The Ford Motor Company is planning to layoff over 300 employees at its Romeo Engine plant in Detroit, because a recent drop in demand for the companies V8 engines. Angie Kozleski, a spokeswomen for the Ford Motor Company had this to say, “The layoffs began Monday and will continue indefinitely”.

This engine plant in Detroit employ’s almost 1100 people including 950 hourly paid manufacuring workers. The pant produces Ford’s 4.6 Liter, and 5.4 Liter V8 Engine for large trucks, and sedan type vehicles. This is no suprise to some people that have recently been “bought-out” from their jobs with Ford.

Ford’s orginal plan was to cut 8,000 jobs across the country at targeted plants where the demand has declined since the increase in fuel prices. Since this has not been accomplished yet Ford has offered “buyouts” to their employees at most of their targeted plants to meet with the falling of demand for certain engines.

© dave82689 for Modded Autos, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Fired, Ford, Layoff, Plants, Strike

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According to GM, the number of dealers set to receive the new ZR1 will be limited to only 338 dealers, out of 3,932 nation-wide. Only those dealers with the highest proven Corvette sales records will be included in those 338. Even those dealers that were picked are expected to receive only one or two cars each.

Dealers have already been receiving hundreds of orders for the new ZR1, with a $105,000 price tag. The lucky ones that are fortunate enough to take delivery of a new ZR1 will be able to take pride in their new ride knowing that they are driving the fastest production Corvette ever made. This car boasts a 0-60 time of a scorching 3.4 seconds and a proven top speed of 205mph.

One of the major reasons most dealers have missed out on being included is because those that were included will have to pay for special training and equipment to be able to service the car, something many smaller dealers cannot afford.

While GM has not released official production numbers for the ZR1, it can be assured that it will be a small number to maintain exclusivity.

© 06RedfireGT for Modded Autos, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chevrolet, Chevy, corvette, Supercharged, zr1

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Mustang enthusiasts who are waiting patiently for the release of the 2009 Mustang will be disappointed to learn that only 45,000 units will be produced for the year. This is an extremely low amount of units that has been produced. In fact they have always produced large amounts to meet the demands of te consumers.

Last year alone they sold 134,626 Mustangs, though it looks as if they won’t be doing it this year so you better get your hands on one fast. This could be the Mustang that Ford is using to celebrate the 45 long and successful years that they have been around. If this is true then you can almost be sure that this new Mustang will be rare and will therefore come with a hefty price.

Those who miss out on getting this model will just have to wait for the 2010 model. Let’s hope that they will produce much more and will change things up a bit. Like adding a 5.0 liter V8 engine perhaps? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

© Naomi West for Modded Autos, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2009 mustang, 2010 mustang, Mustang

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General Motors has had to recall close to nine thousand battery packs that were produced by their supplier – Cobasys. All of these battery packs were intended to be used and installed in the mild hybrid versions for the Saturn Vue, Chevrolet Malibu, and Saturn Aura.

According to a report released by GM the batteries had an internal leak – which caused the whole unit to shut down. This is going to seriously hurt GM’s sales. Because of the problem the Saturn Vue hybrid has gone down from 2,683 units from last year to a staggering 326 units this year so far. The Aura has sold only 69 units this year.

Chevrolet stated that they are still planning on starting production on the 2009 Malibu hybrid June 23rd. Likewise Cobasys stated that they have fixed the internal leak and that they will be shipping out more units without the defects.

© Naomi West for Modded Autos, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: aura, chevrolet malibu, malibu, saturn aura, saturn vue, vue

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