NEW YORK/DETROIT, June 17 (Reuters) – Johnson Controls Inc
is speaking to private equity firms about selling its
roughly $1 billion automotive electronics unit, after buyout
interest from several rival auto parts suppliers faltered,
according to several people familiar with the matter.

The unit’s performance was weaker than industry bidders had
expected, disappointing some interested parties and prompting
Johnson Controls to reach out to a broader group of buyers, the
people said. The company had not included private equity firms
earlier in the auction process, they added.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Danish designer Henrik Fisker knows how to style a sexy car. Among his works is the BMW Z8, driven by James Bond in “The World Is Not Enough,” where the sleek roadster gets sliced in two by a helicopter armed with giant saws.

Fisker’s latest piece of rolling sculpture is the comely Fisker Karma hybrid sports sedan — and it may meet an equally ugly end.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Chrysler Group LLC, the U.S. automaker controlled by Italy’s Fiat, will freeze its U.S. pension plans for some 8,000 white-collar workers hired before 2004 on December 31.

Those employees will be shifted to a plan similar to a 401(k) that is offered to salaried workers hired over the last decade, the third-largest U.S. automaker said on Friday.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) may branch out and develop new models for Lincoln in fast-growing vehicle segments as part of the second-largest U.S. automaker’s latest attempt to revive the struggling luxury brand and boost its profits.

The company did not specify which vehicle segments it was targeting. But in a presentation to investors on Thursday, Ford showed in a chart that it expects the premium small-car and crossover segments to grow sharply by 2015.

DETROIT, June 12 (Reuters) – Underwriters Laboratories, a
119-year-old U.S. company that develops product safety tests, is
strengthening its lithium-ion battery standards after a string
of high-profile battery failures that shed light on the
technology’s weak spots.

Those vulnerabilities were highlighted this year when
regulators grounded Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner for
nearly four months after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two
separate jets in January, leading to a fire in one.

DETROIT/AUSTIN, Texas, June 4 (Reuters) – Elon Musk, the
chief executive of electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc,
criticized the traditional way of selling cars in the United
States and indicated the model would hamper the 10-year-old U.S.
automaker’s growth prospects.

Tesla is pushing to sell its Model S electric sedan directly
to consumers rather than relying on a network of independent
dealers. These efforts have met stiff resistance from dealer
groups around the country.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Chrysler Group LLC, in a rare move, is resisting a push by U.S. regulators to recall 2.7 million older model Jeep vehicles, saying on Tuesday that the request is based on an “incomplete analysis of the underlying data.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked for the recall Monday night after an investigation of the vehicles’ fuel tanks. Chrysler has been working with NHTSA on this issue for nearly three years.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Chrysler Group LLC disputed a decision by U.S. regulators to recall 2.7 million older model Jeep vehicles for safety problems, saying in a statement on Tuesday that the conclusion is based on an “incomplete analysis of the underlying data.”

Chrysler, which is majority-owned by Fiat, said it does not intend to recall the SUVs and insisted that they are safe.

DETROIT (Reuters) – U.S. auto sales rose more than expected in May as construction workers and oil drillers bought more pickup trucks to meet growing demand for their services, a trend that major automakers expect to persist throughout the year.

Car and truck sales rose 8 percent during the month, according to Autodata Corp. The annual sales rate was 15.3 million vehicles, beating the 15.1 million rate expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters through last week.

DETROIT (Reuters) – Chrysler Group LLC reported an 11 percent rise in May auto sales on Monday, easily beating analysts’ expectations, on strong demand for pickup trucks.

Chrysler is the first automaker in the U.S. market to report May sales. Major manufacturers will report them through Monday afternoon.