September Car Sales Soft, But Some Automakers Weather It

New vehicle sales in September are expected to be 1.29 million units (retail and fleet), a 4.5 percent decrease from September 2006, according to Edmunds.com’s forecast.

"This month, the automakers with the most momentum are faring well even given the constraints of the marketplace," observed Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com. "Especially in a soft market like this, compelling new products and effective marketing campaigns are the keys to success."

Honda, which just launched the Accord accompanied by a significant advertising campaign, is the only one of the six major automakers predicted to show a sales increase, on both an unadjusted and adjusted basis. This September had 25 selling days, one less than September 2006. When adjusted for this difference, sales decreased 0.7 percent from September 2006.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 11:24 AM under Analysis, Chrysler, Companies, Ford, GM, Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us

BMW Outlines Strategy; Hints at New Models and Possible Fourth Brand

BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer held a highly anticipated press conference in Munich Thursday to outline the German luxury maker’s strategic plan for the future. That plan includes global sales increases, substantial spending cuts, aggressive financial targets, U.S. production increases, more alliances, and the possible establishment of a fourth brand.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 8:11 AM under Companies, Featured, News, Personalities | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us

Chevrolet Volt: Where Will It Be Built?

Now that General Motors has said it is proceeding with production of the Chevrolet Volt, the question is where will it be built?

That question may have been answered by negotiators for GM and the United Auto Workers union as they hammered out a new four-year contract overnight.

The UAW gave GM the union-managed health-care fund the automaker wanted, in exchange for GM's commitment to build some future models in U.S. plants by UAW workers. Among those future vehicles was believed to be the Volt.

No word yet on which plant won the prize.

Posted by at 6:19 AM under Commentary, GM, Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us

Nissan's Thompson Out; Ex-Ford's Poore In

Nissan’s Jan Thompson, one of the auto industry’s top female marketing executives, has resigned, under pressure. Ex-Ford marketer Ben Poore will replace her.

Thompson, well known in the automotive marketing community having worked at Nissan, Mazda and ad agencies handling other major automotive accounts, had been head of both Nissan and Infiniti advertising and marketing.

Her resignation comes as no surprise. Nor is Poore's departure from Ford a shocker.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 5:51 AM under Ford, News, Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

GM, UAW Strike a Deal

By Michelle Krebs and Joe Szczesny

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced in the wee hours of the morning that a tentative contract, which includes a union-managed health-care trust fund, had been reached with General Motors. The agreement ends a strike that started Monday and puts GM's 73,000 U.S. workers back to work job beginning late Wednesday.

Both sides say the accord should help narrow the yawning gap in labor costs between GM and Asian rivals building cars in the United States.

The key to the tentative agreement is the transfer of a substantial chunk of GM's legacy costs for retiree health care to a Voluntary Employee Benefit Association, or VEBA. In exchange for agreeing to the VEBA, the union elicited from GM some guarantees regarding future models, like the Chevrolet Volt, being built in the U.S.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 3:05 AM under Featured, GM | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us

GM Pushes New Models During UAW Strike

Driving into General Motors’ massive test facility in Milford, Michigan,  outside of Detroit Tuesday, three workers carrying “On Strike” picket signs stood guard at the entrance as cars piloted by the automaker’s white-collar engineers streamed in as if it were any other day.

Deep inside the massive 4,000-acre grounds, GM was holding its “GM Collection” press event, scheduled long ago before there was even a hint of a strike by GM’s United Auto Workers union employees. This event and others like it held around the country are intended to build upon the traction GM has gained with some of its new models, like its Saturns and crossovers.

For now, however, the assembly lines producing Saturns, crossovers and all the other 2008 GM models are still, while plans for where future products will be built are being discussed and horse-traded by GM and UAW bargainers who were returning to the negotiating table Tuesday.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 11:05 AM under Analysis, Featured, GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us

Ex-Hyundai Exec Bound for Ford?

Hyundai Motor America has confirmed its chief operating officer, Steve Wilhite, has resigned, effective Monday.

Wilhite is rumored to be a candidate for a newly created post of chief marketing officer at Ford, according to trade journal Advertising Age.

Ford will not confirm if Wilhite will be appointed to the job or is in the running.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 11:57 AM under Commentary, Ford, Personalities, Rumors | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

UAW's Gettelfinger: General Motors "Pushed Us Into a Strike"

Negotiators for General Motors and the United Auto Workers union were headed back to the bargaining table while workers walked the picket line in a strike that started at 11 a.m. Monday.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told a press conference that GM has treated the negotiations as "a one-way street," with the automaker expecting everything from union members while giving nothing back.

"GM pushed us into a strike," Gettelfinger said. He added that it appeared to the union bargaining team that GM, as of last Thursday, didn't care if the union went on strike.

Gettelfinger said the main open issue is job security, particularly related to plants like those in Fairfax, Kansas; Spring Hill, Tennessee; and Lordstown, Ohio, that have no future product planned. He emphasized the strike had absolutely nothing to do with the establishment of the union-run trust fund for retiree health care benefits, something the UAW has offered GM in previous negotiations but GM turned down, Gettelfinger revealed.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 7:19 AM under Analysis, GM | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us

UAW Sets Strike Deadline for GM

Following an all-night session, the United Auto Workers and General Motors remain in contract negotiations as the UAW's strike deadline of 11 a.m. Monday looms.

Despite the deadline, a strike isn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion. At 11 a.m., the union could, indeed, order a strike. Or it could set up picket lines without a full-blown strike or it could extend the deadline. The UAW has not struck GM since 1998.

While GM is completely mum and the UAW has only hinted about the hang-ups in the talks, which are into their tenth day following the official contract expiration, what is obvious is the intensity of both sides to achieve their goals: GM’s goal is to cut costs, especially health-care costs; the union’s mission is to protect jobs, pay and benefits to workers and retirees.

Posted by at 5:01 AM under Featured, GM, News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Chrysler's Jim Press Speaks Publicly for the First Time Since Leaving Toyota

Former Toyota executive Jim Press, now vice chairman and president of Chrysler, told a Detroit radio show host that Chrysler and Detroit automakers in general will regain market share, lost to companies like Toyota.

“I think every 37 or 38 years you ought to try a new career,” Press, who was at Toyota for 37 years, told Paul W. Smith on his WJR-AM radio show in his first interview since joining Chrysler.

"It's great to be back on the home team. It’s great to be on this team," Press said.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 1:33 PM under Chrysler, Commentary, In the Media, Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us

Ford U.S. Sales Exec Codina To Retire

Francisco Codina, Ford’s top sales and marketing executive, will retire on November 1, the automaker announced Thursday.

The retirement of Codina, better known as Cisco, comes as no surprise. Ford CEO Alan Mulally told a roundtable of reporters in August that marketing is one of his top priorities as he enters his second year as head of Ford.

The automaker, on and off, has searched inside and outside of Ford for a chief marketing officer. But none has ever been hired.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 8:42 AM under Ford, News, Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Even Lease Customers Are Downsizing

An increasing percentage of car lease consumers are downsizing into smaller vehicles, according to recent customer data analyzed by LeaseTrader.com, the Miami-based company that helps people transfer car leases.

LeaseTrader.com’s analysis shows that roughly 15 percent of its customers transferring out of their car lease do so with the intention of getting into a smaller car.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 7:48 AM under Analysis | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Design and Engineering Students Unveil Their Bone-Exposed Concepts

After scanning this press release, I knew I had to post it. Two of those mentioned in the release -– Tyler Mars and Nicolas Ren Stone -- were in students in my Business Practices class at the College for Creative Studies last year.

Mars (right) and Stone (center) are two of the three CCS design students who were paired with three University of Michigan engineering students over the summer in the 19th annual automotive design internship sponsored by the American Iron and Steel Institute. The students’ models were unveiled in a special presentation Wednesday night and will be displayed at the Detroit auto show in January.

This year’s theme was “Inside Out.” In other words, students were supposed to allow the cocoon of steel to show rather than hide it under a skin. The result was three very different concepts:

(Read more...)

Posted by at 7:35 AM under Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

GM-UAW Contract Talks: Health Care Sidelined – for Now

General Motors and the United Auto Workers union, at an impasse on a proposed union-run retiree health-care fund, reportedly have set aside that issue for the moment and moved onto other matters.

After negotiating all day Wednesday on health care, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger ended discussions on creating a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association (VEBA) for now.

Instead, negotiators for both sides are expected to be back at the bargaining table sometime Thursday – the sixth day since the September 14 expiration of the UAW’s four-year contract.

They will discuss other issues -- sticky ones. They include wage cuts for active employees, higher insurance co-pays for active workers, cutting back on overtime, outsourcing of jobs and a two-tier compensation structure that pays new hires less than current employees, gives them lesser health-care benefits and no pension, perhaps a 401(k) instead.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 6:44 AM under Business, Chrysler, Ford, GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Honda’s John Mendel: Redefining Acura

When Honda renamed the former Arrowhead Pond entertainment and sports venue in Anaheim, California, the Honda Center, the automaker did what it does with its car owners: it asked customers what they thought.

Specifically, Honda asked what patrons thought about the center’s name change. But, the company got more than what it asked for: it got comments like "now that Honda runs the center, the food will be better and the bathrooms will be cleaner."

“Holy s---,” John Mendel, who was promoted to executive vice president of automobile operations for American Honda Motor Co. this year, recalls thinking as he read the survey responses. “Now we’re being held responsible for hot dogs, beer, bathrooms and everything else.

“But,” he adds philosophically, “that’s the power of the Honda brand. You put the Honda name on something, and there’s a certain level of expectation.”

(Read more...)

Posted by at 9:31 AM under Analysis, Companies, Featured, Personalities, Technology | Comments (12) | digg this | del.icio.us

GM-UAW: Still No Deal as Patience Wears Thin

Negotiators for General Motors and the United Auto Workers union head back to the bargaining table Wednesday after a marathon session over the weekend. Talks ended at 9 p.m. Tuesday night.

Meantime, the union is making noise that it is growing increasingly impatient by threatening to set a strike deadline to speed up the progress. Frankly, the strike talk seems more like bluster than substance. A strike would be devastating to the union, which is bleeding jobs and thus paying members, even more than GM, which can shuffle vehicle production offshore.

While contracts of the past have been wrapped up within a couple of days of the expiration, it is not shocking that these talks are lingering on. Both sides are confronted with the most complicated issues in recent times.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 7:39 AM under Commentary, GM | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us

Shanghai Automotive Changes Name to SAIC

Commit these initials to memory –- S-A-I-C.

They will become increasingly familiar as China’s powerhouse auto company expands globally.

And now those initials are the official name of the Chinese auto company formerly known as Shanghai Automotive Company. The new name of the company, which is the partner of major automakers including General Motors and Volkswagen, is SAIC Motor Corp.

Posted by at 6:06 AM under Companies, News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Ford’s Mark Fields: Cost-Cutting Could Accelerate

Mark Fields, Ford’s executive vice president in charge of North and South American operations, told the Wall Street Journal the automaker could accelerate cost-cutting if a slowing U.S. economy puts the company at risk of missing key financial goals in 2008 and 2009.

"There's more risk than there is opportunity going forward," Fields told the newspaper Monday. Fields cited weak job numbers along with turmoil in the debt and home mortgage markets that have led Ford to hold down fourth-quarter production to avoid building excess inventory.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 5:42 AM under Business, Ford | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Toyota’s Watanabe: Possible Japan Plant

Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe confirmed Tuesday what had been reported -– the automaker is considering building a new automobile plant in Japan, its first domestic plant in 17 years.

Watanabe didn't provide details on location or investment. However, last week the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun said Toyota would invest about Y100 billion to build a plant in northern Japan to start operations as early as 2009.

Posted by at 5:31 AM under News, Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

German Investor Dumps U.S. and U.S.-Dependent Auto Investments

Jens Ehrhardt, manager of Germany's best-performing major international stock fund, drives a yellow Porsche convertible but he won’t buy the stock of Porsche and is reducing his stake in BMW, reports Bloomberg News.

Why? The automakers are too dependent on debt-ridden Americans. About a third of Porsche sales come from the U.S. and about a quarter of BMW’s sales are from the U.S.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 5:19 AM under | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

UAW’s Gettelfinger's Swan Song: An "Acceptable Resolution" to Tough Issues

By Joseph Szczesny

In the summer of 2006, no one around the United Auto Workers (UAW) union would have been surprised if its president, Ron Gettelfinger, had decided to call it quits.

Rumors that Gettelfinger was tired of the union presidency floated through union halls for months prior to the UAW's constitutional convention in Las Vegas last year.

The 63-year-old Gettelfinger, however, said he never really considered retiring even though he is now caught in a tense struggle between the union's proud legacy and traditions and the forces of globalization, which have left American carmakers with only half of their home market.

Yet, in what is Gettlefinger’s swan song, a deal that both sides can live with appears imminent.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 5:02 AM under Analysis, Chrysler, Featured, Ford, GM, Personalities | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us

Toyota: Full-Size Truck Buyers "Need" Incentives

By Bill Visnic
Toyota Motor Corp. has endured some scoffing over the sometimes unseemly incentives of several thousand dollars consistently laid on the hood of its all-new Tundra full-size pickup. In July, Edmunds.com estimated Tundra incentives reached a height of $4,625; Toyota execs say they now are at about $3,000.

But at a meeting last week for financial institutions and media, one Toyota executive says so many customers are upside-down, that without big cash incentives, the full-size truck segment is a “No Sale.”

Jim Lentz, executive vice president, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., rattles off some interesting statistics about Tundra transactions:

(Read more...)

Posted by at 4:23 AM under Analysis, Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us

UAW-Big Three Talks: The Clock Is Ticking

The United Auto Workers' contracts with General Motors (which the union selected Thursday as its strike target), Ford and Chrysler officially expires at 11:59 p.m. Friday.

What will happen as the clock strikes midnight?

Exactly nothing. At least as far as the outside world is concerned.

Ford and Chrysler have signed temporary extensions. And even with GM as the lead target and UAW’s local preparing strike posters, the talks likely will continue on past the witching hour and possibly days, if not weeks, thereafter.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 6:25 AM under Chrysler, Commentary, Featured, Ford, GM, Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us

GM-UAW Talks: Temporary Workers Are a Sticking Point

By Joseph Szczesny

Selected Thursday as the strike target by the United Auto Workers union, General Motors recently slashed production of its full-size pickup trucks and large SUVs, laying off employees. At the same time, GM boosted output of its hot crossovers models, using temporary workers.

Such production adjustments underscores U.S. automakers' determination to keeping vehicle supplies in line with demand to compete with Asian manufacturers, especially Toyota, which have lower labor rates and smaller fixed costs.

The use of temporary workers -- and the potential for their expanded use --also illustrates one of the most contentious issues with GM as well as Ford and Chrysler, in the current labor talks. The deadline for the current contract expires at midnight Friday.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 5:51 AM under | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us

Saturn's Plug-In Hybrid Due Around 2009

Saturn will sell General Motors’ first plug-in hybrid –- a Vue compact SUV that can run up to 10 miles solely on electricity and switch to an engine for longer trips -– “very quickly,” Brand General Manager Jill Lajdziak told the Detroit Free Press in Frankfurt Wednesday.

“In 2009-ish,” Lajdziak said of the plug-in's introduction. The Vue plug-in will become the third hybrid version of the SUV. It will combine lithium-ion batteries and GM’s two-mode hybrid system, which can be recharged from a 110-volt household current.

Posted by at 2:02 PM under GM, News, Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us

Toyota Downplays U.S. Headwinds, Highlights New Quality, Manufacturing Onslaughts

By Bill Visnic

NEW YORK –- During a presentation for the U.S. financial community and journalists this week, not one of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Japanese and U.S. executives uttered the phrase, “Global domination.”

They didn’t have to. They mostly let the numbers –- and the promise of a host of proposed new processes -– do the talking.

Like the Golem-like robot in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” it’s beginning to look like Toyota can simply raise its helmet visor and ray-beam any obstacle out of existence.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 8:16 AM under Analysis, Featured, Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us

Frankfurt Auto Show: Who Will Pay for Going Green?

On the first press day of the Frankfurt auto show Tuesday, automakers unveiled a steady stream of vehicles in various shades of green -– diesels, biodiesels, bioethanol, E85, hybrids from mild to full, electrics and hydrogen fuel cells.

Automakers boasted of their miles –- or kilometers –- per gallon along with their grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer, as European regulators measure emissions. In some cases, automakers continued to brag about horsepower, insisting that increasingly demanding consumers will not trade-off performance for green.

But being green is neither easy nor cheap.  Automakers collectively -- and some individually –- are investing billions in green technologies, and most are developing multiple technologies simultaneously to hedge their bets.

The question being asked is who will pay for going green? Will automakers eat all of the enormous additional expense? Or will customers be willing to kick in to pay a premium for driving green –- or not?

(Read more...)

Posted by at 1:33 PM under Business, Featured, GM, Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us

GM's Lutz Optimistic About Advanced Batteries

Though Toyota insists lithium-ion batteries preferred for plug-in hybrids are far from ready, General Motors is confident it could have more than one kind of lithium-ion battery ready for its Chevrolet Volt by its year-end 2010 target.

GM has development contracts with suppliers for advanced lithium-ion batteries. It may use batteries from more than one of them for its upcoming Chevrolet Volt and various other models using the Volt’s E-Flex system, including the Opel Flextreme, unveiled Tuesday at the Frankfurt auto show

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told AutoObserver at the show both A123Systems and LG Chem -- battery makers with development contracts with GM but that use different chemistries in their batteries -- are “absolutely confident” they can meet GM’s requirements for the Volt’s battery. GM insists the battery provides 40 miles of pure electric power, charge and recharge 4,000 times, have a 10-year life and is ready for GM’s plan to have the Volt on the road by year-end 2010.

“Everybody feels good about meeting the specifications,” Lutz said. “There’s none of this ‘we hope we can make it.’”

(Read more...)

Posted by at 1:01 PM under GM, Technology, Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Chrysler: Employees Heartened by New Hires, Investments

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Chrysler employees attending the Frankfurt auto show this week are upbeat about  all of the radical changes that have taken place in the last 30 some days of the automaker being owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.

Employees, speaking at Chrysler’s private party unveiling of the Dodge Journey making its debut Tuesday at the Frankfurt show, are particularly heartened at last week’s news that Chrysler has hired former top Toyota exec Jim Press to run sales and marketing for Chrysler in the U.S. and former General Motors/Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. exec Phil Murtaugh to run its Asian operations.

Some hint that Chrysler’s hiring spree may not be over.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 2:22 PM under Chrysler, Featured, Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Another Shocker: Chrysler Steals Expert on China

As the industry recovers from the shock of Thursday’s announcement that Chrysler had hired Toyota’s top-ranking, Jim Press, the automaker dropped another bombshell: it has hired Phil Murtaugh away from Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., General Motors’ joint venture partner in China.

In Chinese circles, the news of Murtaugh joining Chrysler in China is nearly as big as the news of Press joining Chrysler in the U.S. as he is credited with building GM’s extraordinarily successful China business.

And the move demonstrates, yet again, Chrysler’s new owner, Cerberus Capital Management, is pulling out all of the stops to buy the world’s best automotive talent to turn Chrysler around.

Murtaugh’s hiring also suggests what AutoObserver has long suspected – that there is a serious China connection involved in Cerberus’ purchase of Chrysler.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 4:35 AM under Chrysler, Commentary, Personalities | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us

Volkswagen's Jacoby: HQ Move Tip of the Iceberg

By Bill Visnic

In a conference call with journalists following Thursday’s announcement that Volkswagen of America Inc. will move its headquarters from the suburbs of downtrodden Detroit to tony northern Virginia, new VWoA president and CEO Stefan Jacoby insists the relocation is much more than a change of scenery: this time, VW intends – really intends – to change its thinking.

Jacoby says the move is the beginning of the company’s urgent, there-is-no-tomorrow philosophy to re-connect with customers and offset years worth of brand-management missteps. In addition, macroeconomic forces have built up, demanding a more focused attack in the increasingly challenging U.S. market. 

He says the strategy is based on addressing five crucial areas: product, brand positioning, its dealer network and its internal organization. Ah, but that’s only four. The fifth point – the very real possibility of VW building a new U.S. assembly plant –  is the most provocative.

The following are some select snippets from Jacoby’s question-and-answer session:

(Read more...)

Posted by at 4:17 PM under Commentary, News, Personalities | Comments (13) | digg this | del.icio.us

Done Deal: Volkswagen Moves from Detroit to Virginia

Volkswagen of America announced at a press conference today that, indeed, it is moving its corporate headquarters from the Detroit suburbs to Herndon, Va.

At this morning’s press conference, VWoA’s new president and CEO, Stefan Jacoby, in that post only since Sept. 1, cited a host of reasons why the company is moving from Detroit to Virginia: closeness to customers; support of the state and business community; and a fresh start for VWoA, which is embarking on a new strategic direction after sales of its once-popular Volkswagen brand models have tanked while U.S. financial losses mount.

Jacoby said VWoA is setting out on a new strategy of delivering vehicles more suited to the tastes of U.S. customers, and that requires being closer to its customers. He said one of the key reasons VW chose Virginia from 14 locations considered since early 2006 was to be closer to VW’s customers.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 8:11 AM under | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us

BREAKING NEWS: Toyota's Press Goes to Chrysler

The New Chrysler announced this morning that Toyota’s Jim Press is joining Chrysler as vice chairman and president.

Press, a 37-veteran of Toyota, was the first and only non-Japanese to be elected to Toyota's board of directors in Japan. He also was the first American to be named president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motors in North America, making him Toyota's highest-ranking exec in North America.

At Chrysler, Press will be responsible for North American Sales, International Sales, Global Marketing, Product Strategy, and Service and Parts. Marketing is an area of serious weakness for the Detroit automaker.

The stunning news demonstrates that the traditional automotive playbook is out the window when a private equity firm buys an automaker, as Cerberus Capital Management did with Chrysler, a deal consummated only in early August.

It also demonstrates how fast-moving -- and anxious -- private equity firms are in turning around ailing properties in order to earn a return on their investment. Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli, formerly Home Depot CEO, is leading the charge -- moving quickly and decisively and bringing in fresh blood from outside -- at whatever the cost.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 6:17 AM under Chrysler, Featured, News, Personalities, Toyota | Comments (8) | digg this | del.icio.us

Volkswagen: Packing Its Bags for Virginia

Volkswagen of America is expected to announce at a press conference today that it is moving its corporate headquarters from the Detroit suburbs to Herndon, Va.

The company said it would bring 400 jobs to Virginia, eliminate 400 positions and leave 600 employees and contractors at its current headquarters in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Mich. The company said the move would be completed by the end of 2008, adding it would invest more than $100 million to establish its headquarters in a new office building near Washington Dulles International Airport.

Reading between the lines of an interview with VWoA’s new president and CEO, Stefan Jacoby, in charge only since Saturday, Northern Virginia is a better place for VW employees to live than Michigan and a better place for VW to do business.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 1:46 PM under Commentary, Companies, Featured, News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us

Chinese-Made Car Fuses Recalled

A California-based auto parts seller is recalling as many as 295,000 Chinese-made fuse sets that could be linked to electrical fires.

Harbor Freight Tools told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in an August 10 letter obtained by the Detroit News that the company was quickly recalling 295,000 aftermarket auto fuse sets -- which involve as many as 35 million individual fuses -- sold over a two-year period.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 8:02 AM under GM, News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us

Fisker: Shifting Gears To Go Green

Southern California exotic sports carmaker, Fisker Coachbuild LLC, has shifted its business strategy from producing purely exotic high-end sports cars to ones that are environmentally friendly.

“We want people to drive beautiful fast cars that make environmental sense –- cars that are eco-chic and will have less of an impact on global warming,” said Henrik Fisker, CEO of the newly formed Fisker Automotive, Inc. Fisker is a former BMW and Aston Martin designer.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 7:08 AM under Business, Companies, News, Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

On a Lighter Note: Animal Sacrifice or Animal Giveaway?

Maybe automakers are going about this sales thing all wrong.

Maybe what they need is a good old-fashioned animal sacrifice to please the gods into delivering higher sales. Or maybe they need a clever marketing gimmick -– like giving away an animal with every vehicle sale.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 6:03 AM under Commentary | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

August Sales: Highlights, Lowlights

The biggest surprise to jump out of the August vehicle sales reports, issued Tuesday, was that General Motors sales were up, when they had been predicted to be down.

And, not as surprising, Toyota sales slipped for the second month.

Another surprise was the sales strength of crossovers and large trucks, especially crossovers like GM's Buick Enclave, as well as the surge of the Honda Accord.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 5:32 AM under Analysis, Companies, GM, Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Rough Sailing Ahead as Automakers Battle Economic Headwinds

With three-quarters of the year over, 2007 has proven to be far more difficult for automakers to sell cars than they had anticipated at the start of the year.

Worse, the rest of the year looks like more rough sailing.

Analysts and auto execs, commenting on August sales Tuesday, used the word “headwinds” frequently the headwinds of the housing market, the credit crunch and higher fuel prices, all of which lead to slumping consumer confidence.

September sales may improve, but don’t get your hopes up, warns Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com’s executive director of industry analysis. Those market forces will still be with us through year-end.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 5:14 AM under Analysis, Chrysler, Companies, Featured, Ford, GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Automakers Spend More Carefully, Less Generously on August Incentives

The average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,362 per vehicle sold in August 2007, down $159, or 6.3 percent, from July 2007, and up $51, or 2.2 percent, from August 2006, according to estimates issued by Edmunds.com Tuesday.

"It is unusual for incentives spending to fall from month to month this time of year, as manufacturers typically offer generous deals in order to clear old inventory," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com.

"This year the domestic automakers are staying true to their value pricing strategy and carefully picking and choosing where to offer marketing support, rather than blanketing the whole lineup with incentives," he added.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 11:11 AM under Analysis, Chrysler, Featured, Ford, GM, Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

UAW Talks: Health Care Tops the Agenda as Deadline Nears

By Joseph Szczesny

The United Auto Workers union’s contract with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler expires in just over a week on September 14. While little has been reported publicly on the progress of negotiations, the towering cost of health care undoubtedly is the top issue in the talks.

How health care will be resolved has yet to be seen. And the recent turmoil in the financial markets makes one possible scenario more challenging.

(Read more...)

Posted by at 5:22 AM under Analysis, Chrysler, Featured, Ford, GM | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us