Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick says GM can’t justify the expense, which reportedly could be $4 million for a 30-second spot.

GM skipped advertising during the Super Bowl in 2009-2010 because of its financial woes but returned in 2011. This year it ran five 30-second commercials.

Ewanick has been shaking up GM’s advertising and marketing since he arrived in May 2010. He has replaced most of the agencies that handled company and brand accounts in the U.S. at least once.

GM is reassessing its marketing strategy in an effort to chop $2 billion from its budget. Earlier this week the company announced it would no longer place paid advertising on Facebook, saying its campaign didn’t have much impact on users of the social media site.

Fiat says all company operations have been slowed by the 20% slump in the Italian auto market this year. Hourly workers at Mirafiori are already on temporary layoff because the plant is closed for retooling.

Fiat SpA says it will lay off 5,400 salaried employees at its offices in Turin, Italy, for three days each in June and July.

Fiat says all company operations have been slowed by the 20% slump in the Italian auto market this year. Hourly workers at Mirafiori are already on temporary layoff because the plant is closed for retooling.

Daimler began deploying a fleet of 200 leased B-Class F-Cell vehicles in southern California at the end of 2010. The company has 37 vehicles on the road now and is expanding the program to northern California next month.

Mercedes B-Class F-Cell car

Each of the front-drive cars is powered by a 136-hp electric motor and liquid-cooled, 1.4-kWh lithium-ion battery. The vehicles, which can be refueled with 25 lbs of compressed hydrogen in three minutes, can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 11.4 seconds and have a range of about 240 miles.

Sascha Simon, who heads advanced product planning at Mercedes-Benz, tells Green Car Congress he is “completely convinced” that fuel cells could eventually replace IC engines and battery-based electric powertrains. He says a hydrogen infrastructure is the primary hurdle, assuming the current pace of fuel cell cost reduction continues.

The B-Class cars currently in use in California use a second-generation fuel cell stack developed by a Canadian venture involving Daimler, Ford and Ballard Power Systems. The system is 40% smaller, 30% more powerful and 30% more fuel efficient than the first-generation technology. A lower-cost Gen 3 stack is due in 2015, with an even less expensive Gen 4 design due in 2017.

Simon notes that high battery cost will remain a problem for EVs for a decade. He says a pure fuel cell powertrain is already lower in price than a plug-in electric system. He also tells Green Car Congress that fuel cell production is no more difficult than making IC engines.

The Japanese economy was buoyed by consumer spending and public investment to rebuild infrastructure damaged in the country’s earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Japan’s growth may slow later this year because of Europe’s ongoing financial crisis and China’s slowing economic expansion, according to economists. They predict Japanese GDP will advance 2.2% in the second and third quarters this year and eke out only a 1.7% increase in the October-December period.

The Japanese economy was buoyed by consumer spending and public investment to rebuild infrastructure damaged in the country’s earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Japan’s growth may slow later this year because of Europe’s ongoing financial crisis and China’s slowing economic expansion, according to economists. They predict Japanese GDP will rise 2.2% in the second and third quarters this year and eke out only a 1.7% increase in the October-December period.

Opel says adding third shifts at both factories each will enable them to operate profitably at full capacity utilization. The company, which will invest about €150 million ($191 million) at each facilty, also plans to make more parts there.

Opel also makes the Astra at a factory in Russelsheim, Germany. It says it will phase out the model there when the current version is replaced in 2014. Opel vows that the facility, which also makes the Insignia and Buick Regal, will continue to operate at full capacity. The company says it will discuss future product plans with its unions “in due course.”

The Polish plant will continue to make the Astra because of its “very competitive” costs and a workforce that has “embraced the spirit of continuous improvements” and flexibility, according to Opel.

The Ellesmere factory kept the work because of a new, flexible labor pact that will run for the life of the next-generation Astra, the company says. Analysts had expected GM to close the facility and a plant in Bochum, Germany. Instead, Opel has guaranteed annual output of at least 160,000 cars at Ellesmere Port.

German union leaders fear Opel aims to shift all the work now done at Bochum to Russelsheim. The company has committed to making the Zafira MPV in Bochum through 2014. But reports speculate PSA Peugeot Citroen will build the next –generation Zafira under its partnership with GM. The Bochum factory also builds an older version of the Astra for eastern Europe.

Opel says adding third shifts at both factories will enable them to operate profitably at full capacity utilization. The company, which will invest about €150 million at each facilty, also plans to make more parts there.

Opel also makes the Astra at a factory in Russelsheim, Germany. The company says it will phase out the model there when the current version is replaced in 2014. Opel vows that the facility, which also makes the Insignia and Buick Regal, will continue to operate at full capacity. The company says it will discuss future product plans with its unions “in due course.”

The Polish plant will continue to make the Astra because of its “very competitive” costs and a workforce that has “embraced the spirit of continuous improvements” and flexibility, according to Opel.

The Ellesmere factory kept the work because of a new, more flexible labor pact that will run for the life of the next-generation Astra, the company says. Analysts had expected GM to close the facility and a plant in Bochum, Germany. Instead, Opel has guaranteed annual output of at least 160,000 cars at Ellesmere Port, 20,000 units more than last year.

German union leaders fear Opel aims to shift all the work now done at Bochum to Russelsheim. The company has committed to making the Zafira MPV in Bochum through 2014. But reports speculate PSA Peugeot Citroen will build the next –generation Zafira under its partnership with GM. The Bochum factory also builds an older version of the Astra for eastern Europe.

The company says the expansion will help meet growing demand for the Legacy midsize car and Outback crossover vehicle. Analysts suggest FHI also wants to avoid the negative impact of the yen on vehicles imported from Japan.

The Lafayette facility also makes the Camry sedan for Toyota Motor Corp. and the Subaru Tribeca midsize crossover. About half the 294,000 vehicles Subaru sold in North America last year were produced at the Indiana factory.

In the long term, FHI plans to step up production in North America to compensate for its recently scrapped plan to build cars in China, President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga said last week. The company has boosted its U.S. sales forecast for the fiscal year ending in March 2016 by 30,000 to 380,000 units compared with 280,400 units in the just-ended fiscal year.

Automotive News reported earlier this week that the company might eventually add another assembly line or even build a new plant at an unspecified location.

The Japanese economy was buoyed by consumer spending and public investment to rebuild infrastructure damaged in the country’s earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Japan’s growth may slow later this year because of Europe’s ongoing financial crisis and China’s slowing economic expansion, according to economists. They predict Japanese GDP will increase 2.2% in the second and third quarters this year and eke out only a 1.7% increase in the October-December period.

Bresson will relocate from Nexteer’s Paris office to its headquarters in Saginaw, Mich. In his new job, he will retain responsibility for global sales and add oversight of the day-to-day operations of the company’s regional divisions and product groups. The company says it will not fill his former job.

Bresson previously oversaw operations in Australia, Brazil, Europe, India, Mexico and South Korea. Before that, he managed Nexteer’s sales and marketing in Europe.

The company plans to add about 125 jobs, thus bringing its Huntsville workforce to 1,150 people.

The facility currently has annual capacity to build 484,000 four-cylinder, V-6 and V-8 powerplants for Toyota vehicles built in North America. It is the company’s only factory worldwide to produce all three types of engines.

The expansion will boost Toyota’s U.S. engine capacity to more than 1.4 million units per year, including facilities in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Bresson will relocate from Nexteer’s Paris office to its headquarters in Saginaw, Mich. In his new job, he will retain responsibility for global sales and add oversight of the day-to-day operations of the company’s regional divisions and product groups. The company says it will not fill his former job.

Bresson previously oversaw operations in Australia, Brazil, Europe, India, Mexico and South Korea. Before that, he managed Nexteer’s sales and marketing in Europe.