Incentives Drive Sales Rate to 13.2 Million, Edmunds.com Reports
A mid-month look at March auto sales indicates a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate that is flirting with 13.5 million vehicles, thanks largely to intense incentive competition, according to Edmunds.com.
"The industry has been recharged by incentives offers from Toyota and other automakers who responded in kind," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "There is a lot of money in the marketplace right now, and people are responding."
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:01 PM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Predicts Average Transaction Price Declines
It's definitely not what a battered auto industry wants to hear after months of scrabbling for the start of a rebound, but analysts at Edmunds.com project, through the new True Market Value Predicted Price Trends metric - that average transaction prices, even for plenty of usually strong-selling models, will fall in April.
Common sense might suggest with improving weather and the coming of spring that auto sales would tend to start increasing in April, but historically, such is not the case. Analysts at Edmunds.com note that in just the past eight years, sales have declined in April from March in seven of those years. Hand-in-hand with a decline in sales volume comes a typical reduction in average transaction prices during April.
April also is a poor springboard for auto sales because there are no long holiday weekends and the month holds, for many, the ominous prospect of filing tax returns.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:36 PM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
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
Grand Cherokee, Car Washes Don't Mix
If you're seeing a lot of particularly dirty Jeep Grand Cherokees these days, there might be a good reason.
Doug Newman, owner of conveyer-belt style carwash chain in Milford, Connecticut, told Bloomberg news last week the Chrysler Group LLC sport-utility is an unintended acceleration beast, accounting for all four of the unintended-acceleration incidents that have occurred at his operations since 2000.
Little more than a month ago, a worker piloting a 2006 Grand Cherokee at the Octopus carwash in Albuquerque, New Mexico, killed another worker after the driver said the Jeep accelerated uncontrollably, smashing the worker against a wall.
And a member at Edmunds.com's CarSpace social-media forum identified as Octo30yrs said the Grand Cherokee's unintended-acceleration reputation with the carwash community is such that some operations now are either pushing through Grand Cherokees or rejecting them altogether.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:57 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
European Car Sales Rise on Extended Scrappage Schemes
New car sales in Europe rose 3 percent in February to 1 million vehicles due largely to the return of Cash for Clunker-like programs in some countries.
Sales were up double digits in France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain where the programs were in effect. In contrast, sales in Germany fell 30 percent where the scrappage program had expired in late 2009.
A downturn in vehicle sales this year is predicted for Western Europe.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:57 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saab: Getting Back to Business
Swedish automaker Saab is showing signs of life.
With its sale by General Motors to Dutch sports-carmaker Spyker complete, Saab now is setting up its North American shop away from GM headquarters, building its management team in Europe and preparing to build and sell cars again.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:33 AM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Commentary: No Easy Answer for the Toyota Problem
Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl argues in a Washington Post OpEd that the U.S. 
Transportation Department and its National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should lead in coordinating an effort to get to the bottom of the industry problem of sudden acceleration. Here's his argument as published by the paper Monday:
Lately it seems that each day brings another report of a driver's terrifying experience with an out-of-control Toyota. There have been at least four congressional hearings in as many weeks.
Even the most confident consumer has to wonder what is causing all this and, more fundamentally, whether Toyotas are safe to drive.
The second question is easier to answer. Despite the flurry of reports, incidents with speeding vehicles are rare. And vehicles today, including Toyotas, are safer than ever.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:02 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured , In the Media , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Used Car Prices Up - Except Recalled Toyotas'
Used car prices are up about 2 percent from last month, but the prices of used Toyotas affected by the recalls are down about 2.5 percent, according to Edmunds.com.
"Many used car buyers are turned off by the negative publicity surrounding the Toyota recall, so prices of those vehicles are pacing at about 4.5 percent below the market," said Edmunds.com Analyst Joe Spina.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:22 AM under Analysis , Companies , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Can Midsize Pickups Haul Themselves Back to Sales Respectability?
The auto sector's ongoing malaise has battered even the healthiest of automakers, models 
and market segments. But probably no segment has endured a deeper or more protracted decay than midsize pickup trucks.
It started long prior to the nation's late-2008 economic collapse: the midsize pickup segment has been slipping precipitously for more than a decade - and now the industry's sales collapse has brought the midsize pickup market to the brink.
If that sounds a little dramatic, know that combined sales of the segment's seven major players - Dodge Dakota, Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon, Honda Ridgeline, Nissan Frontier and Toyota Motor Corp.'s Tacoma - were 763,553 in the year 2000. Last year, those same seven players combined for 265,513 sales. Two-thirds of the segment's volume blown away in a decade.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:58 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Former Administrator: NHTSA Needs R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief and longtime auto-safety 
advocate Joan Claybrook called for a doubling of the agency's investigational budget in order to equip NHTSA to more effectively police an increasingly technical and complex auto industry.
Claybrook was one of a number of witnesses at hearings held Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives examining the NHTSA's response to the recent high-profile recalls of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles for reports of unintended acceleration,
Claybrook and Ami Gadhia, policy counsel for Consumers Union and another witness in the House hearings, also called for Congress to consider drastically hiking the limit on civil penalties NHTSA can impose to help sharpen respect for the agency's rules.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:50 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Odyssey Owners Report Transmission Troubles, Inconsistent Response from Maker
Toyota vehicles are dominating headlines lately with recalls and rebuttals, but just as 
annoying to Honda Odyssey owners are the transmission problems they are experiencing -- problems some owners believe Honda is unwilling to acknowledge or address.
Since October 2006, members of Edmunds' CarSpace Forums have contributed more than 1,400 individual posts to a thread called Honda Odyssey Transmission Problems that details not only their Odyssey transmission issues but also the action - or inaction - they've seen from Honda dealers and parent company, American Honda, in response.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:22 AM under Companies , Featured | Comments (12) | digg this | del.icio.us
China's Geely Has "Money in the Bank" Now for Volvo
Chinese automaker Geely reportedly has obtained financing for its long-planned purchase of
Sweden's Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co.,
The financing was concluded in recent days and the money is now in Geely's bank account, according to a report from the Swedish financial daily Dagens Industri, which was picked up by worldwide wire services. Geely reportedly will pay about $2 billion for Volvo.
Possibly lengthy approvals from various Chinese, Swedish and U.S. authorities is still required and could mean a few more months before the deal is finished.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:44 AM under Companies , Ford | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
AutoObserver Reader Favorites: Toyota Complaints and Sales
Reader traffic on AutoObserver soared this past week, with Toyota stories being the most read.
An Edmunds.com analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) databases that illustrated Toyota's lead in unintended acceleration complaints filed by consumers before and after its recent recalls was this week's most-read post. The post had double the normal traffic of the usual weekly top-read AutoObserver post.
It was followed closely by the Edmunds.com forecast of the impact of Toyota's woes on its February sales and market share.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:46 AM under Analysis , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hyundai Keeps the Heat on Toyota, Honda with New Tucson
With prime rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. stumbling into 2010, surging 
Hyundai Motor America Inc. isn't planning to give them - or anybody else - a breather: the company is launching seven completely new products in the next 24 months, starting with the formidable and all-new 2010 Tucson compact crossover.
Like just about everything else Hyundai's doing these days, the Tucson is almost certain to give its competitors fits.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:00 AM under Companies , Featured , Hyundai, Kia , Toyota | Comments (3) | 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
Question Congress' Hearings Won't Answer: Are Cars Safe?
Despite all the questions asked during Congressional hearings on Toyota's recalls this week, 
the nagging question that won't -- and maybe can't -- be answered is: are today's cars safe, at least from accelerating of their own volition?
Toyota happened to be the company at the witness table for vehicles that -- for one reason or another, identified or not -- have the possibility of unintended acceleration, potentially endangering not only Toyota drivers but drivers, passengers and pedestrians around them.
Yet, while Toyota is under the microscope and, in fact, has more reported complaints than its competitors, unintended acceleration is an industry-wide problem that requires industry and government attention.
"The current emphasis in the hearings seems to be about who learned about what/when and they are skirting the core issue of what's really causing unintended acceleration in the first place. With this being an industry issue, what's called for is an unprecedented, cross-company and government safety agency collaboration to pool data and resources, getting to the bottom of the problem once and for all," said Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:46 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
February Sales: Toyota Share Lowest Since 2005; Hyundai, Nissan Share Highest Ever
Despite Toyota's recall woes and snowy weather covering most of the country, February 
vehicle sales will be higher this February than last year's dismal lows and also higher than January's numbers, Edmunds.com forecasts. Still, February sales weren't as strong as many had hoped or expected.
February sales reports from manufacturers, to be posted Tuesday, also will show who made sales and share gains at Toyota's expense. Toyota's sales will be about even with January and down about 10 percent from a year ago. Its market share likely will fall to 12.6 percent, its lowest level since 2005.
In contrast, Hyundai and Nissan will post their highest U.S. market shares ever, Edmunds.com predicts. Ford's share increased, while market share for General Motors and Chrysler dropped.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:34 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Fallout: Hyundai Halts Sonata Sales
As part of the obvious fallout of Toyota's problems with vehicle recalls and humiliating 
Congressional hearings, Hyundai Motor Co. announced in Korea Wednesday that it would temporarily stop selling its much ballyhooed 2011 Hyundai Sonata to fix a faulty door latch.
Hyundai said the problem affects 1,300 cars that have been bought by customers and 4,000 cars on dealership lots in the U.S.; it affects 47,000 vehicles globally as the Sonata is one of Hyundai's bestsellers, the other being the Elantra.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:37 AM under Companies , Hyundai, Kia , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Spyker Closes Saab Deal with GM
General Motors and Dutch sports car maker Spyker confirmed Tuesday they have finalized the purchase of Saab.
Saab and Spyker will operate under the Spyker umbrella, and Spyker will assume responsibility for Saab operations. The previously announced wind down of Saab operations has ended, GM said in a statement.
This is a great day for Saab employees, dealers and suppliers, and a great day for millions of Saab customers and fans worldwide," said John Smith, GM vice president for corporate planning and alliances.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:33 AM under Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saab Nearly a Done Deal; Hummer Sale Collapsing
General Motors sale of Saab to Dutch sportscar maker Spyker is expected to be finalized as early as Tuesday.
Meantime, GM's sale of Hummer to a Chinese company looks to be on the verge of collapse.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:41 AM under Companies , GM , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hyundai Spending Big To Launch 2011 Sonata; Promises Unique "Experiment" With Equus
Even in a wobbly U.S. auto market, Hyundai Motor America is pretty confident about the prospects for its all-new 2011 Sonata sedan. But not so confident the company doesn't think its best-selling model couldn't use some support, so it's rolling out its biggest budget ever to launch the new version of its best-selling model.
That would be about $160 million, said CEO John Krafcik during a media event today for the 2011 Sonata, which he said is just now reaching dealers.
"In Hyundai terms, this is really big money," Krafcik said. He compares the figure to the $80 million Hyundai recently spent to launch the Genesis premium sedan and $120 million to roll out the previous-generation Sonata in 2006.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:24 AM under Business , Companies , Hyundai, Kia , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Boss Reverses Course, Will Address Congress Next Week
After initially saying he would let executives from the company's U.S. operations handle appearances at two separate hearings in the U.S. Congress next week, Toyota Motor Corp. president and CEO Akio Toyoda abruptly changed course and announced he will put in a personal appearance.
Two House of Representatives committees will stage hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday next week regarding Toyota's high-profile -- and some say alarming -- recalls for sticking accelerator pedals and floor mats that have the potential to cause "unintended acceleration" in millions of Toyota vehicles.
Earlier in the week, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform -- whose hearing is on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Eastern time -- invited Toyoda to appear at its hearing. Toyoda declined, as he also had for a Senate hearing scheduled for March 2.
But now Toyoda -- the grandson of the company's founder who became president and CEO in January, 2009 -- confirms he will appear at the House Oversight Committee's hearing next week.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:43 PM under Companies , Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
COMMENTARY: Witch Hunts and Cost Cuts Affect All Companies, Not Just Toyota
Toyota's dilemma should be thought of as a parable that applies to the entire industry, writes GaveKal, a Hong Kong-based financial services, macro-economic firm.
Why? Two reasons, says GaveKal in an excerpt from the company's recent report posted here with permission: the witch hunt is on and cost-cutting has a downside for all.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:46 AM under Commentary , Companies , In the Media , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Slow Ford Mustang, Mazda 6 Sales Lead to Cut of 900 Jobs
Much is going right for Ford but not all is rosy. 
The automaker announced Tuesday that it will drop a shift at its joint venture plant with Mazda outside of Detroit, eliminating 900 jobs.
The automaker said the shift and jobs at the AutoAlliance Mustang plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, south of Detroit, are eliminated in the name of plant efficiency. The plant, jointly owned by Mazda and Ford, assembles the Mazda 6 and the Ford Mustang, neither of which have been having banner sales.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:10 AM under Companies , Ford | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Dealer Association Forecasts 11.9 Million Vehicle Sales for 2010
U.S. light-vehicle sales will reach just short of 12 million units in 2010 as credit becomes more available and consumer confidence improves with rising employment, said Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association.
"Industry sales will increase to 11.9 million light vehicles for 2010," Taylor said at the association's convention in Orlando this weekend.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:22 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Crash Course Covers Bailouts and Bankruptcies
The book, "Crash Course," by veteran automotive journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winner 
Paul Ingrassia is the first book about last year's bailouts and bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler. While the book, which was published this month by Random House, focuses on the dramatic events of 2009, it covers the history of the American auto industry from the Model T onward. This excerpt from the opening chapter, published courtesy of Random House, begins in the bleak final months of 2008; it summarizes the mounting crisis and how Ford avoided the fate of its Detroit competitors.
It really wasn't intended to be a prophecy. It was just a smart-alecky tee-shirt worn for years by local teen-agers to annoy their parents, and show their perverse pride in the Motor City's tough-town image. It said: DETROIT: WHERE THE WEAK ARE KILLED AND EATEN. But the menacing message seemed all too appropriate in the bleak winter of 2008-2009, when signs of weakness -- indeed, desperation -- erupted everywhere in Detroit.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:52 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Goes After Toyota Prius With Insight Lease Deal
Honda, unlike General Motors, Ford and Hyundai, has steered clear of incentives aimed at 
specifically and blatantly at luring would-be Toyota buyers to their folds as Toyota struggles with quality and image problems.
Honda is, however, offering an attractive sub $200-a-month lease deal on the Honda Insight, obviously to go up against the Toyota Prius, which has been recalled for brake problems. The deal is so good Edmunds.com has named the promotion its lease deal of the week.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:16 AM under Companies , News , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
"How the Mighty Fall" Explains Why Toyota's Floundering
Stefan Stern's management column in the Financial Times quotes from a book written by 
management guru Jim Collins, How the Mighty Fall, published last year. Collins also wrote the well-known bestseller, Good to Great.
The column and the book are particularly appropo as mighty Toyota flounders.
In the book, as cited by the FT, businesses pass through five key stages of decline or what Collins terms as the "arc of tragedy" -- a process by which "an all-conquering company like Toyota can be brought so low."
Stern simplifies as follows Collins' five stages -- ones other automakers (Ford, Fiat, Volkswagen, come to mind) would do well to note:
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:57 AM under Commentary , Companies , In the Media , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chicago Auto Show's Mission: Stoke Patchy Consumer Interest
After a January of piddly auto sales propped up mainly by fleet buyers didn't deliver any 
momentum from December's strong selling, slightly nervous automakers hoping 2010 will be a solid rebound year are looking to the Chicago auto show -- said to still be the nation's leading show in terms of bringing patrons through the turnstiles -- to stoke up winter interest.
Nobody's expecting any blowout introductions, but the Chicago show's slate of new-vehicle intros runs a wide gamut. Unveilings begin Wednesday, the first press day.
Most titillating for industry watchers is Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s late-in-the-game decision to return to the Chicago show. Nissan skipped the Detroit and Chicago auto shows in 2009 and came up missing again at the Detroit show last month.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:45 AM under Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler-Fiat CEO Ditches Chicago To Do Russian Deal
In conjunction with the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, the Economic Club of Chicago was geared up for a Thursday speech from Fiat Auto Group and Chrysler Group LLC chief executive Sergio Marchionne.
Instead, Marchionne traded one snowy city for a place probably a lot snowier, bowing out of the Chicago engagement in order to attend the signing of a new Fiat venture in Russia.
Marchionne plans to be on hand tomorrow for the signing of a joint venture with Russian automaker OAO Sollers to produce Fiat cars at an existing Sollers assembly plant in Naberezhniye Chelny, located in west central Russia. Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reportedly also plans to visit the plant tomorrow.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Big Boost for Hyundai, Audi From Super Bowl Ads
Commercials during the Super Bowl are the Gucci handbags of the advertising world: everyone knows they're expensive -- but do you even remotely get your money's worth?
A couple of automakers just might have.
Although Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com, can't answer for other industries, Edmunds data indicate the big-dollar Super Bowl commercials by Hyundai Motor America Inc. and Audi of America Inc. seem to have connected. Both companies enjoyed outsized spikes in consideration on Sunday after their ads appeared during what is called the most-watched single sporting event on the planet.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:25 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Commentary: Audi "Green Police" Slays in Super Bowl Ad Wars
Lots of pre-game chatter about which automaker would come out on top with the best of the 
million-dollar-plus Super Bowl television commercials, but once the last of the confetti settled, Audi stood clear from the pack.
Audi's "Green Police" commercial was witty on many levels, but provoked more than laughs because it dared to satirize what typically is a sacrosanct subject: the environmental movement.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:06 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
January Sales: Automakers Joust for New Sales Slots
January car sales had automakers jousting for new positions in the sales rankings.
General Motors retained its No. 1 sales spot. But Toyota's recall and stop-sale order on eight of its best-selling models caused the Japanese automaker to slip to No. 3, behind Ford.
Ford had lost the No. 2 sales spot to Toyota in 2007 and has been fighting to win it back. It closed 2009 by slashing in half the gap with Toyota. This could be the year with Ford gaining momentum and Toyota in reverse with its quality woes.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:13 AM under Chrysler , Companies , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Despite Toyota-Fighting Promotions, January Incentives Dip, Edmunds.com Reports
Incentives paid by manufacturers in January dipped below year-ago and December levels despite last-minute promotions by Toyota's competitors to capitalize on the automaker's recall woes.
The average incentive was $2,382 per vehicle sold in January 2010, down $160, or 6.3 percent, from December 2009, and down $326, or 12.0 percent, from January 2009, Edmunds.com estimates.
"January incentives were not particularly generous or compelling - until some automakers began trying to conquest unsettled Toyota owners and shoppers late in the month," stated Jessica Caldwell, director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com. "January sales numbers are up from a year ago largely because of fleet sales."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:41 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
January Car Sales: Toyota Share Plummets to Lowest Since 2006
Toyota's market share in January is expected to plummet to lows not seen since 2006, because the automaker issued a stop-selling order on eight models representing more than half of the automaker's U.S. sales this week.
Toyota's share is likely to drop to 14.7 percent of U.S. sales in January, Edmunds.com forecasts; the last time it was that low was March 2006 when its share was 14.2 percent.
In contrast, Ford is expected to have its best month for market share since May 2006. Edmunds.com forecasts Ford's share at 18.0 percent in January. The last time it was that high was in May 2006 at 18.4 percent.
In total, U.S. sales in January, buoyed by hefty hikes in fleet sales and offset by lower retail sales, will total of 701,000 vehicles, according to Edmunds.com's forecast. That would put the Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of car sales at 10.7 million vehicles, down from 11.2 million December but up from 9.6 million in January 2009.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:57 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Supplier 'Has Fix' For Faulty Accelerators
Elkhart, Indiana's CTS Corp., the supplier at the unfortunate nucleus of a massive recall involving eight Toyota Motor Corp. models and that also has forced Toyota to suspend production of new vehicles, reportedly has redesigned the component and is ready to begin production of the redesigned parts, according to a report from Reuters and confirmed by Toyota in a statement.
"We have the fix. It is a much more robust pedal that is meeting the tougher specifications from Toyota," CTS Chief Executive Vinod Khilnani said.
Not yet known, however, is if the redesigned accelerator pedal module also will be the remedy for the 2.3 million existing models affected by the recall.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 2:15 PM under Business , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saab Revived, New 9-5 Coming to U.S. Next Quarter
General Motors Co.'s completion of a deal to sell its Saab Automobile AB unit to Dutch exotic-car 
maker Spyker will see production of the all-new 9-5 flagship begin in volume in April and U.S. sales in the second quarter.
"I'm happy for Saab employees and Saab customers all over the world," said John Smith, GM vice president, global planning and alliances.
Smith also said the Saab 9-4, a crossover based on GM's "Theta Premium" or TE platform that underpins the Cadillac SRX, also will soon be produced by the new company, although he was not specific about when the 9-4X will begin production.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:54 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Sports Cars Grab Attention of AutoObserver Readers
The best-read post on AutoObserver this week - by a long shot - was an item on Chevrolet
Corvette sales plummeting to a 50-year low in 2009.
As sports car sales in general nosedived, Chevrolet sold only 13,934 Corvettes, the worst sales for the nameplate since 1961 when the car was still in its first generation.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:55 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Manufacturer Spotlight: Subaru Thriving Thanks to Brand Consistency
In an era of automaker marketing that finds almost everyone struggling to either reinforce or redefine their "brand," Subaru of America Inc. is plenty happy to have its customers thinking 
of Subarus the way they always have: as durable, reliable and well-made vehicles with the high levels of safety and the security of standard all-wheel-drive.
This consistently managed image is resonating as buyers seemingly turn more cautious and more considered, propelling Subaru to an all-time record of 216,652 sales in 2009 - despite the year being the industry's worst in nearly two generations.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:00 PM under Companies , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Talks Concessions for Reacquired Former Delphi Plants
Even as it talks of the need to ramp up production at several U.S. assembly plants, General Motors Corp. is sending another message to the handful of former Delphi Inc. plants it "reacquired" as part of Delphi's departure from bankruptcy: costs have to be reduced.
The Detroit News reports today GM is seeking wage concessions from the United Auto Workers union workers who staff the components plants. The gambit likely was inevitable: GM spent billions to purchase the plants when Delphi exited its protracted bankruptcy late last year in order to assure the orderly delivery of vital parts - but GM reportedly is seeking to sell many, if not all of the facilities. The company already announced earlier this month it is selling the Nexsteer steering-components plant in Saginaw, MI.
The report that GM wants to reduce labor costs hardly is a surprise, then, as it brings these plants - and the thinking that originally created Delphi - full circle.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:17 AM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Buzz Kill for 2011 Honda CR-Z Sport Hybrid from Tokyo to Detroit
When the Honda CR-Z Concept was presented at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show last October, 
the reception among enthusiasts on Edmunds' Inside Line was upbeat and hopeful, with readers offering comments like "Woot!" and "Should get CRAZY high gas mileage!" and "This is the perfect car for me."
If there was a concern, it was only waiting for the production version to arrive.
Well, this week, it's here. Honda unveiled its showroom-ready 2011 CR-Z Sport Hybrid at the 2010 North American Auto Show in Detroit. Good news, right? Judging from the latest round of reader comments, maybe not.
Early reactions include, "Color me disappointed" and "They completely butchered the concept " and even "This makes my soul hurt."
So what happened in just three short months?
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:18 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (4) | 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
Detroit Auto Show: The Mood, The Stars, The Sales Push
Michelle Krebs, Edmunds.com senior analyst and editor at large, gives her take on the mood at this week's press preview for the Detroit auto show, names the stars of the show and the pressure to move the metal.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:50 AM under Commentary , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Makers Cautious as Subdued Detroit Show Starts Pivotal New Year
Most of the energy at this week's Detroit auto show epicentered at Ford Motor Co.'s display, 
with eddies splashing out to General Motors Corp.'s guardedly optimistic stand and Audi AG's gleaming base of operations.
But the majority of automakers were laying low, and media crowds were visibly reduced at the show with a reputation for over-the-top product introductions and boastful talk about the coming year.
There was no avoiding the 2010 Detroit auto show's subdued and geared-down mood, fashioned from the collective attitude of automakers licking their wounds and hoping the worst is past.
It also was yet another evolution of the show itself: there was plenty of room thanks to fewer automakers opting to display and fewer journalists opting (or fewer existing) to attend. A surprisingly expansive area of main-floor real estate was occupied by seemingly inappropriate electric vehicles of all manner, few of them of the road-going passenger variety.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:49 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Subaru Plots Follow-Up of 2009 Success
It was a great year in 2009 for Subaru of America Inc.: a new all-time sales record of 216,652 
units. And Subaru plans to keep it that way, avoiding sales peaks-and-valleys of the past.
Thomas J. Doll, Subaru of America Inc. executive vice president and COO, told AutoObserver at the Detroit auto show here that Subaru now is a better-placed, more-established brand than it was when it set sales records in the past.
In effect, Doll said Subaru's now a strong enough brand to sustain its plump new sales levels. And improve, even.
"We're kind of at the beginning of what this franchise is capable of doing," he said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:13 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
What We'll See at the Detroit Auto Show - And What We'd Like To See
Thanks to the beat-down 2009 threw on almost every automaker, the 2010 installment of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week isn't expected to be one of the more ebullient in the storied show's history.
Most makers are laying low. And that's the ones who are even coming. Like last year, many automakers are taking a pass: Nissan and Porsche, for instance.
Many makers let the hometown companies make the biggest splashes, but Chrysler, for one, is displaying vehicles but having no press conference (our hopes remain Chrysler will import some Italian food to feed the media masses).
You can get a rundown of what will be displayed at the Detroit show at Edmunds.com's Inside Line. But we're adding a new twist: in addition to a scorecard of what some automakers are showing at the Detroit auto show, AutoObserver is adding what each automaker ought to be showing.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:31 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saab Fate Revealed Soon?
General Motors confirmed Friday morning that it is moving ahead with the wind down of its 
Saab division, despite 11th-hour bids from interested buyers.
GM said it had selected AlixPartners "to supervise the orderly wind down of Saab, and has requested approval of the selection by the appropriate authority in Sweden." AlixPartners is the same company GM has employed to wind down its other discontinued divisions, Pontiac and Saturn, and to rid the old GM of unwanted assets.
GM also confirmed that it has received several proposals for Saab and is continuing to evaluate these proposals.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:35 AM under Companies , Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
AutoObserver Readers Closely Watch Industry Trends
AutoObserver readers continue to closely monitor the auto industry's sales and incentives trends as illustrated by the most-read posts on AO this week. Those types of posts were also reader favorites for all of 2009.
AutoObserver's report on December car sales, which showed some optimism, topped the chart of most-read posts this week by readers by a long shot.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:20 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
December Sales Provide Hopeful Farewell to Last Year
U.S. auto sales in December accelerated to their best pace of the year outside last summer's Cash for Clunkers bonanza, providing a hopeful punctuation mark to the industry's worst year in decades.
Sales in December totaled 1,010,003, up 1.9 percent from December 2008, when automakers and American consumers were newly stunned by the economic debacle unfolding on several levels around them.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:56 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Auto Industry Believes 2009 Close Bodes Well for 2010
Some day, automakers hope to look back on 2009 as the year that both sales and corporate fortunes finally bottomed out. It's far too early to tell if history will treat last year that way, but for now, at least, the industry is taking heart from a definite surge of sales momentum as the decade closed.
Automakers sold about 10.4 million units last year, a disastrous tally that comprised the lowest total of light-vehicle sales in this country since 1970.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:38 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
In Dismal Year, Subaru Sets New Sales Records
Subaru of America was first to announce December and full-year 2009 sales. And not surprisingly. The Japanese automaker is proud that it not only bucked the downward trend of the industry in 2009 -- one of the worst years in three decades; it shattered its own records.
Subaru sold 216,652 vehicles, an increase of 15 percent from 2008, surpassing the previous 2006 record of 200,703 vehicles. .
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:11 AM under Business , Companies , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Dour HuffPo Blogger Calls Audi Holiday Commercial "Crass"
The Volkswagen Group's upscale Audi division probably thought it simply was lightening the 
holiday mood with a whimsical television commercial highlighting Audi's high-tech image. A "green"-oriented blogger at the Huffington Post didn't see it that way.
Jonathan A. Schein, listed at the Huffington Post as the founder of ScheinMedia and publisher of two environmentally-oriented Web sites and who apparently thinks all ads should be opportunities to impart a green message, called the Audi commercial a "crass approach to marketing during the holiday season."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:17 AM under Commentary , Companies , In the Media | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
As December Car Sales Announced, Edmunds.com Warns SAAR Metrics Can Mislead
Car sales during the last 10 days of December were relatively strong, but it is premature to say that the economy has turned around, according to Edmunds.com.
The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) has been used for decades to measure economic trends, and it is likely that December's automotive SAAR will be celebrated. Based on Edmunds.com Web site activity, the SAAR could hit 11.7 million in December, the highest for any non-Cash for Clunker month this year.
However, Edmunds.com has found that SAAR is an unreliable metric during periods of economic recession. Recession-era buyer psychology shifts behavior in a way that reduces the accuracy of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis' established seasonal adjustments upon which SAAR is based.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:11 AM under Analysis , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saab Suitor Seeks To Leverage Existing New-Model Investment
The Netherlands' Spyker Cars, the small exotic-car maker cajoling General Motors Co. to allow it to purchase GM's failing Saab Automobile AB unit, would at the beginning set its sights on nothing more radical that selling the two wholly new products in Saab's pipeline that are ready to go, according to a report over the weekend from AOL Autos.
After setting an end-of-2009 deadline to complete a viable deal to sell Saab, GM extended the cut-off date to this Thursday as the two companies try to hammer out an agreement the Swedish government also would like to see happen in order to save thousands of jobs in Saab's hometown of Trollhattan. The town also is the site of Saab's "home" assembly plant, where the 9-5 is slated to begin production.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:07 AM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Are Folks Getting Used To Driving Less?
Latest behavioral trend for automakers to fret about: For the second consecutive year, 
Americans are driving less.
Miles traveled in 2009 by passenger and commercial vehicles on U.S. roads dropped to 2.93 trillion from 2.94 trillion in the same period in 2008, the Federal Highway Administration said. The measured period for 2009 was the 12 months that ended in October, and travel through the rest of calendar 2009 was unlikely to reverse the trend.
Ballooning fuel prices in 2008 and the national economic meltdown in the fourth quarter of that year led to an expected decrease in U.S. driving, the first in a quarter century.
But when the bottom dropped out of fuel prices in 2009, it was expected driving would exceed the 2008 figure -- but rising unemployment and continued pressure on household budgets and commercial activity led to a second consecutive cutback in miles driven.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:31 AM under Analysis , Companies , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Cites 10 Top Automotive Technologies of the Decade
Ten years ago, most people had never heard of many of the technologies that are mainstream today.
"In the '90s, satellite radio and iPods weren't around. Only hard-core computer geeks were tweaking cars to add MP3 capability, and navigation systems were still only available as expensive in-dash systems," remembered Edmunds.com Senior Technology Editor Doug Newcomb. "Bluetooth hands-free phones were still years away and Bose was the best known of only a handful of premium car audio offerings."
As the decade comes to a close, Edmunds.com has identified the following top 10 in-car technologies of the last 10 years.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:54 AM under Commentary , Companies , Ford , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Best and Worst Ideas of 2009
Desperate times require desperate measures, as the saying goes, and 2009 was about as 
desperate as it gets in the auto industry.
Companies sometimes do the most interesting things when they're desperate -- and that maxim seems particularly relevant to auto companies. Because their products are so visible, with such potential emotional impact. Because their executives and designers and engineers are in charge of the process that creates those products.
Desperation in 2009 -- as defined by coming up some 6 million sales short of the industry's glory days of just three years ago -- generated products and strategies that ran the gamut from ridiculous to sublime. Some ideas were inspired; some were just tired.
Here are a few of the best and worst ideas from the auto industry in 2009:
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:22 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Euro View on the Decade
We know our U.S.-oriented prism is limiting so we turned to Europe's Just-Auto.com for its view on the decade.
With the Just-Auto's blessing, we excerpt here Dave Leggett's take on the Top 10 things - people, events and trends that shaped the automotive decade.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:38 AM under Commentary , Companies , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Set to Close Volvo Sale to China's Geely by June
Ford Motor Co. confirmed Wednesday details of its sale of Volvo to China's Zheijang Geely Holding Group Company Ltd. have been settled, and the deal likely will close in the second quarter of next year.
Saying more information would be revealed when the final documents are signed in the first quarter of 2010, Ford provided no details about the terms of the sale, including the price. Experts estimate the price $1.8 billion, making it the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese automaker.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:05 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , News | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
AutoObserver Readers Closely Follow Tumult of 2009 Auto Industry
In what will go down in history as the auto industry's most tumultuous year in recent 
memory, AutoObserver readers couldn't get enough information about what was happening in the industry and how automakers and the government reacted.
Edmunds.com's forecasts for sales and analysis of sales and trends rated high among AutoObserver's 25 best-read posts for 2009.
High on that list were posts about how automakers reacted in terms of closing plants, shuttering brands, particularly General Motors' Saturn and Pontiac, terminating dealers and setting vehicle prices and incentives.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:42 AM under Analysis , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Auto Industry 2009 Wrapup: Apocalypse Now
The best thing that might be said about the year the auto industry - and an economically 
battered nation - is preparing to close: it probably can't get any worse.
The year 2009 brought two high-profile bankruptcies, billions of dollars in government bailouts and funding for Cash for Clunkers and thousands of lost jobs. Similar upheaval - though not as catastrophic as predicted - came to the tightly integrated supplier industry. Several historic brands were relegated to the archives.
And those are just the major stories.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:57 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Some New Cars Cost Less than Used Due to Supply and Demand, Edmunds.com Reports
Great deals on new cars and the simple economic principle of supply and demand is at work 
with a number of new cars costing less than their equivalent of its one-year-old used version, according to an analysis by Edmunds.com.
The deals on some new cars are so generous that they actually make the new car less expensive than the one-year old used version of the same model. Some of the vehicles on Edmunds.com's list of new costing less than used this month include the 2009 Audi Q7, 2009 Buick Enclave, 2009 Mazda B-Series Truck, 2009 Volvo C30 T5, and 2009 Toyota Highlander Hybrid.
In addition to great deals on new models, used car prices generally are climbing due to low supply, said Edmunds.com Analyst Joe Spina.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:32 AM under Analysis , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Mum on New Offers for Saab
General Motors confirmed Sunday it has received "inquiries from several parties" for Saab, after the automaker announced Friday a deal with Dutch sports car maker Spyker to buy the Swedish brand collapsed. However, GM is not identifying new bidders nor is it commenting on any of the new offers, which include a new one from Spyker.
"We will not comment further until these evaluations have been completed," GM said in a terse statement.
Spyker confirmed over the weekend that it has presented GM with a new offer - one that expires Monday night.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:12 AM under Companies , Featured , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Could New Saab Models See the Light of Day?
At last fall's Frankfurt auto show and at the Miami auto show shortly after, Saab's flagship 9- 5, completely redesigned and ready for launch in 2010, made its debut.
Saab executives billed the launch of the 9-5 as the kick-off of a new era for the Swedish brand. Over the next 16 months, Saab said it would introduce four new models - the redesigned Sweden-built 9-5 sedan and SportCombi wagon along with the the all-wheel-drive 9-3X and the compact 9-4X luxury crossover.
Instead, on Friday, General Motors announced that plans to sell Saab to a new owner had failed, and it would wind-down the brand.
But could those new Saab models show up elsewhere? It's possible, a GM executive said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:12 AM under Analysis , Companies , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Sale of Saab Fails; Swedish Brand to Die
General Motors announced Friday its planned sale of Saab has failed, and the Saab brand will be eliminated, resulting in the loss of 3,400 jobs and 1,100 dealers globally.
After Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg Group AB last month withdrew from negotiations for Saab, GM took up discussions with Dutch sports car maker Spyker Cars. The deal, which failed Friday morning, was considered a long-shot due to the short timeframe to close the deal -- GM set a Dec. 31 deadline. In addition, Spyker is a small and unprofitable company, plus financing in any deal is challenging in these times.
"Despite the best efforts of all involved, it has become very clear that the due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time. In order to maintain operations, Saab needed a quick resolution," said GM Europe President Nick Reilly.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:58 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , GM , News | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
This Week's AutoObserver Reader Favorites: GM Plans; Award Finalists; VW-Suzuki
Not surprisingly, this week's favorite post by AutoObserver readers was our coverage of 
General Motors Chairman and Interim CEO Ed Whitacre's outline for the automaker's short-term game plan.
The former AT&T CEO held his first media roundtable since adding the CEO title two weeks after the ouster of Fritz Henderson.
At the press briefing, Whitacre said GM's priorities are paying back $6.7 billion in government loans by June and selling more cars and generating more revenue. He also called GM's sale of Saab to Dutch sports car maker Spyker is "possible" by year-end, but, if not, Saab would be eliminated.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:07 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Ford , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Auto Sales Trend Higher Heading into 2010, Edmunds.com Forecasts
Vehicle sales are trending higher as 2009, one of the most tumultuous years for the industry, draws to a close.
New vehicle sales, including retail as well as fleet sales, are expected to total 1,010,000 units, a 13.3-percent increase from December 2008 and a 35.7-percent increase from November, Edmunds.com forecasts. That would put the month's Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) at 11.11 million vehicles, up from 10.89 in November.
And that would put full-year annual sales at just over 10 million, a decrease of almost three million vehicles, or 21.3 percent, from 2008. That would make it the worst year for car sales since 1970 when the industry sold 10.2 million and the U.S. population was far less than it is today.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:37 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Trucks Deemphasized in Chevy's New Direction
Chevrolet's "Like A Rock" trucks and SUVS may be gathering a little moss in the coming 
years as General Motors Co.'s most important division shifts gears to concentrate on cars and crossovers, said new Chevrolet general manager Jim Campbell at a media event in Detroit Wednesday.
Noting that many would be surprised to know the now fully global Chevy sells 61 percent of its volume outside the U.S., Campbell said the home turf will be where the action is in the coming years.
"Chevrolet's biggest growth opportunity is right here in our own country," Campbell said, adding that new expansion will come "on the back of cars and crossovers."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:39 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Finalists for North American Car and Truck of the Year Announced
The Ford Fusion Hybrid, Buick LaCrosse and Volkswagen Golf are finalists for the 2010 North American Car of the Year awards. 
Finalists for the 2010 North American Truck of the year are the Subaru Outback, Chevrolet Equinox and Ford Transit Connect.
The half-dozen finalists for the prestigious awards were announced Wednesday at an Automotive Press Association luncheon sponsored by organizers of the Detroit auto show, where the winners will be announced in January.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:09 AM under Companies , Featured , Ford , News , Toyota | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mercedes Joins Engine Downsizing, Electric Trends
In the U.S., it's a looming 35-miles-per-gallon fuel-economy mandate. In Europe, it's 
continually tightening restrictions on carbon-dioxide emissions.
Whatever the case, even luxury manufacturers - who, at least in the U.S., used to simply pay the fines for non-compliance - have their backs against the wall when it comes to environmental correctness. Power and heavyweight prestige are what they sell, but soon, there will be no choice but to improve fuel economy and reduce the emissions.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:53 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mercedes Adjusting to U.S. Market
Although sales have rebounded with the flattening of the recession, premium-brand automakers continue to struggle in the U.S. and almost all are scrambling to adjust their priorities and business models.
Mercedes-Benz USA is coming up with some new ideas and so are its dealers, said Ernst Lieb, CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, in a meeting with media in Detroit this week.
Think Mercedes only is giving lip service to thinking outside the box? Consider these moves:
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:12 AM under Business , Companies | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:56 AM under Companies , Featured , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Former Saturn Boss Heads to Smart USA
Penske Automotive Group Inc. said Tuesday Jill Lajdziak, former general manager at General
Motors Co.'s now-disbanded Saturn division, is joining Penske's Smart USA Distributor LLC unit as vice president, sales and marketing.
Lajdziak's appointment seems a strategy to address the startling drop-off of Smart car sales after the brand's second year on the market. Currently the brand's only model for sale in the U.S. is the two-seat Fortwo city car, sold exclusively by Penske at 79 Smart "retail centers."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:00 PM under Companies , GM , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Time Running Out for Saab
Reports from Europe late on Monday indicate General Motors Co. and China's Beijing 
Automotive Industry Corp. (BAIC) may be edging closer to a deal that will transfer some of Saab's hard assets to BAIC -- but also appears to set the stage for GM to liquidate the Saab brand.
Reuters reported GM was talking with BAIC about a deal to sell existing tooling for the Saab 9-3 and 9-5, both of which were due to be replaced by new-generation models based on GM architectures. Saab had already unveiled the 9-5 at this year's Frankfurt motor show and its launch was ready.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:29 AM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
EPA Clears Way for CO2 Legislation
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Monday officially said it considers carbon dioxide potentially dangerous to the environment and human health. Its final ruling on the long- and still-debated issue sets the stage for coming regulation for passenger vehicles and other transportation sectors.
The European Union and other nations welcomed the EPA's action as the United Nations opened an important conference in Denmark dealing with climate change. The two-week conference will see representatives from some 190 nations attempt to create a global agreement on curbing CO2 output.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:26 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Suzuki Reportedly in VW's Hands by Year-End
Maybe tiny Suzuki Motor Corp. no longer has to be concerned that sales for its American 
Suzuki Motor Corp. unit have been evaporating towards near-nonexistence: information from Europe says the burgeoning Volkswagen Group has plans to take over Suzuki by the end of the year.
A report in Britain's Car magazine, authored by Georg Kacher -- a writer with historically reliable and highly-placed sources -- says VW has been negotiating for months to acquire Suzuki and that the company had planned to announce the consummation of the deal at the Tokyo motor show in October, but last-minute contractual negotiations delayed the timeline.
Now, Kacher says in Car, VW should announce by the end of the year it's completed a deal to own Suzuki, making the Japanese minicar specialist VW's 11th brand.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:08 AM under Companies , Featured , GM , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Another Exotic-Car Suitor for Saab
First it was one-off exotic-car builder Koenigsegg Group. With that deal part of history, a new one-off exotic-car maker, Netherlands-based Spyker Cars NV, formally confirmed yesterday it is talking to General Motors Co. about acquiring GM's twisting-in-the-wind Saab Automobiles.
Spyker is backed by its majority owner, Russia's Conversbank Financial Group, which owns 29.9 percent of Spyker, currently best known for its gullwing C8 Aileron sports car. Spyker reportedly has 132 employees and has sold less than 25 cars through the first half of this year. Saab currently employs about 4,500 and sold 93,000 vehicles last year.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:01 PM under Companies , GM , News | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers See Glass Half-Full After Flat November Sales
U.S. auto sales clocked in about flat in November compared with a year ago -- and in line with widespread expectations that the market will only gradually creep upward for at least the next year. But industry executives and analysts mostly chose to interpret the American auto market as a glass half-full.
November sales were 746,544 vehicles compared with 743,605 in November, 2008. On an absolute basis, that number of units represented a 0.4-percent year-to-year monthly sales increase -- or call it flat. But taking into account the fact that the industry enjoyed two fewer "selling days" this year compared with last November, sales actually increased by 9.1 percent last month on an apples-to-apples basis.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:56 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mercedes-Benz Confirms C-Class Production in U.S.
In a significant signal of the cost pressures on global manufacturers, Daimler AG announced Wednesday that its Mercedes-Benz premium-vehicle division will transfer some production of its entry-level C-Class sedan to the U.S.
The company said "additional production" of the C-Class will be added at the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International assembly plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, when the next-generation C-Class is launched in 2014.
The MBUSI Tuscaloosa plant, which began production in 1997, currently builds Mercedes' M-Class, R-Class and GL-Class crossover vehicles and has been expanded twice.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:03 AM under Business , Companies | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Board to Evaluate Potential Bids for Saab
General Motors Board of Directors said Tuesday it has received "expressions of interest in Saab" and will evaluate those potential bids through the end of December.
"At that time, we will determine whether a suitable arrangement for Saab exists," GM said in a statement. "If not, we will begin an orderly wind down of the global Saab business at that time."
GM refused to name specific suitors.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:30 PM under Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Geely Seeks $1 Billion from China Banks to Buy Volvo
Ford's sale of Volvo to Chinese automaker Geely appears to be edging toward completion, as major hurdles are cleared.
Geely, the preferred bidder for Ford's Volvo unit, reportedly is seeking at least $1 billion in loans from Chinese banks to finance its bid for the Swedish auto company.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:17 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fridays and November Not the Best Time for Car Deals, Edmunds.com Reports
If you thought you missed out on best-of-the-year car deals on Black Friday, forget about it. If last year is any indication, December is the best time to get a great deal.
Neither Fridays nor November are the best times to get the biggest discounts on cars and trucks, according to Edmunds.com's analysis of the past four years of sales transaction data.
Rather car shoppers can look for some of the best deals in December and January.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:13 PM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Supreme Court Denies Ford Explorer Appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-ditch effort from Ford Motor Co. Monday to reverse an 
$82.6 million decision in a product-liability case involving the Ford Explorer, according to the Wall Street Journal.
California resident Benetta Buell-Wilson and her husband sued Ford in 2002, the year the Ford Explorer Buell-Wilson was driving overturned on a highway. Buell-Wilson swerved to avoid a piece of metal, causing the Explorer to roll over and its roof to collapsed, crushing Buell-Wilson and rendering her a paraplegic.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:30 AM under Companies , Ford , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Back to the Future: Companies Go Vertical -- Again
Forward-thinking Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corp., recently told financial analysts he is taking a page from history past in creating a new business model for the high-tech company. Oracle is going vertical.
And Ellison is not alone in turning back to the century-old vertical integration strategy whereby a company controls materials, manufacturing and distribution, according to a story on the trend in Monday's Wall Street Journal.
Other companies, including General Motors and Boeing from which Ford CEO Alan Mulally came, are as well.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:22 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Consumers Look for Holiday Bargains as They Have in Autos All Year
The conclusion by trackers of overly-hyped Black Friday holiday shopping revealed a trend seen in the auto industry all year: shoppers are looking but in the end, spending less and buying only when they find a bargain.
Automakers monitor shopping patterns as consumer spending makes up 70 percent of the U.S. economy and plays a large role in how quickly the country can recover from a recession that began in December 2007.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:00 AM under Analysis , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Can 'Blue Drive' Be Hyundai's Next Big Marketing Win?
The "value" message always has been a given.
But now after seemingly completing its second major brand-co 
nfirming objective - convincing the public and third-party metrics-makers it builds quality products - Hyundai Motor America is off on its next mission: to become the industry's fuel-economy leader.
So says HMA powertrain director John Juriga after announcing last week Hyundai's newest engine family, a direct-injection variant of the company's global Theta 4-cylinder engine range, as well as a new 6-speed automatic transmission.
The new Theta-II 2.4-liter engine, said Juriga, will generate a class-leading 200 horsepower when it is launched with the all-new 2011 Sonata sedan, which goes on sale early next year.
The new Theta-II engine and 6-speed automatic are the early cornerstone's of Hyundai's "Blue Drive" initiative to achieve world-class fuel-efficiency and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:20 PM under Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Orphans Up for Adoption
General Motors last week began sending out 1.8 million pieces of direct mail to what the 
automaker calls its "free-agent customers" -- customers orphaned by the wind-down of Pontiac and Saturn and the proposed sell-off of Hummer and Saab.
In this first of promised multiple mailings, GM is offering discounts of up to $2,000 on certain models to the nearly 1 million customers of closed GM dealerships, if they go to the next closest dealer by January 4. The automaker also is giving customers of closed dealerships a vehicle inspection and tire rotation at remaining dealerships through May.
"The challenge for us is to grab those customers by the hand and make sure they know where to go," Susan Docherty, GM's vice president of U.S. sales, said in a media conference call last week.
But GM's competitors also are eyeing those up-for-grabs customers.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:14 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Get Ready for Leasing's Revival
Leasing may have been down, but it isn't out.
After all but abandoning leasing for the past year, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC each have reported either a re-entry or expansion in the leasing business. And other manufacturers who never got out of the game are in a position to increase their lease penetration.
Through the remainder of the year, Edmunds.com expects a modest increase in non-luxury leasing commensurate with the announcements by the domestics, as well as a slight increase with at least one import brand: Toyota Motor Corp. has room to grow its lease portfolio.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:10 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
As '09 Inventories Deplete, Who Will Blink First - Carmakers or Customers?
After the sales plunge in the auto market began in earnest in the fall of 2008, automakers scrambled to reduce production schedules, sell off swollen inventories and otherwise deal with a drastically contracting U.S. market.
Now, after months of production cutbacks orchestrated by many automakers and the summer's outsized demand from the $3 billion Cash for Clunkers rebate program, bloated inventories are a thing of the past. Now, data researchers at Edmunds.com say the coming months may be a tug of war between still-cautious buyers and right-sized-but-cash-strapped automakers anxious to hold the line on pricing.
It could be a battle that sees winners and losers on both sides as uncommon market and industry forces collide in what will be an unpredictable sales environment.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:34 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Latest Hybrids Probably Won't Help Build the Market
In order to prod soccer moms across the nation to plug a visit to the BMW dealership into their Blackberrys, BMW North America Inc. this week nonchalantly announced the price for its first "full" hybrid-electric vehicle, the ActiveHybrid X6: $89,725.
Welcome to hybridization as seen by German luxury marques, who, given their choices for showcasing hybrid technology, seem to be more intent on using their new hybrids to prove why their diesel-powered models make much more sense in terms of actually appealing to consumers.
At nearly $90,000, the ActiveHybrid X6 has a total of 485 horsepower, weighs more than 5,600 pounds, delivers a 2-mpg improvement over than the 6-cylinder X6 (4 mpg better in the city and 1 mpg worse on the highway than the V8 X6) - and still has plenty of extra-price options.
In the spring, BMW will follow up with the ActiveHybrid 7, the hybridized version of its 7-Series flagship. The car is certain to crack the 6-figure price barrier.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:30 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , GM , In the Media , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Launch Holiday Promotions to Offset November Sales Blues
November is living up to its reputation as one of the worst months of the year for car sales, prompting automakers to launch holiday promotions in an effort to end one of the worst years for sales on a slightly higher note.
November sales in the U.S., both retail and fleet, are expected to total 710,000 vehicles, a 4.5 percent decline from November 2008 and a 15.0-percent decrease from October, according to Edmunds.com's forecast. That would put the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) at 10.34 million vehicles, down from 10.43 million in October. Except for January, sales in November typically are the lowest of the year.
"Everyone is hopeful that Thanksgiving weekend will boost the sales numbers," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "But automakers have already launched holiday season incentives in order to pick up the pace, and that sense of desperation suggests that bigger discounts - but smaller selection - may be available for those who wait to buy."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:22 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Street's Already Abuzz About 2011 Hyundai Sonata
Think of four words you might use to describe a Hyundai Sonata. Got 'em? Did any of the following come to mind: "Sharp"? "Distinctive"? "Aggressive"? "Radical"? If not, then perhaps you haven't seen the all-new for 2011 Hyundai Sonata because that's how car shoppers and enthusiasts on Edmunds' CarSpace Forums are talking about Hyundai's latest design.
A formal introduction doesn't come until the Detroit auto show in January -- and the car likely won't hit showrooms for months after that - but Edmunds.com members are already buzzing, calling it "probably the most original of the new Hyundai lineup" and "the first Hyundai design that has attitude" -- high praise considering the award-winning Genesis sedan and coupe that Hyundai already released this year.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:46 PM under Commentary , Companies , Featured | Comments (6) | 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
Ghosn Confirms Nissan to Persevere with Titan, Other Trucks in U.S.
In a recent meeting with automotive media, Nissan-Renault chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn said Nissan intends to stick with fullsize pickups in the U.S. and also said there is a future for other trucks and SUVs in Nissan's model range, including the Quest minivan.
The fullsize pickup market has been battered by the U.S. economic upheaval and the auto industry's resulting plunge, and import-brand fullsizers have had the worst of it. Sales for Nissan's Titan were down a striking 50.2 percent through October, to a meager 15,393 sold.
After a deal in which Nissan arranged to have the next-generation Titan based on the Dodge Ram pickup and manufactured by Chrysler Group LLC evaporated earlier this year, questions began to circulate about whether Nissan would remain in the domestic-nameplate-dominated segment that has proven difficult for import brands to invade.
But Ghosn said despite the setback from losing the Chrysler connection, Nissan is hanging in the fullsize-pickup game.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:05 AM under Business , Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevy Volt Less Than One Year Away
Engineers at General Motors Co. working on the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle yesterday told the media development remains on track and that the start of production for GM's game-changing, fuel-saving 4-seater now is less than a year away.
When GM unveiled the Volt at the Detroit auto show in January, 2007, the promise of production seemed tantalizingly far-flung - and improbable, given the myriad technical problems GM admitted had to be solved. But chief engineer Andrew Farah says the accelerated development program is on schedule and GM will begin producing the Volt in less than a year's time.
And despite the recent drama involving the proposed sale of GM's Adam Opel AG European operations and the company's eleventh-hour decision to keep the division, Farah says Opel's version of the Volt, the Ampera, remains on target to hit showrooms about a year after the Volt.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Companies , GM , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mazda2 Makes North American Debut in Los Angeles
The Mazda2 is coming to North America, making its debut at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show in early December.
Named last year's World Car of the Year and sold in Japan as the Demio, the Mazda2 goes on sale in late 2010 in the U.S. and Canada as a 2011 model.
The Ford Fiesta, which shares the Mazda2's architecture, beats the Mazda2 to showrooms with a spring arrival. The Euro-designed Fiesta will be built in Mexico.
The Fiesta also will have its North American debut at the Los Angeles show.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:21 AM under Companies , Ford , Mazda , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Job Seekers Flood VW's Tennessee Plant with Applications
More than 65,000 job seekers submitted applications to work at Volkswagen's new plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., the local newspaper there reported. The plant intends to hire 2,000 workers total; the first will be come onboard in the spring with hiring extending into 2011.
Volkswagen is investing about $1 billion in the new plant, which starts production in 2011 building a midsize sedan, including a diesel-powered version.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:03 AM under Business , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New GMAC Chief: Become a Premier Auto Finance Company
Michael Carpenter, a board member turned new chief of GMAC Financial Services, vowed to make the company into "a premier auto finance company," something it has not been of late.
Troubled GMAC provides loans to General Motors customers and dealers and eventually will do the same for Chrysler but itself has been living on government loans to survive.
"The top priority is to turn GMAC into a premier auto finance company and pay back the government in a reasonable time frame," Carpenter said. "I am confident we can achieve that."
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:47 AM under Chrysler , Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Recommends Shift From MPG Emphasis
Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver, late last week submitted a recommendation to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation to make fuel-economy information on new-vehicle window stickers more useful by shifting to a cost-of-energy figure rather than today's emphasized miles-per-gallon numbers.
Edmunds.com believes beginning to focus on annual or monthly energy-cost figures will better prepare consumers and the industry for the increasing number of alternative-propulsion vehicles coming into production. Fully electric, extended-range electric and plug-in hybrid models all will rely less (or not at all) on burning liquid fuel - and translating their energy usage to MPG equivalents so far has proven to generate unrepresentative numbers that make for difficult comparisons between different types of vehicles.
"Consumers have used the existing MPG ratings primarily to get a sense of the relative cost of operating a vehicle on a day-to-day basis," said Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl. "However, using energy equivalents can easily cause consumers to draw erroneous conclusions."
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Daimler Doesn't Expect Quick U.S. Recovery
Dieter Zetsche, Daimler AG chairman and head of the German automaker's Mercedes-Benz passenger-car division, said yesterday in a media conference in New York that it "remains to be seen" if the U.S. economy really is improving, adding that "there is some (economic) data causing concern."
He said Daimler instead is banking on growth in China and some Latin America markets.
"I do believe the U.S. market will come back to former volumes," Zetsche said, adding, however, the company does not think it will happen until 2012 or 2013.
"There is one country where we haven't seen any retraction," he said. "This country is China." Zetsche said China soon will be the third-largest market for Mercedes-Benz - and already is the world's largest market for the company's S-Class flagship.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:08 PM under Business , Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
TARP Watchdog Reiterates: Billions Loaned to Automakers Likely Lost
Top executives at General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC have both gone out of their way in the past week to say their once-bankrupt companies are positioning themselves to pay back the tens of billions of dollars loaned to them by the federal government.
The man charged with overseeing the U.S. Dept. of Treasury program through which the money was loaned doesn't share their confidence.
Neil Barofsky, the special investigator assigned by Congress as the watchdog for the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, said at a conference in Washington D.C. that while GM and Chrysler may pay back some of the approximately $65 billion extended to them, the U.S. probably won't ever see full payback.
"Tens of billions of dollars are likely to be lost on the automotive bailout," Barofsky said flatly.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:10 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , GM , News | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Nissan-Renault's Ghosn: World Ready for EVs Now
The Nissan-Renault alliance is making a major push to accelerate the adoption of fully electric vehicles despite persistent skepticism the public - and the world's vehicle infrastructure - is ready to adopt such a paradigm shift, says the alliance's chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn in a guest editorial at Edmunds.com's Inside Line enthusiast website.
In the exclusive column, Ghosn explains why Nissan-Renault is making a leap of faith for EVs and underscores that once all the environmental and energy-independence debates are set aside, he also believes EVs can provide a new style of emotion to the driving experience.
Ghosn also enumerates why Nissan-Renault believes it is well-positioned to hasten the adoption of EVs through its steady involvement in initiatives for developing and manufacturing high-performance batteries as well as infrastructure.
Ghosn said the company believes EVs could comprise as much as 10 percent of global sales by 2020. Research conducted by Nissan-Renault showed 9 percent of consumers in Japan would choose and EV as their next vehicle; 8 percent of consumers in the U.S. responded similarly.
Nissan Leaf electric vehicle (photo courtesy Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:52 PM under Companies , In the Media , Personalities , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Trying to Figure Out what the Honda Crosstour Is
Criticism of its unconventional looks nothwithstanding, Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s new Crosstour 4-door hatchback seems to be causing a stir in the marketplace as consumers try to determine just what the Crosstour is - and how to categorize it versus other types of vehicles.
Cross-shopping data from Edmunds.com indicates prospective Crosstour buyers are all over the map in terms of vehicles they are considering in addition to the Crosstour. Early indication shows most seem to view the Crosstour as either a wagon or a crossover. Through September, apart from the more conventional 2- and 4-door variants of the Accord, the vehicle most cross-shopped against the Crosstour was Toyota's Venza.
But one question Honda may find itself asking is whether the Crosstour will generate incremental sales - or if it is simply giving its own customers another alternative: three of the top four vehicles cross-shopped against the Crosstour are other Hondas.
One thing seems certain: shoppers seem to think domestic automakers have much of an analogue to the Crosstour. Of the 25 vehicles most cross-shopped against the Crosstour, only two were domestic nameplates, the Chevrolet Equinox crossover and the Cadillac CTS (most likely the new CTS Sport Wagon).
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:33 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , In the Media | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
New-Gen Buick Midsizer Flaunts German DNA
General Motors Co.'s Buick division today released images and information for the 2011 Buick Regal and is openly billing the new-age Buick as a sport sedan.
Given the new Regal's origins with GM's second-generation global midsize chassis that was engineered by Adam Opel AG - the Germany-based European division GM just retrieved from the clutches of mega-supplier Magna and Russia's Sberbank - there might be reasonable credibility for the sport-sedan claim.
In addition to being based on the German-engineered Epsilon II architecture also used by the well-regarded new Opel Insignia (not to mention Buick's new LaCrosse sedan), the 2011 Regal also will be built in Germany at Opel's Russelsheim assembly plant.
The Regal's lines may be some of the crispest ever to be seen in a Buick showroom and GM is calling out the Acura TSX, Volkswagen Passat, Mazda6 and even the Volvo S60 as competitors. The Regal goes on sale in the second quarter next year - and in a significant sign of the times, only 4-cylinder power will be on offer.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:55 PM under Business , Companies , GM , News , Technology | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
VW Pushes Past Toyota as Global Production Leader
The distractions for much of the year surrounding the Volkswagen Group's ownership tussle with Porsche AG didn't stop VW from achieving a significant global milestone: VW this month surpassed Toyota Motor Corp. as the world's largest vehicle manufacturer.
The United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper reports IHS Global Insight figures as indicating Volkswagen (now with Porsche included) production hit 4.4 million units for the year, easily shouldering by Toyota and its production of about 4 million units year-to-date.
Analysts have noted this event was not unpredictable; in the face of a global dropoff in demand, Toyota had made the decision to drastically curtail production in the early part of the year, a move that removed as much as 1 million units or more from Toyota production schedules.
Volkswagen, meanwhile, has been the beneficiary of large-scale stimulus efforts in China and many European countries trying to prop up flagging new-vehicle sales.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:54 PM under Business , Companies , News , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
BMW: Consumer Values Evolving - But Luxury Brands Will Survive
With luxury automakers taking a beating from the global recession and the geared-down "new" economy left in its wake, some are writing the epitaph for premium cars.
But in a meeting with the media this week, BMW North America LLC officials said that although the economic meltdown indeed has caused shifts in consumer thinking and "America has been changed by this recession," premium brands will continue to be a force in the U.S. market.
BMWNA president Jim O'Donnell said yesterday at the company's headquarters that "premium automakers will help shape the future of mobility" because high-end brands historically have been the first to develop and introduce new innovations.
And given the pressure for new solutions to the automobile's environmental impact, O'Donnell said, "It is our belief that the premium market - and the BMW Group as the leader of this segment - will continue to fill an important and necessary role of bringing innovation and technology to market to meet customer, social and regulatory needs and providing direction for the entire industry."
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Business , Companies , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
China's Geely Sets Ambitious Goals for Volvo
China's Geely Holding Group Co., selected by Ford as the lead bidder for Volvo, has developed a turnaround plan for the money-losing Swedish brand that centers on China but also sets ambitious goals for sales in Volvo's traditional markets of Europe and North America, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Geely would add two or three larger, more luxurious models to Volvo's line in the next three to four years to boost global sales, sources told the Journal. New models would compete with the popular Audi A6, a symbol of success in China.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:34 AM under Companies , Ford | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Renault Takes on Tata Nano, Competing on Price
French automaker Renault will take on Tata Motors' Nano, currently billed as the world's cheapest car, with "an ultra low-cost" car designed by Renault and built by its partner in India, Bajaj Auto beginning in 2012, a year later than originally planned.
"The cost of this car will be lower than any other car made today in India," said Renault/Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn at the World Economic Forum meeting in New Delhi, India, Tuesday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:32 AM under Business , Companies | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
October Auto Sales Uptick May Presage the 'New Normal'
U.S. auto sales in October turned in a performance reminiscent of what can now be called the good old days before last year's market collapse, about even with October 2008 but up 13 percent from September.
October saw the first year-to-year sales increase -- excluding the Cash for Clunkers months this summer -- in two years. Sales of 837,800 vehicles during the month translated into a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Sales rate of 10.43 million units - about the same number that the consensus of industry watchers is still predicting for total actual sales volume for all of calendar 2008. (The SAAR last October was 10.78 million.)
So after recovering from record doldrums in the first half of the year, and stabilizing in the wake of the Cash for Clunkers blip over the summer followed by the sales-drought "payback" in September, the October sales numbers reflected a U.S. auto market that is recovering slowly and -- automakers hope -- surely.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:19 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Incentives Dip as Automakers Launch 2010 Models
Incentives paid by automakers dipped in October from September and a year ago as they launch new 2010 models, which don't need them yet, and wind down 2009 models, Edmunds.com reports.
The average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,468 per vehicle sold in October 2009, according to Edmunds.com analysis of Total Cost of Incentives (TCI). That's down $329, or 11.8 percent, from September, and down $209, or 7.8 percent, from October 2008.
"Incentives declined because fewer old model-year vehicles were sold in October, and the newer vehicles are not discounted nearly as heavily," explained Jessica Caldwell, director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com. "Over 55 percent of vehicles sold in October were 2010 model year, compared with about 36 percent in September."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:00 AM under Analysis , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fiat Engine Tech Impressive - But Would U.S. Buyers Accept the Cost?
In exchange for becoming the operating partner and 20-percent owner of Chrysler Group LLC, Fiat S.p.A. said it would work to incorporate its new efficiency-enhancing powertrain technologies into Chrysler-badged vehicles and other models the two companies may introduce into the U.S. market.
Fiat recently launched one such technology, showing the media the first car powered by an engine using the company's innovative "Multiair" variable-valve timing system.
The technology seems genuinely impressive - it cuts fuel consumption by a solid 10 percent while increasing power and torque by a similar amount - but the car in which the first Multiair 4-cylinder engines are launched, the Alfa Romeo Mito ("me-too") subcompact, are markedly more expensive than most Americans would consider reasonable for such a small car.
The mid-level Mito, with a 133-horsepower Multiair 4-cylinder that most closely matches the power U.S. buyers expect from the 4-cylinder engine in a compact car, costs about £14,645 in the United Kingdom, auto-enthusiast magazine Car reports. In straight exchange-rate conversion, that amounts to about $24,000.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:13 PM under Chrysler , Companies , News , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Italian Design Students Get Real-World Assignment Combining Chrysler, Fiat
While Chrysler and Fiat designers were working quietly behind the scenes to jointly develop 
new models, transportation design students in Italy were doing the same.
The two final vehicles selected by the students to develop into models have been revealed. Perhaps Chrysler will hint at its work with Fiat next week when the American automaker rolls out its five-year plan.
The 37 students in their second year of the three-year car design course at IED Turin in Italy were given the assignment to design vehicles that combined the best technical know-how, the platforms and the values of the Fiat and Chrysler brands.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:49 AM under Chrysler , Companies | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Kia Campaign to Emphasize New Sorento is Made in America
Surging Kia Motors America is planning to get more than auto assembly out of its new plant 
in West Point, Georgia, that goes on stream next month to build the 2011 Sorento crossover: the West Point plant will feature prominently in Kia's pre-launch ad campaign to emphasize the Sorento is made in America.
With the sourcing of all manner of consumer goods to low-cost countries being an increasingly persistent burr under many American consumers' saddles, "Built in American has turned into a positive," said Michael Sprague, KMA's vice president of marketing.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:16 AM under Companies , Featured | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Tab: $24,000 Per Vehicle of Taxpayer Cash
This summer's so-called Cash for Clunkers program cost taxpayers $24,000 per vehicle sold, 
according to an analysis by Edmunds.com.
Nearly 690,000 vehicles were sold during the Cash for Clunkers program, officially known as the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), but Edmunds.com analysts indicate that only 125,000 of the sales were incremental. The rest of the sales would have happened anyway.
Analysts divided three billion dollars by 125,000 vehicles to arrive at the average $24,000 per vehicle sold. The average transaction price in August was $26,915 minus an average cash rebate of $1,667.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:05 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fisker Automotive Buys Plant from 'Old' GM
Fisker Automotive, the new-age startup company aiming to sell an expensive and high-tech extended-range electric vehicle next year, confirmed it has purchased an assembly plant in Wilmington, DE, from Motors Liquidation Co., the entity holding the assets of the former General Motors Co.
Fisker said in a media release the company paid $18 million for the plant, which most recently build the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky 2-seat sportscars.
That's a great price to acquire what is essentially a fully functional auto assembly plant with a relatively new paint shop, one of the costliest areas of investment in any auto-assembly operation.
Fisker said it will invest another $175 million to retool the plant to produce a still-under-development plug-in hybrid sedan targeted to sell for considerably less than the $87,000 Karma extended-range electric sport sedan Fisker plans to begin selling next year.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:10 AM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Brands Looking to Expand Luxury Crossover Share Dealing With Ruthless Trends
Sometime right after the middle of this decade, just about everyone decided luxury crossover 
vehicles were going to be the industry's next big profit center.
Sales of traditional body-on-frame SUVs were falling off after a brief but consumer-mindset-shifting run-up of gasoline prices in the summer of 2006. The fuel-price scare came just as the crossover segment was starting to swell, pumping up buyer interest in the newly "invented" alternative to the SUV (and in some cases, pickup trucks).
But better still, Americans still were snapping up luxury items at an unprecedented pace, encouraged by ballooning home prices and easy credit.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:14 AM under Companies , Featured , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
October Sales Returning to Pre-Clunker Norm
With another week gone by, October sales look to be on track for Seasonally Adjusted 
Annualized Rate (SAAR) in the low 10 million range, according to the latest data from Edmunds.com, which issues a more detailed forecast later this week.
General Motors' market share, which in the early going of the month stood at 22.4 percent, has slipped slightly to 21.7 percent in the latest Edmunds.com analysis.
In terms of sales by segments, the market appears to be returning to a pre-Cash for Clunkers equilibrium between large SUVs and trucks compared with small cars.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:39 AM under Analysis , Companies , GM | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
'Old' GM May Offload Plant on New-Age Automaker
The "old" General Motors Corp. - now known by the name Motors Liquidation Co. - could be 
on the verge of completing a deal that would bring in some revenue to pay back some of the former GM's creditors, according to a report over the weekend from the Wall Street Journal.
Motors Liquidation reportedly is ready to sell its assembly plant in Wilmington, Del., to Irvine, Calif., new-tech automaker Fisker Automotive Inc. The company, whose CEO is Henrik Fisker, a former designer for BMW AG, has made headlines in recent years with his Fisker Karma extended-range electric vehicle, a slinky, nearly-$90,000 sport sedan set to go on sale next year. The Karma will be produced in Finland under contract with known low-volume vehicle assembler Valmet Automotive.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:22 AM under Companies , GM , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
More Delay for Sale of GM's Opel
Anyone - or is it everyone at this point - hoping for an October finish for the saga of General Motors Co.'s sale of its Adam Opel AG European operations will have to wait at least a while longer.
In a blog at GM's website, John Smith, GM's group vice president of business development and the company's lead negotiator, said GM's deal to sell Opel to a consortium headed by Canada's Magna International Inc. and Russia's Sberbank will be on hold until at least early November.
The deal has won approval from the Opel Trust Board, but the European Union expressed concern about several details and their potential transnational effect on labor in various nations in which Opel operates.
The EU also "has been reviewing the Opel investor process and the circumstances surrounding the selection of Magna/Sberbank," Smith said in the blog. Some EU member nations have expressed skepticism that GM's decision to sell to the Magna/Sberbank group was based solely on business metrics.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:23 AM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tata Nanos Catch Fire - Literally
Three Tata Nanos reportedly have caught fire due to a short circuit in a steering column switch, the Times of India reports.
As a result, India's Tata Motors, which bills the Nano as the world's cheapest car, has called two of them back for repairs and has ordered a pre-delivery audi of the Nanos' electrical circuits before customer delivery.
The Nano went on sale earlier this year with customer deliveries beginning in late spring.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:25 AM under Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chinese Automaker Investment Pays Off for Buffett
A stake purchased in Chinese automaker/batterymaker BYD is paying off for billionaire 
investor Warren Buffett.
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. last September paid $230 million for a 10-percent stake in BYD. Since then, the stock has risen from the $1.21 a share that Buffett paid to $10.55 a share, the Detroit News reports.
The stock-run up has made company founder Wang Chuanfu the richest man in China, according to the Hurun Report, a list of the wealthiest Chinese.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:21 AM under Business , Companies , Personalities , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Manufacturers Offer Richest Incentives Since Cash for Clunkers
After dismal September car sales due to the hangover from the government's Cash for 
Clunkers program, auto manufacturers have ramped up incentives in October as they have ramped up production to refill the inventory pipeline, according to Edmunds.com.
The incentives show manufacturers are extremely eager to sell off 2009 models left in inventory. But automakers are also offering incentives on newly launched 2010 models.
"This year has been a wild ride for automakers, and it's not over yet," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "No segment is unaffected by the current round of incentives, though luxury models and trucks are being discounted particularly heavily."
Low-interest financing, including zero-interest financing, and cash rebates dominate the landscape, but subsidized lease programs, almost non-existent in the past years, are proliferating as well.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:43 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cultural Preferences Shaping Battery Business Relationships
At the first-ever "Business of Plugging In" conference in Detroit Tuesday, industry interests 
studying the development and marketing of plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles said the question of who is best to develop and manufacture batteries for plug-in hybrids for now seems to be determined by nationalistic preferences.
A panel discussing the future of development for the advanced batteries, which are critical to providing the electric-only driving distances desired for plug-in hybrids, mostly agreed specialist suppliers - not automakers - will be the best companies to develop and produce the batteries.
The differences come when talking about what role automakers will play, however.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:43 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Former Ford Exec Becomes Continental Chairman
Former Ford executive Wolfgang Reitzle has been named chairman of the supervisory board 
of auto supplier and tiremaker Continental.
A lieutenant of former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser and head of Ford's now-defunct Premier Automotive Group, Rietzle is chief executive of Linde AG, an industrial gases and engineering company.
Reitzle remains one of Germany's most high-profile executives and must lead Continental through the economic downturn and deal with an ugly take-over situation.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:25 AM under Companies , Ford , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mercedes-Benz E-Class Buoys Daimler Earnings
Daimler AG beat analysts third-quarter earnings estimates and improved its cash flow, 
largely on the success of the new E-Class.
Daimler made about $700 million before interest and taxes, the automaker reported. That was nearly a $2.2 billion swing from a loss to a profit.
In the U.S., Mercedes-Benz's September sales were off nearly 10 percent from a year earlier, but sales of the just-launched E-Class soared 28 percent.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:05 AM under Business , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fiat Expected to Report 3Q Profit
Italian automaker Fiat, which now runs Chrysler, is expected to report an operating profit 
Wednesday for the third quarter.
Little information is expected to be provided regarding Chrysler's financial situation in Wednesday's Webcast, however. Instead, Fiat will roll out its five-year plan for Chrysler on Nov. 4.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:49 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
2009 Car Buyers Say Paint It Black, Edmunds.com Reports
Henry Ford, famous for saying buyers could buy any color of Model T as long as it was 
black, must be smiling. Black is the No. 1 color choice for buyers of vehicles so far this year, according to Edmunds.com's analysis of sales transaction data.
Black has accounted for 20.3 percent of new vehicles sold so far this year.
Edmunds.com's results are in contrast to other recently released color reports that put silver first. Indeed, in Edmunds.com's analysis, if silver and gray are combined, they shoot to the top of the chart at 30.1 percent of sales.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:56 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford's Better Idea: Keep An Eye on the Italians
Caught recently at Ford Motor Co. headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.: a Fiat Bravo 5-door in 
the employee parking area.
But not just any employee - the small sign at the right reads "Vice President."
If Ford's crosstown rival Chrysler Group LLC - now managed by partial owner Fiat S.p.A. - gets its way, there are going to be Chrysler -- and probably Fiat-badged subcompacts sold in the U.S. within two years that could rely on some variant of the Bravo underpinnings.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:59 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Buick Recommissions Regal Name
The refrain from General Motors Co.'s Buick division is that it wants to entice younger buyers to forget about Buick's car-for-the-Medicare-crowd reputation. But Buick announced today it's nonetheless resurrecting an old name for its next midsize car: the model will be called the Regal.
"The Regal name has played a very important role in Buick's history for many years and continues to be one of the top Buick nameplates recalled by consumers, even though it's been out of the market for the past six years," Buick said today in a release.
In August, GM showed the media a midsize-sedan concept car but did not indicate the car's name, although it was speculated the Regal nameplate - still used in China - could be revived for the U.S. market.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:10 AM under Companies , GM , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Bad Switch Prompts Another Large Ford Recall
A faulty switch to disengage cruise control will cost Ford Motor Co. yet again in what has been a wide-ranging safety problem.
In the latest recall that encompasses some 4.5 million vehicles - mostly trucks - Ford will repair the switch that can overheat and cause underhood fires. This round brings the number of vehicles recalled to fix the switch to 16 million. It is the largest recall ever in the U.S.
The vehicle lines affected by the latest recall - the Detroit Free Press said it now is the eighth recall for the switch - are:
1992-2003 Ford Ranger
1992-2003 Econoline vans
1995-2003 Ford Windstar
2000-2003 Ford Excursion
1993, 1997 and 1999-2003 F-Series Super Duty with diesel engines
1994 F53 motorhomes
The National Highway Transportation Safety Admin. opened an investigation for the latest recall in June 2008 after reports of engine fires in Windstar minivans.
Windstar photo courtesy Ford Motor Co.
Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:29 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Porsche's Eggs in New Four-Door Basket
Seems Porsche Cars North America is always one of the first to get hammered when the 
recession hits. The company's certainly taken its lumps in the past year, with sales starting a slide almost the same day Lehman Brothers tanked in fall 2008 and potential Porsche buyers headed for their bunkers.
Calendar-year 2009 hasn't been much kinder: through September, sales are off 32 percent, a withering number for a niche maker.
But as the year winds down, Porsche is launching a history-making - and controversial - new model to help accelerate it into what is hoped will be a broad industry and economic recovery next year. Porsche is counting on the all-new, 2010 Panamera 5-door sedan to reignite interest in the brand at one of its darkest hours. Almost all of the company's available marketing funds for the rest of the year are earmarked to launch the Panamera.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:02 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Reaches GM-Style Deal with UAW
Ford reportedly has reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers union 
similar to one negotiated with General Motors earlier this year.
The proposed agreement would freeze entry-level wages, implement a no-strike clause and pay a bonus to workers for agreeing to new concessions, sources have told the Wall Street Journal.
The agreement now goes to the union's national council delegates, who will decide if it should go to members for a vote.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:21 AM under Companies , Ford , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM May Conclude Opel Sale with Magna This Week
General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson told reporters during his visit to China Tuesday that the 
automaker may sign its deal to sell a majority stake in Opel to Magna International and its Russian partner later this week.
Under the agreement, GM will sell a 55 percent stake in Opel to a consortium including Canada's Magna and Russia's Sberbank. The deal has created furor with Opel and Vauxhall unions because of the massive job losses anticipated and the ire of European governments, which are being asked to subsidize the deal.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:44 AM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
2010 Ford Taurus Hits Targets in Cross Shopping
When Ford product planners began to contemplate a possible new generation Taurus, they 
decided they should either move the next Taurus upmarket so it wouldn't be positioned right on top of the popular Ford Fusion as the previous one was - or forget about being in the segment altogether.
The automaker moved forward with a more upscale Taurus, introduced this summer as a 2010 model, and it appears to be doing what product planners intended, according to Edmunds.com's analysis of Taurus shoppers and what else they are considering.
The analysis shows:
- the new Taurus is being cross-shopped less with other Ford models than the old one, and the Ford models it is being cross-shopped against are more upscale ones;
- the new Taurus' most cross-shopped list shows more upscale competitors in the mix, including some luxury brands and hot imports that weren't on the old Taurus' cross-shop list;
- off the top 10 list are more downmarket competitors.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:19 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Done Deal. GM Sells Hummer to Chinese Company
General Motors, as expected, announced Friday it had signed an agreement with China's 
Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd. Friday to sell Hummer.
The deal is subject to approvals by U.S. regulatory agencies and Chinese authorities. Tengzhong acquires ownership of the Hummer brand, trademark and trade names, as well as specific intellectual property license rights necessary to manufacturer vehicles. Tengzhong also assumes the existing dealer agreements.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:36 AM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Sale of Hummer to Chinese Company Imminent
General Motors will finalize its sale of Hummer to China's Tengzhong as early as Friday, various media outlets, citing unnamed sources, report.
GM likely will take in about $150 million for the sale, far less than the $500 million it wanted.
Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, a little-known heavy machinery maker, has been in negotiations with GM since June.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:39 AM under Companies , GM , Rumors | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Car Buyers Pay 2% More This Year, Edmunds.com Data Shows
Consumers are paying 2 percent more this year for new cars and trucks than they were a 
year ago, according to Edmunds.com.
That's good news for automakers eager to turn profits on fewer sales, but bad news for consumers.
The average price of a car or truck sold in the United States was $28,492 for the first nine months of the year, compared with $27,945 last year, according to Edmunds.com. The average transaction estimate doesn't include manufacturer rebates.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:29 AM under Analysis , Companies , Ford , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Huge U.S.-Market Backdoor Ready To Open for Chinese Automakers
A few years back, it was the first appearance of a Chinese automaker at the Detroit auto 
show that seemed to start the serious speculation about when the Chinese would crack into the U.S. market. Assessing the functional but rudimentary models on display, some predicted 2015 or 2020.
Instead, how about next year?
OK, it won't be with their own China-built models. But there are three pending brand-takeover deals -- General Motors Co.'s Saab and Hummer and Ford's Volvo Cars -- in which a Chinese automaker has a leading or secondary role. If any of the three purchases make it to completion -- and it's probable at least two will -- Chinese automakers will in effect be selling vehicles in the U.S.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:29 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota-Subaru Sport Coupe To Break Cover at Tokyo Show
The affordable sport coupe that Toyota Motor Corp. desperately needs to prove it's still got passion is the same car that will symbolize how enmeshed giant Toyota has become with Fuji Heavy Industries Inc.'s tiny Subaru. And that car will be on display at the Tokyo motor show later this month.
Plans for the so-called "Toyobaru" coupe have been public since 2008, but reports of its engineering details have fluctuated and even its status as an approved production-car program has been questioned. Now with the FT-86 concept car, things seem to be solidifying, according to Peter Nunn's report at Edmunds.com's Inside Line.
Toyota may not have its version of the car in showrooms until late 2011, however.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:11 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's 90-Day Report Card: Mixed Results
The day in July when General Motors emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, CEO Fritz Henderson declared the new GM would focus on three things -- customers, cars and culture.
On Wednesday morning, Henderson is scheduled to give a 90-day progress report on how GM is doing.
So how is GM really doing in those three categories?
As for customers, GM, despite trying new ways to lure them, has found too few. As for cars, GM's new offerings are promising. As for culture, the jury's still out. And disappointments -- there have been a few.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:03 AM under Analysis , Companies , GM | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Make Mercedes Payment Through iPhone App
Mercedes-Benz Financial boasts that it is the first automotive financial services company to allow 
customers to manage the account on their Mercedes car loan, including making a payment, using an Apple iPhone app.
The financial company is launching a marketing campaign called "The coolest way to pay."
The free download, available at the Apple App Store, allows customers to make payments, view their account summary and request payoff information on existing accounts on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Account holders must first register online at Mercedes-Benz Financial.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:37 AM under Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Aftermarket Performance Icon Holley Goes Chapter 11 -- Again
In a tale that chronicles the dwindling generation of do-it-yourself auto modifiers, storied 
aftermarket performance-parts company Holley Performance, which made its name manufacturing carburetors bearing its name, last week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years.
Holley, whose name became synonymous with carburetors for all manner of high-performance engines and later branched out to own a handful of brands well known for bolt-on performance parts, first entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2008 and emerged later that year, transferring the company's equity to holders of its second-lien debt.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:22 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Consortium Led by Former Ford Execs Makes Play for Volvo
Although Ford Motor Co. has been trying to offload its money-losing Volvo Cars unit for some time, it appeared there had been only one entity serious about buying Volvo: China's Geely Automotive Holdings.
But the Financial Times reports today that a consortium headed by former Ford executive Michael Dingman and that also includes Shamel Rushwin, another executive for both Ford and Chrysler, has emerged as a bidder for Volvo.
There are few reported details about a proposal from Dingman's Crown consortium to acquire Volvo, but the deal likely may vary significantly from that proposed by Geely, which, among other facets, is said to include a provision that Ford retain responsibility for certain pension liabilities and that Ford retain a share of Volvo.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:34 PM under Business , Companies , Ford , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Two More Chrysler Big Shots Out in Fiat-Led Management, Brand Reorg
Chrysler Group LLC is losing two more high-level executives after a board meeting last week conducted by 20-percent owner and managing partner Fiat S.p.A. The company is casting the moves as part of its ongoing efforts to reorganize Chrysler management in an orientation more focused on the company's individual Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands.
Leaving the company are Gary Fong, president and CEO of the Chrysler brand who also was Chrysler's chief sales executive, and Michael Accavitti, a longtime product-oriented Chrysler executive who most recently had been appointed by Fiat as president and CEO of the Dodge brand.
In a statement, Chrysler also said it is reorganizing the Dodge brand, creating separate groups for Dodge cars and trucks.
The move is just the latest in a series of executive shuffles that has left many long-serving Chrysler executives on the outside looking in, as Fiat often harvests its own ranks for replacements.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:04 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Big Bucks on the Hood of Pricey Hybrids
Low gas prices and even lower demand in the luxury market have conspired to short-circuit sales of premium hybrid-electric vehicles. Now, as the fourth quarter begins to wind down a fairly lousy year for auto sales - and new 2010 models are shouldering their way onto dealer lots - automakers are piling on some fantastic incentives in the hope of clearing out leftover big-money hybrids.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus premium division, owner of the market's most-expensive hybrid in its LS 600h L, rang in October with a bulging $10,000 dealer-cash incentive on the '09 model of the flagship hybrid. The company also is offered a bounty of $1,000 to any sales associate selling an '09 LS 600h L, which starts at $106,035.
Toyota doesn't break out sales of the hybrid LS in its monthly sales reports, but sales of the entire LS line are down 53.7 percent through September as sales in almost all luxury segments continue to fade.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:17 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Eager to Move Past September's Tepid Sales
U.S. auto sales in September dipped to predicted lows because the Cash for Clunkers program ended in August and there weren't many buyers left, car company executives reported Thursday. They're just hoping that the market's massive "payback" via September's sales drought isn't extended into the fourth quarter.
Americans bought just 745,516 vehicles in September, a 23-percent drop from a year ago. That represents an abysmal Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of sales of just 9.2 million units - the lowest since February and roughly the laconic pace at which economically shell-shocked consumers purchased cars during the first half of the year.
And it was far below -- 41 percent, to be exact -- the relatively breathtaking sales rate of 14.1 million units that prevailed for August, when most buyers took advantage of a total of $3.5 billion in rebates under the federal government's clunkers program and purchased more fuel-efficient vehicles. September's sales volume plunged by more than a half-million units compared with August.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:28 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (13) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's LaNeve: eBay Venture Postponed, Not Cancelled
General Motors head of sales said its California experiment listing dealer inventories on 
eBay's Web site is not cancelled for good; rather it is postponed.
"By no means was it a failure," said Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of sales, said in Thursday's sales conference call. "It was a pilot and we're not ready to go full bore with it but we think we've got something that could work with some tweaking of the model."
He added: "It was an interesting program with interesting results."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:43 AM under Companies , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Renault Confirms Deal with Penske Couldn't Be Reached to Supply Saturn
A Renault executive confirmed negotiations to provide Penske Automotive Group with 
vehicles to sell as Saturns broke down at the last minute.
"We negotiated with them but we were unable to reach agreement at the end," Renault COO Patrick Pelata told Bloomberg News in an interview on the sidelines of a Paris news conference Thursday.
Pelata said Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn didn't recommend approval of an agreement with Penske to the board, which met Wednesday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:19 AM under Companies , GM | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Incentives on the Rise through Year-End, Edmunds.com Predicts
After five straight months of decline, incentives are on the rise again, according to Edmunds.com.
The average manufacturer incentive totaled $2,557 per vehicle sold in September, up $83 or 3.4 percent from August, Edmunds.com estimates. That was down $344, or 11.9 percent from September 2008.
This summer's Cash for Clunkers program substituted as a manufacturer incentive but with the program over and vehicle inventories being replenished, consumers aren't buying, as will be seen when automakers report September sales Thursday. Edmunds.com forecasts sales for the month will come in at only about a 9.3 million Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR).
Now customers need a reason to buy.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:22 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
U.K. Extends Cash for Clunkers
The United Kingdom is the latest European nation to expand and extend its Cash for Clunkers program, which in the U.S. has expired with no plans to revive.
The U.K. government announced an extension and additional funding for as many as another 100,000 cars for its so-called "Cash for Bangers" program.
Automakers in Europe fear, with Cash for Clunkers programs ended or winding down, car sales will return to double-digit declines. Some countries are considering bringing the programs back or extending current ones, as the U.K. has done.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:13 AM under Companies , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford's Turn To Scratch Microsoft's Back
Microsoft Corp. said Ford is among a handful of companies that will upgrade to the new 
Windows 7 operating system and help the company promote the new system that goes on sale next month.
Sounds like "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" deal.
Ford uses Microsoft's Sync communications and music system in many of its vehicles, and Microsoft, including its famous founder Bill Gates personally, has helped Ford promote it.
Now it's Ford's turn to help out Microsoft.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:49 AM under Companies , Ford , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Nissan Moves Infiniti QX56 SUV Production to Japan
Nissan reportedly plans to move production of its full-size Infiniti QX56 sport-utility vehicle to Japan from the U.S. next year.
Nikkei English News reported Nissan will move the QX56 from its relatively new plant in Mississippi to Nissan's Shatai Co.'s Kyushu plant. Already, Nissan has moved production of the Quest minivan from Mississippi to the same factory.
Neither have been stellar sellers for Nissan, which is converting the Mississippi plant to the production of small commercial vehicles in the vein of Daimler's Sprinter and Ford's Transit Connect. The Nissan commercial vehicles are supposed to go on sale in 2010.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:30 AM under Companies | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Soft Sales Test Automakers' Resolve to Restrain Incentive Spending
Automakers will have their resolve to scaleback incentive 
spending tested in the coming months as their assembly plants ramp up production to beef up inventory and sales continue to be soft.
Incentives on General Motors, Ford and Chrysler vehicles plummeted by 26 percent to $3,278 per vehicle in August from a March peak, according to Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com. Industrywide incentives fell 22 percent to $2,474 per vehicle.
"Automakers have to pull the lever and increase production in an unknown market," Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell told Bloomberg News. "They could find there are no buyers out there and have to raise incentives again. It's a vicious circle."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:03 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Midsize-Car Signals: Venal or Visionary?
Media reports have Chrysler Group LLC making a possible about-face on its pledge to close 
the Sterling Heights, Mich., assembly plant of its low-performing Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger midsize sedans and convertible. The move by Chrysler's 20-percent owner and managing partner Fiat S.p.A. could signal it has few near-term tactical options to turn around the flagging Chrysler.
Or that it is crazy like a fox.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:00 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Only Automaker Among Top 10 Global Brands
Toyota Motor Corp. remains one of the world's best brands, according to the 2009 edition of 
the now heavily anticipated list of the top 100 global brands generated by international brand consultant Interbrand.
Toyota was the only automaker to crack the top 10 on Interbrand's list, coming in at No. 8. Toyota's performance does represent a decline, however, from its place as No. 6 on last year's Interbrand list.
Although Toyota is the only maker to achieve a Top 10 position on the list, automakers are better represented in the top 20: Mercedes-Benz placed No. 12 (down from No. 11 in 2008), BMW is No. 15 (losing two places from last year's rank of No. 13) and Honda scored a No. 18 rank, improving from its No. 20 position in 2008.
(Read more...)
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Industry EV Maneuvers Charging Up; Detroit Show to Feature Multi-Maker EV Area
With General Motors Co.'s India subsidiary this week inking an electric-vehicle development 
deal with an Indian EV specialist and once hybrid- and electric-averse European automakers unfurling serious EV plays, accelerating OEM and battery-making initiatives seem to demonstrate EVs are going to be more than a fad.
So much so that next year's Detroit auto show - in the home of the industry responsible for bringing internal-combustion personal transport to the masses - will prominently feature a first-ever, multi-maker display promoting electric cars.
(Read more...)
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September Car Sales on Track for 9.3 Million Rate, Edmunds.com Forecasts
September's hangover from August's Cash for Clunkers program appears to be easing.
New vehicle sales for the month are expected to total 742,000 units, off 22.9 percent from September 2008 and down 41.1 percent from August when Cash for Clunkers was in full swing, according to Edmunds.com's forecast. That would put the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of sales at 9.34 million vehicles. Automakers report U.S. sales on Oct. 1.
"The aftereffects of Cash for Clunkers are still being felt: a significant number of September sales were pulled ahead into August, and many September shoppers left showrooms empty-handed after finding low inventories and high prices," said Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl. "However, the industry's sales rebound is gaining momentum, so there is room for a small upside surprise on sales announcement day."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:09 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fiat's Guy To Run Chrysler Powertrain; Hemi Future Cloudy
Chrysler Group LLC 20 percent owner and managing partner Fiat S.p.A. continues to import 
its home-grown management to run Chrysler's U.S. operations, Tuesday naming another Fiat executive to a key Chrysler management position.
The company said a "realignment" of Chrysler's powertrain department brings Paolo E. Ferrero as senior vice president of Chrysler Powertrain. Ferrero apparently replaces Bob Lee, a popular Chrysler executive who has spent his entire career at Chrysler and most recently was head of powertrain engineering. Chrysler told Automotive News late Tuesday that Lee remains employed by Chrysler.
Lee, who holds mechanical engineering and MBA degrees, is widely recognized as the "father" of the new-age Hemi V8, which was launched for the 2003 model year and went on to become an icon for the company and a performance benchmark for the industry.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:38 AM under Business , Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Personalities | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Final Tally: Cash for Clunkers Buys, Trades; Ford Focus No. 1 Buy
Edmunds.com has completed its final tally of the most popular vehicle purchases and most 
frequent trade-ins under the Cash for Clunkers. The Ford Focus held its No. 1 spot as the favorite buy; the Ford Explorer remained the No. 1 trade-in.
Indeed, the top 10 lists in both categories wound up little changed from the early scoring on Edmunds.com's lists.
And, in fact, many of the top clunker buys are the industry's bestsellers in non-clunker times. Eight of the 10 vehicles on the top 10 clunker buy list are also in the top 10 for the year so far in total; only the order is changed.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:20 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fuel-Efficiency Research Funding Approved by House
A bill to invest $2.9 billion for auto-industry research into technologies to improve fuel efficiency was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives this week in a move that could further help bolster the staggered U.S. auto industry, particularly the Detroit-based automakers.
The money is to be spent over five years, starting with $550 million next year, an increase of more than $100 million over funding that already was approved by the Obama Administration to hasten the pace of fuel-saving technologies and alternative fuels such as hydrogen and electricity.
(Read more...)
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After Much Ado, U.S. to Get Mazda2
Enthusiasts pleaded, Mazda Motor Corp. insisted it wouldn't happen.
The media questioned, Mazda eluded.
Now the dance is over. After everyone either asked why or simply begged, Mazda finally relents, saying its Mazda2 subcompact will be imported to the U.S. market sometime toward the end of 2010.
Launched in 2007 in many world regions, the car has been almost universally acclaimed; Mazda said in a release the Mazda2, called the Demio in some markets, was 2008's World Car of the Year and was named car of the year in 20 different nations, including its home market of Japan in late 2007.
(Read more...)
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Sales Drop Pushes Prices Down, Squeezes Dealer Margins
The precipitous drop-off in car sales after the conclusion of Cash for Clunkers is pushing transaction prices lower and squeezing dealer profit margins, Edmunds.com data shows.
In early August, Edmunds.com analysts reported that Cash for Clunkers shoppers were paying higher prices for their cars, perhaps neglecting to negotiate distracted by the government rebate. Limited supply and high demand drove prices up for everyone else as well.
Since the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program ended on Aug. 25, car sales have dropped to their lowest rate of the year, and consumer discounts are increasing even as the average vehicle purchased is more expensive.
(Read more...)
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September on Track to Be Year's Lowest for Car Sales
Suffering from a Cash for Clunkers hangover after August's party, September is on track to be the year's lowest rate of car sales, Edmunds.com forecasts.
"The best month of the year for car sales is being quickly followed by what could be the worst month of the year," said Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl. "Cash for Clunkers was supposed to prime the pump, but that is a physics concept, and economics is quite different. Demand has dropped off significantly since the program ended."
Edmunds.com forecasts the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of sales in September will plummet to 8.8 million for the year's lowest rate following the year's highest rate of 14.1 million in August.
(Read more...)
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Cash for Clunkers Boosted Economy, Prompted Lower Car Prices
New government data shows Cash for Clunkers had a significant impact on the U.S.
economy and caused average vehicle prices in total to drop in August.
Cash for Clunkers triggered a 1.3-percent decline in the new vehicle price index - part of the monthly Consumer Price Index, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday. The decline was the steepest in nearly four decades.
Behind the government numbers, data from Edmunds.com shows just why vehicle prices were pushed lower, an event not evolving into a trend.
(Read more...)
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VW Phaeton May Rise from the Dead
Volkswagen reportedly is considering bringing its Phaeton luxury car back to the U.S., but 
this time with a diesel engine, a top executive told reporters at the Frankfurt auto show.
Volkswagen Group CEO Stefan Jacoby said VW wants to bring back the Phaeton, which launched in the U.S. 2003, reached its peak of 1,939 sales the next year and was pulled out of the market in 2007 due to slow sales.
"I have to admit that it was a mistake to take this car out of the market," Jacoby said in a media briefing at the Frankfurt auto show as reported by the trade publication Automotive News. "We think that the Volkswagen brand is a good place for this. We are looking at various alternatives for the re-launch of Phaeton."
(Read more...)
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Fearing Clunker Hangover, Europeans Plead for Renewed Scrappage Plans
Hangovers are hell, and in Europe as in the U.S., automakers fear with Cash for Clunkers 
programs ended or winding down, they are in for a big one.
In Europe, automakers are pushing their governments to continue Cash for Clunkers-like plans - known as scrappage programs -- for fear the bottom will fall out of car sales.
In the U.S., automakers aren't pressing for Cash for Clunkers 2.0, but they are worried about sales this month and through year-end.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:19 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Fuel Economy Rules: Didn't We Do That Already?
The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday announced they are jointly proposing new nationwide standards for both fuel economy and carbon-dioxide emissions targeted for a timeframe between 2012 and 2016.
The interagency effort set a fleet-average target of 35 miles per gallon for light vehicles, increasing five percent each year to achieve the 35-mpg total by 2016. They also propose a "greenhouse gas" (carbon-dioxide) limit of 250 grams per mile by 2016.
Average folks, at least those paying attention at all, are likely to ask, "Didn't that happen already?"
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Hyundai May Add Canadian Auto Assembly
Riding high on a sales wave in North America, Hyundai could open an assembly plant in Canada in the next few years.
Steve Kelleher, president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Auto Canada, told the Toronto Star in an interview that Hyundai will need to take "a hard look" at opening an assembly plant in Canada if it continues hitting ambitious sales targets during the next few years.
(Read more...)
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Frankfurt Motor Show: Enviro Plays, Luxury the Big Question
Press days for the Frankfurt auto show, one of Europe's most important international auto 
shows, kick off Tuesday, and the lineup of production models and concept cars oriented largely for the European market evidence an auto industry anxious to continue moving the environmental needle - but also grappling with how to keep luxury relevant.
Luxury is where the big profits lie, but many industry analysts say consumers - pounded by the eroded global economy and wracked retirement accounts - are girding for a prolonged downshift in their automotive desires that may leave luxury marques sucking wind.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:08 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hyundai, Mitsubishi Out of Chrysler Engine-Making JV
Two of the three partners in the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance are bowing out, leaving Chrysler Group LLC with a four-cylinder global engine family and lots of engine production 
capacity at a highly efficient plant in Dundee, Michigan
Hyundai Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. cut their ties with the GEMA venture last month, selling their shares to Chrysler for an undisclosed amount. The Dundee site began producing the jointly developed engines in October 2005. While two plants in Asia also produced the engines for Mitsubishi and Hyundai, the plan was for the two companies to also take engines supplied by the Dundee GEMA plant for vehicles Hyundai and Mitsubishi built in North America.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:16 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Magna Consortium Gets Opel, but GM Retains Large Hunk
General Motors Co. announced Thursday it will sell a majority interest in its European Adam Opel AG and Vauxhall units to a consortium comprised of Canada's Magna International Inc. and Russia's Sberbank.
But a key aspect not prominently discussed in GM's months-long process to shed its currently unprofitable European operations: The company will retain a significant 35 percent interest.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:19 PM under Companies , GM , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
U.S. Taxpayers Can Kiss Some GM, Chrysler Loans Good-Bye
An independent panel overseeing the government's loans to General Motors and Chrysler has revealed that U.S. taxpayers probably won't be entirely paid back by the two just-out-of-bankruptcy automakers.
The Congressional Oversight Panel (COP), in its latest report issued Tuesday, said it is highly unlikely that the government will recover all of the $81 billion in loans to the auto industry. The panel did not say exactly how much in total it expected to recover.
The report did say Chrysler is "highly unlikely" to repay $5.4 billion of its $15 billion in government loans, and GM probably will pay back little of the initial $19.4 billion of its total $50 billion in government loans. In a statement, GM insisted it intended to pay back the loans.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:50 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , GM , News | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ongoing Payback of Government Bailouts Will Focus Scrutiny on GM, Chrysler
Since early this summer, a handful of the nation's large banks starting paying back their share of emergency bailout loans taken under the controversial, $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program fund created by the Bush Administration last year. T
It was reported recently that eight major banks and investment firms that received TARP loans have repaid - and that the U.S. Department of Treasury's profit was about $4 billion and a tidy 15-percent return on the investment.
Although the money repaid represents only a small portion of the TARP funds extended to scores of banks large and small, some banks' prompt repayment is certain to lead the discussion to General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, two non-banks - along with their closely-aligned financing operations - that were extended a collective $65 billion in TARP funding.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:59 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Unnecessarily Viral Story of the Week: GM Volt Buyers 'Idiots'
Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen said to a reporter last week something to the effect of "people who want to buy Chevrolet's Volt (General Motors Co.'s endlessly hyped extended-range electric vehicle) are idiots."
Strong sentiment, to be sure. But worthy of the Internet firestorm the remark (in whatever form) fueled through the Labor Day weekend? Hardly. Auto industry and media: get a life. Relax. Enjoy a holiday every now and then.
There is something about the Volt - and what it represents as an environmental statement - that some think makes it above reproach. As de Nysschen discovered, criticism of the Volt often is interpreted as a political incorrectness manifesto.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:51 AM under Commentary , Companies , GM , In the Media , Personalities | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
'Small' Could be the New 'Big' of the Pickup Market
Maybe America's love affair with pickup trucks isn't over. It's just getting smaller.
In both size and volume.
The recently ended federal Cash for Clunkers incentive was a giant boost for fuel-efficient cars. They dominated the top 10 list of new vehicles purchased by those trading clunkers. But if August sales reports are any indicator, more than a few of those Cash for Clunkers vouchers were used to buy midsize (formerly "compact") pickups.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:40 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM, eBay Extend Promotion; Edmunds.com Advises Consumers Make an Offer
General Motors and eBay Motors announced Tuesday they were extending their promotion that allows consumers to shop and start the buying process for Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Pontiac vehicles voluntarily listed by the automaker's California dealers. The promotion, launched Aug. 11, was to expire Sept. 8 but has been extended through Sept. 30. It could eventually be rolled out nationally.
Meantime, Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com, has analyzed pricing of GM vehicles on eBay and is advising consumers to avoid the "Buy It Now" pricing option. Instead, consumers should choose the "Make an Offer" option. Otherwise, they are apt to pay too much.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:05 AM under Analysis , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Post-Clunkers Second Half Becomes Huge Sales Question Mark
The U.S. government's Cash for Clunkers program finished its job in August, boosting industry-wide U.S. sales to 1,261,799 vehicles, a 1.3-percent increase from a year earlier and a 26.7-percent boost from July, as American consumers rushed dealerships to turn in their well-used vehicles for more fuel-efficient new ones.
Automakers revisited long-abandoned, almost heady levels of sales, with the August results translating into a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate of 14.1 million units - equivalent to a yearly pace about five million units faster than the sales rate for the first half of this year, and much higher than the 10.5-million to 11-million-vehicle pace that industry executives still expect to prevail for the rest of 2009.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:57 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Spend Less on August Incentives, Thanks to Cash for Clunkers
With American taxpayers footing the bill for Cash for Clunkers, automakers were able to lower their spending on incentives in August. And, in fact, automakers may still have paid more than they needed to in incentives.
The average automotive manufacturer incentive was $2,475 per vehicle for every vehicle sold in August, Edmunds.com estimates. That's down $231, or 8.5 percent, from July and down $327, or 11.7 percent, from August 2008, continuing a downward trend of several months.
"The industry spent a record $3,165 per vehicle in March, but ever since then, incentives have continuously fallen," said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com's director of Industry Analysis.
However, the story may change in the coming months, she added, with the Cash for Clunkers program over, vehicle inventories low due to production cutbacks and brisk clunker sales. But now, factories are ramping up production to fill up the pipeline again -- production that may come into a market that isn't in the mood for buying.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:36 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Porsche's Off-Message Models Axed in VW Takeover
Get a good look at the Porsche Cayenne SUV. In the wake of the bizarre German corporate 
soap opera whose end will soon see the absorption of Porsche AG into the mighty Volkswagen Group, the controversial Cayenne -- and even more astoundingly, the just-released Panamera four-door sport sedan -- has no future after VW takes over.
Such is the report from Britain's Car magazine, which says a "massive U-turn in Porsche's product plan" resulting from the bitter VW boardroom triumph means Porsche will be forced to discontinue the Cayenne and Panamera after their product cycles are complete around seven years from now.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:10 AM under Business , Companies , News , Personalities | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fiat-Chrysler Signaling Early Strategy Moves
Led by new CEO Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler Group LLC management reportedly will report 
next month to its newly appointed board of directors about how managing owner Fiat S.p.A. plans to begin meshing the two companies' operations to move Chrysler forward in the U.S. market.
Marchionne is expected to lead a briefing of the 9-member Chrysler board that has individuals appointed by Fiat, the U.S. Department of Treasury (because of Chrysler's acceptance of billions in loans from the government's Troubled Assets Relief Program) and the United Auto Workers union (which has a minority ownership in Chrysler), according to Bloomberg News reports.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:59 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saab Unveils New Flagship
It's leaving the General Motors Co. empire by the end of this year, but GM nonetheless issued the press material detailing Saab's next-generation 9-5 flagship, a car that goes on sale next year after Saab effectively is no longer under GM management. The car will be unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show next month.
Although there are well-executed Saab-esque design details, including a feint at the Saab-signature wraparound windshield and an angular sideglass/C-pillar junction reminiscent of the 900 Series, the bodysides betray a hint of Buickness that shouldn't surprise: the all-new 9-5 is built around the GM global midsize architecture on which rides the new Buick LaCrosse, not to mention Europe's well-received Opel/Vauxhall Insignia.
Leveraging the global midsize underpinnings means the new 9-5 is markedly larger than the current flagship, some five inches longer in wheelbase and nearly seven inches longer overall.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:24 PM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
August Car Sales: Wild Roller Coaster Ride
Thanks to the government's Cash-For-Clunkers program, new-vehicle sales bounced around throughout the month of August, one of the most volatile periods in automotive history. Edmunds.com predicts the annualized sales rate could land at just more than 13 million for the month.
"Cash for Clunkers sent the sales rate on a wild roller coaster ride," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. She said the Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of sales exceeded 19 million in late July - the peak of Cash-For-Clunkers selling - and fluctuated around the 15-million mark in early August. But the SAAR has plunged to an 8-million rate in the post-Clunkers final days of the month.
"Ending August on such a low note does not bode well for September," Caldwell warned.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:48 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Post 'Clunkers,' Automakers Raising Production - Carefully
Prior to the Cash-For-Clunkers sales explosion, the last thing automakers would have considered was increasing production in their North American factories.
In answer to the worst industry sales slide in more than a generation, most had for more than a year being doing just the opposite - slashing production schedules - in an attempt to reduce bloated inventories suddenly and catastrophically out of line with consumer demand.
But Cash-For-Clunkers changed all that: in just four weeks, the federal incentive program squeezed more than a half-million buyers into showrooms. So much for that troublesome inventory.
Now the auto industry has to deal with the wholly unpredicted consequence of Cash-For-Clunkers' success: almost overnight, nobody has enough new vehicles to sell. And the equally ironic solution: raise production.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Increasing Production but Won't Attach Number
Reports from Japan earlier this month indicated Honda Motor Co. Ltd. -- like other automakers with models that proved popular in the just-ended Cash for Clunkers new-vehicle rebate program -- is planning to increase production to replenish starved U.S. inventories.
But a Honda spokesman told AutoObserver today the company won't detail the amount of its production increase.
"We're not attaching figures yet to our production," said the Honda spokesman, adding that the company doesn't expect to forecast production for the remainder of the year.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
"Clunkers" Not Dead Yet
No, they can't sell any more new vehicles under the month-long Cash for Clunkers federal rebate program, but dealers swamped by last-minute customers -- and stymied by government computer systems unable to keep up with the deluge -- now have until noon on Tuesday morning to submit their claims for reimbursement.
It is an extension that was widely expected after a weekend of frenzied Clunkers-driven new vehicle sales -- at least for dealers and dealer groups that still were participating.
Many dealers had shut down Cash for Clunkers deals for fear the overloaded government application pipeline would make it impossible to determine if there was funding still available, leaving dealers on the hook for possibly paying the consumer rebates out of their own pockets.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:28 PM under Business , Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Board Brushes Off Magna Bid for Opel
The newly reconstituted board of directors for General Motors Co. might turn out to be a little more "activist" than originally presumed.
The Wall Street Journal reported late last week the new GM board has rejected the bid of management's favored suitor for the company's Adam Opel AG automaking unit.
A consortium headed by Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. has been vying with RHJ International, a Belgian investment firm, for control of Opel, but GM leaders and much of the German government have long been reported to favor Magna, which for one thing resolved to minimize job losses in Germany, the main base of operations for Opel and the other portions of GM's European operations up for sale.
Over the weekend, Reuters reported German Chancellor Angela Merkel as expressing a need for urgency in the situation.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:05 AM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mini Launches Mobile App for Roadside Assistance
The fun, sometimes frivolous but often helpful mobile-device applications just keep proliferating and BMW AG's Mini USA -- often an innovator in clever methods to bond with its customers -- is introducing an "app" for roadside assistance, an idea that is likely to be copied by other automakers and third-party road-service providers.
Available to Mini owners with iPhone or Blackberry devices, the Mini Road Assist app enables a one-button connect with roadside-assistance services and, most importantly, uses the devices' built-in location identification software to relay the exact position of the disabled vehicle.
Although many onboard services such as General Motors Corp.'s well-known OnStar offer the same capabilities, they often aren't much use if locked out of the vehicle or the battery is dead.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:52 AM under Companies , News , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Despite Payback Fiasco, Dealers Will Regret End of Cash for Clunkers
The much-examined Cash for Clunkers new-vehicle rebate program ends August 24 and the armchair quarterbacking has already started. Most evaluations of the program will focus on the government's inability to quickly process applications and reimburse dealers for the $3,500 or $4,500 rebates given to buyers.
The backlog of payments certainly affected dealer cashflow, particularly for smaller operations.
But according to new data from Edmunds.com, dealers (and automakers, ultimately) did enjoy more than a few offsetting perks: Besides hiking sales volumes, the Cash for Clunkers program, along with the resulting accelerated reduction of new-vehicle inventories, was responsible for immediately jacking up average transaction prices, margins -- and dealer profit.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 2:00 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Ford , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Ends August 24
The story of the summer in the auto industry has been the federal government's Cash for Clunkers rebate program. And it's set to close next Monday.
Even two automaker bankruptcies to start the summer seem to have taken a back seat to the furiously popular and always controversial Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), the official name of the Cash for Clunker program devised by the Obama administration to simultaneously stimulate the auto industry and its dealers and better the environment by removing gas-guzzling and emissions-belching old vehicles (as old as 1984, anyway) from the road.
The program has proven immensely popular with consumers and dealers at first were enraptured, too. But the Cash for Clunkers story quickly evolved into one of bureaucratic snafus and dealer acrimony as the Department of Transportation, administrator of the CARS program, proved unable to quickly and efficiently process the tidal wave of applications in order to promptly reimburse dealers for the $3,500 or $4,500 rebates extended to new-vehicle-buying consumers.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:17 PM under Business , Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
VW Merger With Porsche All But Final
The final leg in the convoluted journey Volkswagen AG and Porsche AG have undertaken in the past several years is nearing as VW, once the takeover target of miniscule Porsche, prepares to instead take a controlling interest in Porsche and merge the two companies.
VW reportedly plans to drum up nearly $6 billion to obtain a 42-percent portion of Porsche AG and all of the company's holding company, Porsche Automobil Holding SE. Meanwhile, there's an estimated $1 billion coming from Qatar Holding LLC that will give it 10 percent of Porsche and most of the options Porsche holds in VW stock. The deal is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
The complex arrangement would make the Qatar Emirate the third-largest VW shareholder, behind the Porsche and Piech families probable eventual stake of a reported 35 to 39 percent and the German state of Lower Saxony's approximate 21 percent. The companies had not elaborated, however, on exactly what Qatar Holding's VW stake might be.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:06 AM under Business , Companies , News | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Says Mercury Cleanup Lies with 'Old' Company
General Motors Co. probably won't win many friends who are concerned about pollution from mercury with its position the "new" GM won't continue participating in an auto-industry coalition to recycle the mercury used in many auto components.
Tens of millions of mercury switches were used for lights and braking systems in the 1980s and 1990s and excesses of the toxic metal have been linked to neurological problems in fetuses and children. A large proportion of the switches were in GM-made vehicles.
The auto industry formed the End of Life Vehicle Solutions Corp. (ELVS) in 2005 to stop escape of mercury from vehicles sent to salvage-yard crushers. The ELVS program is slated to run through 2017 and reportedly has recycled 5,600 pounds of mercury from some 2.5 million automotive switches.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:58 PM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
U.S. Investor Out of Pending Saab Deal
A controversial U.S. investor and part owner of Koenigsegg Automotive AB - the exotic sportscar maker planning to buy Saab Automobile from the "old" General Motors Corp - is out of the picture as the Koenigsegg Group progresses with its plan to acquire Saab.
Swedish business media report that Mark Bishop, who made a name and a fortune as an investor in securitizing sub-prime mortgages, sold his holding in Koenigsegg to another investor. Tiny Koenigsegg is hoping to acquire Saab by the end of this quarter.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:12 AM under Companies , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
"Clunkers" Demand Prods Ford To Hike Production
Trying to insure it doesn't run dry of two of the best-selling new vehicles in the still-humming Cash for Clunkers rebate program, Ford Motor Co. confirmed today a modest production increase for the third quarter, from 485,000 units to 495,000 units.
Ford's 2 percent production hike over its previous plan will come from extra shifts and more overtime at the Kansas City, MO, plant that produces the Escape compact crossover and the Wayne, MI, factory that assembles the Focus compact.
Data from Edmunds.com indicates the Focus and the Escape ranked as the No.1 and No.2 new vehicles bought to replace "clunkers" in the government-funded Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) incentive program that runs through the end of this month.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:35 AM under Companies , Featured , Ford , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford's Top Clunker Trades, Buys as Cash for Clunker Pace Slows, Edmunds.com Finds
Ford vehicles topped the most recent list of clunkers traded in and models bought to replace 
those clunkers as the Cash for Clunker frenzy slowed some from its end-of-July peak, Edmunds.com finds.
The Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of vehicle sales dipped to a still high of 16 million for the first week of August. By comparison, the SAAR for the peak week of the government's Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) -- the last week of July -- was 19.6 million.
From the CARS July 24 launch to August 7, the Ford Explorer SUV and Ford F-150 pickup truck were the No. 1 and No. 2 vehicles, respectively, traded in as official clunkers, according to Edmunds.com's calculations.
The Ford Escape and Ford Focus ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, for vehicles purchased to replace those clunkers, according to Edmunds.com.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:17 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hyundai Officially Announces Arrival of Equus
Hyundai made it official at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Thursday that it, indeed, 
will bring its most premium luxury sedan, badged as the Equus in Korea, to the U.S. next year.
Edmunds' Inside Line, AutoObserver's sibling Web site, earlier reported its arrival and posted the first test ride of the vehicle.
The Equus would be the automaker's next step to move the brand more upscale after this year's launch of the Genesis. The Equus is intended to compete with BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:21 AM under Companies , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Interest Slowing; Could Run Out of Steam Next Week
Interest in the Cash for Clunkers program is slowing, and, if the current trend continues, vehicle sales could be back to pre-Cash for Clunkers levels by August 20, Edmunds.com calculates.
Edmunds.com's analysis of purchase intent on the car-shopping Web site shows sales activity tied to the government's Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) remains well above the period leading up to its July 27 public launch.
However, activity is 15 percent below the peak of the Cash for Clunkers frenzy, which occurred the last week of July and specifically on July 29. Barring any intervention such as a major incentive program or a significant uptick in the economy, sales will be back to pre-clunker levels by next week.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:02 PM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
California GM Dealers List Cars on eBay
Beginning Tuesday, General Motors dealers in California can begin listing their inventories of
some Buick, Chevrolet, GMC or Pontiac vehicles on online shopping site, eBay.com, in an effort to draw more consumer eyeballs to the automaker's cars and generate sales leads for dealers. GM and eBay executives detailed their partnership Monday morning, after GM CEO Fritz Henderson hinted about it a month ago when the automaker emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Henderson used it as an example of new ways the new GM would go to market.
The eBay venture is hardly groundbreaking. Already, about 30,000 dealers nationwide list their vehicles -- mostly used but some new -- on the site. In fact, GM was the first to coordinate with eBay to list dealer inventories of Certified Pre-owned Vehicles on eBay.
The newest GM-eBay venture is the first "virtual showroom online" by eBay with an auto manufacturer, said eBay Motors Vice President Rob Chesney in a conference call with media Monday. While exclusive to GM now, similar ventures with other automakers are possible, he suggested.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:10 PM under Companies , Featured , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Charities Are Potential Clunkers Losers
Cash for Clunkers, the federal stimulus program that's put money in car buyers' pockets and
depleted automakers' once-bloated inventories may end up responsible for producing at least one regrettable "loser": charities that depend on donated used vehicles for funding or direct transfer to the needy.
Some charitable organizations that accept vehicle donations and either sell them for cash or turn over the vehicles directly to new low-income owners are seeing vehicles that normally would come their way instead being used for the $3,500 or $4,500 vouchers Cash for Clunkers provides toward new-vehicle purchases.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:11 AM under Companies , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Magna Takes Loss, Other Suppliers Soaring
Magna International Inc. is embroiled in a bidding war with Belgium's RHJ International SA to take over General Motors Co.'s European operations, but Aurora, Ontario, Canada's Magna has another hassle in the form of its balance sheet: the company lost $205 million in the second quarter.
Magna's sales for the quarter slumped to $3.71 billion, a 45 percent drop, the company said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:09 AM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Generated 19.6 Million SAAR in July Week, Edmunds.com Calculates
Cash for Clunkers definitely grabbed the attention of the American car buy.
Edmunds.com calculates that the Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of sales in the last week of July hit a whopping 19.6 million. The SAAR for the month was pulled up to 12.5 million -- its highest level in a about a year, thanks to the end-of-month sales surge.
"There is no question that the program has generated results. The shopping activity we've witnessed has generated a SAAR of 19.6 million, remarkable compared with the industry's sales record of 17.4 million set in 2000," noted Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "Of course, this level of activity will not continue, as it reflects the behavior of those anxious and able to participate in the program -- and that is a limited set of people."
In the months just before Cash for Clunkers launched, 39 percent of new car sales involved a trade-in. Since then, 51 percent do. Prior to the program, nearly 9 percent of trade-ins were vehicles that would have qualified as "clunkers." Since the launch, 39 percent of trade-ins qualify.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:54 AM under Analysis , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM-Opel: No Done Deal Yet, GM Exec Says
Press reports that a deal is done between General Motors and Canadian auto supplier
Magna International for Opel are greatly exaggerated, the GM executive in charge of the Opel talks wrote Thursday on the company's blog.
"We have had constructive meetings with both Magna and [Belgian private equity firm] RHJ International this week," wrote GM Group Vice President John Smith, who is chief negotiator for the sale of a stake in Opel and Vauxhall in Europe.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:40 AM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Updated Data Revises Some Hybrid Payback Times
Armed with more detailed 2010 model-year data regarding hybrid-electric vehicle pricing,
incentives and equipment levels that affects payback times, data analysts at Edmunds.com
are issuing revised payback times recently listed for several hybrid models.
Most notably, the battle between Toyota Motor Corp.'s new Prius and the equally new 2010 Insight from Honda Motor Co. Ltd. draws considerably closer than Edmunds.com's analysis originally reported.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:45 PM under Analysis , Companies , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Drives Consumers to Fuel-Efficient Choices, Edmunds.com Reports
Should the federal government fund a Cash for Clunkers extension, and is it worth the added
$2 billion cost as an economic and environmental stimulus?
Those are the questions the Senate considered this week as it debated the extension the House already passed. Data based on real Cash for Clunker transactions by Edmunds.com shows clearly vehicles turned in as clunkers -- mostly gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs -- would have been traded in at some point even without the program.
However, those vehicles were traded for vehicles that were more likely to be cars than trucks or SUVS and vehicles that deliver better fuel economy with the $3,500 to $4,500 government vouchers provided under the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS).
Further, the clunker plan appears to have had a rub-off effect. The program created a feeding frenzy, with the last week of July generating a seasonally adjusted selling rate of a stunning 19.6 million vehicles. And those consumers buying vehicles regardless of trade-ins opted for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars during the Cash for Clunker program at a higher than usual rate.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:34 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Feds: Cash for Clunkers Saving Gas
Pressing U.S. Senators to pass a $2-billion extension to the Car Allowance Rebate System
(CARS) -- the riotously accepted "Cash For Clunkers" program projected to run through its original $1 billion backing in little more than a week - the Obama administration is citing the program's impact on reducing fuel consumption.
A note from the administration reportedly being distributed to lawmakers says the average fuel-economy gain between traded-in clunkers and the new vehicles purchased to replace them is 9.6 miles per gallon -- a 61 percent improvement. Purchased vehicles that improve fuel economy by at least 4 mpg net the clunker owner $3,500. New vehicles that achieve 10 mpg or better than the clunker they replace win the owner a $4,500 CARS rebate.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:55 AM under Analysis , Companies , Ford , GM | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Delivers July Sales Spike -- But Now What?
The crescendo of activity in American auto showrooms around the Cash for Clunkers program late last week produced a correspondingly huge surge in U.S. auto sales, and consumers kept scrounging through the weekend for fuel-efficient vehicles to buy under the generous government rebates.
Consequently, sales for all of July for the industry came up only 12 percent short of their level a year ago - when $4-a-gallon gasoline also was goosing shopper interest in fuel-efficient vehicles.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:09 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (9) | digg this | del.icio.us
Subaru Sales Up 34%; Ford Up 2%
Both Ford and Subaru signaled over the weekend that they would post year-over-year sales increases. And indeed they did.
Ford said July sales were 2 percent higher than July 2008, thanks to the Cash for Clunkers program, officially known as Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS).
Subaru sales soared 34 percent, with Cash for Clunker deals accounting for 40 to 50 percent of July sales. Most clunkers were traded for the popular Subaru Forester.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:36 AM under Companies , Ford | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Which Runs Out First: Cash for Clunkers or Cars?
The race is on for which will run out first: government funding for Cash for Clunkers or the cars
popular for purchase by clunker traders.
The U.S. House handily passed a Cash for Clunkers extension that provides an added $2 billion to the program, bringing the total to $3 billion. The Senate takes up the matter this week where it faces more challenge by Democrats, who want higher fuel-economy requirements for the new vehicle bought with the clunker trade, and Republicans, who oppose more spending.
At the same time, consumers who are ditching their clunkers for the $3,500 or $4,500 credit toward the purchase of a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle face a dwindling selection and supply of the more popular vehicles.
Dozens of vehicles that are popular as clunker trades had under the ideal 60-day supply at the beginning of the month, Edmunds.com's analysis of inventory numbers showed. And those inventory levels are based on June sales -- before the Car Allowance Retail System (CARS) program kicked in July 24. More up-to-date inventory numbers won't be available until July sales are reported by manufacturers Monday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:22 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
More Money for Cash for Clunkers? Not So Fast
This week it seems the cacophony around Cash for Clunkers (C4C) has risen ever higher
with various parties competing to find superlatives for the program.
As the Senate this week contemplates additional funding that the House already passed Friday for the officially named Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), it is a good time to step back and apply some logic to the question of the day: Is it wise to find more money to extend the program?
To be sure, Internet shopping activity is up, showroom traffic is up and so are sales. So for an industry that has been starving for customers all year, the answer would seem to be a resounding "yes."
We love a good sales surge as much as anyone, but to us the answer is not so simple, says Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:14 AM under Commentary , Companies | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Subaru's July Sales Soar 30%; Set New Record
Subaru said it will report its July sales soared 30 percent in July compared with a year ago,
setting an all-time monthly sales record.
On Monday, automakers report their July sales figures, which are expected to be stronger than forecasted at the start of the month due to the Cash for Clunkers program.
Subaru, however, has been weathering the downturn the best of any automaker.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:51 AM under Companies , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Production Cuts Help Lower July Incentives, Edmunds.com Estimates
Car buyers took advantage of incentives in July, but they came from the government through the Cash for Clunkers program more than from auto manufacturers, which actually lowered incentive spending from June, Edmunds.com estimates.
The average automotive manufacturer incentive was $2,735 per vehicle in July, down $134, or 4.7 percent, from June, and up $90, or 3.4 percent, from July 2008. Historically, incentives spending increased between June and July.
"Comparing June with July, incentives usually increase between $50 and $200 per car sold, but this year they are down $134 per car," said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com's manager of Pricing and Industry Analysis. "The Cash for Clunkers frenzy has given automakers the opportunity to reduce their own investment in creating sales momentum, and to maximize profitability in the process."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:58 PM under Analysis , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Another "Clunkers" SNAFU: Car-Trashing Not Happening
The nation's new and too-popular Cash for Clunkers program has been a boon for the nation's newest car buyers -- but the Car Allowance Rebate System's execution has not been one of the federal government's shining moments.
The big problems centered on the inadequacy of the CARS hotline to help consumers and dealers, and of course the program's major issue: a dramatic and almost comedic underestimation of initial consumer response that drained the $1-billion CARS piggy bank in what is projected to be little more than a week.
Now come reports of another CARS foible: a lack of oversight to ensure the engines of the traded-in clunkers are destroyed, as the program requires.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:45 PM under Companies , In the Media , News | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mini Humor: My Other Car Was Demolished by the Government
Leave it to quirky Mini to come up with a humorous bumper sticker in the midst of the cash for clunker frenzh.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:42 AM under Commentary , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
White House Says Cash for Clunkers Is Up and Running
The White House insists the too-successful Cash for Clunkers program, despite running out of money, remains up and running Friday and
will continue to operate through the weekend as the administration seeks additional funding for it.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program remained "up and continuing to run," according to Politico.com. For those intending to buy a car over the weekend, "the program will be in place," Gibbs said.
But Gibbs did say the administration is trying to find additional funding for the program even as Congress recess for the August break. Congress reportedly is voting Friday on an additional $2 billion for CARS. An update is expected later in the day.
Meantime, the Department of Transportation that administers CARS is advising automakers and dealer organizations that their dealers should carry on with Cash for Clunkers.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:51 AM under Companies , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Limbo: What Next?
As of Friday morning, the U.S. government still had not publicly announced the suspension
of the Cash for Clunkers program due to it running out of its $1-billion allocation, but lobbying already has begun for additional funding.
The White House reportedly is working with Congress behind the scenes to try to extend funding for the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) at the same time that lawmakers are preparing to recess for the month of August, Reuters
reported.
In the meantime, dealers are in limbo. They will be left holding the bag if the program runs out of money and they aren't reimbursed for clunker trades. Some have chosen to suspend Cash for Clunker trades.
Ad agencies are scurrying to pull back clunker ads. And automakers, many of which are running low on the popular vehicles bought through the program, are pondering how to plan factory production schedules.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:04 AM under Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Some Clunker Deals Based on Old EPA Numbers Will Be Honored, DOT Rules
The U.S. Department of Transportation has ruled that deals involving Cash for Clunkers trade-
ins based on old mileage numbers and consummated before July 24 will be honored, but deals consummated after July 24 on vehicles that became ineligible as clunkers due to mileage ratings changes will not be honored.
On the eve of launching the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program, administered by the DOT, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated the critical combined fuel economy numbers that is a key determinant in whether a vehicle is a clunker or not. As a result, about 100 models changed status -- about half went from qualified to disqualified as clunkers; the other half became eligible as clunkers.
DOT spokesman Rae Tyson told Edmunds' AutoObserver.com Thursday that transactions involving clunkers that went from qualified to disqualified will be honored by the government if they were consummated before the July 24 program launch date. Transactions on vehicles that became ineligible as clunkers and consummated after July 24 will not be honored.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:40 AM under Companies , Featured | Comments (11) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Generates Interest, Sales Along With Confusion, Complaints
Cash for Clunkers is generating new-car sales and showroom traffic for dealers but is also
creating confusion and drawing complaints with consumers and dealers.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Transportation had processed 16,351 transactions under the officially called Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) for for a total of $68.9 million worth of deals through 22,300 dealers registered to participate. Congress has appropriated $1 billion for the program, which runs through November 1 or when the money runs out and includes costs to administer the program.
As of Thursday morning, the CARS site showed $858 million remaining to fund the clunker plan.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:05 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Ends U.S. Motorcycle Production
In a strange juxtapositioning of the auto and motorcycle industries -- and a business decision
that marks the end to an era -- Honda Motor Co. Ltd. this week said that after three decades, it ended production of motorcycles made in the U.S.
The Honda of America Manufacturing Marysville, Ohio, motorcycle assembly plant was in 1979 the start of the company's manufacturing footprint in the U.S. The HAM site eventually expanded to auto and engine production as well as major stamping and casting activities.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:47 AM under Business , Companies | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Government Decision Imminent on How To Handle Cash for Clunkers Mileage Glitch
The U.S. Transportation Department will decide by the end of today how to handle a glitch that caused
vehicles once qualified as clunkers under the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program but then deemed ineligible when fuel economy ratings were udpated on the eve of the program's launch.
Edmunds.com brought the glitch to the government's and public's attention after visitors to the car-shopping Web site raised it. Some consumers reported to Edmunds that their vehicles qualified as a clunker on Thursday, but when they double-checked or were at the dealership, they discovered they no longer were eligible.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:23 AM under Companies , Featured , News | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Daimler Loses 1 Billion Euros; Honda and Nissan Hang On
A recovery for the global automotive sector may be coming, but it's coming slowly. Japan's second- and third-largest automakers managed to stay in the black in the second quarter, but large European makers still bled.
Daimler AG lost about 1 billion euros in the second quarter, the company reported, although the decline beat analyst expectations. The maker of Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles said total sales, which included commercial vehicles, plunged 31 percent in Q2 to 391,500 units and revenue was off by 25 percent.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:49 AM under Business , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Diesels Paying Back Quicker Than Hybrids, Edmunds.com Reports
With gasoline and diesel fuel prices staying low -- and uncharacteristically consistent -- as
the summer progresses, data analysts at Edmunds.com
, parent of AutoObserver
, did a recent crunch of the often-discussed payback times for the nation's two competing fuel-saving drivetrains: hybrid-electric and diesel-engine vehicles.
The latest round goes to diesel.
There are two factors currently working in diesel's favor. First, diesel fuel prices have dropped precipitously since last summer's explosion to $4 per gallon (and beyond) and normalized to pricing quite near regular unleaded gasoline.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:06 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM, Private Equity Firm Rebuffed in Delphi Bid
Something strange happened on the way to bankruptcy court Monday morning: General
Motors Co. and private equity firm Platinum Equity LLC lost out on a seemingly done deal to acquire the assets of long-bankrupt auto-industry mega-supplier Delphi Corp.
The Wall Street Journal reported that several investment funds that owned some $3.4 billion in Delphi debt chose to forgive that debt in a bid to retain Delphi's assets rather than see them auctioned to GM in a procedure that largely would have resembled the recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring GM itself undertook.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:24 AM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Another Cash for Clunker Glitch: Mileage Ratings Change, Disqualifying Some Deals
The qualifications for the Cash for Clunkers program, officially known as the Car Allowance
Rebate System (CARS
) that launched Monday, apparently are a moving target, Edmunds.com
has learned.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that last Friday -- the day the rules for Cash for Clunkers were released and dealer sign-up opened -- the agency "refreshed" its combined mileage ratings. It is the combined mileage ratings of the vehicle being traded in as a clunker and of the new vehicle being purchased that determine if the deal qualifies under the program that gives a $3,500 or $4,500 voucher toward the purchase of a new vehicle.
In some cases, the "refreshed" ratings show the potential trade-ins with a higher mileage rating than previously indicated by the EPA, and make them ineligible for the Cash for Clunkers program.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:46 AM under Companies , Featured , News , Technology | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Inconvenient Truth About "Cash for Clunkers" Is $20K Per Sale In Taxpayer Cash
Much has been written - both pro and con - about the so-called Cash for Clunkers program
that officially launched Monday.
Complexity, limited eligibility and minimal funding are common criticisms, but a chief filing of the program, according to Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl is the cost to taxpayers. Even if Cash for Clunkers reaches its budgeted cap of $1 billion, the program will only help drive about 50,000 incremental new car sales, each of which will cost taxpayers a whopping $20,000, according to Edmunds.com's research.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:16 AM under Analysis , Commentary , Companies | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunker Trades Show 59 Percent Fuel Economy Boost, Hyundai Says
Hyundai Motor America said its early statistics on Cash for Clunker trades show an average 59 percent fuel economy gain between the clunker and the new vehicle purchased.
Hyundai became the first automaker to honor the government's Cash for Clunkers program- officially called Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) -even though program rules were just released on Friday morning. At that same time, dealers began to sign up to administer the vouchers, which range from $3,500 to $4,500. Processing for the vouchers begins Monday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:24 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Could Push July SAAR To 10 Million, Edmunds.com Forecasts
The Cash for Clunkers program that's just kicking into gear and summer sell-down events offered by manufacturers could push July's selling rate over the long-hoped-for 10-million rate, Edmunds.com forecasts.
July vehicle sales, both retail and fleet, are expected to be about 950,000 units, for a nearly 10.5 million Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR), according to Edmunds.com's forecast.
July sales, to be reported by automakers Aug. 4, would be down 16 percent from last July, but up nearly 11 percent from June, according to Edmunds.com's forecast.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:37 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fiat Loses $238 Million in Second Quarter
Italian automaker Fiat, the new owner of Chrysler, reported Wednesdsay that it lost the equivalent
of $238 million in the second quarter, due to dramatic decline in vehicle sales, especially for trucks and commercial vehicles, from a year ago, when it turned a profit.
"The global economic crisis continued to have a significantly negative impact on demand levels for all the group's business, but with signs of improvement in certain markets compared with Q1 levels," Fiat said in a statement.
Still, Fiat said results improved from the first quarter, with losses narrowing from quarter to quarter. And company executives said they expect improvement through the remainder of the year.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:33 AM under Chrysler , Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cylinder Count Ain't What It Used To Be
By Bill Visnic
DEARBORN, Michigan -- Here we go again. In a repeat of not-too-successful experiments of the past, automakers are once again going to see if luxury-car buyers will go for four-cylinder engines.
General Motors Corp.'s Buick will offer a base version of its new 2010 LaCrosse upper-midsize sedan later this year with a four-cylinder under the hood. GM execs have also said the Cadillac division won't rule it out.
The Lexus HS 250h goes on sale next month, and although attention will focus on the fact that it's a hybrid, the HS 250h still is working with a four-cylinder engine -- a first for Toyota Motor Corp.'s premium division.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:36 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford | Comments (10) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Kids on the Block Become Important to Their Brands
By Michelle Krebs
Some of the newest vehicles introduced in the first half of 2009 are quickly becoming extremely important to their brands, according to an analysis by Edmunds.com
.
The crossover Audi Q5 has soared to become the No. 2 bestseller for the Audi brand behind the A4 upon which it is based. Though its sales numbers sound low at 5,670 sold in the first half, the Q5 now represents a whopping 17 percent of Audi's total sales.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:42 PM under Analysis , Companies | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
100,000 Plus Car Shoppers Waiting to Buy, Edmunds.com Calculates
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- More than 100,000 car shoppers have been preparing to buy a car,
but haven't yet made the purchase and as a result July vehicle sales are likely to be on par with June sales.
"There has been a recent surge of purchase intent on the Edmunds.com shopping site that has not translated into sales," Edmunds.com Senior Analyst David Tompkins, PhD told AutoObserver.com.
"Given that this volume represents about 10 percent of the current market, automakers and dealers should find a way to capitalize on the opportunity and entice these folks to make a deal," Tompkins added.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:37 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Porsche-Volkswagen Settlement May Be Delayed
A decision on how to settle the contentious Volkswagen-Porsche ownership battle may not
occur on Thursday, as many had anticipated, and instead be delayed until the end of the month.
The supervisory boards of the two German automakers were set to meet separately in Thursday, presumably to work out terms of a possible merger. But German media reports suggest a decision may not be forthcoming after all.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:25 AM under Companies , News , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Accepts Three Final Bids for Opel
The new General Motors Co. said it has received three final offers for its Opel division in
Germany, without naming the bidders. GM had set a July 20 deadline for final bids.
And then comes the tricky part. GM will examine the bids, present them to the various European government entities who are being asked to help finance the deal and, with their counsel, accept one of the bids.
As the Financial Times notes, however, the best deal businesswise for GM may be at odds with the offer that is in the best interest of the governments, mainly the German government.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:52 AM under Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Strange Automotive Bedfellows, 2009 Edition
By Bill Visnic
There are plenty of strange auto-industry tie-ups to get accustomed to this year, such as internal-combustion innovator Daimler AG and electric-car impresario Tesla Motors Inc., or, well, Chrysler Group LLC and Fiat S.p.A.
But one of the weirder six-degrees-of-separation connections of the year is between Steve Rattner, now-retired czar of the Presidential Task Force On Automobiles and Cerberus Capital Management, former majority owner of Chrysler.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:24 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Personalities , Rumors | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
No 10 Million SAAR, but a Couple Glimmers of Hope
The annualized rate of car sales failed to hit the magical, hoped-for number of 10 million in June, but a couple of positive signs have come emerged in June, according to an analysis of June sales by Edmunds.com.
The time it takes for new vehicles to sell dropped from May to June as did the incentive spending needed to move the metal.
(Read more...)
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GM Deal For Opel Moves Closer To Finish Line
Canadian auto supplier Magna International and Belgian financial investor RHJ International
SA are have the inside track for the purchase of General Motors' Opel division as the automaker reviews all final bids in Germany early next week.
GM Executive Nick Reilly said in a Bloomberg Television interview from his Shanghai headquarters Friday that that a decision may come next week and Magna and RHJ are "probably the front runners" for Opel.
(Read more...)
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VW- Porsche Settlement Appears At Hand
Finally, Porsche and Volkswagen appear close to a settlement, according to various parties
involved who are being quoted by global media outlets.
Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking told Bloomberg Television Thursday that an agreement is likely in days. He refused to provide details but he did say a proposal for Porsche to be sold to Volkswagen "is already on the table."
(Read more...)
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Consumers Find New, Remade Models More Appealing Than Ever, J. D. Power Finds
By Michelle Krebs
Like Sally Field when accepting her Best Actress Oscar, consumers seemed to be saying of
their new and redesigned vehicles "You like me ... you really like me."
Indeed, J. D. Power and Associates 2009 APEAL study, released Thursday, consumer satisfaction with their new and redesigned models at a three-year high. Report highlights include:
- Porsche ranked highest among nameplates for a fifth consecutive year;
- Volkswagen captured four segment-level awards--more than any other vehicle nameplate in 2009;
- new and redesigned models scored higher than last year's new and redesigned models and higher than this year's carryover models.
- seven new and redesigned models ranked highest in their respective segments: Dodge Challenger; Ford F-150; Ford Flex; Hyundai Genesis; Nissan Maxima; Volkswagen CC and Volkswagen Tiguan.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:07 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Auto Manufacturing Could Give Factory Output Boost From 12-Year Low
U.S. industrial production is being dragged down by the lowest auto and auto parts
manufacturing in more than a decade, but it could get a boost from vehicle output as plants crank up production in the coming months.
The government reported Wednesday that U.S. industrial production fell again in
June for the 17th consecutive month to its lowest level since July 1998.
But good news was the drop was smaller than experts had forecasted and it was the smallest decline in more than a year, suggesting manufacturing is stabilizing.
The automotive sector continued to drag down all factory output because of extended General Motors and Chrysler factory shutdowns during their bankruptcies. However, a major bump in vehicle production is expected this quarter.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:20 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Half-Time Scores: Winners Lose The Least; Subaru Ultimate Winner
By Michelle Krebs
The first six months of this year - one of the worst periods in recent history for vehicle sales - is over, so it's time to look at the leader board.
And as in golf, the automakers with the lowest scores win. Every automaker selling vehicles in the U.S. posted a sales decline, with the total industry recorded a 35.1-percent drop in sales for the first six months compared with the year-ago half, according to Edmunds.com's analysis.
The "winners" were those that lost the least.
So in this era when flat is the new up, Subaru was the ultimate winner. On the strength of its newly redesigned, award-winning Forester, Subaru recorded a scant 0.8 percent year-to-year sales decline.
(Read more...)
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Cars Rule First-Half Sales; Toyota Camry Ranks No. 1
By Michelle Krebs
Cars ruled first-half 2009 vehicle sales, according to Edmunds.com's
analysis.
The Toyota Camry ranked No. 1 in vehicle sales for the first six months. The Honda Accord came in second, trailing the Camry by about 6,200 vehicles.
The two midsize cars overtook two full-size pickup trucks that often hold the top sales spots -- Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado, respectively.
Honda had the most models among the Top 10 bestsellers wth the Accord, Civic and CR-V.
Toyota, Ford and General Motors' Chevrolet division each had two on the Top 10 list. Nissan, with its Altima, rounded out the list.
(Read more...)
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Half-Time Report: Market Share Gainers, Losers; Hyundai Gains Most
By Michelle Krebs
Hyundai, buoyed by the Genesis and the brand's value proposition, was the winner in gaining the most market share for the first half of 2009
compared with the first six months of 2008, according to Edmunds.com's
analysis.
Kia, Subaru, Ford and Volkswagen were also gainers in the first six months.
The biggest loser was the Chrysler brand, followed closely by its sibling Dodge brand. Also big losers in market share were General Motors' Chevrolet and Saturn divisions. Toyota also lost.
(Read more...)
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GM Once Again Owns Delphi
By Bill Visnic
The seesaw saga of auto industry mega-supplier Delphi Corp. is over after coming full circle: General Motors Co. is buying most of the assets of the supplier formed in 1999, ironically, as a way for GM to offload from its balance sheet many very same operations it will once again purchase.
Barely a month ago it was reported GM and a division of the private investment firm Platinum Equity Group would purchase Delphi's assets after Delphi has stumbled in bankruptcy for nearly four years - with Platinum Equity paying more than $3.5 billion to assume much of Delphi's operations and GM taking only strategically vital portions of Delphi.
But it appears the roles have been reversed: GM, just days removed from its own Chapter 11 "quick rinse" bankruptcy and the recipient of an eventual $50 billion or more in government loans, is instead acquiring the lion's share of Delphi - and investing vastly more than Platinum Equity.
(Read more...)
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Daimler Shares Stake in Tesla with Abu Dhabi
Daimler AG appears to be pulling along its largest single investor for a ride with the company's recent investment into industry-disruptive electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc. Daimler reportedly is selling a portion of its 10-percent holding in Tesla to Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments PJSC.
The deal will give Aabar about 4 percent of Tesla, Bloomberg
reports.
Daimler said it will use Tesla-developed lithium-ion battery packs in a trial fleet of 1,000 of Daimler's smart cars converted to run entirely on electricity.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:23 AM under Business , Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Porsche and Volkswagen: Who's Buying Whom?
By Bill Visnic
For those who thought the mostly business - but partly familial - control struggle between the Volkswagen Group and Porsche AG couldn't get any weirder or more complicated, it has.
Porsche, strangled with debt incurred in trying to acquire more than 75 percent of VW, reportedly was negotiating a non-binding agreement with the Qatar Investment Authority that would not only see the Middle Eastern investors gain as much as 25 percent of Porsche but also be granted options to buy as much as 20 percent of VW.
The situation's increasingly circus-like atmosphere was bolstered by Porsche's rejection of a VW offer to buy half of the tiny sportscar maker for a reported $5.6 billion - a refusal that came with a petulant admonishment that VW's offer went to Porsche chairman Wolfgang Porsche instead of the company's executive board.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:24 AM under Companies , Featured , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Stock Slips as GM Exits Bankruptcy
By Bill Visnic
Shares at Ford Motor Co., which had buoyed in recent weeks but began sliding with news of a still-sputtering U.S. economic recovery, slid further on Friday after rival General Motors Co. slipped the shackles of Chapter 11 bankruptcy off after just six weeks.
Ford's share-price slide -- by midday on Friday after GM's emergence from bankruptcy, shares had dropped just a few cents but were off meaningfully from morning gains -- could be coincidental with a continuing downward move in the broad market, but some analysts and investors remain concerned that Ford may be at a competitive disadvantage because of the enormous support the federal government is throwing at GM to assure its recovery.
By the end of the year, the U.S. Department of Treasury will have invested upward of $50 billion in GM, plus at least $5 billion more to lending unit GMAC Financial Services, which also now handles vehicle financing for Chrysler Group LLC.
(Read more...)
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GM Plants To Start Moving Again
By Bill Visnic
Assembly plants for the new General Motors Co. will start to fire up again next week after the newly reconstituted GM left Chapter 11 bankruptcy today and the company completes its traditional two-week shutdown, said president and CEO Fritz Henderson.
The new GM, after leaving many of its plants and other operations with the cast-off assets of the "old" company, should begin to "run our plants on a stable basis going into the second half of the year," Henderson said in a press conference today to announce GM's emergence from bankruptcy and to detail other organizational changes for the new company.
How the company will be organized is important, but the immediate concern is to sell new vehicles in a U.S. auto market that stubbornly refuses to break a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate of sales in excess of 10 million units -- the industry sales volume GM continues to say it needs to at least break even selling vehicles in the U.S.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:03 AM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Deadline Set for Delphi Bidders; Auction Scheduled
The four-year bankruptcy saga of auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. has taken lots of twists
and turns, and now the bankruptcy court has set a Friday deadline for the various interested parties to bid on the company that nobody was interested in earlier.
Carl Icahn's Federal-Mogul Corp. and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, who has pumped significant funds into auto supply companies, are among those interested.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:49 AM under Business , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Supplier Lear Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
DETROIT -- Auto supplier Lear Corp., as expected, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
Tuesday.
Burdened by debt and a sharp decline in car sales, Lear, the world's second-largest maker of seats and seat components, already has laid out a proposed deal with creditors to restructure its $3.6 billion debt. Lear intends to emerge from bankruptcy within a couple months.
(Read more...)
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GM's Opel Still Up for Grabs; BAIC Offer in Contention
General Motors is seriously considering an offer for its Opel unit in Europe from Chinese
automaker Beijing Automotive as talks with Canadian auto supplier Magna International and the German government continue.
BAIC made a non-binding offer for Opel this week that requires less government help, cuts fewer jobs and provides for expansion of Opel in China more than an offer by Canadian auto supplier Magna International.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:19 AM under Companies , GM , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Best Buy Gearing Up Electric Vehicle Sales
Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer-electronics retailer, has quietly begun offering
electric-powered scooters, bicycles and Segway Inc. transporters in 19 locations in California, Oregon and Washington, the Wall Street Journal
reports.
Best Buy told the newspaper that its electric vehicles push is part of a re-imagining of the company's product mix involving a corporate division known as Best Buy Labs, which is looking to make better use of the company's Geek Squad electronics technicians.
Industry experts told the Journal that electric vehicles won't be a cash cow for Best Buy anytime soon. But many concur that the investment could prove wise over time, noting that Best Buy has a history of sharp turns that have kept it ahead of competitors.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:10 AM under Business , Companies , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
From Russia With - Snags?
By Bill Visnic
The Russian connection is becoming a complicated one for General Motors Corp.
GM, emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. while simultaneously working to offload its Adam Opel AG division and operations in Europe, looked to have sealed the Opel deal with a consortium including Canada's Magna International Inc. and Russian automaker GAZ.
But last week, it appeared the presence of GAZ was a fly in the ointment, as GM (and perhaps other interests) reputedly balked at GAZ gaining access to certain GM technologies via the Opel purchase.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:38 AM under Analysis , Companies , GM | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Industry Fails To Climb Back to 10-Million SAAR; Culprit Likely Cash For Clunkers
By Bill Visnic
With several industry consultants and analysts predicting U.S. auto sales
would exceed a 10-million-unit Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate in June -- a much-anticipated watershed many believed would signal slumping auto sales are beginning a consistent recovery -- the real numbers didn't quite match the optimistic projections.
Instead, June's SAAR not only failed to hit the 10-million mark, the 9.66-million final tally even regressed from May's figure, according to data analysts at Edmunds.com.
One likely (but unintentional) culprit: the new "Cash for Clunkers" legislation signed by President Obama on June 24.
(Read more...)
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Led by Surging Ford, June Sales Ratcheted Reassuringly
By Dale Buss, Michelle Krebs and Bill Visnic
Automakers expressed more optimism about the U.S. car market despite the fact that overall sales in June fell by 28 percent compared with a year ago, to 859,420 vehicles. That represents only a slight improvement in year-ago comparisons over results for the first five months of this year.
Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com, characterized the month cautiously. "It means, if nothing else, that things are not getting any worse, although things are not getting that much better, either. There was a lot of volatility, but there were signs of life."
Toprak added that June was "probably the best retail-demand month of the year."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:52 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , News , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
June Car Sales Expected To Show Some Stabilization
Automakers selling vehicles in the U.S. report their June sales Wednesday, and the results are expected to show some stabilization in the business or at least a slowing of the decline.
The Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) is expected to come in at its highest level so far this year and could touch 10 million vehicles, according to a forecast by Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com.
(Read more...)
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Magna Deal for GM's Euro Operations Souring?
Although it has for some time enjoyed a preferred-bidder status to buy Adam Opel AG and the European operations of General Motors Corp., the grip of Canada's Magna International may be slipping.
The Financial Times
reports GM is weighing a restructured offer from Belgian holding company RHJ International after detailed negotiations with Magna and its consortium partners became snarled by new conditions.
The Magna-led consortium includes Russia's second-largest automaker, GAZ, and the FT reports the group's offer to GM includes conditions that allow access to certain GM technologies, some of which GAZ seemingly intends to wield for Opel-based vehicles built in Russia.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:01 PM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Hopeful for Some Sales Rebound in June
The industry remains cautiously optimistic June vehicle sales in the U.S. will hit a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 10 million units for the first time in 2009, a milestone analysts think may indicate the deep freeze in auto sales is at least beginning to thaw.
Automakers will report June sales on Wednesday, and Ford Motor Co. chief sales analyst George Pipas told reporters the company believes total industry sales will see less than a 30 percent decline (compared with the same period last year) for the first time since early last fall.
Ford is confident enough in an improving outlook that it will slightly increase its production for the third quarter -- the first time it's hiked scheduled production since 2007.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:24 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Out in Joint-Venture Plant With Toyota
By Bill Visnic
The status of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. General Motors Corp.-Toyota Motor Corp. manufacturing joint-venture assembly plant in Fremont, California, is decided:
GM is out.
Speculation about GM's involvement in the NUMMI facility -- opened in 1984 -- began immediately after GM's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on June 1. The two companies currently make individually badged versions of the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe at the NUMMI site; Toyota also makes versions of the Tacoma pickup.
GM announced today its ownership in NUMMI will go along with the company's discarded liabilities in the "old" GM it seeks to form as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:28 AM under Business , Companies , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
"Window Closing" on VW-Porsche Tie-Up
First, tiny sports-carmaker Porsche SE ran a gambit to gain control of the world's second-largest automaker, Volkswagen Group.
Various industry and political pressures and the global economic crisis got in the way, though, and VW now is turning the tables as Porsche bows under the towering debt it ran up during nearly four years of acquiring VW stock.
Reuters reported from Europe today that Porsche rejected VW's latest offer to buy the sports-carmaker and continues to resist pressure from Germany's state of Lower Saxony -- formerly VW's largest stakeholder -- for the two companies to combine.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:42 AM under Business , Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
"New" GM Will Back Bad-Product Claims
Hoping to mitigate legal speed bumps that might slow its sprint through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the "new" General Motors Corp. will take responsibility for product-liability claims, even for vehicles produced and sold by the company prior to bankruptcy.
The Washington Post
reported the new GM will assume responsibility for all future product-liability claims, a point that raised the ire of some consumer groups and state Attorney's General when it became known part of the company's restructuring blueprint included a plan to shield the new company from any exposure to any liability claims on vehicles the company produced up to the point of its bankruptcy. The objectors said the legal maneuver to shield the restructured GM from such liens was improper.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:38 AM under Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Volkswagen May Partner With Suzuki
German automaker Volkswagen reportedly is seeking a partnership with or stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp., various global media outlets are reporting.
The buzz is Volkswagen would take a 10 pecent stake in Suzuki, which has seen its stock rise dramatically in recent days on the news.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:35 AM under Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM: Opel Fallback Being Negotiated
General Motors has a tentative deal for Canadian-Austrian auto parts supplier Magna International for GM's German subsidiary, Opel. But, just in case, GM apparently is negotiating backup plans.
GM may sign non-binding agreements with RHJ International, a Belgian industrial company that originally bid for Opel, and Chinese automaker, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., which assembles Jeep and Hyundai vehicles in China, to take on Opel, Bloomberg News reported.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:00 AM under Companies , GM , Rumors | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Supplier Lear Preparing To File Bankruptcy, Report Says
DETROIT - One of the world's largest auto-parts suppliers, Lear Corp., is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as next week, sources have told the Wall Street Journal.
Industry experts have predicted that as automakers bring assembly plants back onstream after summer shutdowns and inventory-adjustment shutdowns, cash-strapped suppliers will not be able to come back onstream.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:55 PM under Companies , GM , Rumors | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
June Sales To Hit 10 Million SAAR; Detroit Share Improves, Edmunds.com Forecasts
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - June vehicle sales will hit their highest level of 2009 with a
Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate of 10.1 million when manufacturers report them Wednesday, Edmunds.com
forecasts.
"The SAAR is finally back in double-digits," observed Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of Industry Analysis. "We're still a long way from 16 million unit sales, but things are moving in the right direction.
General Motors and Chrysler, which both were in Chapter 11 bankruptcy during the month, are expected to post market share gains in June compared with May, proving yet-again -- contrary to conventional wisdom -- that consumers will, indeed, buy cars from a bankrupt manufacturer, at least in these current tumultuous times.
Honda and Hyundai also are forecasted to show May-to-June market share gains. The gains come at the expense of share declines for Ford, Nissan and Toyota. Despite Ford's dip, the share for Detroit automakers is estimated to come in at 47.0 percent in June, up from 46.6 percent in June 2008 and from 46.5 percent in May.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:45 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
President Obama Signs Cash for Clunkers Legislation
WASHINGTON -- It's official. President Obama has signed the Cash for Clunkers legislature that provides a financial incentive to consumers who ditch their old gas guzzler for a new fuel-efficient model.
The author of the legislation, Ohio Democratic Rep. Betty Sutton, was quoted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as saying the measure would "improve our environment and help shore up the jobs of millions of Americans who depend upon our auto and related industries for their livelihood."
(Read more...)
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Government Launches Cash for Clunkers Web site; Rules Being Written
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government launched a Web site Monday to provide consumers
with information on the so-called Cash for Clunkers legislation passed last week.
The site, www.cars.gov
, explains how the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program works, provides a list of frequently asked questions and the verbage of the law, links to the government's fuel economy ratings on vehicles
and allows consumers to sign up for updates.
The rules for the program have yet to be written, a process likely to take 30 days.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:22 AM under Companies , In the Media , News , Technology | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Global News: Karmann Builds Last Convertible; AvtoVAZ Gets Loan; Vanmaker Ends Output
In news from Europe, German coachbuilder Karmann built its last convertible Monday -- a Mercedes-Benz CLK convertible -- Russia's AvtoVAZ is going for a government loan and troubled vanmaker LDV may end U.K. production depending on who buys it.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:11 AM under Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Vehicle Quality Improves Despite Bumpy Financial Ride
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- The financial turbulence of the global auto industry has not hurt vehicle quality. Quite the opposite, according to new data released Monday by J.D. Power and Associates.
"Vehicle quality is better than it has ever been," Dave Sargent, J.D. Power's vice president of automotive research, told the Automotive Press Association here as he announced the results of the 2009 Initial Quality Study. The study measures defects reported by buyers in the first 90 days of ownership.
"There's a positive disconnect. There's no correlation between the financial side of the business and the production side," said Sargent. "Despite the turbulence on the business side and concern for the future of their own jobs, the people who design and build vehicles are getting on with their jobs and keeping their eye on the ball. That's remarkable."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:49 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Geely Closing in on Volvo?
By Bill Visnic
Yet another news report says, through a Chinese news agency citing anonymous government sources, that Chinese automaker Geely has signed a deal to purchase Volvo Cars from current owner Ford Motor Co.
Volvo and Geely are silent on the latest report, but neither company issued a denial. Volvo's official response, which could be interpreted either as dismissive or a Nordically stoic quasi-confirmation, was to call the report "speculative."
The report says the two companies continue to hammer out details, with the most intriguing aspect being that Volvo reputedly will add more Chinese production in a yet-to-be-built plant in the city of Dongguan in China's Guandong Province. Volvo Cars China already produces the S40 domestically and in March added a version of the S80 flagship at a factory in Chongging.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 2:23 PM under Business , Companies , Ford , In the Media | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Incoming Rounds in Hybrid War
By Bill Visnic
When gasoline prices plunged early this year, sales of hybrid-electric vehicles went South, too.
Quickly.
The timing may be unfortunate, but major hybrid players Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. launched new hybrids this spring -- and both seem determined to grub out a larger portion of the yo-yoing hybrid market. That battle, the latest summertime jump for gasoline prices and the U.S. auto market's continuing gyrations are once again cranking up the attention on hybrids.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:51 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Miata Designer Matano, T. Boone Pickens Part of Start-Up Car Company
MONROE, La. -- Mystery solved. Or at least the players behind it.
Mazda Miata designer Tom Matano and Texas billionaire investor T. Boone Pickens are key figures behind a car plant being established in Louisiana to build environmentally friendly vehicles by a start-up company that has never before built cars.
V-Vehicle Co., of San Diego, is a start-up company being financed by California venture capitalists. Its CEO is Frank Varasano, a former executive vice president of Oracle Corp. who is described as the project's visionary.
Company chairman is Ray Lane of the California venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, which has been extensively involved in environmentally friendly projects and companies, including Fisker Automotive. John Doerr, a managing partner with the California venture capital company, is a V-Vehicle board member. Former Vice President Al Gore recently joined the firm. Matano will direct design.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:23 PM under Business , Companies , Featured , GM , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Passes the House; Faces Senate Opposition
WASHINGTON -- Cash for Clunkers legislation passed in the House on Tuesday by a narrower margin than many had expected and now goes to the Senate Wednesday where it faces opposition by some Republicans.
The House passed the Cash for Clunkers measure as part of a $106 billion wartime spending bill by a vote of 222 to 206.
Senate Republicans see Cash for Clunkers as more handouts for the auto industry.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:34 AM under Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Washington to Auto Suppliers: No More Money
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Treasury turned down a request by auto suppliers for additional financial aid, saying it believes the supply chain is stable enough without immediate assistance -- and besides it isn't the government's role to interfere in the contraction of the supplier market.
Two trade associations representing suppliers had asked for the government to guarantee between $8 billion to $10 billion in loans so banks will lend to the suppliers. That's in addition to the $5 billion the government provided to suppliers earlier this year. Those funds are administered through automakers.
President Obama's auto task force, however, did say it would step in if the supply chain unravels and vehicle assembly plants are forced to close due to parts shortages.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:23 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Niche Automaker Koenigsegg Takes Saab Off GM's Hands
By Bill Visnic
After months of shopping it and years of unsuccessfully operating it, General Motors Corp. is selling its Saab Automobiles AB division to a tiny maker of exotic cars that will return Saab to its homeland of Sweden.
GM announced Tuesday it has a memorandum of understanding with Koenigsegg Group AB for the company to purchase Saab with the boost of a $600-million funding commitment from the European Investment Bank that is guaranteed by the Swedish government.
In a statement, GM also said it and Koenigsegg will provide "additional support" to fund Saab operations and program investments.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:49 AM under Companies , Featured , GM , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Up for Votes This Week
The so-called Cash for Clunkers legislation is up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday with a Senate vote to follow shortly. If passed, the measure should be in effect sometime between July and September.
The legislation, which allows consumers to receive vouchers worth up to $4,500 on their trade-ins of clunkers for more fuel-efficient vehicles, may generate added sales of about 500,000 new vehicles this year, said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:55 AM under Analysis , Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mystery Company To Assemble Cars in Louisiana
Baton Rouge, La. -- A company described as a well-financed start-up reportedly is close to
choosing a shuttered north Louisiana site to start a new automobile manufacturing facility -- its first, creating up to 1,500 jobs, two elected officials from the region told the Associated Press.
A formal announcement on the mystery company could come Wednesday from Gov. Bobby Jindal, Rep. Jim Fannin told the wire service.
Fannin said the vehicles would be the company's first, they would be fuel-efficient ones and they will be built at a former Guide Corp. plant.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:08 AM under Business , Companies , GM , Rumors , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Purchasing Czar Headed for Russia
Bo Andersson, who resigned last week as General Motors Corp.'s group vice president-global purchasing and supply chain, is taking a position with Russia's second-largest automaker, GAZ.
The company said Andersson, who served as GM's top procurement executive since 2001, will be the chief consultant to the Russain automaker's board of directors. GAZ is one partner in a group led by Canada's Magna International Inc. to take over GM's Adam Opel AG and most of the company's European operations, including the United Kingdom's Vauxhall.
The announcement of Andersson's departure came abruptly last week and it was speculated he could be leaving GM to be part of a new management team for GM's Saab unit, which GM also is in the process of selling and currently is under bankruptcy protection in Sweden. Andersson began his GM career as a Saab executive.
The Detroit News reported GAZ as saying there is the likelihood Andersson also will be elected to the GAZ board of directors when the company meets to elect a new board on June 29.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:32 AM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Playing Own Plants Against One Another?
By Bill Visnic
The political and financial jockeying has started among three General Motors Corp. assembly plants in competition to win the job of building a new generation of compact cars sometime around 2011.
And there is criticism GM -- currently in bankruptcy and earmarked to be more than 60 percent owned by the U.S. government -- is using the promise of the new work to coerce additional tax dollars from the three states hoping to prevail.
The company reportedly has been offered $44 million in long-term tax abatements from the township of Orion, Michigan, site of one of the three competing plants. Countering that are reports GM suggested to Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen the company might choose to build the small cars in the GM plant in Spring Hill -- if the state coughs up $200 million.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:49 AM under Business , Companies , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Announces Consumers' Top Rated Vehicle Awards
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Edmunds.com has announced the winners of the Edmunds.com Consumers' Top Rated vehicle awards for 2009.
The winners were chosen through Edmunds.com's Consumer Ratings and Reviews feature, which allows owners to evaluate their new or used vehicles in eight different categories: performance, comfort, fuel economy, driving impressions, interior design, exterior design, build quality and reliability.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:41 AM under Analysis , Companies | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Joke's on the Auto Sector - As Usual
The auto industry is an easy target for comics and this week's acquisition of the Chrysler Group by Fiat and the announcement of General Motors Corp.'s new chairman added new fuel to the comedic pyre.
Two of this week's best:
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:02 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Picks Koenigsegg as Front-Runner for Saab
General Motors has chosen Swedish luxury sports-carmaker Koenigsegg Automotive AB as the
front-runner to buy its Swedish auto company, Saab, sources have told Bloomberg News
.
Bloomberg's source said Koenigsegg was chosen because it committed to invest in restructuring Saab and because it's a carmaker.
Other bidders included U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert's Renco Group Inc. and Merbanco Inc., a group of investors from Wyoming.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:17 AM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Lexus Says Luxury Car Sales May Be Coming in From the Cold
By Bill Visnic and Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Admitting the industry and economic downturn has taken a hard toll on luxury-car sales and possibly altered, at least for awhile, customers' thinking about their "wants" versus their needs, the sales boss for Toyota Motor Sales USA's Lexus luxury division says the worst may have passed.
Mark Templin, Lexus group vice president and general manager, says luxury has been beaten down -- maybe even disproportionately in relation to the battered overall auto market -- but he believes customers will come back to luxury cars, despite enduring a once-in-a-generation recession.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:57 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Kia Plans to Sell 20,000 Forte Koup Cars This Year
SEOUL - Kia plans to sell 20,000 units of its new Forte Koup vehicle this year and 35,000 in
2010 globally, the company revealed in regulatory documents.
The automaker also said it is considering building a midsize sedan at its soon-to-open U.S. plant in Georgia. The vehicle under consideration for the plant is codenamed VG, currently sold as the Kia Amanti.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:35 AM under Business , Companies , News | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mercedes-Benz Sued by U.S. Workers for Overtime
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Daimler's Mercedes-Benz unit was sued by U.S. workers at its 
Vance, Ala., plant, claiming they are owed overtime wages because the company made them cover breaks for managers, Bloomberg News
reports.
The plant builds Mercedes' SUVs, including the M-Class, R-Class and GL-Class, none of which have been fast sellers in this recessionary economy and with the waning popularity of sport utes.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:23 AM under Companies , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Zipcar Expects Profit, To Go Public
Car-sharing service Zipcar Inc
. said it will post its first profit in the third quarter and go public in early 2010.
The company, with a fleet of 6,500 vehicles and car-sharing services in the U.S. and the U.K., expects revenues to reach $120 million this year and to hit $1 billion within a decade.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:20 AM under Business , Companies | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
U.S. House Passes Cash for Clunkers Plan
WASHINGTON - The U.S. House has approved the "cash for clunkers" bill, aimed at boosting slumping car sales and replace old vehicles on the roads with more cleaner, more fuel-efficient ones.
The House bill, approved with a vote of 298 to 119, allows consumers to turn in their vehicles for vouchers worth up to $4,500 voucher toward more fuel-efficient ones.
Nevertheless, as the House bill is constructed trying to address the environment as well as sales, it's impact will be less than it could be, according to an analysis by Edmunds.com.
"A program intended to stimulate car sales should target people in the market for a car, but this program does not," said Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl. "The only people who qualify are those willing to take no more than $4,500 for their current car and immediately buy a new one - quite a narrow profile."
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:59 PM under Companies , Featured , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Penske: Envisioning Saturn as a Global Motors
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Roger Penske's dealership group doesn't hold a single Saturn franchise, but now he's offered to buy from General Motors the whole kit and caboodle.
Penske's vision, as he laid it out in an exclusive interview with Edmunds' AutoObserver.com Friday shortly after GM and the Penske Group announced they had made a deal for Saturn, is twofold: to sell GM-made models in Saturn showrooms while shopping the globe for other vehicles to sell, eventually convincing the offshore manufacturers of those vehicles to make them in the United States.
(Penske announced on Sept. 30 it terminated discussions with GM for the purchase of Saturn.)
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:49 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , GM , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM, Penske Make a Deal for Saturn; Hummer, Opel Deals Floundering
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- General Motors confirmed Friday morning that it has a deal to sell its Saturn brand to the Penske Automotive Group. If completed, the deal would save more than 350 dealerships and 13,000 jobs at Saturn and its retailers in the United States, and would preserve the customer-focused Saturn brand, GM said in a statement.
At the same time, GM's agreement to sell Hummer to a Chinese company is hitting a roadblock with China's government, and Magna's proposed partnership with Opel looks to be floundering.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:15 AM under Companies , Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (0) |