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A representative of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership will participate in a trade mission to Italy that starts next week. It will mark the third time the partnership has gone to Europe in an attempt to attract businesses to northeast Indiana.
Dale Buuck of the partnership will accompany a delegation hosted by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. The delegation represents communities in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. The eight-day mission starts Monday and focuses on the areas around Milan and Turin.
In addition to spreading the word about northeast Indiana, the trade mission will meet with executives of Fiat SpA and its suppliers. Fiat took control of Chrysler Group LLC when it emerged from bankruptcy this year.
General Motors Co. has sued a supplier, saying it has spent more than $30 million fixing problems in the steering systems of the Chevrolet Cobalt, its best-selling small car, and other vehicles.
GM said customers have complained about unusual rattles, “clunks” and other noises. It pinpointed the flaw to “excessive gear backlash,” which causes problems in the steering column when driving on rough roads.
The lawsuit names JTEKT North America Inc., of Plymouth, Mich., and an affiliated company, JTEKT Automotive Virginia Inc., of Daleville, Va.
GM said it wants to be paid for replacing thousands of parts under customer warranty claims on the Cobalt, Pursuit, G5, HHR and other cars, starting with the 2005 model year.
Hewlett-Packard Co.’s profit jumped 14 percent in the latest quarter, helped by cost-cutting and better results from its technology services division.
Those factors helped offset the fact that four of HP’s major divisions – personal computers, servers, software and printers – each reported big revenue declines from last year. HP’s overall revenue fell 8 percent.
HP’s results are a yardstick for measuring the health of overall technology spending. And the latest numbers reinforce trends that other companies have reported: Consumers and China are showing stronger demand, while businesses remain hesitant.
Consumers got more serious about paying down their credit card debt this summer, a time when delinquencies usually go up.
Cardholders making late payments on bank-issued cards like those bearing MasterCard and Visa logos fell to 1.1 percent for the July-to-September period, down from 1.17 percent in the prior three months, the credit reporting agency TransUnion said.
The decline is significant because of its timing. Delinquency rates usually rise in the third quarter from the prior period as people spend on summer vacations and back-to-school shopping.
General Motors Co. on Monday asked European governments to help pay most of the $4.9 billion it needs to restructure its struggling European operations.
At talks in Brussels on Monday, EU nations where GM has plants vowed to avoid individual negotiations with the company before a Dec. 4 meeting, where they will coordinate their response to GM’s restructuring plans, due this week.
