Daily News Briefs: June 22, 2012

Volvo is looking to build cars in North America, company CEO Stefan Jacoby told Bloomberg News. But the Swedish automaker, which is owned by China's Zhejiang Geely, won't likely build them at a standalone U.S. facility like European carmakers Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. More likely, Volvo will partner with another automaker to build cars here, like Volkswagen does with the Chrysler-built Routan minivan. It's part of a plan for the automaker to hit 800,000 global sales by 2020. Last year Volvo sold 449,255 cars, with around 67,000 sales in the U.S. Jacoby said he hopes to share development costs on a small car, and Chrysler-Fiat — which just developed the Alfa Romeo-based Dodge Dart — "is obviously one of the alternatives." In other news: Automakers will report June sales on Tuesday, July 3, but J.D. Power and Associates forecasts monthly sales will rise 16% to an annualized rate of 13.9 million cars, Reuters reports. That's better than last month's 13.8 million, but it marks the second sub-14-million month since last year. Nissan says its 58-year-old CEO, Carlos Ghosn, may step down before the automaker's next business plan commences in 2017, Bloomberg News reports. A proposed second bridge that links Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, should reduce shipping costs for Chrysler, Automotive News reports. The automaker ships some 2,000 cars a day across the 83-year-old Ambassador Bridge that links the two cities. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation today into the 2011 Ford Explorer and Chrysler 200 over reports of engine stalls and steering problems, the Detroit News reports. Related More Industry News Research Volvo's Lineup More Automotive News from KickingTires http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/

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