All posts by Francis Mitterrand

News

Workers’ strike in Stellantis’ plants

Stellantis was recently discovered to be in debt to MacLean-Fogg, which led to the suspension of the supply of vehicle components. Now the multinational automotive manufacturing corporation is facing another problem, a labor strike at plants in France and the UK.

After Stellantis announced its intention to move production from France and the UK to Poland, workers in three factories went on strike, forcing Stellantis to temporarily suspend production. The reason is the suspension of the delivery of components from the MA France factory.

In 2014, PSA shut down production at the MA France factory, and in 2021 this factory was taken over by Stellantis (formed by the merger of the Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group). This factory produces components that are sent to two plants in France and a plant in the UK where Stellantis cars are assembled.

In France, Stellantis produces the DS 3 and Opel Moka models at the Poissy plant, while the Hordain plant assembles the Peugeot Expert, Citroen Jump, Opel Vivaro and commercial vehicles. The factory in Luton produces Vauxhall commercial vehicles and from 2025 it will produce mid-range electric vans for Opel/Vauxhall, Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat.

Source: Stellantis

Auctions

1966 Shelby Mustang GT350 is for sale

Between 1965 and 1970, one of the legendary high-performance cars, the Shelby Mustang GT 350, was produced, and the first generation is considered the smallest and lightest of all GT 350 models. One example of this car, the 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350 is for sale.

This Shelby Mustang GT350 is powered by an aftermarket 4.7 L 289ci HiPo Windsor V8 engine (1967 GT350) with a factory rated 306 hp (228 kW) and 329 lb-ft (446 Nm) of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual transmission.

The car was refinished in Wimbledon White with blue Le Mans and side stripes during 1991. It is equipped with a steel-framed fiberglass hood with a scoop and torsion-type retaining pins, a bullet-style side-view mirror, fixed plexiglass rear quarter windows, fiberglass brake-cooling scoops on the rear fenders, Koni shocks, Kelsey-Hayes front disc brakes and large rear drums. It sits on silver 10-spoke alloy wheels wrapped in E70-14″ Goodyear Custom Wide Tread tires.

Inside, the seats are trimmed in black vinyl that also covers the door panels and the Sport Deck rear seat. In front of the driver are a three-spoke woodgrain steering wheel and a five-digit odometer showing 44,378 miles. Additional equipment includes GT350-branded rear floormats, latch-and-link front seatbelts, a heater/defroster, and a push-button AM radio.

During 1991, the car was refurbished, which included the installation of a four-barrel carburetor, a high-rise aluminum intake manifold, a chrome open-element air cleaner, and finned aluminum valve covers with open-letter Cobra logos, long-tube headers that flow into a replacement dual exhaust system with glasspack mufflers and side exits.

Shelby Mustang GT350 comes with owner’s manuals, copies of Shelby American documents, a Shelby American Automobile Club serial number verification letter, a Carroll Shelby Motors license plate frame, and a clean South Carolina title in the seller’s name.

The auction ends on April 30 and the highest bid at the time of writing was $141,000 USD.

Source: Bring a Trailer

Gallery:

1966 Shelby Mustang GT350 is for sale
News

Volvo EX30 will be manufactured in Belgium

The EU’s struggle with electric cars made in China has been going on for a long time, so the European Parliament decided on additional tariffs on car imports from China. This will further affect some of the European manufacturers that have plants in China, such as Volvo, who are already struggling with the uncompetitive prices of electric vehicles made in China. To avoid additional tariffs that will come into effect in Q3 2024, Volvo is preparing production lines at the Ghent plant for its EX30 model, which is currently being assembled in China.

The Volvo EX30 is the smallest model in the Swedish manufacturer’s fleet but also the best-selling car, achieving outstanding results in the European market with 13,000 deliveries, despite the decrease in demand for EVs.

The new tariffs that the European Union has decided to introduce on cars manufactured in China will certainly affect car prices. That’s why manufacturers have few options, and the least expectation is that manufacturers will take on additional price burdens in order to maintain demand for their cars. Another possibility is an increase in prices, which would mean less demand, while the best decision would be to produce cars on European soil, which Volvo will do.

However, not all manufacturers can transfer the production of their cars to European soil, but Volvo still can, which is why the company decided to close its factory in Ghent, Belgium for seven days and send more than 6,500 employees on vacation while preparations are underway to install a new production plant. lines for the production of the new EX30, which will start from 2025. The Ghent plant is one of the most profitable for the Swedish-Chinese brand, which currently produces the EX40 and EX40 models. However, there is still enough capacity in Ghent to produce the EX30 with which Volvo will achieve the maximum production volume. Last year, about 230,000 units left the factory in Ghent, of which 60 percent were electric cars.

Source: Volvo

Gallery:

Volvo EX30 will be manufactured in Belgium