J.D. Power: Vehicle Dependability Improves Industry-Wide; Caddy DTS, Porsche Tops
Overall vehicle dependability has improved 7 percent and for the first time in more than a decade, a domestic vehicle is the industry's dependability leader, says the latest Vehicle Dependability Study from J.D. Power and Associates.
Power's latest version of its widely-watched dependability study was based on 52,000 responses from owners about their experience over the last year with their 3-year-old, 2007-model vehicles.
General Motors Co.'s Cadillac DTS was the study's leader, beating all individual models with 76 problems per 100 vehicles; the industry average was 155 problems per 100 vehicles, a 7-percent improvement over the average 165 PP100 reported by owners last year.
Porsche was the overall nameplate leader at an average of 110 problems per 100 vehicles and Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln brand climbed six rungs since last year to finish in second place with a 114 PP100 rating. Overall, 25 of 36 brands improved their rating from last year and 14 brands performed better than the industry average.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:47 AM under Business , Companies , GM , Hyundai, Kia , News , Toyota , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Volkswagen Getting Cozy with New Big Stakeholder
The Volkswagen Group and its recently acquired Porsche Automobil Holding SE, owner of Porsche Cars, said this week a delegation that included the German State of Lower Saxony traveled to the Emirate of Qatar to "intensify cooperation" with the Emirate in the areas of research, development and education.
Last year, the complex financial and investment arrangement that led to VW's takeover of Porsche (after an improbable attempt at the opposite was aborted) led to Qatar becoming VW's third-largest shareholder - after the Piech family and Lower Saxony - with about 17 percent of VW. Through the deal, Qatar also holds about 10 percent of Porsche Automobil Holding SE.
Volkswagen said in a statement, "Topics discussed included possible research cooperation into new materials, energy production and storage, fuel economy optimization in engines, and the medium-term openings for establishing a vehicle materials test laboratory."
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:12 PM under Business , Companies , News , Technology , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Even Blizzards Can't Obscure This: Ford Tops GM in February Sales
February marked the first month since August, 1998, that Ford Motor Co.'s monthly sales topped those of chief rival General Motors Co., providing an unexpected jolt in a month when the broad industry was handicapped by severe winter weather in the northeast regions of the country - and by the spillover from Toyota's safety-recall debacle.
Total U.S. auto sales for the month were 779,743 units, an increase of about 13.5 percent from year-earlier sales of 687,182, when the American automotive market was at the very bottom of one of its biggest slumps ever. And the February pace represented a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 10.4 million units, a number at the upper middle of most SAAR projections.
"The good underlying news is that the industry hasn't gone into reverse in terms of its recovery," said Jessica Caldwell, senior industry analyst for Edmunds.com.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 5:50 PM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Hyundai, Kia , News , Toyota , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (13) | digg this | del.icio.us
Lux and Little the Focus at This Week's Geneva Motor Show
There aren't that many true concept vehicles slated for the Geneva motor show this week. The few that are unveiled are bookended by a heavy presence in two sectors: small cars and luxury models.
Most of the attention in Geneva is concentrated on the small-car sector, thanks to continuing environmental pressure on both sides of the Atlantic. Europe continues to press with carbon-dioxide reduction measures, while financially battered U.S. customers evidence a downsizing mindset and the nation glides inexorably closer to a 2016 deadline for all automaker fleets to average 35 miles per gallon.
So while the Geneva show is mostly about what makes sense for an auto sector evolving toward less dependence on fossil fuels, the makers of luxury performance cars continue to respond with their own individual visions of how that future will be addressed. In many senses, it's becoming evident the makers of premium vehicles may in fact have more of an opportunity to capitalize -- as customers able to spend but unwilling to compromise may represent the best market to accept pricey new fuel-saving innovations.
The possibilities for synergy between the environmental movement and the luxury auto market may be almost limitless: even Ferrari, after all, is showing a hybrid-electric concept at this week's Geneva show.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:00 PM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Ford , News , Technology , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Audi A3 Production Halted for Slow Sales
Volkswagen's Audi will suspend production of its A3 compact model at its main plant in Ingolstadt, Germany, in February because of slow sales.
More than half of the plant's 4,500 employees will be off work the week of Feb. 15. The automaker said demand for the small car is low because Germany's version of Cash for Clunkers has expired, and the A3, introduced in its current version in 2004, is aging.
The 2011 version of the A3 sedan arrives in the U.S. in the fall as an addition to the Sportback already on sale.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:47 AM under Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Detroit Auto Show: Eleven Vehicles That Matter - Or Don't
The 2010 North American International Auto Show is one of the most restrained editions of 
the Detroit confab many can remember.
But the show's comparative scarcity of high-impact concept and production vehicles didn't stem the avalanche of opinion on the most notable vehicles.
After scores of media outlets have weighed in, AutoObserver cuts through the clutter to give the real score on the 10 most significant - for better or worse - vehicles of the 2010 Detroit auto show.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:31 PM under Analysis , Business , Commentary , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
VW Begins Takeover of Suzuki With 20 Percent Stake
The Volkswagen Group fired its first volley in what is expected to be an eventual full takeover 
of Japan minicar specialist Suzuki Motor Corp. by assuming a 20 percent share of Suzuki for $2.5 billion, the companies jointly announced Wednesday from Tokyo.
Volkswagen's initial stake is expected to lead to eventual full ownership of Suzuki (de facto management control would come with a 33 percent or greater share of the company) as VW drives to surpass Toyota Motor Corp. as the world's No. 1 automaker. Suzuki's automotive production last year of about 2.4 million vehicles would put VW well on the way toward that goal.
Eventual ownership would make Suzuki the eleventh brand under the VW umbrella. Volkswagen currently is in the complicated process of taking controlling ownership of Porsche AG after reversing an incredibly costly, debt-financed feint by Porsche to take over VW.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:56 AM under Companies , Featured , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tough New Roof Test Whittles Down Field of IIHS 'Top Safety Pick' Winners
A rigorous new roof-strength standard means a lot fewer new models earned the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's "Top Safety Pick" award for 2010.
This year, just 27 individual models were named Top Safety Pick by the IIHS, compared with last year's record 94 models that earned the award. Most of the reason so many new vehicles couldn't grab the brass ring comes down to a newly instituted roof-safety test presumed to indicate superior protection in rollovers, which are involved in about one-third of all fatal accidents.
"With the addition of our new roof strength evaluation, our crash test results now cover all 4 of the most common kinds of crashes," said IIHS president Adrian Lund in a release. "Consumers can use this list to zero in on the vehicles that are on the top rung for safety."
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:00 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , In the Media , News , Technology , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
