DEARBORN, Michigan (Reuters) – Russian steel company Severstal (CHMF.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will focus on expanding the customer base for its current plants in the United States rather than buying other factories in the country, Chief Executive Alexey Mordashov said on Thursday.

That means it has no plans to buy the former Severstal plant in Maryland now owned by bankrupt RG Steel or an Alabama facility that Germany’s ThyssenKrupp AG (TKAG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is looking to sell, Mordashov told Reuters in an interview.

, June 21 (Reuters) – Russian steel company
Severstal has are no plans to expand its U.S.
manufacturing footprint at this time, Chief Executive Alexey
Mordashov said on Thursday.

That also means the company has no plans to buy the former
Severstal plant now owned by bankrupt RG Steel in Maryland or an
Alabama plant of ThyssenKrupp AG, Mordashov told
Reuters in an interview.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Consumers continue to be baffled by new technology such as voice-activated controls in their new cars and trucks, but overall, vehicle quality in the United States has never been higher, J.D. Power and Associates said on Wednesday.

Owner complaints about technology continued to hurt Ford Motor Co’s standing in the influential annual survey of new-vehicle buyers. Ford fell to 27th from 23rd a year ago.

DETROIT, June 20 (Reuters) – Consumers continue to be
baffled by new technology such as voice-activated controls in
their new cars and trucks, but overall, vehicle quality in the
United States has never been higher, J.D. Power and Associates
said on Wednesday.

Owner complaints about technology continued to hurt Ford
Motor Co’s standing in the influential annual survey of
new-vehicle buyers. Ford fell to 27th from 23rd a year ago.

DETROIT, June 14 (Reuters) – A probe into the risk of fire
after a rear-impact crash for older model Chrysler Group Jeep
vehicles has been raised a step closer to a possible recall and
expanded to include a total of about 5.1 million vehicles, U.S.
safety regulators said on Thursday.

The expanded probe includes about 3 million 1993-2004 Jeep
Grand Cherokee SUVs, 1.1 million 1993-2001 model year Jeep
Cherokee SUVs, about 975,000 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty SUVs.

By Deepa Seetharaman and Bernie Woodall

(Reuters) – A Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plant deep in the American South has emerged as a proving ground for the United Auto Workers’ new model to turn around three decades of failure to unionize foreign auto plants on U.S. soil.

In the last half year, the UAW has quietly contacted Nissan workers at the Japanese automaker’s plant in Canton, Mississippi, near the state capital of Jackson. The effort was revealed this week by union officials, state politicians and civil rights leaders.

NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters) – The United Auto Workers aims to
break even by mid-2014, as the American union looks to bolster
its political and bargaining clout.

For the past five years, the UAW has relied heavily on
selling its war chest of stocks, bonds and property to bridge
the gap between its annual funding and costs.

DETROIT/NEW YORK, May 17 (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.

, May 8 (Reuters) – Automakers will race to
appeal to budget-conscious Chinese car buyers as the industry
expands beyond the wealthy coastal cities in the east, Ford
Motor Co’s Asia chief said on Tuesday.

As they expand more heavily into central and western China,
automakers can appeal to price-sensitive consumers by offering
multiple vehicles within the same size segment at varying
prices, Jo e Hinrichs said.

DETROIT, May 2 (Reuters) – U.S. auto sales rose 2.3 percent
in April, helped by strong gains at Toyota Motor Corp
and Chrysler Group LLC, as American shoppers looked to replace
their aging cars and trucks and the broader U.S. economy showed
signs of strength.

The annual sales rate in April was 14.4 million, in line with
the pace projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters. This
was in line with the March rate, but down slightly from the 14.6
million pace reported in the first quarter.