KANSAS CITY, MO—Ford Motor Co. will hand out bonus checks worth an average of $6,900 to the 7,000 full-time employees at its assembly plant in Claycomo, MO.

SEOUL, Korea—Hyundai Motor Co. is considering setting up a second plant in the United States in an effort to boost production of full-size vehicles in line with rising demand. The new factory, set to be built near the carmaker’s current Alabama plant, would have an annual production capacity of 300,000 units.

ROCKY HILL, CT—Novelis, a manufacturer of automotive aluminum sheet, and Henkel Adhesive Technologies have agreed to collaborate on the development of advanced bonding technologies for aluminum in high-volume vehicles.

The 2015 Ford F-150 pickup truck features an aluminum body and cargo box that’s a radical departure from conventional designs.

Ford Motor Co. recently began assembling the aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup truck at the Dearborn Truck Plant.

LADSON, SC—Mercedes-Benz Vans will build a new $500 million assembly plant here to produce its next-generation Sprinter vans. The facility is expected to create 1,300 jobs.

WASHINGTON—Nine automotive assembly plants are among 70 US manufacturing facilities that have achieved Energy Star certification from the Environmental Protection Agency for their superior energy performance in 2014. Together, these 70 factories cut their energy bills by $725 million and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 8 million metric tons.

COLUMBIA, SC—South Carolina is a finalist for Volvo’s first North American assembly plant. North Carolina and Kentucky also are pursuing the Swedish carmaker’s plant.

SAN CARLOS, CA—Tesla Motors Inc. has almost doubled its staff in the past year, from 5,859 personnel in 2013 to 10,161 in 2014.

DETROIT—Employee counts for the Detroit 3 are finally nearing what they had been before the Great Recession.