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The best views and opinions in automotive industry publishing, all in one place, from automotive's monthly columnists and in-house experts.
COMMENT: NUMSA rhetoric needs injection of hope
As sticking points go, South Africa's so-called 'peace clause' has proved exceptionally tricky to shift....
THE WEEK THAT WAS: Results season again
We are now in the midst of what I like to call slash-your-wrists or lose-the-will-to-live season and it can apply equally to whether you are...
No political football for new Business Minister
Much like supporting a football team, just when you think it's all going swimmingly and your club's in for a period of stability - and hopef...
THE WEEK THAT WAS: Roasting in Kia's Mojave oven
Memo to self - be a little less facetious. Put 'off on a desert safari' in my Skype status to explain my absence and was greeted on return w...
COMMENT: High time NUMSA ended permanent state of war with employers? 17 Jul 2014
Is the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) interested in promoting its members' conditions and working with employers in a country where union rights for all are still a relatively fledging concept, or is it more concerned with establishing some sort of Marxist State?
COMMENT: Has ZF set the M&A hare running with TRW? 15 Jul 2014
Is ZF Friedrichshafen's mooted takeover of TRW Automotive a ploy to smooth the peaks and troughs of any future recession?
THE WEEK THAT WAS: Advanced technologies in the news and behind it 11 Jul 2014
The boffins at Jaguar Land Rover revealed this week that they have come up with something akin to an on-board assistant built into your car.
COMMENT: Electric avenue fires Formula E into life 9 Jul 2014
Michelin's quite fond of using the phrase "track to street" - it's a nifty way to neatly encapsulate what the tyre manufacturer is trying to do with its move into, well, if not quite Formula 1, then its electric cousin, Formula E.
THE WEEK THAT WAS: More GM recalls 4 Jul 2014
General Motors started this week by continuing to honour CEO Mary Barra's oft-repeated promise - which is essentially to make good any car not good - so back to US dealers will go another 400,000-odd locally (and even Australian)-made cars for fixes various.
COMMENT: UK wrestles with Brexit/Scotland dilemma 3 Jul 2014
In the - presumably now smoke-free - corridors of the European Commission (EC) last week - Britain's Prime Minister - with his Hungarian counterpart - raged against the leviathan machine of Brussels - and lost.
THE WEEK THAT WAS: Interview time 27 Jun 2014
We've been hearing from several key auto industry chiefs this week.
COMMENT: UK docklands spirit evokes back to the future 27 Jun 2014
Britain's Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) Meet the Buyer event in London's rejuvenated docklands area this week was an apt choice of venue given the topics up for discussion.
COMMENT: 'Spontaneous deployment of air bags' 26 Jun 2014
Spontaneous deployment of air bags. Not a nice thought, especially for a young woman in Georgia.
THE WEEK THAT WAS: Similar superminis 20 Jun 2014
Being more or less permanently welded to the just-auto newsdesk, I don't get out much though, after this week's experience of overcrowded trains, airports and Dutch motorways, that's probably not a bad idea. But I was briefly cut free again, this time to go try Toyota's new tiddler.
COMMENT: 'New Saab summer' sees suppliers fire warning shot 19 Jun 2014
It's all starting to sound eerily reminiscent of two and a half years ago up in the stretches of northern Europe.
THE WEEK THAT WAS: An electrifying experience in a Nissan van 13 Jun 2014
I have been indulging my fetish for electrified vehicles this week, heading for sunny Barcelona to see what happens when the powertrain and various other bits of Nissan's Leaf, a personal favourite, are stuffed into the NV200 van.
COMMENT: Russian monogorods blink in market glare 11 Jun 2014
Only a few years ago, the vast, sprawling factory that is home to AvtoVAZ in Togliatti, apparently accounted for a staggering one in seven of the population in this central western city in Russia.
COMMENT: Corporate turnaround and renewal from within 9 Jun 2014
I was in Brussels last week for the Automotive News Europe Congress. One strong theme that emerged was corporate turnaround and the kinds of things that company leaders need to do in an industry as highly competitive as automotive.
COMMENT: Farewell Ambassador, long in the post 9 Jun 2014
It looks like the final Hundustan Ambassador - Amby to the locals - has rolled off the line in a plant that looks about as jurassic as the car it made since the mid-1950s.
THE WEEK THAT WAS: Recall axe falls at GM 6 Jun 2014
There are 15 vacant desks at General Motors in the US today - the latest development in the debacle that saw a faulty ignition switch design cleared for production and installation in around 2.6m cars.
COMMENT: Google's driverless car vision 2 Jun 2014
Here's something for all of us to think about. How will driverless vehicles emerge and what will it mean for car companies?
THE WEEK THAT WAS: Eyes on Russia 30 May 2014
In a bit of a change from my usual weekly epistle, may I first draw your attention to some articles from Our (occasional) Man in Russia, Simon Warburton, fresh back from (deep breath) the St Petersburg International Economic Forum 2014. We've bundled up his articles, including the odd travelogue blog, here in one handy all-inclusive take-home pack. Well worth a read.
SPIEF 2014: Ear to the ground St Petersburg 30 May 2014
This year's St Petersburg International Economic Forum provided a boost for Russia's beleaguered image, but The Kremlin didn't have it all its own way. Here is a snapshot of some of last week's more memorable quotes.
COMMENT: SPIEF argues calm heads prevail against current crisis 28 May 2014
What to make of last week's St Petersburg International Economic Forum? (SPIEF).
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