GM Takes Delivery of Advanced Batteries for Chevy Volt

The Chevrolet Volt moved yet-another step closer to reality Tuesday when, as scheduled, General Motors took delivery on the first advance lithium-ion batteries to go into E-Flex operating system that powers the Volt.

The battery delivery buoyed the confidence of GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who told the Detroit Free Press in an interview that he hoped GM would build as many as 100,000 Chevrolet Volts in the first year of production, set for around year-end 2010.

Lutz told the newspaper that the first-generation production version of the E-Flex will appear in a vehicle that will be called the Chevrolet Volt and will look similar to the concept car unveiled at the Detroit auto show earlier this year.

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Tiremaker Michelin Launches Green Campaign

By Bill Visnic

NEW YORK -- Global tire giant Michelin kicks off a high-profile campaign here to promote a wide-ranging new initiative to improve the efficiency of automotive and truck tires, promote “green” tire choices and to reduce the impact on the environment of tire production.

Michelin’s efforts are likely to have a significant impact on both consumers and the automaker and truckmaker customers it supplies.

Starting on the evening of October 30 and running for four days, Michelin has enormous “green meters” on New York City’s NASDAQ and Reuters electronic billboards displaying reductions in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions attributable to the company’s “green energy saving” tires for passenger cars and commercial trucks since the launch of the first generation of the tires in 1992.

Electronic billboards in Paris, Shanghai and Berlin also will display the worldwide savings, which amount to a staggering 11.6 gallons of fuel and 240 pounds of CO2 every second.

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Edmunds.com Forecast: Housing Market Woes Continue to Affect October Car Sales

October’s new vehicle sales are expected to be 1.24 million units, a 2.4 percent increase from October 2006 on an unadjusted basis, according to a forecast by Edmunds.com. Automakers will report October sales results on Thursday.

This October had 26 selling days, one more than October 2006. When adjusted for this difference, sales decreased 1.6 percent from October 2006. (The chart below sets forth other adjusted and unadjusted comparisons.)

"Sales are strong for vehicles at the far ends of the price spectrum, as consumers affected by the housing market bust seek bargains while luxury buyers are largely untouched," observed Jesse Toprak, Edmunds’ executive director of industry analysis. “Meanwhile, sales of midrange vehicles like large cars and minivans are suffering."

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SEMA: Big Business for Automakers

By Dale Buss

Every year when the vehicle-customization industry gathers at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, one group of attendees is always more engaged than the year before: auto company executives.

Tapping into the customization and specialization craze is boosting their top lines and beefing up their bottom lines more than ever before, producing juicy double-digit growth that normally isn’t part of the landscape in the highly mature U.S. automotive market.

At least 14 automakers were expected to exhibit at the SEMA show that began in the Las Vegas Convention Center on Tuesday. Understandably, each automaker is getting more and more serious about pursuing slices of what has become a $36.7-billion industry, according to figures compiled by Diamond Bar, California-based SEMA.

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Navistar Eyes GM Medium-Duty Truck Business

By Bill Visnic

Navistar International Corp. has disclosed it is “in discussions” with General Motors Corp. regarding a deal to buy GM’s medium-duty commercial truck operations.

A GM spokesman would not comment on Navistar’s release in financial filings, saying “We said before that we’re looking at options for the medium-duty [commercial truck] business.” He adds that GM is studying its strategic options but, “we’re not ready to announce anything yet.”

Navistar is the widely known holding company for such brands as International trucks and MaxxForce diesel engines for commercial trucks. Earlier this year, Navistar also was at the center of a contentious supplier relationship with Ford Motor Co., for whom it currently builds the PowerStroke V8 diesel for Ford’s Super Duty pickup trucks.

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Chrysler-UAW Contract: Done Deal

It was close, but members of the United Auto Workers union approved a new four-year contract with Chrysler over the weekend.

Some union locals rejected the deal, saying it didn’t contain product assignments for specific plants and job guarantees comparable to those negotiated in the General Motors contract. The agreement, reached after a nearly seven-hour strike, includes a union-run independent retiree health care trust and, Chrysler said, improves the automaker’s competitiveness.

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Ford-UAW Talks: Job Security at Issue

Now that the United Auto Workers union has settled contracts with the Chrysler and General Motors, it turns its attention this week to Ford.

The union is well aware of Ford’s financial situation -– the most precarious of the Big Three –- and is likely to give Ford more cost concessions than it did Chrysler and GM. But, in return, it wants more job guarantees.

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Toyota’s Watanabe: Moving Forward on Plans

By John O’Dell
Editor, Edmunds’ Green Car Advisor

TOKYO -- Toyota's vaunted quality is slipping, its once-unassailable environmental credentials are being criticized, and several key members of its U.S. management have been wooed away in recent weeks by restructuring rivals. Sales are slipping in its home base as the Japanese population ages, and the U.S. market -- its biggest -- has stalled.
   
But Toyota Motor Corp.'s top executive says that plans already in place are sufficient to stop the erosion and bolster its position as the globe's leading automaker. The company doesn't see a need to revamp its business structure, President Katsuaki Watanabe said in an interview in Tokyo last week.

Instead, it needs to move ahead with a set of initiatives aimed at restoring top quality and making Toyota a leader on issues of energy, environment and safety, he said.

Key among them are continuation of the automaker's $1-million-an hour research and development effort; expansion of its hybrid car technology; and development of a low-cost, low-emissions "world car" that could sell in developing nations for as little as $4,000.

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One-on-One With Chrysler's Phil Murtaugh

TOKYO -- Phil Murtaugh, credited with building General Motors’ phenomenally successful business in   China -- from scratch, vowed he’d never do that again. But when Chrysler Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda came calling, he said yes; he’d do it again -– this time for Chrysler and not only in China but in India and other parts of Asia.

Making his public debut as a Chrysler executive at the Tokyo Motor Show, Murtaugh, who wears the official title of CEO, Chrysler Asian Operations, has his work cut out for him. As he described it to AutoObserver in an interview at the show, he's got to sign on partners, assign dealers, fill a sparse product line, build brands and ultimately sell more cars and make money.

And that's just in China. Then he's got to do the same or more in fast-growing India and other Asian markets, where, in some case, Chrysler's presence is even less than it is in China or totally nonexistent.

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Domestic Auto Companies Press for Action on Yen

Against the backdrop of the Tokyo Motor Show, Detroit automakers and some of their suppliers are sounding the alarm over the value of the Japanese yen. They charge that Japan is manipulating its currency and are encouraging global economic powers to pressure Japan to boost the value of the yen. They argue that Japan’s weak currency versus the U.S. dollar is dangerous to worldwide financial markets.

GM, Ford and Chrysler complain the value gives Japanese competitors an advantage in the U.S. of $4,000 to $10,000 per vehicle.

"The yen's behavior defies economic explanations," G. Mustafa Mohatarem, GM's chief economist, said at a briefing Tuesday reported on by the Detroit Free Press. "To me, there is absolutely no doubt that Japan has been managing its currency."

He said of the $90-billion trade deficit with Japan expected for all of this year, about 62 percent is expected to come from autos and auto parts.

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Dueling Fuel-Cell Cars: GM Vs. Honda

TOKYO –— Honda announced at the Tokyo Motor Show that at the upcoming Los Angeles show it will introduce a new hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle based on the FCX concept, displayed here and at past shows. Honda will begin deliveries of the car to customers in the U.S. and Japan next year.

Honda executives on the sidelines were quick to point out that it will allow customers — both retail and fleet — to actually lease the fuel-cell vehicles on their own in contrast to General Motors’ recent program.

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Ford Exec: Taking Time Off – For Now

Richard Parry-Jones, one of Ford’s executives who last week announced his retirement from the company, told AutoObserver at the Tokyo Motor Show that he’s headed for the beach and three straight months of decompression after his departure at year-end.

But the talented engineer, who, at 56, seems too young and energetic to retire completely, appeared open to new possibilities after a vacation. Maybe he’s got something lined up already.

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Tokyo Auto Show: A Race Between Green and Performance

TOKYO – Even before Wednesday’s first press day for the Tokyo Motor Show, the themes of the event were obvious -- and opposite: green and performance.

And on day one, performance outpaced green.

Nissan won hands down for most crowded press conference at which it unveiled the long-awaited GT-R.  Even an hour before the designated starting time, the Nissan conference was jammed with no spots available remotely close to seeing the stage for the unveiling.  Media excluded from seeing the unveiling, clamored for the highly sought after press kit., which Nissan refsed to distribute until after the press conference.

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GM Outsells Toyota -- for Now

General Motors regained its title as world’s largest automaker when Toyota reported Monday it had sold fewer vehicles than GM in the July-September quarter.

The score with three quarters of the year over stands at Toyota selling 7.05 million vehicles and GM at 7.06 million sales. The race is tight, however. Toyota sold 2.34 million vehicles in the July-September quarter; GM sold 2.38 million.

At the half-year point, Toyota looked like it would take the No. 1 title GM has owned for 76 years. Analysts expect it to happen eventually. Toyota has an aggressive target to sell 10.4 million vehicles for 2009; GM’s best year was in 1978 when it sold 9.55 million vehicles. Where Toyota still has a firm hold on a No. 1 spot is in profitability.

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Chrysler Workers: Will They or Won't They?

Another close race is brewing as Chrysler’s union workers vote on a new contract.

United Auto Workers union members at six Chrysler plants representing 11,000 workers rejected a tentative contract reached with the automaker. Plants rejecting the deal include those at Chrysler’s giant Jefferson North Jeep plant in Detroit. Those workers want firm commitments for future models at its plants, similar to what General Motors workers got in their contract. Chrysler is unable to give such assurances, as its new owners and new management team are revamping the future product plan.

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Renault CFO: Nissan-Renault Set for Small, Cheap Car Boom

TOKYO – Renault intends to launch a next-generation Logan that costs even less to build than the current one while the automaker simultaneously develops a still cheaper car for India, the chief financial officer of the company told a group of reporters in Tokyo.

Thierry Moulonguet, Renault CFO and chairman of the Nissan-Renault management Committee for the Americas, told reporters in Japan for the Tokyo auto show and the world debut of the Nissan GT-R supercar that the automaker is positioning itself for an expected surge in small car sales globally.

Moulonguet said engineers and designers are working on the second-generation Logan due in 2012 that will cut costs by 15 percent of the original Logan, which has a starting price of about $5,000. Separately but simultaneously, Nissan-Renault is working in partnership with Indian electric rickshaw and motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto Ltd. on a completely new small car for India that will start at $3,000. India-based automaker Tata has announced a similar intention.

"We see this as the segment of the future," Moulonguet said. "Our early launch of the Logan puts us in a good position for selling a car at a very low price."

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Automotive Hall of Fame Induction: A Who’s Who – and Where Are They Now

Every year, the automotive leaders of today, tomorrow and yesterday gather for the induction of new members into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan.

Always a “Who’s Who,” this year’s event, held this week, was not only a Who’s Who but a Who’s with What Company and an evening of ironic twists.

Former Toyota exec Jim Press sat at a front-row table with his colleagues –- from Chrysler. A few tables down were his former Toyota colleagues, there to honor Shoichiro Toyoda, who was being inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

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Ford's Parry-Jones Retires; GM Loses Ballew

Two high-profile industry faces are moving on.

Ford reported that engineer extraordinaire Richard Parry-Jones is retiring at year's end. General Motors announced that its oft-quoted top analyst Paul Ballew was moving on to a new job in the insurance business.

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Oil at Record High; Dollar at Record Low

On the 20th anniversary of Black Monday, oil prices have set an all-time record at $90 a barrel. That’ll make fuel-sipping concepts being unveiled at next week’s Tokyo Motor Show even more relevant.

The U.S. dollar hit another record low against the Euro and other currencies on fears of an economic slowdown in the U.S.

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Tokyo Motor Show: Technology, Environment, Performance and Showmanship

By Peter Nunn

Over the coming days, many of the industry’s leading lights will be boarding flights to Japan for the 40th Tokyo Motor Show, which opens its doors to the world on Wednesday, October 24.

What will be big in Japan this year?

First, technology and plenty of it, much of it geared inevitably toward the environment through a fresh array of plug-in hybrids, electrics, clean diesels and more. 

Next, speed and excitement, courtesy of a new wave of Japanese high-performance cars, led by the Nissan GT-R and new Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

Third, plenty of show concepts, (28 at the last count), some serious, some less so, and as ever it’s the latter than helps give the Tokyo Show its unique fun and fantasy feel.

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Audi’s U.S. Prospects Boosted by Rising Quality, Residuals

By Bill Visnic

WASHINGTON, D.C. -– Audi of America Inc. is reinventing itself, and early results show a surge that would make President Bush proud.

At the end of September, Audi’s U.S. sales were up 9.4 percent versus 2007, in a year that will be a sales disappointment for many automakers. Surging sales are the symptom of Audi’s quiet but focused brand boosting initiatives –- the company is swiftly overcoming perceptions of poor quality and substandard resale values, bugaboos that have dogged Audi for the better part of this century.

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Chevrolet Malibu Day Is Today – Online

By Dale Buss

Today, on the Internet, Chevrolet begins to find out whether its hugely ambitious strategy for the new Malibu sedan is getting some traction. General Motors’ top sales division planned what it not so modestly is calling a “takeover” of online advertising in what really may be the most ambitious such effort yet by any major marketer.

“This will be the largest home-page takeover ever,” crowed Bill Ludwig, vice chairman and chief creative officer of Campbell-Ewald, Chevy’s longtime advertising agency.

The idea is to make the completely new vehicle unavoidable online and lend some early credibility to Chevy’s marketing theme for the 2008 Malibu: “The Car You Can’t Ignore.”

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Consumer Reports: Toyota Quality Sees "Cracks in its Armor"

DETROIT -- After years of sterling reliability, Toyota is showing cracks in its armor, according to data from Consumer Reports’ 2007 Annual Car Reliability Survey revealed Tuesday before the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.

By contrast, Ford’s domestic brands have made considerable improvements. Consumer Reports said 93 percent of Ford, Lincoln, Mercury models in the survey scored average or better.

“Ford continues to improve,” said David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center. “The reliability of their cars has steadily improved over the years, and is showing consistency.”

He added, “We believe Toyota is aware of its issues and is trying to fix problems quickly.”

Despite the problems, Toyota (including Lexus and Scion) still ranks 3rd in reliability among all automakers, behind only Honda and Subaru.

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Chrysler Stays Flexible on Products and Plants

Some Chrysler workers are not thrilled with the tentative contract agreed upon last week by the automaker and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union because it lacks product and plant commitments that the General Motors’ contract includes.

"Virtually no Chrysler plant received commitments beyond the scope of their current product," a leaflet produced by a dissident union local said, according to Bloomberg News. "As a result, the plant-by-plant threats we've experienced...will continue."

Indeed, Chrysler, in dire need of a product makeover, clearly is keeping its options open. But that's not sitting well with some workers; others figure the commitments and contract they've got are the best they can do.

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Chrysler: What’s Chery’s Role?

Chrysler’s top exec in China says the automaker is exploring how to fill holes in its product portfolio in small-car segments, the largest-volume categories in the country. And the holes won’t be plugged by Chrysler’s current Chinese partner, Chery.

Simon Elliott, president and CEO of Chrysler Group China Sales Ltd., reiterated what AutoObserver reported during the Frankfurt auto show last month, when Chrysler’s top designer Trevor Creed said Chery would not be Chrysler’s partner in building the B-segment Hornet, a concept for an international people mover. Creed said Chery’s platforms were not appropriate for the Dodge Hornet, and the hunt for another partner was ongoing.

The comments by the two Chrysler executives beg the question: So what is Chery’s role with Chrysler?

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Ford Is Up Next in UAW Talks

Now that United Auto Workers (UAW) unions at General Motors have ratified their new contract and Chrysler workers are voting on their new agreement, it is Ford’s turn to negotiate a new deal with the union. And its deal is likely to be similar to those at GM and Chrysler.

Ford Chairman Bill Ford, through a company spokesperson, told Dow Jones the framework of the deal between GM and the UAW was "certainly something we can work with."

Similarly, Ford CEO Alan Mulally told The Associated Press a deal with the major elements of those hammered out at GM and Chrysler will help Ford be more competitive. "The basic framework, the elements of it are very transformational," Mulally said. "It'll increase our competitiveness tremendously."

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UAW Takes Chrysler Pact to Its Members

United Auto Workers (UAW) President Ron Gettelfinger said Monday that a council of union local heads and other union leaders meeting in Detroit gave an overwhelming recommendation in favor of the contract with Chrysler.

The agreement now goes to the UAW’s rank and file for ratification votes that will take place over the next few weeks. Gettelfinger said he hopes to get two-thirds of the workers to approve the contract. 

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UAW Pact Buoys GM Stock to Three-Year High

GM executives for the first time provided details of its new contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. The automaker said the pact reduces its health-care obligations by $47 billion and cuts new worker pay in half.

GM’s U.S. hourly labor costs will drop to $10.1 billion in 2007 from $12.6 billion last year, declining “significantly” from 2008 to 2011.

GM’s stock closed last week at a three-year high, after UAW union members ratified its new contract with the automaker. GM’s stock closed at $42.64 on Friday, up nearly 12 percent from the beginning of the week. GM shares have gained nearly 50 percent since early September in anticipation of a favorable contract.

GM detailed how and how much it will contribute to the newly established union-run health-care fund in its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, submitted Monday.

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Big Three Critic Now Praising Detroit Automakers

Maryann Keller, a relentless critic of Detroit's auto industry for the past three decades as a Wall Street analyst, author, consultant and a director of two auto-related companies, is singing the praises of Detroit automakers.

"For the first time in 30 years I think that Detroit is going to finally turn around," Keller told Detroit Free Press columnist Tom Walsh.

"The cars are better, the management is smarter, and the costs are down with these new contracts,” she said. “The UAW and Big 3 have finally figured out how to save each other and create a headache for the Japanese."

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GM Settles with UAW – But Product Puzzle Less Resolved

By Bill Visnic

With a fresh four-year labor agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) ratified last week, General Motors now can get on with the business of ensuring its UAW workers and U.S. assembly plants have desirable product to build.

During the negotiations, documents emerged detailing the commitments GM has made to the UAW for 16 U.S. plants. But while the question of who “won” and “lost” in the labor pact will be long debated, a more important concern for both entities’ long-term viability is how effectively those plants –- and, more vitally, the products they make –- can improve GM’s competitiveness versus fast-moving and still-leaner rivals.

The UAW’s goal is to keep jobs for its membership by keeping plants open, regardless of whether anybody’s buying what comes off the line. GM’s job is to make a profit by selling vehicles customers want to buy. Those goals are not mutually supportive: three decades of GM market-share decline has proven that keeping plants open to produce non-competitive products has not helped it, or the UAW, to thrive.

Based on the GM future-product information made public by the UAW, Auto Observer decided to grade each plant and its products on the potential to boost GM’s competitive outlook (UAW-represented labor figures as of April 30).

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Ford Taurus: What’s in a Name Change? Not Higher Sales

At the Chicago auto show in February, Ford's President of the Americas Mark Fields announced -- with much fanfare -- the return of the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable names as well as the addition of the Taurus X moniker, in hopes of boosting name recognition and ultimately increasing sales.

The 2008 Ford Five Hundred became the Taurus; the Mercury Montego was renamed the Sable and the Ford Freestyle transformed into the Taurus X.

Thus far the name changes haven’t hiked sales; in fact, sales are way below previous peak levels under the less-famous names.

So what will new marketing guru Jim Farley do?

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Ford Robs Toyota To Fill Top Marketing Job

Toyota has been robbed again!

Ford announced Thursday that it has hired Jim Farley away from Toyota. Farley, 45, currently group vice president of Lexus, will be Ford's first global chief marketing and communications officer.

"I wanted to bring to our team  world-class marketing talent," Ford CEO Alan Mulally told AutoObserver in a phone interview just after the Ford board of directors agreed to hiring Farley.

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Chrysler Workers Strike and Quickly Settle

Thousands of Chrysler’s hourly workers walked off the job Wednesday as the automaker and the United Auto Workers Union failed to reach an agreement on a new four-year contract before the 11 a.m. strike deadline. But the strike was short-lived when the union announced by late afternoon that a tentative contract had been reached.

The strike comes as no surprise. The odds of a strike increased significantly when the union gave the automaker a 72-hour notice of a strike deadline over the weekend. Further, the UAW, setting a precedent for these talks, struck General Motors in September for two days before reaching an agreement that it has now been ratified by the rank and file.

Details of the tentative pact have not been released, except that Chrysler confirmed the deal does include a union-run, health-care fund.

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Chrysler’s Turn in the Spotlight This Week

It’s often said in the auto industry that everybody gets their turn in the barrel. In recent weeks, it has been General Motors; next week, it’ll be Ford. But this week it is Chrysler in the spotlight.

On Wednesday, Chrysler faces an 11 a.m. strike deadline set by the United Auto Workers union.

At the same time, word is leaking out – or deliberately being leaked out to strengthen the automakers hand – that Cerberus Capital Management, Chrysler’s new owner, is planning even deeper job cuts than announced earlier this year.

And Chrysler’s top executives, including CEO Bob Nardelli, formerly of Home Depot, and vice chairman for sales and marketing Jim Press, formerly of Toyota, face dealers and meet with the media at Chrysler dealers’ national convention in Las Vegas this week.

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UAW Puts Chrysler on Strike Notice

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union has set Tuesday as a strike deadline for Chrysler, people familiar with the negotiations told Bloomberg News.

The union gave Chrysler, now owned by Cerberus Capital Management, 72-hour notice that it is terminating further contract extensions. After 11 a.m. Wednesday, a strike is possible. The contract had been extended after the September 14 deadline so that the UAW could concentrate on negotiations with General Motors.

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Chrysler: Trying to Avoid Last Year’s Inventory Debacle

Not wanting a repeat of last fall’s situation, Chrysler is temporarily closing several plants beginning next week and eliminating overtime at others in an effort to head off bloated inventories of several models.

Last year at this time, Chrysler’s inventories of unsold vehicles built to extremely high levels, contributing to the automaker’s $1.5 billion third-quarter loss, which, in turn, prompted parent company DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG) to put the U.S. automaker up for sale.

The temporary shutdowns and elimination of overtime at affected Chrysler plants, which combined employ more than 23,000 workers, came immediately after Chrysler reported a 5-percent decline in September sales. They also come on the eve of negotiations between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers on a new four-year contract and within only a couple months of new Chrysler owners, Cerberus Capital Management, taking over.

The sales drop and production cutbacks suggest Cerberus has a lot of work to do to turn Chrysler around.

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Daimler-Chrysler Divorce Final with Name Change

By Joseph Szczesny

BERLIN -- In the end, circumstances beyond management control forced DaimlerChrysler’s German management to sell Chrysler to private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management, and the new Daimler AG will be stronger without Chrysler and its dependency on North America, Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche told shareholders.

Zetsche, chairman of the Daimler AG's board of management, was persistently challenged by some of the 6,000 shareholders at Thursday’s special shareholders meeting to officially change the company’s legal name to explain the shift in strategy.

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Et Tu, Tom Friedman!

In his October 3 column entitled “Et Tu, Toyota?” New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman expresses his shock and utter dismay that his beloved Toyota is siding with Detroit automakers in what he calls a Michigan-style “assisted suicide” –- opposing stringent fuel-economy standards proposed by the Senate.

In previous columns, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Friedman advocated Toyota take over General Motors and rule the automotive universe on the basis of its pioneering leadership in fuel-efficiency as expressed through a single model, the Toyota Prius hybrid.

Now, Friedman is disappointed and stunned: Toyota, along with GM, Ford and Chrysler, is opposing the tough mileage standards in the U.S. Senate’s draft version of the energy bill, and are lobbying for another bill that is more stringent and separates cars and trucks.

Toyota wasted no time in responding to Friedman's column. General Motors has as well. And so have other industry watchers, including columnists from Motor Trend and Fortune magazines

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September Sales: Weaker But New Models Showed Strength

Automakers reported weak September vehicle sales against a backdrop of continued economic headwinds. Still, some automakers -- especially those with new models -- fared better than those without new wares.

General Motors, Nissan and Honda reported gains; Ford, Toyota and Chrysler saw declines. Total industry sales in September ran at a seasonally adjusted rate of 16.23 million units compared with 16.6 million in September last year.

"This month was pretty much in line with what we expected," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Edmunds.com's industry analysis. "Auto manufacturers that saw the most gains had new or freshened models -- GM with the Cadillac CTS and new crossovers, Honda with the Accord, Nissan with the Altima."

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Posted by at 5:19 AM under Analysis, Chrysler, Featured, Ford, GM, Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us

September Incentives Low as Automakers Stick to Value Pricing

The average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,293 per vehicle sold in September 2007, down $176, or 7.1 percent, from August 2007, and down $267, or 10.4 percent, from September 2006, according to Edmunds.com's monthly True Cost of Incentives (TCI) report.

"Some may have thought that this soft market would inspire the automakers to increase their incentives to boost sales, but that isn’t happening," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com. Edmunds’ report on incentives was released just before automakers began reporting September sales, expected to be soft compared with a year ago.

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Posted by at 7:14 AM under Analysis, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us

Exclusive One-on-One: Mitsubishi Motors President Osamu Masuko

By Peter Nunn

The past decade has been a true roller-coaster ride for Japan's Mitsubishi Motors. Beset by scandals in Japan, a dramatic fall off in North American profitability and having its main partner, DaimlerChrysler, part company, Mitsubishi had been buffeted by one storm after another.

After racking up huge losses on top of those storms, now comes the turnaround. A three-year business plan coupled with a string of hot new models, with the new Outlander and Lancer leading the way, has seen Mitsubishi undergo the classic product-led recovery.

On Monday, Mitsubishi, now Japan's fastest-growing car exporter, saw its stock jump to its highest level in two months on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. That came after Mitsubishi tripled its operating profit forecast last Friday.

Since January 2005, Osamu Masuko, 58, has been Mitsubishi's personable president and chief operating officer and the man at the helm as Mitsubishi trod the harrowing but now successful path back to profitability. Masuko, who has a business background from the Mitsubishi Corp. and is a 35-year Mitsubishi veteran, spoke to AutoObserver’s Peter Nunn in Tokyo.

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Posted by at 7:34 AM under Commentary, Featured, Personalities | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us