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Stellantis suspends vehicle production in Russia

MILAN - Stellantis on Tuesday said it was suspending production at its Russian plant due to logistical difficulties and sanctions imposed on Moscow. The world's fourth-largest automaker, which produced and sold the Peugeot, Citro¸n, Opel, Jeep, and Fiat brands in Russia, has just 1% of the country's car market. It runs a van-making plant in Kaluga, around 125 miles (201 kilometres) southeast of Moscow, co-owned with Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi, which halted production at the facility earlier this month. "Given the rapid daily increase in cross sanctions and logistical difficulties, Stellantis has suspended its manufacturing operations in Kaluga to ensure full compliance with all cross sanctions and to protect its employees," Stellantis said in a statement. The plant employs 2,700 people. The company will continue to pay salaries through a local downtime scheme and by using anticipated vacation periods, Stellantis told Reuters. It said it did not know how long the stoppage would last, adding that its priority was its staff and the return of peace. Stellantis had already suspended all exports and imports of vehicles with Russia, following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, moving production to western Europe. It had also said it was freezing plans for more investments in the country. Van production in Kaluga had remained just for the local market. Scores of foreign companies have announced temporary shutdowns of stores and factories in Russia or said they were leaving the country for good since Russia began what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24. Stellantis Chief Executive Carlos Tavares in late March said the group would have to close the Kaluga plant shortly as it was running out of parts. Separately on Tuesday, General Motors Co said it was extending its suspension of business in Russia due to the conflict and international sanctions. The U.S. automaker, which initially suspended imports into Russia and commercial activity on Feb. 28, said it was laying off most of its 66 employees and providing them with separation packages. GM does not have plants in Russia and only sold about 3,000 vehicles annually there prior to the suspension. (Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Washington; Editing by Mark Potter and Mark Porter) Government/Legal Plants/Manufacturing Fiat Jeep Citroen Opel Peugeot

Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #319 LIVE!

We record Autoblog Podcast #319 tonight, and you can drop us your questions and comments regarding the rest of the week's news via our Q&A module below. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
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2015 Ford F-150 named Truck of Texas, Lincoln and Jeep also awarded at Truck Rodeo

The Ford Motor Company has a lot of reasons to celebrate after winning eight categories in this year's Texas Auto Writers Association's annual Truck Rodeo. Most important among them, the Blue Oval's latest 2015 Ford F-150 earned the prestigious Truck of Texas award, ending the Ram 1500's two-year winning streak. The 2015 Lincoln MKC also grabbed the honor as the CUV of Texas, and Ford was named Truck Line of Texas.
FoMoCo even took trophies for best technology with its extensive use of aluminum on its latest F-Series and best commercial vehicle for the new Transit 250. It wasn't a total sweep, though, because the Jeep Grand Cherokee grabbed the title of the SUV of Texas for the fifth straight time.
This year's event put 60 auto writers in 75 pickups, SUVs and crossovers and challenged them to find the best in a plethora of categories. All of the winners are listed below, and scroll down to read the full announcements from the Texas Auto Writers Association and Ford.