BMW recalls 140,000 cars in the United States and Canada over faulty tail lights

DETROIT, 21.Aug of Reuters) - German automaker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is recalling 140,000 5 series sedans in North America to potentially incorrect address of rear lights.

Some are 134.100 vehicles in the United States and Canada, a spokesman in the BMW Munich headquarters of the news agency of Reuters on Friday a further 5,800 retrieves.

BMW is due to problems with the tail light electrical contact points, some 528i, 535i, 550i, and M5 vehicles from model years 2008 to 2010, according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration deposited documents recalls. In turn, this could be a temporary or permanent loss of one or more functions that lead lights.

BMW has received no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue according to NHTSA documents.

BMW dealer replace tail lights bulb holder free of charge. The recall is expected to begin after the NHTSA documents in October.

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Honda to cut US, Canada production by half

DETROIT — Parts shortages from three months of catastrophic flooding in Thailand have forced Honda to cut U.S. and Canadian factory production by 50 percent for the second time this year, the automaker said Monday.

The cuts, which come just as Honda was recovering from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, will run from Wednesday at least through Nov. 10 as Honda tries to find alternate sources for microprocessors that are made in Thailand.

The flooding, which began in July and has forced many auto parts plants to close, also affected Toyota Motor Co., which cut overtime for production in North America through the end of this week.

Honda Motor Co.'s announcement comes the same day the Japanese automaker announced that its quarterly profit tumbled 56 percent, battered by the strong yen and production disruptions from the March tsunami disaster.

The automaker, which makes the Accord and Civic sedans, said Monday that net profit for the July-September fiscal second quarter fell to 60.4 billion yen ($788 million).

Quarterly sales sank 16.3 percent from a year earlier to 1.885 trillion yen ($24.6 billion), with sales in North America falling the most — 22.3 percent.

Flooding in Thailand, where Honda has parts suppliers and assembly lines, made it too difficult to forecast earnings for the full fiscal year through March 2012. A projection will be announced when it becomes available, the company said.

Honda also said it will stop all production in the U.S. and Canada on Nov. 11, and all Saturday overtime work will be canceled through November. Spokesman Ed Miller said it's too early to tell if there will be a repeat of model shortages that occurred during the summer and early fall due to parts shortages from the earthquake and tsunami.

The company also said in a statement that the December sale date for the 2012 version of the popular CR-V crossover vehicle could be delayed by several weeks. Honda says it will announce the sale date in the near future.

Last year, 87 percent of the Honda and Acura luxury vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in North America, the company said. Most of the parts are produced here, but a few critical electronic parts such as engine control modules come from Thailand and other countries, Honda said.

Miller said the company is trying to find other sources for the parts made in Thailand, but production of newer models such as the Civic compact and CR-V will be most affected by the parts shortages.

Honda said it will not lay off any workers at its U.S. and Canadian auto plants. The company has 21,000 U.S. factory workers and 10 U.S. and Canadian auto factories in Ohio, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and Alliston, Ontario.

The Thailand floods began in late July and were fed by unusually heavy monsoon rains and a string of tropical storms. They have killed 381 people and affected more than a third of the country's provinces. The water has destroyed millions of acres (hectares) of crops and forced thousands of factories to close.

Officials said Monday they hoped seven submerged industrial estates would be running again in about three months. The parks house the factories of global companies including Honda, Toshiba and Western Digital.

© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Chrysler information plan, United States, Canada pay back

NEW YORK-Chrysler Group LLC detailed terms and conditions on Thursday, the high cost to repay Government loans a bond offering and term loans and put the U.S. based automaker on firmer financial ground to be used.

The company expects to refinance loans to the Government, on 24, the company confirmed in a press release.

All in all Chrysler $7.5 billion in new loans raised: $3.2 billion in bonds, $3 billion in a term loan and credit revolving a 1.3 billion dollar facility, said the company.

The bonds and the term loans, which total Fiat SpA from $ 6.2 billion and $1.3 billion in cash from Italian automaker repay $7.5 billion in government loan restructuring used is from Chrysler's bankruptcy in 2009.

Credit facility revolvierende $1.3 billion in Chrysler used for general corporate purposes and remains undrawn credit lines.

A sharp drop in car sales pushed the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based company to the brink of collapse in 2009 before his rescue. Under the direction of Fiat almost two years ago was created before the bankruptcy.

But the loans from the United States and Canada carry high interest rates, the Chrysler costs more than $1.2 billion last year, or more than 3 million USD per day. Chrysler declined to specify how much of the funding would save the company.

Chrysler is output from the in two parts: an eight year tranche amounting to $1.5 billion and a 10-year tranche amounting to $1.7 billion. The first part bears an interest rate of 8 per cent, while the 10-year bond has an interest rate of 8.25%.

The term of loan facility Chrysler Fund to 4.75 percentage points above the London interbank offered rate, subject to can lend the floor LIBOR rate of 1.25%.

This was the second time this week the U.S. based automaker the structure of refinancing package changed. Early Chrysler term loans and bonds of 2.5 billion was looking for a 3.5 billion USD $.

But investor concerns about its financial Outlook Chrysler the cut earlier this week to US$ 2.5 billion and boost the bond offers its term loan to $3.5 billion required.

Revised include Chrysler also the term loans to more bond-like properties. People familiar with the transaction said this week, that Chrysler's revised term loan was oversubscribed.

On Thursday morning, the deal had again changed structure. The term of loans grew to $3 billion, the bond offer was reduced by $3.2 billion and the revolver was cut $ 1.5 billion to $1.3 billion.

The U.S. based automaker will help refinance to reduce interest costs of an initial public offering that could come this year. Repayment of debts can Fiat, its stake in Chrysler increase to 46 percent from the current 30 percent.

Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive of Fiat and Chrysler, has said that its aim is in this year, Fiat increase to 51 per cent stake in Chrysler.

A concern about Chrysler said it tends strongly to gas-guzzling pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans Wilmer Stith, Portfolio Manager at MTB investment advisors, expanded.

But he added: "you're going that marry with Fiat, which has many good small cars, and I think merging the two will be a good thing."

(Reporting by Michelle Sierra and Soyoung Kim;) Writing and additional reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Lisa von Ahn, Gerald E. McCormick, Andre Grenon and Phil Berlowitz)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters.

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Honda recalls 21,700 civics in United States Canada,

Referring to DETROIT (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co on approximately 21,700 from its current model is small cars due to the possibility of Honda Civic the fuel in a rollover crash, leaving the company and U.S. regulators said Thursday.

"If a vehicle in a rollover accident is involved, a broken over roll fuel leakage from the gasoline tank in tank evaporative emissions can allow valve" Honda in a statement said. "No crashes or injuries were reported damaged in connection with them."

More than 18,000 cars in the United States and more than 3,600 in Canada be pointed out, the company said.

The fuel valve problem cars built in the United States and in Canada is related, the company said.

Honda said the approximately 1 percent of the recalled 2011 model year vehicles are likely to have the problem. In a rollover said crash a fire can occur, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Owners of recalled vehicles mid-April by e-Mail will be informed, the company said.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall, Detroit News Bureau;) Editing by Lisa von Ahn)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters.

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