GM to spend $600M at Kansas plant General Motors Co. on Monday announced plans to invest $600 million in its Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan. That includes a new 450,000-square-foot paint shop, installation of a new stamping press and other updates. The plant investment, one of GM's largest ever, builds on nearly $2 billion invested in Fairfax in the past decade. Altogether, the automaker intends to invest $1.5 billion in its North American facilities this year as it rolls out new products and tries to boost sales.
Toyota again reigns as top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. sold a record 9.75 million vehicles last year, according to an official tally released Monday, roaring past General Motors and Volkswagen to reclaim its title as the world's top automaker. General Motors, which held the top spot in 2011, mustered 9.29 million vehicles in global sales last year. The U.S. company had been the top-selling automaker for decades before losing its lead to Toyota in 2008. Volkswagen sold 9.1 million vehicles last year, a record for the German automaker, which has expanded its presence in emerging markets. VW also outsold Toyota in 2011.
Japan to ease ban on U.S. beef imports Japan is set to ease a decade-old restriction on U.S. beef this week, finally allowing U.S. ranchers and meatpackers to move past the mad cow scare and regain full access to what was once their most lucrative market. A Japanese government council that oversees food and drug safety cleared a change in import regulations Monday that would permit imports of meat from U.S. cattle aged 30 months or younger, rather than the current 20 months. The change is set to take effect Feb. 1. Japan, the world's largest net importer of food, slapped a ban on U.S. beef in 2003 after bovine spongiform encephalopathy, an illness more commonly known as mad cow disease, was found in a single cow in Washington state. Japan eased the ban in 2006 but only for meat from cattle 20 months or younger.
OPEC sees a year with plenty of oil Global crude markets will remain well supplied in 2013 to meet growing demand and OPEC doesn't expect prices to drop this year, OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said Monday. Resource availability to meet growing demand "is not an issue," he said. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries doesn't "envision a price collapse" in 2013 and concerns about geopolitical instability "should not be overblown," he said. Brent crude oil prices have closed above $110 a barrel every day this month after rallying 3.5 percent in 2012 to $111.11. OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world's oil, cut crude output by 465,000 barrels a day in December to 30.4 million barrels a day, the lowest since October 2011, led by a reduction in Saudi Arabia. There is no need for OPEC to cut oil supply if economies are struggling, El-Badri said.
Caterpillar profit tops estimates Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates. Net income fell to $1.04 a share from $2.32 a year earlier. Profit, excluding a $580 million writedown on its ERA Mining Machinery Ltd. unit in China, was $1.91 a share, the Peoria, Ill.-based company said Monday. The average of 22 estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for $1.70. Sales fell to $16.1 billion, matching the average of 14 estimates. The company forecast 2013 earnings of $7 to $9 a share on sales of $60 billion to $68 billion. The average of the estimates was for an $8.54 per-share profit on sales of $65.2 billion. The recovery in U.S. building and a wave of emerging-market infrastructure projects are softening the effect of cutbacks in mining capital expenditure.
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