“1,200-worker plant closing in Huntsville - Charleston Daily Mail” plus 4 more

1,200-worker plant closing in Huntsville - Charleston Daily Mail
Police find $500,000 stash in garage - Cincinnati.com
UPDATE 1-Kongsberg Automotive placement raises 120 mln eur - Reuters
The Society of Automotive Analysts Addresses This Burning - MSN Money
austriamicrosystems' New Magnetic Rotary IC Provides an Optimal Motion ... - StreetInsider.com

1,200-worker plant closing in Huntsville - Charleston Daily Mail

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 11:35 AM PDT

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Continental Automotive Systems U.S. says it will close its automotive parts plant in Huntsville by Dec. 31 next year, laying off more than 1,000 workers.

Monday's announcement comes a month after the Continental warned that cutting costs in product development and manufacturing were necessary to save the company. According to the company, product lines made in the Huntsville will be shifted to facilities in Texas and Mexico. Product development operations will be relocated to plants in Auburn Hills, Mich.; Deer Park, Ill.; and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Employees were notified Monday in three meetings at the plant, which is in Jetplex Industrial Park near Huntsville International Airport. Continental says the plant's closure will be implemented in several phases.

___

Information from: The Huntsville Times, http://www.al.com/huntsville

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Police find $500,000 stash in garage - Cincinnati.com

Posted: 31 Aug 2009 10:25 AM PDT

CYNTHIANA, Ky. - Authorities say a Cynthiana man had a half-million dollars worth of stolen property in his garage.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported the goods had been stolen over 25 years from the automotive company where Charles Helton worked.

Sgt. Wilber Gross of the Cynthiana Police Department called it "quite a sight." It took two days and several rental trucks to collect the property, which ranged from thousands of gloves to drill presses, lubricants and nuts and bolts.

Police said the goods were stolen from T1 Automotive.

The 53-year-old Helton was charged with several felonies, including receiving stolen property and selling drugs.

Investigators said Helton obtained prescription drugs in Florida by using a fake medical test.

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UPDATE 1-Kongsberg Automotive placement raises 120 mln eur - Reuters

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 12:21 AM PDT

* 260 mln shares at 4.00 crowns per share vs 7.55 Tuesday

* Says to boost liquidity, pay debt

* Shares down 32.5 pct to 5.1 crowns (Adds details, company statement)

OSLO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Norwegian car parts manufacturer Kongsberg Automotive (KOA.OL) said it raised 120 million euros ($172.3 million) in a private placement of 260 million new shares at 4.00 crowns ($0.659) per share.

Shares in Kongsberg closed at 7.55 crowns on Tuesday. Before the share issue, the company had 65.2 million outstanding shares.

"The proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to strengthen the Company's liquidity buffer with EUR 50 million and repayment of debt in order to strengthen the balance sheet," Kongsberg Automotive said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company said about 77 percent was subscribed for by large existing shareholders, Norwegian and international investors, while the remaining 23 percent was conversion of debt under the guarantee from lending banks.

Pareto Securities, SEB Enskilda, DnB NOR Markets and Nordea Markets acted as advisers of the private placement.

Shares in Kongsberg Automotive fell 32 percent to 5.10 crowns at 0706 GMT. ($1=6.072 Norwegian Crown) ($1=.6964 Euro) (Reporting by Oslo newsroom; Editing by Hans Peters)

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The Society of Automotive Analysts Addresses This Burning - MSN Money

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 03:24 PM PDT

DETROIT, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- August new vehicle sales results provided a bright spot in a heretofore dismal year, but whether this is the start of a positive trend or merely a temporary spike followed by a downturn remains to be seen, according to the Society of Automotive Analysts (SAA), a leading U.S. organization providing insights and analysis of the global automotive industry.

"To me, the jury is still out on 'Cash for Clunkers.' Only after September and October will we know the overall, net impact of the program. Historically, these major spikes in consumer demand created by one-time incentive programs have been followed by similarly major troughs, resulting in marginal long-term benefits. We'll see," said Tom Libby, SAA president.

Laurie Harbour-Felax, SAA vice president and president, Harbour Results Inc., said, "It remains to be seen whether 'Cash for Clunkers' was the jump start the industry needed or whether it just pulled ahead future sales, but for a period of time it appears to have helped many suppliers see some volume for the future. People are feeling the uptick but how long will it really last, no one can say for sure."

Mike Robinet, Vice President of CSM Worldwide and a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Automotive Analysts, agrees with his colleagues. "The success of the 'Clunkers' program quickly drew down inventories of many offerings which are in the process of currently being rebuilt. At issue is how far the market will fall through the balance of the year due to sales pulled forward and the continued economic roadblocks facing the consumer."

About the Society of Automotive Analysts

The Society of Automotive Analysts (SAA) is the leading U.S. organization in providing insights and analysis of the global automotive industry. SAA is dedicated to providing outstanding educational programs and superior networking opportunities to its members. SAA offers conferences, programs, its website and other forums in which to discuss, debate, and learn about a broad variety of subjects and timely industry issues. With a membership of over three hundred industry professionals, SAA holds some six meetings annually at which various facets of the automotive industry are reviewed and analyzed.

SAA's Board of Directors includes four respected automotive industry analysts who can be reached at the following e-mail addresses for additional comments:

Tom Libby: TGLibby@AOL.com

Laurie Harbour-Felax: LHarbour@HarbourResults.com

Michael Robinet: MichaelRobinet@csmauto.com

Rebecca Lindland: Rebecca.Lindland@globalinsight.com

SOURCE Society of Automotive Analysts

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austriamicrosystems' New Magnetic Rotary IC Provides an Optimal Motion ... - StreetInsider.com

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 11:31 PM PDT

September 2, 2009 2:33 AM EDT

The AS5215, a new dual die, high precision analog sine and cosine output magnetic encoder IC targets redundant motion sensing solutions for automotive microcontroller-based systems

UNTERPREMSTAETTEN, Austria--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- austriamicrosystems (SIX: AMS), a leading global designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs for automotive, communication, industry and medical applications, today introduce the AS5215, a dual die automotive magnetic rotary encoder IC for safety challenging applications, such as electronic power steering systems. This solution is also based on austriamicrosystems patented stacked-die technology.

"Micro controlled systems are increasingly used in automotive position sensing applications. In most of these systems, the microcontroller capacity is only partly used. The AS5215 has been specifically developed to provide a position sensing solution which leverages on this fact, and allows our customers to design the most cost efficient systems", says Andreas Pfingstl, Product Manager Automotive Encoders at austriamicrosystems. "The AS5215 can be easily implemented in existing system architectures, providing high reliable contactless angle measurements, without a need to replace or modify proven electronic control units."

The amplitude of the output signal is programmable via sensitivity and gain settings. Due to its selectable output mode signals - raw, inverted or DC-referenced - the AS5215 can fit a variety of conventional motion sensing systems which require measurement redundancy for safety reasons.

Based on austriamicrosystems' patented stacked-die solution, the dual die AS5215 provides excellent phase matching and very low sensitivity drift over the full ambient temperature range of -40 C to +150 C. The AS5215 is available in a small TSSOP 14 package and operates at 5V supply.

A single die rotary encoder IC version, AS5115, in a SSOP 16 package, will be available in October 2009.

For specific product information, to download data sheets or request free samples from austriamicrosystems' webshop ICdirect please visit www.austriamicrosystems.com/rotary-encoder/AS5215

About austriamicrosystems

austriamicrosystems is a leading designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs, combining more than 27 years of analog design capabilities and system know-how with its own state-of-the-art manufacturing and test facilities. austriamicrosystems leverages its expertise in low power and high accuracy to provide industry-leading customized and standard analog products. Operating worldwide with more than 1,000 employees, austriamicrosystems focuses on the areas of power management, sensors & sensor interfaces and mobile infotainment in its markets Communications, Industry & Medical and Automotive, complemented by its Full Service Foundry activities. austriamicrosystems is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich (ticker symbol: AMS). For more information, please visit www.austriamicrosystems.com.