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DETROIT (AP) - Three Ohio drivers are suing Ford Motor Co., claiming the company's six-cylinder EcoBoost engine is defective.

The lawsuit says the 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost engine can shudder, shake and rapidly lose power while drivers are trying to accelerate. It says more than 100 drivers have complained about the engine to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Every school child knows the name Henry Ford, and his contribution to the auto industry.

Billy Durant never achieved anywhere near Ford's fame. 

Durant was one of the progenitors of the company we now know as General Motors.

Durant's role in the building of the American auto industry could become better known, depending on just what GM decides to do with Durant's first factory in Flint.  GM recently acquired the building for an undisclosed amount.

This morning, the New York Times reported on the slow and steady increase of Chinese companies setting up in metro-Detroit.

The NYT's Bill Vlasic reports it has been a largely unannounced trend – and given the public opposition experienced by Japanese automakers – it is most likely an intentionally quiet entrance.

Chinese-owned companies are investing in American businesses and new vehicle technology, selling everything from seat belts to shock absorbers in retail stores, and hiring experienced engineers and designers in an effort to soak up the talent and expertise of domestic automakers and their suppliers.

Overall, most Chinese suppliers are interested in expanding their direct business with Detroit car companies. Many Detroit car companies rely on low-wage countries like Mexico to get common car parts. Chinese companies are trying to change that.

As you read this article, just remember, people laughed at Henry Ford, too, when Ford said he wanted to make a motorized vehicle that anyone could afford to buy.

More than 100 years later, Paul Elio has the same dream.  

While Ford's Model T had four wheels, Elio's car has three -- two in front, and one in the back.  And the car will seat only two people, but not side by side.  The passenger seat is directly behind the driver's seat.

That configuration, Elio says, largely explains the car's eye-popping fuel economy of about 84 miles per gallon on the highway. 

Chrysler made a lower-than-expected profit of $166 million in the first quarter, a decline of 65 percent from last year.  It was not just analysts whose expectations weren't met; the CEO of the company admitted disappointment.  

Sergio Marchionne said he knew the company would be "limping" in the period, due to retooling of the Toledo plant and preparations to launch the new Cherokee, but "we just didn't know how much."

Automaker Chrysler plans to put close to $20 million into one of its northwest Ohio plants.

Chrysler says the work at the machining plant just outside Toledo will go toward new equipment and tooling. The investment won't bring any new permanent jobs though.

The spending will increase capacity for a torque converter for the new 2014 Jeep Cherokee.

The plant near Perrysburg makes torque converters and steering columns for several Chrysler plants in the Midwest as well as Canada and Mexico.
 

Ford released it's first quarter report with record pre-tax profits of $2.4 billion in North America.

"Ford has a product portfolio that's clicking on all cylinders, pun intended," said Daniel Howes.

Howes is the Detroit News business columnist and spoke with Michigan Radio's Cynthia Canty about Ford's future.

The U.S. Treasury is following through on its announcement late last year that it will sell its remaining stake in General Motors in an "orderly" fashion, within 12 to 15 months.

The U.S. Treasury held a 22 percent stake in GM on December 19, 2012.

Since January, the agency has sold 58,392,078 shares of GM stock at an average price of $28.04 each, reducing its GM ownership to 18 percent.

If the Treasury continues the sell-off at that same pace, it will sell its last remaining stock by early April 2014.