’s battery separator film portfolio that includes the award-winning V-series separator films introduced in 2007. Based on the same advanced co-extrusion technology platform and proprietary wet bi-orientation manufacturing process as V-series separator films, the developmental grades can help prevent thermal runaway in batteries while providing LIB designers more flexibility in selecting electrode systems and formats in battery designs to improve power and capacity density.

ExxonMobil Chemical currently manufactures battery separator films in Nasu, Japan, and is building a manufacturing facility in Gumi, Korea, to accommodate additional demand and serve global customers reliably and efficiently. The new manufacturing plant will be completed in 2010.

(Source) Press

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CMEP is the sole manufacturing site for the 6.7-liter turbo diesel engine used in the heavy-duty Dodge Ram pickup truck. The plant will close effective May 15 and be down until Chrysler resumes pickup truck production.

Chrysler’s Dodge Ram manufacturing plant in Saltillo, Mexico, which closed Monday, is expected to be idle for at least four weeks and Chrysler has indicated that its entire manufacturing operation could remain closed for nine weeks or longer.

The shutdown affects a total of approximately 690 workers at CMEP. Cummins will layoff approximately 610 hourly workers – 560 members of the Diesel Workers Union and 50 members of the Office Committee Union. The Company plans to redeploy as many of the 80 exempt employees in the plant as possible throughout its Southern Indiana operations.

These job reductions are in response to further weakening demand for engines and components as a result of the global recession, and are consistent with our efforts to align manufacturing capacity and costs with that lower demand.

(Source) Press

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The automobile industry is not all about sales and showing off the classy new cars we see today. Apparently, Hyundai Motors has gone beyond that and it includes giving back in a charitable way. The 2009 Hyundai Hope on Wheels Tour will visit 30 children’s hospitals across the country to donate $1.3 million to support pediatric cancer research.

On Tuesday, April 7th, representatives from Hyundai and Hope on Wheels gathered at Hyundai’s U.S. manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Alabama to greet the 2009 Hyundai Hope on Wheels Santa Fe vehicle as it rolled off the assembly line.

In addition to speeches and a ceremonial check presentation of the $1.3 million donation to pediatric cancer research, 11-year-old Samantha Heim, the Hyundai Hope on Wheels national youth ambassador, led children from the local chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in a special Handprint Ceremony.

During the Handprint Ceremony, which Hope on Wheels conducts at each hospital it visits, children place their handprints in colorful paint on the 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe, the official vehicle of the Hope on Wheels Tour, to commemorate their brave battles with pediatric cancer.

(Source) Press

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