TPT May 2012

G lobal M arketplace

temporary layoffs for 1,300 workers at the Detroit plant that builds the Volt, where production capacity was tripled during downtime last summer. This marks the third time that production has been stopped for at least a month since the car first went on sale in December 2010. GM officials had already backed away from projections that they could sell 45,000 Volts in the US this year, saying instead that they would seek to balance inventory, production and demand. The company sold 7,671 Volts in 2011, missing its goal of 10,000 for the year. GM sold 1,023 Volts this February, up from 603 in January, on the heels of a federal investigation into the possibility that its battery pack could catch fire after a severe crash. Regulators concluded that the car was no more dangerous than a traditional gasoline- powered vehicle. Fiat, the Italian car maker that controls Chrysler of the US, will build Jeeps in Russia with a local partner After climbing by 39% to 2.65 million vehicles last year, Russia's market for cars and light commercial vehicles is expected to grow at a much more moderate pace in 2012: up 5%, to 2.8 million units, according to an estimate published by the Association of European Businesses. Despite these reduced prospects, an initiative by the Russian government to promote direct investment in the country’s automotive industry continues to attract car makers from overseas. Preceded by Ford and General Motors, of the US, and Germany’s Volkswagen – which in 2011 all signed deals with Russian partners to expand production in their country – Italy’s Fiat SpA on 27 February said it had signed a letter of intent with Russian state bank OAO Sberbank to form a joint venture to build Jeeps in St Petersburg and in Moscow. The Jeep brand is owned by the Italian company’s American subsidiary Chrysler Group LLC. Turin-based Fiat is to hold 80% of the Russian venture; Sberbank, a minority stake of up to 20%. It was not disclosed how much of the $1.10bn estimated cost of the project was to be assumed by each partner. As reported by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera , Fiat and Sberbank intend to erect a factory in St Petersburg and to contract for the use of a plant in Moscow now run by ZIL, or Zavod Imeni Likhachova. ZIL is best known as maker of the limousines favoured by Kremlin officials of the Cold War era. Fiat and Sberbank said they expect to finalise their agreement by July. On the day of the announcement, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne told reporters in Brussels that he aims to start up the Russian operation within 24 months. Production capacity is to be 120,000 vehicles per year. › Fiat already has a presence in Russia through CNH NV, the tractor and combine maker owned by its sister company Fiat Industrial SpA. A previous effort by Fiat to form a partnership with OAO Sollers, formerly OAO Severstal-Auto, was preempted by Ford.

Other foreign car makers with Russian automotive partners include Renault SA (French), which owns a 25% stake in OAOAvtoVAZ; and Daimler AG (German), working with the truck maker Kamaz. › As reported by Tommaso Ebhardt and Craig Trudell of the Detroit Free Press (28 February), the Russian initiative represents an effort by Fiat and Chrysler to boost Jeep sales outside North America. The brand’s deliveries in other parts of the world climbed 41% to about 105,000 units in 2011. Jeep may build a vehicle in China as early as 2013 or 2014, a spokesman for Chrysler said in January. Steel › Outokumpu has raised the prices of its stainless steel products, citing higher nickel costs and stronger demand. The Finnish company applied these increases per metric ton, effective 1 April: $80 – hot rolled continuously produced plate and quarto plate. Outokumpu on 29 February also announced that it had delivered 650mt of stainless steel quarto plates to Tonapah, Nevada, for use in a hot nitrate salt storage tank at the Crescent Dunes solar energy project there. The plates – made of heat-resistant stainless grade 347H at an Outokumpu unit in Degerfors, Sweden – were received by Felguera IHI, the Spanish company responsible for construction of the molten salt storage system for SolarReserve (Santa Monica, California). The tank will store heat energy for up to 15 hours, enabling the solar power plant to operate without interruption. By the end of 2013 the 540-foot tower of Crescent Dunes is expected to be generating 110 megawatts to power Las Vegas at night. › Atlas Tube, a division of JMC Steel Group (Chicago), announced 22 February that it will partner with two Japanese companies – Nippon Steel & Sumikin Metal Products and Mitsui & Co – to supply “jumbo” hollow structural sections (HSS) to the North American market. Sizes range from 18" to 22" square in wall thicknesses up to 0.875". Typically used in vertical column and diagonal bracing applications and as members of large, long-span trusses, jumbo HSS sections may offer a cost-effective alternative to open sections and built-up welded box sections for use in structures with high load demand – even for seismic loads. Atlas Tube is the largest North American producer of HSS, with five facilities in the US Midwest and in Canada. It will handle marketing and distribution of the jumbo products. › After a testing period of 15 years, a less brittle but still hard and wear-resistant steel has been cleared by Channel Tunnel authorities for replacement use in the tracks of the 31-mile-long rail network (24 miles of it undersea) that connects the United Kingdom with the north of France. As reported in Forbes India (28 February), the inventor of the steel – scientist Harry Bhadeshia, who is Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge – $80 – austenitic rolled sheet and coil; $48 – ferritic cold rolled sheet and coil;

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M ay 2012