April 2007
Edmunds.com Forecasts Weak April Sales
By Michelle Krebs April 30, 2007Automakers announce April vehicle sales tomorrow (May 1), and it isnât expected to be a particularly pretty picture for the industry. In fact, it could wind up being one of the weakest Aprils in recent history for total industry sales. Edmunds.com is forecast April new vehicle sales (including fleet sales) are expected to be 1.29 million units, a 10.4 percent decrease from April 2006. The reasons for the decline are many: less selling days in this April than last; reduced fleet and rental car sales; and a lack of consumer confidence that suggests little pent-up demand for vehicle purchases exists. more
Edmunds.com, Inside Line Win Journalism Awards
By Michelle Krebs April 30, 2007Edmunds.com, the premier resource for automotive information (and parent of AutoObserver), and Inside Line, Edmundsâ high-speed online car magazine, were awarded six 2007 International Wheel Awards for excellence in automotive journalism presented by the Detroit Press Club Foundation. Winners were selected by professor-judges from the the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago. The awards were presented during a ceremony on April 26 at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan. Edmunds received half of the awards presented in the Internet category, including all three Internet photojournalism awards. âThis is a credit to our entire editorial department, more
Exclusive One-on-One Interview With Toyotaâs Jim Press
By Michelle Krebs April 27, 2007It’s been an eventful month for Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor North America. Earlier this month, Press was named the first non-Japanese to the Toyota Motor Corp. board in Tokyo; about a year ago he became the first American to head Toyota Motor North America. And then, just this week, Toyota surpassed General Motors for the first time in history in global car sales; a move long expected but not clear when it would happen. In an exclusive one-on-one interview with AutoObserver Thursday, Press shrugged off both events as not terribly significant. Toyota’s No. 1 spot, he says, is more
The Price of Fuel-Efficiency
By Michelle Krebs April 25, 2007Small and fuel-efficient vehicles are great for the environment, consuming less gas and emitting fewer pollutants. And they are terrific for consumersâ wallets, socked by increasing gas prices that are threatening to surge to $4 a gallon, according to some reports. But small, fuel-efficient and usually inexpensive vehicles aren’t so good for the bottom lines of car companies and municipalities. Today, Honda announced an unexpected 3 percent decline in profit this year, in part, due to the global shift toward small cars that are popular but deliver lower profits. At the same time, state highway officials, who use gasoline taxes more
Why Chrysler Needs Its Unions on Board
By Michelle Krebs April 25, 2007"Who cares about the union?!â âScrew the union.â I constantly get those kinds of remarks, particularly of late in regard to the sale of Chrysler -- in emails, in feedback to AutoObserver entries and by folks on the street. Bottom line: Unions can make automakers miserable. And the proof is in this history lesson: more
So, Toyotaâs No. 1. What Now GM?
By Michelle Krebs April 25, 2007We’re recovering from the shell shock of Toyota dropping the bomb that it had surpassed GM as No. 1 in global sales in the first quarter â- news the industry had expected. It was a matter of not if but when. “This was not an unexpected turn of events,†said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jesse Toprak, “but it happened a bit earlier than forecasted.†And, as I told NBC’s Detroit affiliate Tuesday, it’s also not the end of the world. While certainly not a positive trend -– no one likes being No. 2 when they’ve been No. 1 for more than more
GMâs OnStar, MapQuest Connect
By Michelle Krebs April 25, 2007General Motorsâ OnStar communications system is linking with MapQuest , the Internet mapping service, to allow OnStar customers to send MapQuest directions directly from their computer to their car. GM is launching OnStar Web Destination Entry initially as a pilot program this summer with 3,000 customers, representing a wide demographic and geographic swathe, to help the companies work out any kinks in the connection. GM then will make the service available by the end of the year or early next year on at least 2 million GM vehicles. GM vehicles must be equipped with the latest Gen 7 version more
Halberstamâs "The Reckoning" Still a Must-Read
By Michelle Krebs April 24, 2007Writer and reporter David Halberstam, who died in a car crash Monday at the age of 73, is best known for his Vietnam War reporting, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize, and other best-selling books. But in Detroit and the auto industry, he’s recognized for his groundbreaking work, The Reckoning, a study of the American and Japanese automobile industries, using Ford and Nissan as its study subjects. Upon news of his death, I recalled running into the amiable Halberstam in the elevator of Ford’s Glass House headquarters as he was researching the book. I also recalled Halberstam being more
Toyota Tops General Motors
By Michelle Krebs April 24, 2007Toyota became the worldâs No. 1 car company for sales for the first three months of this year. Toyota surpassed General Motors, the world leader for 76 years, for the first time. While the figures announced today represent only quarterly sales results, they may well foreshadow the inevitable: Toyota will become No. 1 as early as this year. Toyota has claimed that surpassing GM is not its goal, Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters in December. “It will only be a result of what we've been doing,'' he said. But don’t believe for a second Toyota’s goal -- or more
Chinese Automakers Sharpen Export Plans at Shanghai Show
By Michelle Krebs April 30, 2007By Mark Bursa Will history judge that the 2007 Shanghai Auto Show was the tipping point for the Chinese car industry? Did the vast array of new models on display signal the moment when the Chinese automakers stuck their red flag in the ground and said, "Here we are –- take us seriously"? Or were we just looking at another load of rip-off designs that won’t meet global safety or environmental standards, with silly Chinese names? The truth is somewhere in the middle. But one thing’s for sure. The Shanghai auto show is now a premier event on the global more