All Policy and regulation articles – Page 32
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FeatureCaterpillar highlights rising costs
Supply chain expenses, materials prices and tariffs all conspired to raise costs for US heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar in the second quarter of this year, the company has reported.Despite revealing that net profits more than doubled in the period to $1.71 billion from $802m a year ago while turnover rose ...
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FeatureExports prop up UK car production despite trade uncertainty
The number of cars made in the UK fell by 5.5% to 128,799 last month, with domestic demand plummeting by 47.2% to 15,647, according to figures from the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). However, production was bolstered by a 6% rise in exports to 113,152 units, with almost ...
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FeatureVehicle makers grapple with cost of trade wars
Carmakers are faced with shifting production, higher purchase costs, lower profits and the possibility of raising the price of their products as a consequence of the continuing global trade conflict.Volvo Cars of Sweden is shifting production of its XC60 SUV for the US market from China to Europe to avoid ...
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FeatureEEU hits vehicle makers with revised rates
Carmakers with assembly plants in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus are now unable to export finished vehicles duty free within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), because the localisation rate has increased.Previously, almost all Russian carmakers, as well as those foreign carmakers with plants in the region, were registered on the EEU’s ...
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FeatureNafta Survey
Signed 24 years ago, the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) was designed to remove barriers to business between the US, Mexico and Canada, creating the world’s largest free-trade area. Since then, the economies of its three members have been on an upward curve, US and Canadian consumers have benefitted ...
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FeatureA rising tide – with political undercurrents
Mexican production and exports continued to grow through 2017, both to the US and globally. At the same time, US sales remained strong and were fed by an increase in imports from established and emerging markets. It is only in Canada that both sales and assembly are showing a decline. ...
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FeaturePasha sees positive drivers at the ports
Pasha Automotive Services (PAS) processed a total of more than 448,600 vehicle units across its four port terminal facilities in the US through 2017 for around 17 customers. The company, which is part of the wider Pasha Group, has operations on the US west coast at the ports of Grays ...
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FeatureIndustry welcomes Brexit white paper but calls for more clarity on trade
Representatives of the UK automotive industry have welcomed a government white paper on Brexit proposing an economic partnership when the UK leaves the European Union. The paper outlines how the UK wants to establish a new free trade area to replace the Single Market and maintain the movement of goods ...
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FeatureWhen will services be back on track?
The state of the rail freight service in the US has been a leading topic of conversation for several months within vehicle supply chains, with discussions still ongoing between OEMs and rail providers. Questions around the availability of capacity and transit delays that have disrupted the timing of finished vehicle ...
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FeatureJLR threatens to pull investment over ‘bad’ Brexit
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has warned its plans to invest £80 billion ($105 billion) over the next five years in the UK are in jeopardy, due to continuing uncertainty over the terms of the nation’s exit from the EU.Brexit could erode more than £1.2 billion from JLR’s bottom line each ...
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FeatureRussia's fresh focus on exports
In recent years, Russia has put considerable resources into encouraging recovery in its domestic automotive industry. Last year, the federal budget included 62.3 billion roubles ($1 billion) in state aid for carmakers. Such sums have been spent primarily on boosting demand in the domestic market, which has been under pressure ...
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FeatureTrump’s tariffs attract worldwide disapproval
Carmakers, parts manufacturers, trade bodies and the European Union have all sharply criticised the Trump administration’s proposed import tariffs on vehicles and auto parts.Hinting at potential supply chain disruption, Toyota said: “There is no vehicle [made] in the United States … that is sole-sourced from exclusively US parts and components.”The ...
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FeatureHigher tariffs to hit Daimler’s earnings
Increased Chinese import duties on US-made cars and other setbacks have forced Daimler to lower earnings expectations for this year, despite record sales.“The decisive factor is that at Mercedes-Benz Cars fewer-than-expected SUV sales and higher-than-expected costs – not completely passed on to the customers – must be assumed because of ...
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FeatureRussia on its way to join the global automotive trade war
The Russian government is considering protective duties against US finished vehicles according to Maxim Oreshkin, Russia’s economic development minister (pictured). Oreshkin held a press conference in Moscow on June 25 and said the country could introduce duties ranging between 18% and 20% in response to the US decision to raise ...
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FeatureBrexit’s unaccustomed burdens
Nine months before the UK’s planned departure from the European Union, uncertainty over customs arrangements is emerging as one of the major concerns of manufacturers – perhaps just as much, if not more so, than the prospect of tariffs and taxes. The risks and impacts from delays in logistics flows ...
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FeatureSMMT calls for end to Brexit uncertainty
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has joined major manufacturers in calling for the British government to end uncertainty over the UK’s trading relationship with the European Union after Brexit, and to ensure the frictionless flow of parts and vehicles. Speaking at a press conference during the SMMT’s ...
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FeatureTrump stamps on Iran’s automotive revival
When Iran reached agreement with the global community in 2015 regarding denuclearisation, resulting in the lifting of sanctions in early 2016, almost immediately Renault and PSA announced their return to the country. Prior to Iran being ostracised, both companies had been active there via joint venture (JV) manufacturing operations, mostly ...
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FeatureRussian VAT hike to hit domestic car industry
Plans to increase the VAT rate in Russia from 18% to 20% next year look set to hit the automotive and construction sectors hard, Russian economists have warned.The move, designed to collect an additional $10 billion a year for the federal budget, is believed to be the sharpest rise in ...
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FeatureEmissions legislation set to disrupt vehicle logistics
European legislation aimed at achieving more accurate monitoring of emissions from passenger cars could cause disruption to logistics operations involving the storage and delivery of new vehicles, the Association of European Vehicle Logistics (ECG) has warned. As manufacturers phase out non-compliant older models, dealers are looking to sell existing stock ...
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FeatureTwinning talent with technology
The rate at which emerging digital technologies are transforming the automotive logistics supply chain is hard to keep up with. As both an enabler of everything from platform design to procurement, finance and planning, and a disruptor of traditional supply chain operations, digital technology associated with industry 4.0 is driving ...