Following the announcement this past January that Nissan would be supplying Chrysler with a new car based of the Versa’s platform, the two automakers announced today that more exchange is on the horizon, including a new small car for Chrysler and a Dodge-based pickup for Nissan.

The unnamed small car will be built by Nissan in Japan utilizing a Chrysler design and will be sold in North America, Europe and other markets in 2010. On the other side of the spectrum, Chrysler will build a full-size pick-up for Nissan that will share design cues with the rest of the Nissan line and be built at Chrysler’s Saltillo Assembly Plant in Mexico. Sales of the pick-up will begin in North America in 2011.

The move is part of an effort by both automakers to utilize each other’s global manufacturing facilities and finally gets Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s CEO, the American automaker partnership he’s been looking for since last year.

We’re hoping on a conference call to see if either automaker releases more information, but in the meantime check Chrysler’s press release after the jump.

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The SUV exodus means Ford’s Flex has the potential to be a hit and it’s gearing up for an onslaught of orders when sales begin this summer. Ford’s group veep of marketing and communications, Jim Farley, told Automotive News that consumers leaving the full-size SUV fold and others who haven’t considered putting a Blue Oval badge in their garage might be ready to give something like the Flex a chance. CUV sales have been strong over the last year, and Ford and Farley believe that the Flex could rack up 100,000 sales annually if the trend continues.

(source: Automotivenews)

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What began as a rumor that Mercedes-Benz would begin supplying Aston Martin with engines has evolved into a full-blown partnership that may include both automakers co-developing platforms and technology. The newest report comes courtesy of Autocar, suggesting that M-B is considering purchasing a stake in Aston Martin and the Kuwaiti Investment Authority would in turn receive a seven-percent slice of the Daimler AG pie. The partnership would make sense on several levels. Aston Martin, which is a small fish in a very large pool, will need to purchase major components from mainstream suppliers once its ties with Ford are officially severed. Imagine AMG-levels of power nestled inside Aston’s sensuous sheet metal. Yum. But the partnership wouldn’t be one sided. Recent reports coming out of Germany say that M-B is looking to employ a lightweight aluminum platform for the next generation SL. Aston Martin has the technology to help develop such an architecture, and with Mercedes stepping away from McLaren next year after production of the SLR ends, M-B needs a new supercar manufacturer to join the party.

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The United Auto Workers (UAW) are gearing up to strike against General Motors if progress isn’t made on local negotiations affecting three factories in the U.S. The workers at the Arlington, Texas; Parma, Ohio; and Delta Township, Michigan plants are required to give the General a five day notice before the stoppage occurs, and they’ve told GM’s negotiators that if progress isn’t made in five days on the local contracts, they’ll be laying down their tools. The dispute is primarily over which factory workers will be forced into a lower wage rate. If the work stoppage occurs, it will further compound issues GM is already facing with the American Axle strike, which has forced the automaker to slow or stop production at 30 factories across the U.S and Canada.

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The Bugatti Veyron does everything with effortless speed. Except, that is, for production, the rate of which is painstakingly slow. So slow, in fact, that the crown jewel in the Volkswagen empire is having trouble meeting demand. Since the hyper-exotic supercar’s debut in 2005, Bugatti has steadily had to ramp up production, which started at 50 and is (in true Veyron style) rapidly approaching twice that. Arriving at the same crossroads yet again, the company has announced that it will once more increase output from its Molsheim, France, workshop.

Customers with $1.5 million in hand and a spot on the waiting list should not, however, worry about quality issues commonly associated with rushing production. In order to increase production from 85 to 90 this year, Bugatti is considering shortening the break the factory has traditionally taken in the summer from three weeks down to one, thereby increasing productivity without rushing the job. Nor will the increased production mean more Veyrons produced: the final number will remain 300, of which 220 have already been ordered and 135 produced and delivered to date.

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Could the protracted sale of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford to Tata finally be coming to an end? After learning last week that Tata has secured the financing required to make the deal possible, reports are coming from London’s Financial Times suggesting that the official announcement of the sale, reportedly worth $2 billion, could come as soon as on Wednesday, when Jaguar workers return to work after enjoying their Easter holiday. This sale, of course, follows up Ford’s sale of Aston Martin, leaving a lonely Volvo as the only company left of Ford’s Premium Automotive Group.

Details of the deal include Tata’s assurance that they will continue to buy engines from Ford for Jaguar and Land Rover and Ford’s continuing to contribute to the pension fund of both marques.

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Blame the plunging greenback. Less than a week after BMW announced the expansion of their U.S. Spartanburg plant, we are getting news from Germany that the weak dollar is making it increasingly difficult for the German automaker to keep production on their soil and that layoffs are imminent. Ernst Baumann, BMW’s head of personnel, said 5,600 jobs in Germany will be cut by the end of the year. When you add that to the 2,500 positions already eliminated, the total represents about 7.6-percent of BMW’s workforce.

While the layoffs are bad news for German factory workers, the flip side of the coin may benefit their American counterparts. With the value of the Euro sitting at more than $1.50 at current exchange rates, European automakers are finding manufacturing on U.S. soil more attractive (read that “cost effective”) than ever. BMW manufactured about 155,000 vehicle on U.S. soil last year. By 2012, that number is planned to approach 240,000 cars. BMW sales worldwide reached 198,628 in January and February, up from 191,357 the same period last year. With the new BMW 1 Series and BMW X6 models hitting showrooms in 2008, BMW is forecasting yet another year of increased sales.

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