Daily News Briefs: May 18, 2012

In other news:

Toyota will expand its V-6 engine production in America, allowing the automaker to build an additional 216,000 V-6 motors a year. The $80 million investment will add 125 jobs to Toyota’s Huntsville, Ala., plant, said the carmaker. The increased production will begin in March 2014.
GM’s troubled European Opel brand has decided to move the bulk of production of its next-generation Opel Astra to its plant in England, ending production at its German plant in 2015, according to Bloomberg. The English factory won the contract because its union backed a new deal allowing the factory to work on a three-shift, 24-hour schedule, among other concessions. The deal leaves the Astra (on which the Buick Verano is based) with just two plants (instead of three) in Europe when the new model goes into production in 2015.
When Volvo axes its aging XC90 crossover for a new model in 2014, the current-generation model will be handed over to Chinese parent company Geely, according to China Car Times. Geely will use the old XC90 platform, which first debuted in 1999, to develop a new high-end brand for China.

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