The Australian government will decide whether to inject more money into General Motors’ troubled Holden division in February of next year at the latest.

The decision will be heavily influenced by a report that will shed light on how long Holden can continue to turn a profit by building cars in Australia.  The automaker received $275 million (roughly $256 million) in government aid a year and a half ago in order to secure its future through 2022, but the automaker’s top executives say they urgently need more money because market conditions have changed.  Ian Macfarlane, Australia’s federal industry minister, hinted a second cash injection would most likely be the last.

Failure to obtain money from the government might lead parent company GM to shutter the division and lay off about 1,700 blue collar workers, putting an end to American auto manufacturing in Australia. �

Once one of the biggest Australian automakers, Holden has seen its profits and its share of the local market drop steadily over the past decade as sales of cheaper imports have been on the rise.  Government statistics indicate 80 percent of cars sold new to private buyers in Australia are imported into the country.  

Holden’s demise would have little impact on GM’s global operations as its lineup is a cocktail of re-badged Chevrolets such as the Spark, the Cruze and the Volt and larger brand-specific vehicles like the Ute, the Commodore and the Sportwagon.  The brand-specific cars are sold exclusively in Australia with the exception of the four-door Commodore, which will land in Chevrolet showrooms wearing the SS nameplate in the coming months.

Plagued by similar problems, Ford announced last March it will stop building cars in Australia towards the end of 2016 and kill off the iconic Falcon.  <![CDATA[
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A new report coming out of England gives us the best idea yet of what to expect from the lightweight closed-top sports car that Caterham is currently developing with Renault’s reborn Alpine division.

Called C120 internally, the coupe will be powered by a Renault-designed four-cylinder engine mounted transversally behind the front seats in order to optimize weight distribution.  The C120 will boast around 250 horsepower when it lands in showrooms, but Caterham will waste no time in developing more powerful variants and the coupe could offer over 300 horsepower in its most powerful state of tune.

The C120 will be built alongside its Renault sibling in Alpine’s historic Dieppe, France, factory.  The two cars will ride on the same platform but they will not share any exterior or interior design cues.�

“This is not a project that will create two cars that look the same, like the [ Scion FR-S] and Subaru BRZ,” affirmed Laurens van den Acker, Renault’s head of design, in a March 2013 interview. “What we plan to create is two cars that will look completely different. People will not recognize them when they are parked together.”

Unlike Caterham’s current lineup of Lotus Seven-based open-top sports cars, the C120 will be a relatively high-volume model so the firm is ramping up its dealer network in key markets around the world to prepare for a potential sales increase of up to 500 percent. 

Caterham expects the C120 to hit showrooms across the United Kingdom in 2016 at the latest.<![CDATA[
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Hyundai has announced an expansion of its Assurance payment-assistance program designed to help out federal government employees affected by mandatory furloughs.

Until the United States government’s shutdown ends, Hyundai says that furloughed employees will be able to defer their loan and lease payments. 

In addition, the Korean carmaker says that furloughed employees who plan to buy a car this month will be granted a 90-day payment deferral.

“We recognize the impact on family budgets that the furlough will drive,” said John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America in a statement released to members of the media. “Like we did almost four years ago when we launched Hyundai Assurance, this is our way of saying ‘We’ve got your back’ during this uncertain time.”

Hyundai has used its Assurance program to allow owners and lessees to delay payments during both economic slowdowns and natural disasters. It’s not clear how the automaker will ensure that owners who plan to make use of the Assurance program are actually among the roughly 800,000 who have been furloughed, however. <![CDATA[
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In response to rumors swirling about the Motor City this week, Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford stated today that while the automaker’s CEO, Alan Mulally, will “stick around.”

“I’m happy he’s sticking around,” Ford said on Bloomberg TV. “But we also feel really good about where we are in terms of succession.”

Reports began circulating recently that Microsoft is looking to Mulally for its top executive position. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced his retirement plans recently. Ballmer is set to hand over the top position at the software giant in about a year.�

Ford executives have indicated that Mulally will remain on board through the end of 2014, at which time most auto industry correspondents assume that COO Mark Fields will take over. 

Connections between Mulally and Microsoft are close, even though the executive has never worked in the high tech industry. Ford and Microsoft have a close relationship; not only is Ford’s in-car technology driven by Microsoft, the software firm’s One Microsoft reorganization plan is based on Ford’s One Ford philosophy campaigned by Mulally.

“As good as Alan is, we knew that he wasn’t going to last forever,” Ford said. “Nobody does. We have the best team today that we’ve had in my working career. I feel really good, as does Alan, about where we are going forward.” 

Mulally has proven crucial at Ford ever since taking the top position at the automaker in late 2006. Credited with borrowing about $23 billion and leveraging the automaker’s distinctive Blue Oval logo, Mulally helped bring Ford back into profitability. <![CDATA[
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