The Week in Review offers a snapshot of the most read stories of the week as seen on aftermarketNews. To access the complete stories, simply click on the highlighted links. If you missed reading one of our daily news emails, click on any of the dates listed at the bottom of the page to begin catching up on the latest industry news.
The top story on aftermarketNews (AMN) this week told of the current relationship troubles between Navistar International and Ford Motor Co. On Monday, we reported that Navistar halted production of the Power Stroke diesel engine that it builds for Ford Motor Co. following claims that Ford stopped honoring the terms of agreement under which the engines were built. Navistar’s principal operating company, International Truck and Engine Corp., has been the exclusive diesel engine supplier for Ford’s heavy duty pickup trucks since 1979.
International currently produces the new 6.4L Power Stroke diesel engine at its engine plants in Indianapolis, IN, and Huntsville, AL, and stopped production on Monday. On Thursday, Navistar announced it would resume production as result of a temporary court order from Judge John J. McDonald of the Circuit Court of Oakland County, MI. Ford will be required to pay, without deductions, for all diesel engines it receives from International Truck and Engine Corp., Navistar’s principal operating company. A hearing for both companies is slated for Wednesday, March 7.
AMN readers were also very interested to learn that AutoZone reported net sales of $1.3 billion for its second quarter (12 weeks) ended Feb. 10, up 3.7 percent from fiscal second quarter 2006. Same store sales, or sales for stores open at least one year, were down 0.3 percent for the quarter. Net income for the quarter increased 6.2 percent over the same period last year to $103 million, while diluted earnings per share increased 15.5 percent to $1.45 per share from $1.25 per share reported in the year-ago quarter.
Another highly read item this week was our exclusive report on Denso and its philosophy of “kaizen” or continuous improvement. Babcox editors recently had the opportunity to tour two Denso manufacturing facilities in Tennessee and learn what makes Denso a unique player in today’s supplier industry.
To view all of the news from the past two weeks, simply click on the link for each corresponding day:
