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GM, Ford, Chrysler halt some Michigan operations over natural gas shortage

WASHINGTON - General Motors said late on Wednesday it will temporarily suspend operations at 11 Michigan plants and its Warren Tech Center after a utility made an emergency appeal to users to conserve natural gas during extreme winter cold. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles also said it had canceled a shift on Thursday at both its Warren Truck and Sterling Heights Assembly plants and was considering whether it would need to cancel additional shifts. GM said it had been asked by Consumers Energy, a unit of CMS Energy Corp, to suspend operations to allow the utility to manage supply issues after extreme cold temperatures and a fire at a compressor station. It said workers were told not to report for the shifts at its Orion Assembly, Flint Assembly, Lansing Delta Township Assembly and Lansing Grand River Assembly plants, as well as other stamping and transmission plants on Wednesday evening and early Thursday. GM said it was still assessing when employees could return to work. Workers at its Warren Tech Center were also told to stay home on Thursday. In a video message posted on Facebook, CMS Energy Chief Executive Patricia Poppe said large companies, including Fiat Chrysler, Ford Motor Co and GM, had agreed to "interrupt" production schedules through Friday to tackle the issue prompted by a fire at a Michigan facility and the record-breaking cold. Poppe said the usage cuts by large businesses were not enough, and urged 1.8 million Michigan customers to turn down thermostats as much as they could to cut natural gas use in order to protect critical facilities like hospitals and nursing homes. "I need you to take action right now," she said. Ford said it had also taken steps to reduce energy use at its four Michigan plants supplied by Consumers Energy, but added the situation remained fluid. A spokeswoman said it had reduced heating levels at Livonia Transmission and Van Dyke Transmission, stopped heat treatment processes at Sterling Axle and shut down the paint process at Michigan Assembly. Consumers Energy sent an alert to mobile phones in Michigan asking residents to reduce natural gas use.

FCA-Renault merger faces tall odds delivering on cost-cutting promises

FRANKFURT/DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Renault promise huge savings from a mega-merger, but such combinations face tall odds because of the industry's long product cycles and problems translating deal blueprints into real world success, industry veterans told Reuters. BMW's 1994 purchase of Rover, and Daimler's 1998 merger with Chrysler both made sense on paper. The companies promised to hike profits by combining vehicle platforms and engine families. Both combinations proved unworkable in reality, and were unwound. Renault and Nissan, which have been in an alliance since 1999 designed to share vehicle components, have only managed to use common vehicle platforms in 35% of Nissan's products despite an original target of 70%, according to Morgan Stanley. FCA and Renault have raised the stakes for themselves by ruling out plant closures. That increases the pressure to achieve more than $5 billion in promised annual savings from pooling procurement and research investments. The two companies have yet to fill in many of the blanks in the merger plan put forward by Fiat Chrysler. Renault's board is expected to act soon to accept the proposal, but that would lead only to a memorandum of understanding to pursue detailed operational and financial plans. A final deal and the legal combination of the two companies could take months to complete if all goes well. Pressure to cut automotive pollution is driving the latest round of consolidation. Automakers are looking at multibillion-dollar bills to develop electric and hybrid cars and cleaner internal combustion engines. Fiat Chrysler and Renault are betting they can design common electric vehicle systems, then sell more of them through their respective brands and dealer networks, cutting the cost per car. Developing all-new electric vehicles can bring more opportunities to share costs from the outset, industry experts said. "With the emergence of connected, autonomous, electric and shared vehicles, carmakers face immediate investments, so new opportunities for sharing costs have emerged," said Elmar Kades, managing director at Alix Partners. However, most electric vehicles lose money. This is a challenge for city car brands in Europe in particular. Both Renault and Fiat rely heavily on this segment for sales.

FCA to make 1 million face masks a month for North America coronavirus fight

MILAN, Italy — Italian-U.S. car giant Fiat Chrysler has confirmed plans to produce a million face masks a month and said it will distribute them to emergency services in North America to help the fight against coronavirus. FCA, which is also trying to help produce badly needed respirators for patients in intensive care in Italy, is one of a number of large manufacturers adapting production lines to make products in desperately short supply. "Production capacity is being installed this week and the company will start manufacturing face masks in the coming weeks with initial distribution across the United States, Canada and Mexico," it said in a statement released late on Monday. The monthly output of 1 million masks will be donated to police, emergency medical staff, firefighters and to workers in hospitals and health care clinics, it said. The decision to begin distribution of masks in North America rather than Italy, the company's other home country, underlines the difficult balance global companies are having to maintain as they weigh where to offer help in the emergency. Face masks and other protective equipment for medical staff have been running out across the world as thousands of new cases of the highly contagious virus have arrived in hospitals daily. Fiat's position as a historic pillar of Italian industry makes the issue of where to provide help sensitive, especially as Italy is the country worst hit by the virus so far. Both FCA and its controlling shareholder Exor, the investment firm of Italy's Agnelli family, have offered significant assistance to efforts to handle the crisis in Italy, where almost 6,000 people have died. FCA and luxury automaker Ferrari, also controlled by Exor, are in talks with Siare, Italy's biggest respirator manufacturer, to help it double production of the life-saving machines. In addition, the Agnelli family said last week it was donating 10 million euros to fight the virus emergency in Italy. It said companies controlled by Exor bought 150 ventilators and other medical equipment abroad, provided vehicles for support of people in need and were in touch with Italian authorities to help them buy medical equipment and healthcare products abroad. As part of the process, an Exor spokesman said on Tuesday the group had made an initial purchase of 250,000 face masks in China which would be distributed in Italy and were expected to arrive by the end of this week. Related Video: