“Startup carmaker unveils prototypes - Jackson Clarion-Ledger” plus 4 more

Startup carmaker unveils prototypes - Jackson Clarion-Ledger
Further Expansion for Club Assist in Canada - Earthtimes
Startup car company unveils 4 prototypes - News-Star
'More agile' Delphi formed - Detroit Free Press
Dealers team with NAPA - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Startup carmaker unveils prototypes - Jackson Clarion-Ledger

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 10:57 PM PDT

TUNICA — A startup car company run by a Chinese businessman unveiled four prototype vehicles on Tuesday that it hopes to build at a proposed multibillion-dollar car plant in northwestern Mississippi.

GreenTech Automotive Inc. planned to break ground later in the day on what officials said would be a $6.5 billion plant on 1,500 acres Tunica County. The company said it has an option to buy more land as needed.

State officials have met with the company's owner, Xiaolin "Charles" Wang, but they have not discussed whether the company will be receiving any incentives to start the project.

"Because it's an ongoing project, we are not at liberty to make a comment on this," Melissa Medley, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Development Authority, told The Clarion-Ledger. "We are certainly being supportive from the standpoint of we are watching as this company tries to pull together their capital to bring this project to fruition."

Wang said the plant hopes to eventually employ 4,500 people and produce up to 250,000 fuel-efficient cars a year. That's a fraction of the number of employees listed in a messy lawsuit between Wang and his former partner, Yung "Benjamin" Yeung, that in June made the plans for the plant public.

Documents for the lawsuit showed plans for 25,000 employees, an unusually high number in a modern manufacturing era that stresses cost savings by relying on efficiencies and automation.

An automotive plant that produces 250,000 cars a year typically employs 2,000 to 3,000, said Lindsay Chappell, a Nashville-based Automotive News writer who covered the industry for more than 20 years.

The Nissan manufacturing plant in Canton produced nearly 300,000 vehicles in 2007 with about 3,500 employees.

Toyota is investing about $1.3 billion for the Blue Springs plant that will hire approximately 2,000 people. It is scheduled to build the Prius, the world's best-selling hybrid. Toyota sold 158,000 Priuses in the U.S. in 2008.

GreenTech attorney Bill Brabec had told The Associated Press on Monday that the company eventually would build 1 million cars a year. Tuesday, Wang said that figure was too high.

Further Expansion for Club Assist in Canada - Earthtimes

Posted: 07 Oct 2009 12:01 AM PDT

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Startup car company unveils 4 prototypes - News-Star

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 11:04 PM PDT

TUNICA, Miss. A startup car company run by a Chinese businessman unveiled four prototype vehicles on Tuesday that it hopes to build at a planned car plant in northwestern Mississippi.

GreenTech Automotive Inc. wants to raise money from foreign investors to open a $2 billion plant on 1,500 acres in Tunica County, south of Memphis, Tenn., and eventually turn out 250,000 fuel-efficient cars a year.

GreenTech's owner, Xiaolin "Charles" Wang, told The Associated Press that information provided earlier by the company's attorney that it hoped to produce 1 million cars annually in a $6.5 billion plant was incorrect. He said such an ambitious plan would be unrealistic.

Instead, Wang said Tuesday that the plant hopes to eventually employ 4,500 people and produce up to 250,000 fuel-efficient cars a year. The first phase would cost about $1 billion and produce 150,000 cars.

GreenTech has not yet purchased the property, and an incentive package is still being negotiated, said Tunica County Chamber of Commerce President Lyn Arnold. Wang said the company has an option to buy the land.

Dozens of people gathered for the unveiling of four vehicles, which were draped with red cloth before a ceremony at Harrah's casino in Tunica.

The prototypes were built in China. They included a midsize four-door hybrid designed to get 50 miles per gallon, a zero-emissions electric car, a high-efficiency gasoline car designed to get 65 mpg and a hybrid sports coupe designed to get 45 miles to gallon and to go from 0 to 60 mph in less than 5.9 seconds. The company says the cars would match more stringent emissions and fuel-consumption standards that President Barack Obama's administration wants automakers to meet by 2016.

Company attorney Bill Brabec first told AP that GreenTech eventually would build 1 million cars a year. Wang said Tuesday the figure came from his former business partner before they split in an ugly federal lawsuit.

"That was never my vision," Wang said.

Still, 250,000 hybrid vehicles a year is a lofty goal because that's "basically the entire market" for the hybrid Toyota Prius, an established brand from a trusted company, said Larry Rinek, a California-based consultant who works with major auto manufacturers and suppliers on hybrid issues.

'More agile' Delphi formed - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 07 Oct 2009 12:01 AM PDT

After four years of slogging through an obstacle-ridden bankruptcy, the new Delphi formed Tuesday is a much smaller, more focused company.

Troy-based Delphi has been sold to create a private company called Delphi Holdings LLP, owned by its former parent, General Motors Co. and Delphi's bankruptcy lenders.

Delphi CEO Rodney O'Neal, who will stay on as the company's chief executive, said the new company is more prepared to face a competitive, demanding environment.

"Delphi has become more agile, nimble and resilient," O'Neal said.

Delphi Executive Chairman Steve Miller, an auto industry veteran who led Delphi's bankruptcy and restructurings at Bethlehem Steel and Federal-Mogul Corp., is expected to step down.

Fewer plants, workers

Delphi, which once had more than 40 plants in the United States and 211,000 employees worldwide, now has just four factories here. And one of those is to shut down by the end of the year.

As it sold off businesses and shut plants, the company's U.S. workforce has shrunk from 50,600 four years ago to 14,000 at the end of June.

During the course of its bankruptcy case, Delphi has changed from a catch-all supplier -- a compilation of most of GM's parts plants -- to a company focused on electronics, and powertrain, heating and cooling systems.

David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, said the new Delphi had a better chance of success. "I expect to see Delphi become very profitable very quickly," he said, "assuming the market comes back."

Bankruptcy rollercoaster

Delphi's bankruptcy has faced unprecedented challenges: clashes with the UAW, investors buying in and dropping out, a multibillion-dollar financing deal that fell apart, the global credit crunch and even an auction for the company.

The case has been "a unique and difficult situation with some bad luck thrown at it," said Craig Fitzgerald, an automotive consultant at Plante & Moran.

Delphi was on the verge of emerging from bankruptcy in April 2008, after securing $6.1 billion in financing it needed to leave bankruptcy.

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Dealers team with NAPA - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Posted: 07 Oct 2009 12:01 AM PDT

FORT WAYNE – Two area auto dealerships snubbed by Chrysler have rebounded by forming new ties with NAPA Auto Parts.

Meyer Auto Sales in Monroeville sealed the deal in September, creating a NAPA-certified auto care center, a spokesman said Tuesday. Tomkinson Automotive in Fort Wayne signed on in June.

The agreement – which cost Tomkinson $695 for one year – means service customers who have trouble with their cars can go to any NAPA-affiliated business for work covered by warranty.

Tomkinson struck the deal to retain customers, said Scott High, service director. Without the alliance, the independent dealership couldn't assure customers who travel that their parts could be serviced under warranty out of state, High said.

Tomkinson and Meyer lost dealership agreements with Chrysler LLC in June when the Detroit automaker terminated 789 U.S. dealership agreements to cut costs. Tomkinson continues to sell new BMWs. Both dealers sell used cars and offer maintenance and repair services.

Meyer employs eight.

Tomkinson employs 48 in sales and service.

As certified NAPA auto care centers, the local dealerships receive in-person training, online training and advertising support. They use NAPA-brand parts and paint.

"We're really happy," said Louie Meyer, service manager at Meyer Auto Sales. "We had several other options. This seemed like the best fit for us."

Meyer declined to say what those other options were.

Founded more than 80 years ago, NAPA stands for the National Automotive Parts Association. The company has more than 6,000 stores nationwide.

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