Detroit – News Stories About Detroit - Page 29

Dec 25, 2007 8:00 AM CST

Toyota Poised to Overtake GM

Plans to build 9.95 million vehicles, widen lead as largest automaker

(Newser) - Toyota, the most profitable automaker in the world, says it will increase production by 5% to a record 9.95 million vehicles in 2008, opening up a lead over General Motors, Reuters reports. Toyota, which sold 9.36 million vehicles in 2007, also expects sales to increase 5% in 2008...

The Last Muscle Car?

Dec 20, 2007 6:35 PM CST

The Last Muscle Car?

GM debuts the Corvette ZR1—but will the energy bill kill its kind?

(Newser) - GM will unveil the latest version of the Corvette at the Detroit auto show next month in all its supercharged, performance-car glory. But the 2009 Corvette ZR1 may actually be the last of an endangered breed—the Detroit muscle car. The new energy bill, with its stricter fuel economy standards,...

GM Offering Buyouts to 5,200 Workers

Dec 19, 2007 5:59 AM CST

GM Offering Buyouts to 5,200 Workers

New round aims to slash labor costs

(Newser) - General Motors is offering to buy out another 5,200 hourly workers, the Detroit News reports. The automaker, worried that the slowdown in auto sales will carry into next year, is keen to get veteran workers out the door and lower-paid new workers in. Over 34,000 blue-collar workers left...

Storm Drops a Foot of
Snow on Kansas

Dec 15, 2007 1:36 PM CST

Storm Drops a Foot of Snow on Kansas

But Oklahoma is spared a second blast

(Newser) - A foot of snow hit Kansas this morning as thousands huddled in shelters there, unable to return home after power outages, the AP reports. Oklahoma, which still has 181,000 homes and businesses blacked out, caught a break this morning when heavy snow warnings were canceled. But Missouri is still...

'08 Race Adds Google Pilgrimage

Dec 2, 2007 10:29 AM CST

'08 Race Adds Google Pilgrimage

Candidates embrace chance to flex high-tech cred, even as technology influences campaign

(Newser) - Where Detroit once beckoned to any candidate who would be president, the 2008 field is making increasing pilgrimages to the Googleplex to showcase their tech savvy, reports the New York Times. And YouTube, which didn't even exist in the last presidential election, has launched YouChoose ’08, a modern version...

Ex-GM CEO, Chairman Smith Dead at 82

Nov 30, 2007 12:33 PM CST

Ex-GM CEO, Chairman Smith Dead at 82

Unwitting Roger and Me costar led auto giant throughout 1980s

(Newser) - Roger B. Smith, the chairman of General Motors from 1981 to 1990 and the subject of Michael Moore's critical documentary Roger and Me, died yesterday in Detroit at 82. "He was a leader who knew that we have to accept change, understand change, and learn to make it work...

Violent Crime Rate Down in
Several Cities

Nov 29, 2007 10:33 AM CST

Violent Crime Rate Down in Several Cities

Mid-Atlantic region still grappling with rising murder rate

(Newser) - The crime surge of the last two years seems to be petering out, according to a new study by a police research group. The 2005-2006 rise in violent crime rates had been the first sustained jump in over a decade, but the new report shows that the numbers of murders,...

America's 10 Chubbiest Cities

Nov 25, 2007 1:00 PM CST

America's 10 Chubbiest Cities

Sun Belt hogs the lion's share of pudgiest locales

(Newser) - The weather may be great and the lifestyle good, but Southern culinary hospitality might be landing the Sun Belt disproportionately on Forbes' list of America's most obese cities. The most rotund:

Memphis
Birmingham
San Antonio

Motor City Going for Green

Nov 24, 2007 3:02 PM CST

Motor City Going for Green

Automakers blame environmental concerns for falling sales

(Newser) - Auto industry bigwigs at the Reuters Auto Summit in Detroit this week seem finally to have gotten the message on cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles; one after another they cited going green (or at least greener) as the path to more competitive cars and trucks. GM honcho Robert Lutz admitted that...

Cadillac CTS Wins Car of Year

Nov 20, 2007 7:57 AM CST

Cadillac CTS Wins Car of Year

(Newser) - Cadillac's CTS won Motor Trend’s 2008 car of the year honors today, reports the AP. Editors said the $32,990 entry-level luxury sedan stood up to BMW and Mercedes, and proves Detroit can build a competitive sedan—despite years of focusing on SUVs and trucks. "The CTS obliterates...

Analysts See Steep Sales Slide for Big 3 in '08

Nov 19, 2007 7:49 AM CST

Analysts See Steep Sales Slide for Big 3 in '08

(Newser) - Automakers are predicting a mildly soft sales year for 2008, but analysts warn a “poverty effect” caused by an imploding housing market could send US light auto sales skidding as much as 9.4% to their worst year since 1993, Reuters reports. “I’m just not sure how...

Detroit Named Most Dangerous City in America

Nov 19, 2007 2:50 AM CST

Detroit Named Most Dangerous City in America

But experts blast list for hurting cities and distorting perceptions

(Newser) - Motor City sped away as the nation’s most dangerous metropolis, according to the latest crime statistics examined by a private research firm that named Detroit worst of the worst. But city officials and crime experts slammed the annual ranking as worse than useless. A spokesmen for the FBI, whose...

From Detroit
to Dresden
to Siberia

Nov 16, 2007 5:42 PM CST

From Detroit to Dresden to Siberia

American memoirist imprisoned in Soviet gulag dead at 84

(Newser) - John Noble, an American who wrote two memoirs about the decade he spent as a Soviet prisoner, including 3 years in the gulag, died last week at 84, the Telegraph reports. Taken into Soviet custody in 1945, Noble and his father were incarcerated in Dresden, Germany, where they had run...

Ford Workers Ratify Pact
With UAW

Nov 14, 2007 3:16 PM CST

Ford Workers Ratify Pact With UAW

All three big automakers have now finalized deals

(Newser) - UAW workers at Ford overwhelmingly approved a four-year contract today that shifts responsibility for some retiree health benefits to the union, the Detroit Free Press reports. The agreement also allows Ford to hire new employees for lower wages and fewer benefits. The contract approval follows similar deals at GM and...

Former FBI,
CIA Agent Had Hezbollah Ties

Nov 14, 2007 8:02 AM CST

Former FBI, CIA Agent Had Hezbollah Ties

Lebanese immigrant scammed entry, snooped in FBI files

(Newser) - Lebanese native Nada Nadim Prouty overstayed her student visa, obtained US citizenship through a sham marriage, waitressed at a Detroit restaurant suspected of laundering money for Hezbollah, and became a CIA agent with access to sensitive intelligence. The case of Prouty, who tapped into government computers to obtain information about...

GM’s Wagoner Weathering
the Storm

Nov 8, 2007 9:31 AM CST

GM’s Wagoner Weathering the Storm

Despite $39B loss, he's earned respect, making progress

(Newser) - CEO heads are rolling on Wall Street as third quarter red ink stains their reps and boards act to soothe shareholder worries with new management, cost cutting, and reorganization. But it's business as usual in Detroit, where GM CEO Rick Wagoner just announced a staggering $39 billion loss, reports Business ...

More UAW Locals Nix Chrysler Deal

Oct 24, 2007 8:10 AM CDT

More UAW Locals Nix Chrysler Deal

Four Indiana plants join six others in voting down proposed contract

(Newser) - UAW workers at four Chrysler plants in Indiana last night rejected the embattled contract negotiated by their leaders with the automaker, adding to the six defeats by rank-and-file voters over the weekend. Some smaller locals have approved the contract, says anti-contract organizer Bill Parker, but the larger ones are rejecting...

Top Chicago Homebuilder Goes Bankrupt

Oct 24, 2007 5:16 AM CDT

Top Chicago Homebuilder Goes Bankrupt

Neumann becomes second largest builder to fall in subprime collapse

(Newser) - Neumann homes, a top Chicago homebuilder, will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Chicago Tribune reports, making it the second-largest builder felled by the dive in the housing market. The company has laid off all but 20 of its 110 workers. “I’m not overly optimistic about the...

Chrysler Deal Faces More Rejections

Oct 21, 2007 11:02 PM CDT

Chrysler Deal Faces More Rejections

After 6 locals vote down proposed contract, UAW steps up lobbying

(Newser) - UAW members at three auto plants rejected the proposed pact between Chrysler and their union this weekend, bringing to six the number of locals who have voted down the deal, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a last-ditch effort to salvage the agreement, union leaders are focusing lobbying efforts...

Rocky Road for Chrysler Deal

Oct 20, 2007 4:44 PM CDT

Rocky Road for Chrysler Deal

3 UAW locals vote down offer that would 'lower our standard of living'

(Newser) - Three UAW locals voted against the new Chrysler deal yesterday, stirring fears that the agreement may be scuttled. Two plants voted against it by 53%, and a third, in Missouri, by 66% among skilled trades and 79% among assembly line workers. They slammed a proposed 2-level pay structure and new...