Motor

Hyundai boss must pay US$ 60 million

For losses to firm:

A South Korean court Monday ordered Hyundai Motor chairman Chung Mong-Koo to pay almost 60 million dollars in damages to his company for loss-making deals.

Chung Mong-Koo

The Seoul central district court, ruling on a damages suit brought by shareholders, said Chung must pay 70 billion won (59.7 million dollars) to compensate for losses caused to the company by his business decisions. A group of 14 minority shareholders and a non-governmental group called Solidarity for Economic Reform filed suit in 2008 against Chung and Kim Dong-Jin, vice president of parts supplier Hyundai Mobis.

They claimed the executives should pay compensation for the losses which the company suffered in 2001 from its participation in share sales of its affiliates — Hyundai Airspace and Aircraft Co. and Hyundai Hysco. “The court has recognised the fact that Chung made Hyundai Motor participate in the share sales to prevent the threats to the Hyundai Group’s managerial rights, although it could inflict damage on his company,” Yonhap news agency quoted the judges’ ruling as saying.

“This is a case that reveals the problem of family-run management that focuses on the interests of major stockholders and the executives of Hyundai Motor,” it said The court ordered that Kim pay a small percentage of the total damages since he was also responsible.

In 2007 Chung was found guilty of breach of trust and embezzling 90 billion won (then worth 97 million dollars) in company funds through fraudulent accounting. He was given a three-year suspended prison term.

AFP

Audi says it sold more cars

German luxury car maker Audi said Monday that January sales jumped by 39 percent, pushing it into second place among high-end German manufacturers ahead of Daimler.

Audi said it sold 77,800 vehicles last month, thanks to jumps of 9.3 percent in Germany, 23 percent in Europe and 114.9 percent in China.

The number of autos sold was 11,657 in Germany, 33,300 in the rest of Europe and 16,798 in China, a statement said.

“In light of the number of current orders, we expect a solid first quarter in 2010,” sales director Peter Schwarzenbauer was quoted as saying.

Audi thus passed Daimer and its Mercedes-Benz brand, which posted total sales of 72,600 vehicles in January, while awaiting sales figures from BMW, the biggest German luxury car maker.

AFP

 Japan’s Mazda, Isuzu return to black for Q3

Mazda Motor and Isuzu Motors both swung into the black for the three months to December thanks to brisk sales in Asia and cost-cutting efforts, the two Japanese auto makers said.

Mazda, in which Ford Motor owns a 11 percent stake, said it generated a net profit of 4.4 billion yen (49 million dollars) in the third quarter, reversing the net loss of 600 million yen a year earlier.

Mazda plant

The Hiroshima-based car maker posted an operating profit of 11.1 billion yen, compared with an operating loss of 24.2 billion yen a year ago, while sales rose 8.8 percent to 557.6 billion yen.

Mazda said solid sales in Asia and cost-cutting efforts offset the yen’s strength, which caused it to narrow its net loss forecast to 9.0 billion yen for the full year to March 31 from its earlier estimate of 17.0 billion yen.

Isuzu, in which Toyota Motor controls a 5.8 percent stake, reported a net profit of 11.2 billion yen in the quarter, turning around its net loss of 11.7 billion yen in the same period last year.

The Tokyo-based truck maker also reported a swing back into profit on an operating level at 14.3 billion yen from the year-earlier loss of 1.6 billion yen. Sales declined 16.2 percent to 285.1 billion yen.

Isuzu attributed the profit gains to cost reduction and a recovery in demand for trucks in Asia and Australia.

For the year to March 31, Isuzu now expects a net loss of five billion yen, narrower than its previous outlook for a net loss of 20 billion yen.

Suzuki Motor separately said its net profit in the April-December period fell 28.4 percent to 15.49 billion yen, with sales down 24 percent at 1.8 trillion yen for the nine months.

But Suzuki, which recently allied with Germany’s Volkswagen, raised its full-year profit forecast to 16 billion yen from its earlier estimate of 15 billion yen. Suzuki provided no quarterly figures.

Meanwhile, Suzuki’s motorcycling rival Yamaha announced a plan to cut 800 jobs this year as it downgraded its net loss forecast to 216 billion yen from 182 billion yen projected earlier.

The downgrade was mainly due to “the severe business environment, including a sharp decline in demand in developed countries, the appreciation of the yen and growing fixed costs,” it said.

AFP

Toyota to recall more than 400,000 hybrids worldwide

Toyota Motor said Tuesday that it would recall more than 400,000 hybrid vehicles around the world, including its latest Prius model, to fix faulty brakes, in a fresh blow to its brand image. The company is pulling roughly 223,000 hybrid vehicles in Japan and about 147,500 in the United States due to a problem with the anti-lock braking system, in a recall that also extends to Europe and other markets.

It will offer a software fix for the affected models: the newest Prius, the plug-in Prius, the Sai sedan and the luxury Lexus HS250h.

Drivers ``can experience reduced braking performance resulting in increased braking distance,” the automaker said in a statement.

It said the delay occurs when the vehicle switches to the conventional hydraulic brake from regenerative braking, used by hybrids to capture the energy of the car’s motion to recharge the battery for its electric motor.

AFP

Italian-Indian venture to convert Fiat plant

Italy’s Cape SpA said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with India’s Reva Electric Car Company to make an offer to convert Fiat’s car plant Termini Imerese into an electric car factory.

“I can confirm, yes, (that) we have signed,” Simone Cimino, the firm’s founder, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The two companies would convert the Termini Imerese plant near Palermo, Sicily, which Fiat has said it would shut down at the end of 2011.

The plant has been at the centre a dispute between Fiat and the government, which is trying to safeguard jobs as it prepares for regional elections in March.

Cimino said the private equity firm and a sister company, Cape Regione Siciliana SGR SpA, had signed the memorandum earlier in the day. Reva was not immediately available for comment.

Cape, another of whose companies is Cape-Natixis SGR SpA, presented the government with a working document on its proposal for the plant earlier this month.

AFP

Chrysler US January sales skid

Chrysler said auto sales in the United States fell 8.0 percent in January from a year ago, but the beleaguered carmaker said it continued to build on two consecutive quarters of rising market share. Chrysler, which like General Motors emerged from a Government-backed bankruptcy in 2009, reported total US sales of 57,143 units for last month.

“The company continues to make positive strides each month and that trend continued in January,” Fred Diaz, president and chief executive of the firm’s Ram truck brand and top Chrysler sales executive, said in a statement. The number-three US carmaker, after GM and Ford, was formed in a global strategic alliance with Italy’s Fiat Group after emerging from bankruptcy.

AFP