Volvo North America Corp

The nation's largest car market, Southern California, is losing two major automobile operations. Chrysler said Friday that it would close its Pacifica Advanced Product Design Center in Carlsbad to reduce costs. Separately, Volvo of North America, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co., said it would abandon its Irvine headquarters in favor of Rockleigh, N.J., by the end of the year. "We have evaluated the situation in the U.S.

Swedish truck and bus maker Volvo on Thursday said it would recall 125,000 trucks in North America because of a fire hazard. Tommy Kohle, a spokesman for the Goteborg-based company, said it would recall the VN, VHD and VT models built from 2003 to the present. The trucks have been sold in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. "There's a problem in the main switch in the lighting system which can lead to an overheating in the component," he said. Kohle said Volvo would fix the problem free of charge.