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All Feature articles – Page 42
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FeatureDealing with change
In recent years, a number of shifts in the industry have begun to affect traditional dealership models, changing the types of relationships that exist between dealers, OEMs and customers. As OEMs move increasingly towards selling more vehicles directly to customers, there are growing indications of significant impacts for traditional dealers. ...
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FeatureConnecting the dots
Buy a new BMW, and it’s no surprise to find it stuffed with hi-tech telematics. Real-time traffic information, GPS navigation, automatic speed limit display, rear vision display, parking assistance, smartphone integration, intelligent diagnostics and status display – all of these and more are fast becoming part of the modern driving ...
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FeatureThe importance of connecting
“Only connect,” said EM Forster. Actually, the automotive industry has been trying to do just that. Every major OEM has been developing connected models that enable access to the internet, superior navigation and better safety systems onboard, plus communication between cars and infrastructure too. This is great for tech lovers – and a nightmare for anyone who hates the idea of inanimate objects ‘talking’ to each other…
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FeatureStepping up the pace
When Groupe PSA bought Opel/Vauxhall from GM in 2017 for €2.2 billion ($2.33 billion), Gefco was already providing logistics services for it. Then, when Opel/Vauxhall renewed its contract for fourth-party logistics (4PL) services with Gefco in October 2018 for a further four years, Gefco was tasked with finding further cost ...
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FeatureA look back down the road
This time last year, the trucking industry and its customers were just settling into compliance with a mandate from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) that required electronic logging devices (ELDs) on commercial vehicles with a gross weight of over 10,000 pounds (4,500kg). In the months preceding the initial ...
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FeatureValue of stability in the push for progress
I first visited Brazil in 2014, touring a variety of vehicle and component factories on behalf of our sister magazine, Automotive Manufacturing Solutions (and to think, some people go to Rio). I came back home, made a magazine about my trip – and then the market dropped and Brazil entered the worst recession in its history. But now the signs are that Brazil is on its way back up…
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FeatureRussia keeps logistics subsidy in place
The Russian government will not cancel logistics subsidies for the automotive industry, although all other “targeted subsidies” currently allocated to carmakers and components manufacturers will cease, Russian vice-prime minister Dmitry Kozak, revealed during an industry meeting in Moscow, December 7.Kozak explained that carmakers had asked the federal authorities to keep ...
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FeatureContrasting trends mark Mexico's car market
Domestic sales of light vehicles are down, exports are up, while production is little changed. These are the key trends in recent months to emerge from the latest survey of the Mexican market by the country’s sector body AMIA. The 1.28m vehicles sold in the year to November represented a ...
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FeatureDaimler to spend €20 billion on battery cells
German carmaker Daimler says it will buy battery cells costing more than €20 billion ($22.6 billion) over the next decade as it prepares to introduce 130 electrified variants of Mercedes-Benz cars by 2022.The group is investing €10 billion to make the models, plus another €1 billion on an in-house global ...
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FeatureChina to cut tariffs on US vehicle imports
The Chinese government says it will suspend additional duties of 25% on US-made vehicles and automotive parts for three months starting January 1, amid signs China and the United States are de-escalating their trade dispute.“This is a good signal that [they] are on track to solve the trade war,” Wang ...
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FeatureUkraine sanctions risk Russian vehicle exports
The growth in Russian vehicle exports during 2018 could be in jeopardy if a new bill to ban Russian vehicle imports is passed by the government in Ukraine, one of the biggest sales markets for Russian-made cars.According to figures from the Russian Federal Customs Service, in the first nine months ...
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FeatureGround broken at new BMW logistics centre in Austria
A ground-breaking ceremony was held this week to mark the official start of construction of a new logistics centre at Steyr, Austria, to serve BMW’s nearby engine plant. Contract logistics services provider Industrie-Logistik-Linz will rent the property and use it to consolidate activities from several of BMW Steyr’s external warehouses ...
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FeatureFaurecia deploys AGVs in Spain
Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are now working alongside workers and robots at Faurecia’s car seat manufacturing plant in Vitoria-Gasteiz, northern Spain.Through a weightless handling system, workers transfer the car seat from the end of the line to the AGV, which then delivers it to a loading robot.The vehicle then takes ...
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FeatureHyundai abandons trial moving vehicles by rail
Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) has decided not to pursue a recent pilot scheme to despatch finished vehicles to Chennai port by rail.Both the manufacturer and the port trust announced that Hyundai had sent 102 cars to the port by rail on November 27, with a further 125 cars the following ...
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FeatureSovac starts assembling SKD kits for Audi in Algeria
Audi has begun assembling vehicles at the Relizane plant run by its long-time Algerian partner, Sovac, from semi-knockdown (SKD) kits prepared at the OEM’s Ingolstadt plant in Germany.“[All models] are built at the main plant in Ingolstadt and transported to Barcelona, where they are knocked down into individual assembly groups ...
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FeatureBMW ups the pace on industry 4.0 technology
BMW Group is to expand its use of industry 4.0 innovations in its production logistics, it has revealed. In 2015, BMW Group joined forces with the Fraunhofer Institute IML to develop the first self-driving Smart Transport Robots (STR). Three years later, the carmaker is increasingly relying on innovations from industry ...
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FeatureGerman OEMs meet Trump amid tariff confusion
Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW executives have this week outlined a series of planned investments in the US to administration officials, after meeting with President Donald Trump. Their meetings took place amid uncertainty over trade conditions, after the president’s tweet that China had agreed to end 40% duties on imports of ...
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FeatureGefco edges nearer flotation
Gefco has reaffirmed it is looking to make a public offering on the Euronext Paris stock exchange in 2019. Russian Railways, which has a majority stake in the transport and logistics provider, said it was considering a partial reduction of its 75% stake to below 50%.Gefco’s former owner and partial ...
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FeatureMercedes-Benz takes to rail to move cars to China
Russia’s railway monopoly RZD has delivered the first batch of finished Mercedes-Benz vehicles from Bremerhaven, in Germany, to Chongqing in China. The new route, which is informally referred to as the new Silk Road, has already proved a viable alternative to ocean shipping vehicles from Europe to China, which takes ...
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FeaturePSA buys shares in China's UAP
Carmaker Groupe PSA has purchased a stake in Chinese spare parts supplier UAP, based in Shandong province, as part of the French group’s expansion in China strategy.The latest acquisition is a first step and could lead to a greater interest in UAP, with several steps defined to increase PSA’s participation, ...