As part of the investment plan, which will be officially unveiled in a ceremony with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva later today, Brazil’s government will extend state and federal tax breaks to Ford, Bahia state governor Jaques Wagner said on a radio interview, the news service said. A Ford spokeswoman in Brazil said the automaker would make no comment until the official ceremony at the company’s Camacari plant starts at around noon (9 a.m. EST). (Reuters)

Mike DiGiovanni, executive director of global market and industry analysis, also predicted the U.S. industry’s seasonally adjusted annual sales rate this month would approach or slightly exceed 11 million units, the news service said. That would be a boost from October demand. , the story said.

GM’s share hit 21.1 percent in October, continuing a rise from 18.9 percent in July, when it exited a U.S.-directed bankruptcy, the news service said. The automaker last month posted its first year-over-year sales gain since January 2008, the story said. (Automotive News)

GM this month reversed a decision to sell a majority stake in Opel to a consortium led by Canadian car parts manufacturer Magna, the story said. Magna was targeting about 900 job cuts in Zaragoza, and Opel’s union representatives in Spain have told Reuters they would not accept any more cuts than those negotiated with Magna.

“Our plan is very similar to Magna’s. I don’t think it’s worse,” Nick Reilly, interim head of GM’s European business, told reporters in northern Spain, where Opel’s largest plant is located. Reilly, a Briton who is in charge of restructuring Opel until ex-GM Europe boss Carl-Peter Forster is replaced, has said up to 10,000 jobs could go across Europe as part of GM’s overhaul, the story said. (Reuters)

But after a highly publicized crash in August that killed four people when the driver lost control of a Lexus sedan, Toyota has come under intense pressure to reduce the risk of unintended acceleration, the News said.

The Japanese automaker and U.S. safety regulators are discussing changes to the gas pedal, as well as adjustments that would make it easier to stop a car that’s accelerating, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, the paper said. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 15 fatalities, including the four in August, are linked to hundreds of reports of unintended acceleration of Toyotas it has received since 2002, the story said. (The Detroit News)

GM chairman Ed Whitacre suggested engineering vice president Mark Reuss and his team make the follow-up calls to figure out what went wrong and improve the products, the paper said. Less than 0.1 percent, or 200 of the 220,000 people who qualified for the exchange offer, used it, and only about 20 buyers won’t move into some other GM vehicle. But Reuss jumped at the idea, the Free Press said.

Reuss planned to call a buyer last night tonight who returned a Chevrolet Silverado pickup because of dissatisfaction with its interior room, paint and the quality of its finish, the paper said. “I want to know exactly why they weren’t satisfied,” he told the paper. (Detroit Free Press)

“We will spend $500 to $600 million on this plant,” Minielly said in an interview with the paper. “We are going to gut this plant to the four walls.”

The final Explorer production date of, Nov. 24, 2010, is tentative, he said, but the date is the most precise a Ford executive has been in discussing the timetable for the plant’s overhaul, the paper said. Minielly added he was “confident” Ford Motor Co. will proceed with the plant transformation, the story said. (Louisville Courier-Journal/Detroit Free Press)

Ron Bloom, head of the Obama administration’s autos task force, nevertheless told Reuters that an initial public offering could come as soon as the fourth quarter of 2010 if the automaker meets its recovery targets and the financial markets are receptive, the news service said. Bloom said the government had previously expressed concerns about GM operations but now trusts the directors and management to do what is best for shareholders, the story said.

“We’re done. We’re not saying what we think anymore,” Bloom told Reuters of the more passive role assumed by the administration since GM’s bankruptcy. Ensuring corporate independence at GM and Fiat-led Chrysler includes accepting decisions that may surprise the government or diverge from administration goals, such as production of electric vehicles, the story said. (Reuters)

Ford Motor Credit has sought an ILC since 2006. Other companies, including Toyota’s credit arm in the United States, have an ILC, the paper said. “The last thing we ought to do is lock one of our automakers into a permanent disadvantage relative to foreign-based competitors just as the company is beginning to return to profitability,” Peters told the paper. (The Detroit News)

The Camaro outsold the Mustang by more than 3,000 last month—the fifth month in a row that Chevy outsold Ford since bringing back the storied car this spring, the paper said. The battle between the two cars has been raging since the original Camaro went on sale in 1966 as a rival to the Mustang, which had launched two years earlier, the Free Press noted.

GM officials say the Camaro might even outsell the Mustang this year, which would be the first time it topped the Mustang since 1985, the paper said. Through October, GM has sold 47,233 Camaros—9,236 shy of the Mustang, the story said. (Detroit Free Press)

In April, Ford brought 100 Fiesta subcompact cars to the United States from Europe and put them into the hands of mostly young, hip drivers who had shown savvy with social-media networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, the paper said.

Ford allowed its so-called agents to use the cars for free for six months and encouraged them to write about their experiences online, the Free Press said. By October, the agents had generated content that had drawn more than 4.3 million video views on YouTube, more than 540,000 photo views on Flickr and more than 3 million Twitter impressions, the paper said.

Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president of global marketing, said 60 percent of the public is now aware of the brand, even though the vehicle doesn’t go on sale until early next summer, the paper said. “To get 60 percent awareness in traditional media, it costs somewhere north of $50 million,” Farley told journalists. While he declined to say how much Ford spent on the Fiesta Movement campaign, Farley said it was a fraction of $50 million, the story said. (Detroit Free Press)
Camaro is muscling in on top spot of Mustang

The new Chevrolet Camaro is fast approaching its longtime rival, the Ford Mustang, as Detroit’s muscle car sales leader, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The Camaro outsold the Mustang by more than 3,000 last month—the fifth month in a row that Chevy outsold Ford since bringing back the storied car this spring, the paper said. The battle between the two cars has been raging since the original Camaro went on sale in 1966 as a rival to the Mustang, which had launched two years earlier, the Free Press noted.

GM officials say the Camaro might even outsell the Mustang this year, which would be the first time it topped the Mustang since 1985, the paper said. Through October, GM has sold 47,233 Camaros—9,236 shy of the Mustang, the story said. (Detroit Free Press)
House panel OKs Ford ILC amendment

The House Financial Services Committee approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Twp., on Wednesday that would allow Ford Motor Co. to pursue its application for an industrialloan corporation, or ILC, for its credit unit—a move that would make it easier to raise funds, The Detroit News reported.

Ford Motor Credit has sought an ILC since 2006. Other companies, including Toyota’s credit arm in the United States, have an ILC, the paper said. “The last thing we ought to do is lock one of our automakers into a permanent disadvantage relative to foreign-based competitors just as the company is beginning to return to profitability,” Peters told the paper. (The Detroit News)
‘Different’ Chrysler zeroes in on quality

Chrysler Group LLC is backing claims that it will be a quality leader by the end of 2012 with a revamped, refocused and much larger quality team, tougher standards and a commitment to achieving sustainable quality gains crucial to its long-term success by changing company culture, The Detroit News reported.

“It’s different now,” Doug Betts, senior vice president in charge of quality at Chrysler, told the News. “People are talking openly about problems now and how to fix (them.)”

In an exclusive interview Wednesday with The Detroit News, Betts said changing Chrysler’s culture to collectively attack quality problems has been as difficult—and essential—as making better cars. Uneven product quality has been Chrysler’s Achilles heel for decades and addressing the problem a top priority under a series of corporate owners and chief executives, the paper said.

Most recently, Cerberus Capital Management LP pledged change and two years ago recruited Betts from Nissan Motor Co. to get it done, but Chrysler ran out of money and ultimately into bankruptcy, the paper said. Today, he says, there is company-wide support for doing what it takes to improve quality and everything from management structures to manufacturing processes has been overhauled, the story said. (The Detroit News)

GM must pay debt, make money before IPO

General Motors Co. should focus on making money and repaying U.S. Treasury loans before turning to public markets to sell the taxpayer’s stake in the automaker, a senior government official said, Reuters reported.

Ron Bloom, head of the Obama administration’s autos task force, nevertheless told Reuters that an initial public offering could come as soon as the fourth quarter of 2010 if the automaker meets its recovery targets and the financial markets are receptive, the news service said. Bloom said the government had previously expressed concerns about GM operations but now trusts the directors and management to do what is best for shareholders, the story said.

“We’re done. We’re not saying what we think anymore,” Bloom told Reuters of the more passive role assumed by the administration since GM’s bankruptcy. Ensuring corporate independence at GM and Fiat-led Chrysler includes accepting decisions that may surprise the government or diverge from administration goals, such as production of electric vehicles, the story said. (Reuters)