While America Slept. Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Doh! Several automakers in China reduced or suspended the production of some vehicles. They already regret it, reports Gasgoo. Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen halted the Citroen production line. Now, dealers are out of stock on the C-Elysee. Many editions of the C-Quatre model are also nearly sold out. FAW started a two-week overhaul of its equipment. As a result the supply of its Besturn model is affected. Gasgoo: “Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Auto, FAW VW and other automakers have decided to speed up the overhaul of the idled production lines and resume their operation for more output to meet the market demands.” Spending a lot of time writing production plans, and the customers simply ignore them.

Honda up. In China: Honda sold 45,090 vehicles in China during November, up 8.7 percent from the same month last year. Sales from January to November rose 18% to 421,060 vehicles from 356,730 in the same period last year, the Nikkei (sub) writes.

Lawson electrifies: Lawson is one of the top convenience store chains in Japan, second only to convenience franchise giant 7-Eleven. They actually started in Akron, OH, but the US-side morphed into Circle-K. Trivia aside, Lawson is an early adopter of EV. Lawson plans to start using Mitsubishi’s electric vehicles next summer for sales activities, The Nikkei (sub) writes. Lawson plans to add 150 i MiEV electric vehicles this summer as a first step. The company may eventually use as many as 1,600 i MiEVs. Mass production of the electric vehicles will begin this summer, and Lawson will be leasing them from a Mitsubishi.

The SAIC/ Ssangyong daily: SAIC, the Chinese parent of troubled South Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor wants Ssangyong to slash some 2,000 jobs — almost a third of the employees. This is a condition for SAIC to provide a 200 million dollar credit line, Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper says via Gasgoo. Ssangyong did not meet payroll in December. Korea Development Bank had refused last week to provide new loans unless the Chinese firm goes first. A Ssangyong spokesman told AFP: “I’m unaware of the proposed layoffs.”

Attention, Maserati shoppers: Maserati is recalling 659 sedans sold in China starting on Monday due to flaws in the car suspension system, China Econonmic Net reports. The affected models, the Quattroporte, GranTurismo and GranTurismo S, were produced between Sept. 1, 2003 and July 23, 2008. Press nuts in the upper and lower suspension arms in the front and rear suspension systems were not properly screwed tight, says an announcement by China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Down, Rover: Land Rover, bought by Ford, and sold to Indian Tata, saw worldwide sales fall by 18 per cent this year, the Daily Telegraph writes.

GM India goes slow: General Motors India is cutting down production by up to 10 percent from its two plants at Halol in Gujarat and at Talegaon in Maharashtra, India’s Econonic Times writes. “We usually have annual plant maintenance shut down for 7-10 days. This time we have extended it up to 15 days and it will result in a reduction in production by up to 10 per cent,” General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran said. Funny math.