By Ben Klayman and Bernie Woodall DETROIT/NEW YORK | Thu May 17, 2012 10:14pm EDT DETROIT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facebook may only have itself to blame for why General Motors rained on its IPO parade this week. GM announced the decision to drop Facebook paid ads on Tuesday in what was the first highly visible crack in Facebook's strategy and illustrated doubts about its perceived advantage over traditional media.GM's decision followed Facebook officials' failure to convince top marketing executives at the U.S. automaker of the benefits of Facebook's paid ads at a meeting that took place in the past few weeks, people familiar with the meeting said on Thursday.That was after Facebook officials focused more on touting the social networking website's free pages, the sources ... Continue reading →

Tue May 15, 2012 7:32pm EDT * GM to keep pages on social networking site * Automaker spent $1.1 bln on US ads last year -research firm* Move seen as first highly visible crack in Facebook ad strategy* Facebook stock to debut Friday; valuation could exceed $100 blnBy Ben Klayman and Alexei OreskovicDETROIT/SAN FRANCISCO, May 15 (Reuters) - General Motors Co said on Tuesday it will stop advertising on Facebook, even as the social networking website prepares to go public.While GM gave no specific reason for dropping Facebook ads, a source familiar with the automaker's plans said the company's marketing executives decided Facebook's ads had little impact on consumers.While GM's decision could be an exception in the advertising world, it marked the first highly visible ... Continue reading →

By Ben Klayman Tue May 15, 2012 10:57am EDT (Reuters) - Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc (AONE.O) expects production capacity to be constrained over the next several quarters as it recovers from a battery recall but said it has corrected the cause of the defect and that demand remains strong, sending shares up 12 percent. A123 also said on Tuesday it had not lost any customers due to the defective batteries."We felt after the last (earnings) call that we were looking at a very strong year and that campaign has diverted resources that otherwise would have been deployed on many of our growth activities," A123 Chief Executive David Vieau told analysts on a conference call, referring to the recall.Last week, A123 warned of a ... Continue reading →

By Ben Klayman CHONGQING, China | Mon May 14, 2012 9:44am IST CHONGQING, China (Reuters) - Frank Chuang proudly surveys his immaculate new car plant as partly assembled versions of the Ford (F.N) Focus travel down the production line. Glancing at the small cars in the massive manufacturing complex in the city of Chongqing in southwestern China, the 32-year Ford veteran is satisfied with the way production has ramped up since the plant opened in February."This is just the starting point," Chuang, the 58-year-old head of manufacturing at Ford's China joint venture, said in an interview last month. "At this moment, I'm very excited."The plant will need to be a success if Ford is to get a better foothold in the world's biggest car market, ... Continue reading →

By Ben Klayman DETROIT | Wed May 9, 2012 3:15pm EDT DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) and PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) are hammering out agreements for the projects they want to tackle together as part of their new global alliance, including expanding the number of vehicles they will build on shared platforms. The alliance steering committee - made up of five top executives from each automaker -- was scheduled to meet for the first time in Detroit on Wednesday."Work teams are in place, meeting regularly and hopefully soon we will be able to share the first update on alliance progress," GM said in a statement, declining to comment further on the meeting.A PSA spokesman declined to comment, but executives for the French automaker ... Continue reading →

PARIS | Wed May 9, 2012 8:37am EDT PARIS (Reuters) - General Motors (GM.N) put its gearbox plant in Strasbourg, France, up for sale for a second time in four years, pledging to seek bidders to keep the factory running. The Detroit-based automaker, which announced an alliance with France's PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) in February, said on Wednesday it had hired Barclays to manage the sale of the facility in eastern France, where it employs 1,000 workers."The company intends to pursue potential buyers that will continue operations with the existing workforce, supply base and customers," GM said in a statement.GM last attempted to sell the plant, which makes automatic transmissions for its own brands and for BMW (BMWG.DE), at the onset of the financial crisis ... Continue reading →

Wed May 9, 2012 6:06pm EDT By Jonathan Stempel and Ben KlaymanMay 9 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co has won the reversal of a $9,867 small-claims judgment awarded to an owner who claimed the Japanese automaker fraudulently overstated the fuel economy of her Civic hybrid car.Tuesday's decision by California Superior Court Judge Dudley Gray overturned an award to Heather Peters, who had dropped out of a class-action settlement to pursue her own lawsuit concerning her 2006 vehicle.According to her website on the case, www.dontsettlewithhonda.org, Peters is among roughly 1,700 people who opted out of a class-action settlement covering a potential 200,000 Honda owners.That settlement awarded owners $100 or $200 each, plus rebates if they bought new Hondas, court papers show.In his decision, Gray said owners ... Continue reading →

By Ben Klayman and Deepa Seetharaman DETROIT | Thu May 3, 2012 2:52pm EDT DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) offered investors a disappointing outlook for the upcoming six months in North America, raising questions about the economy's recovery and sending its shares down as much as 3.2 percent. While the world's largest automaker posted a first-quarter profit that surpassed forecasts, the outlook for its key market fell short of expectations. GM's results echoed those of smaller rival Ford Motor Co (F.N), which last week also posted a stronger-than-expected profit, but offered a disappointing forecast.GM's North American results in the first quarter were also shy of Wall Street's expectations."Economic growth may be moderating to some degree," said Josef Schuster, president of iPox Schuster, which ... Continue reading →

By Hyunjoo Jin and Ben Klayman SEOUL/DETROIT, April 10 | Mon Apr 9, 2012 2:02pm EDT SEOUL/DETROIT, April 10 (Reuters) - Oh Kwang-teak recently spent $310 on a haircut and beauty care at a salon in Seoul's upscale Cheongdamdong district before splashing out $1,100 at a five-star hotel, which, if asked, will fill your bath with chocolate milk. He also visited Hermes and Cartier stores, while his wife had an expensive massage. All in the name of research.Oh sells Hyundai Motor cars and is part of a select group of the South Korean firm's dealers tasked with seeing first-hand what makes premium service brands tick - and applying that to Hyundai cars.His pampering illustrates how the Asian automaker is trying to burnish a reputation for ... Continue reading →

By Ben Klayman DETROIT | Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:52pm EDT DETROIT (Reuters) - A123 Systems (AONE.O) is replacing lithium-ion battery modules and packs that could fail due to a manufacturing defect, a problem that recently led to the high-profile shutdown of the Fisker Karma luxury sedan during testing by Consumer Reports. A123, whose shares fell 14 percent on Monday, said it discovered defects in some certain cells made at its plant in Livonia, Michigan, that Chief Executive David Vieau said can "result in premature failure of the battery module or pack, including a decrease in performance and reduced battery life."The company, which developed as a start-up at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has begun building replacement modules and packs, and expects to begin shipping ... Continue reading →