AutoZone’s Steve Handschuh to Lobby for Right to Repair
The Coalition for Auto Repair Equality (CARE) has announced that AutoZone executive Steve Handschuh will join the aftermarket industry team promoting the passage of the Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act in the 109th Congress. Handschuh will take a leave of absence from AutoZone, as an “executive on loan,” to help support the campaign for Right to Repair. His primary areas of responsibility will include industry communications, coalition-building and fund-raising.
Hankook Announces Price Increases
Hankook Tire America Corp. announced that it is raising prices on its full line of passenger, high performance, light truck and medium truck tires by 3 to 5 percent.
Price Drives Options When Consumers Face Engine Problems, According to AAIA
A new report from the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) shows that when faced with major engine problems, price was the most frequently cited factor for consumers when deciding whether to install a new, used or remanufactured engine into their vehicles.
Advance Auto Parts Launches 2004 ‘Sneaker’ Sales Program to Support Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Advance Auto Parts has announced the launch of its 2004 “sneaker” sales campaign to benefit children with diabetes. A national supporter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), Advance Auto Parts has been supporting JDRF for 10 years. In celebration of that commitment, the company has set a goal to raise $1 million during its 2004 campaign.
Japan Auto Parts Makers Nix Contract Renewals with Ford
Japan’s big auto parts suppliers have declined to renew contracts with Ford Motor Co. due to concerns about their intellectual property rights, a Japanese business daily reported Monday. The suppliers, such as Denso Corp. and Aisin Seiki Co., raised their concerns after Ford decided to include new provisions in its contracts allowing it to share suppliers’ technologies with other Ford group firms, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said in its evening edition.
Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum Appoints Manager of Marketing and Advertising
Rose Dickinson has been named manager of marketing and advertising at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. In this new role, Dickinson will be responsible for the museum’s advertising, including print and radio for the California Hot Rod Reunion, National Hot Rod Reunion and museum special events. Dickinson’s NHRA career began in 1988 after she left Pennzoil to help start-up National Dragster in-house publications.
Herman Trend Alert: Innovation Talent Bank at Risk
America’s vital research and development is at risk; the country’s share of global degrees in the innovation fields (both baccalaureate and graduate) is declining. Long-term shifts are likely in the share of global talent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Delphi-Raytheon Joint Venture to Move Automotive Sensor Systems Jobs to Mexico
Tucson, Ariz., will lose about 50 high-tech manufacturing jobs by next June, when an automotive sensor systems joint venture between Raytheon Co. and Delphi Corp. moves to Mexico. HE Microwave, a 50-50 venture Raytheon inherited when it bought Hughes Missile Systems Co. in 1997, will be dissolved as operations are phased out in Tucson and moved to a Delphi plant in Reynosa in the Mexican state of Tamau-lipas, just south of the U.S. border near McAllen, Texas, said Paula Angelo, a spokeswoman for Delphi Electronics & Safety in Kokomo, Ind.
Expiration Date Approaches: Automotive Suppliers Urge Congress to Restore Critical R&D Credit
With the research tax credit (R&D credit) set to expire Wednesday, June 30, the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) is urging Congress to act quickly both to restore the credit and to adopt modifications that will strengthen its incentive value. The cost of doing U.S.-based research for the nearly 16,000 companies that use the R&D credit, including many of MEMA’s member companies, will increase after June 30.
DENSO Honored by Activant Solutions, Wrenchead
DENSO Sales California, Inc. recently received two National Catalog Managers Association (NCMA) President’s Awards at the Association’s 31st Annual Knowledge Exchange Conference in Orlando, Fla. Activant Solutions and Wrenchead presented the awards to DENSO for Electronic Data Excellence.