Chrysler Starts Production of New-Age V6
A crucial symbol of Chrysler Group LLC's prospect for survival as a car company with a future came today with hitting the start button on the Trenton, MI, assembly line for Chrysler's all-new Pentastar V6 engine.
The new-generation Pentastar eventually will supplant no less than seven dated V6 engines, Chrysler says, but its first application is a critical one: the Pentastar is the standard engine for the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, due for showrooms in the second quarter.
"The Pentastar engine is a cornerstone of Chrysler's efforts to re-invent its business model with strong, brand-focused, world-class quality products," Scott Garberding, head of manufacturing, summarized in a statement.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:31 PM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
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 13.2 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."
(Read more...)
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:36 PM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Toyota | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:57 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:02 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured , In the Media , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota on Sikes' Runaway Prius: We're Not Buying It
James Sikes said last week the accelerator on his 2008 Toyota Prius hybrid-electric vehicle 
stuck open and the car took him prisoner on a 20-minute high-speed run on a San Diego freeway.
After examining and testing Sikes' Prius for two days, Toyota Motor Corp. engineers effectively are saying, "No sell."
Sikes' account of the event, in which he said his Prius accelerated of its own accord to speeds as high as 94 mph, has come under increasing skepticism in the week since it was reported, initially by Sikes himself calling 911. Now Toyota's investigation results -- although some will brand them as anything but unbiased -- add more doubt regarding Sikes' credibility.
"While a final report is not yet complete, there are strong indications that the driver's account of the event is inconsistent with the findings of the preliminary analysis," Toyota said in a press conference Monday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:45 PM under Featured , News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (3) | 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.
(Read more...)
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:50 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Incentives Buoy Sales to 12.5 Million SAAR in Early March, Edmunds.com Reports
Hefty incentives offered by Toyota to rejuvenate sales and market share -- and copied by some competitors - sent U.S. industry sales soaring in the early going of March, according to Edmunds.com's forecast.
In the first eight days of March, the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of U.S. sales climbed to 12.5 million units, the highest level since September 2008, excluding August 2009 when Cash for Clunkers was at fever pitch.
"Generous incentives from Toyota and General Motors have stimulated this boom," Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Ray Zhou, PhD. "But we anticipate that it will cool off, and that the month will end closer to 11 million or so."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:43 AM under Analysis , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:22 AM under Companies , Featured | Comments (12) | digg this | del.icio.us
No Big Wins for Automotive Advertisers at Oscars
And the Oscar for the best advertising performance during the Academy Awards show 
goes to -- Hyundai.
But barely.
Indeed, Hyundai brand and, specifically, the Hyundai Sonata got the most lift from Sunday night's Academy Awards presentation, based on an analysis of shopping consideration by consumers visiting Edmunds.com.
However, though the viewing audience for the show was the biggest in five years, advertising on the Oscars proved not much of a win for automotive marketers.
In general, Edmunds.com saw little significant impact on shopping consideration from any of the automotive ads that aired on the Academy Awards. In fact, auto advertising performance on the show was pathetic compared with the Super Bowl.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:25 PM under Analysis , Featured , In the Media | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Refutes Researcher's Simulation of Unintended Acceleration
Toyota Motor Corp. battled back yesterday against a hurricane of negative publicity and Congressional calls for action related to unintended acceleration in its Toyota- and Lexus-brand vehicles.
The controversy takes a new twist as Toyota and Exponent Inc., the high-profile engineering consultancy and troubleshooter the company has hired, demonstrated the unintended acceleration-causing conditions produced in a highly publicized test for Safety Research and Strategies Inc. conducted by Dr. David Gilbert, an associate professor of automotive technology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, are highly unlikely to occur under real-world conditions.
The Exponent team also showed that the design of Toyota's wiring for its electronically controlled throttle - the component suspected to be at the root of unintended acceleration - is engineered to prevent the potential for the kind of failure Gilbert's testing generated.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:58 PM under Featured , In the Media , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Powerful Divisional General Managers Are History in New GM Management Restructuring
An executive position at General Motors Co. with a long tradition for power and attracting 
ambitious -- and often quirky -- personalities has been eliminated in the top-to-bottom management restructuring GM unveiled for its four sales divisions last week.
The role of division general manager -- the executive who for decades wielded the almighty last word on everything from marketing to manufacturing -- is gone, the historic position replaced by a structure that assigns sales and marketing functions to separate executives at each of the Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick/GMC divisions.
"It's become extremely clear to me since taking this role that there is a better way to structure this organization," Mark Reuss, GM North America president, said in detailing the new management configuration. "The premise of the structure is simple -- a clearer marketing focus to sell more vehicles, and freeing our sales and service experts to focus on customers and dealers.
"We've worked with a small group of executives to align this model and appoint the best candidates for each job," he added.
Say goodbye to one of the last vestiges of GM's management-style history: the single and all-powerful division general manager.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:40 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Purchase Intent Soars After Incentives Announced, Edmunds.com Reports
Toyota's zero-percent financing and special lease deals generated nearly a 40-percent spike 
in purchase intent by visitors to Edmunds.com.
In January, Toyota's purchase intent averaged just over 13 percent and then fell to a 9.7-percent low as a result of the recall announcements.
On March 1, Toyota purchase intent had recovered to 13 percent. A day later, when the incentives program was announced, Toyota purchase intent soared to 18 percent -- a 14-month high.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:28 AM under Analysis , Featured , Toyota | Comments (5) | 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.
(Read more...)
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.
(Read more...)
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.
(Read more...)
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.
(Read more...)
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:34 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Chief Leaves Legislators With Little Resolution
Other than apologizing to a raft of House of Representatives lawmakers for accidents 
involving their constituents and pledging to improve the company's quality, communications and transparency, Akio Toyoda, president and CEO of embattled Toyota Motor Corp., didn't give Congress much to chew on after a day of exhaustive testimony in Washington, DC.
Testifying for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform along with Yoshimi Inaba, president and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Toyoda was hampered by the need to mostly speak through an interpreter and by delivering precious little in the way of definitive answers for House members desperate to produce public satisfaction.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:01 AM under Featured , News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Why the Toyota Puzzle Doesn't Fit Together - For Anybody
It was frustration, not answers, that came out of the House of Representatives Committee on 
Energy and Commerce investigation into Toyota Motor Corp.'s wide-ranging recalls for vehicles alleged, for different causes, to have unintended acceleration.
There were just two definitive take-aways from Tuesday's exhaustive hearing -- neither of which goes anywhere toward explaining whether mechanical, electrical or software faults could be at the root of thousands of consumer complaints of unintended acceleration and the recall of millions of Toyota vehicles.
Those two absolutes:
1. Toyota knew of an unintended acceleration trend -- evidenced in vehicles worldwide -- and now executives essentially are admitting the company underplayed its potential importance.
2. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the governing body charged with riding herd on automakers to assure action in such matters, wasn't doing its job.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:32 AM under Commentary , Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (12) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Seems Exposed in Electronics Investigation Methods
With Congressional investigators saying Toyota Motor Corp. "failed its customers" and 
independent engineering experts testifying electronics and software programming for electronically controlled throttles perhaps are not as foolproof as Toyota believes, the first day of testimony in hearings about millions of recalled Toyota vehicles has Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration appearing incompetent, indifferent and perhaps even scoffing about potential dangers and consumer concerns.
Several members of the House of Representatves Committee on Energy and Commerce in a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday are calling Toyota dismissive and NHTSA ill-responsive and blow-offish.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:09 PM under Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota's Lentz Admits Slow Response on Safety Issues, Promises Improvement
Toyota's top U.S. sales executive will tell Congressmen Tuesday that the automaker was too 
slow to act on safety issues, was poor at communicating but will do better in the future.
"It has taken us too long to come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our good faith efforts," Jim Lentz, Toyota Motor Sales president and COO will tell the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. His statement, to be read to the committee, was released by Toyota Tuesday morning.
Lentz said the automaker's slow reaction has been "compounded by poor communications both within our company and with regulators and consumers."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:25 AM under Featured , News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Leads in NHTSA Unintended Acceleration Complaints, Edmunds.com Analysis Shows
Of the Big Six automakers selling vehicles in the United States, Toyota - as a manufacturer 
and as an individual brand - has the most consumer complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for unintended acceleration, according to an Edmunds.com analysis of the government safety agency's data bases.
Unintended acceleration will be the hot topic of Congressional hearings Tuesday and Wednesday on Toyota's recalls for sticking accelerator pedals and floormats that can trap the gas pedal. Both situations have the potential to cause unintended acceleration.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:21 PM under Chrysler , Featured , Ford , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
NHTSA on the Hot Seat: What is Standard Operating Procedure?
At Congressional hearings this week, federal administrators responsible for automotive 
safety will be on the hot seat as much as Toyota executives will be.
Amid accusations of foot dragging and influence pedaling regarding the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Toyota and their handling of consumer complaints and recalls, safety administrators likely will be grilled about what is standard operating procedure in dealing with consumers' complaints. The overriding question at the hearings will be was NHTSA lax in holding Toyota's feet to the fire on vehicle problems.
Edmunds.com's analysis of NHTSA databases reveals little consistency in dealing with consumer complaints. The analysis shows no clear pattern in terms of the number of consumer complaints that trigger an agency investigation. The length of time it takes from an investigation to a recall being issued varies widely.
Whether NHTSA's process works properly and quickly enough and whether it is transparent enough is highly questionable. Ultimately, this week's Congressional hearings may be as revealing in uncovering defects at NHTSA as defects in Toyotas.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:10 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM , Toyota | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
On Eve of Congressional Hearings, Internal Memos Cast Toyota in Unsavory Light
Toyota Motor Corp., girding for what is certain to be a combative inquest from two separate 
House of Representatives committees this week, will not be starting off on the right foot after leaks of internal memos that could be construed as gloating about coercing favorable regulatory reaction to reports about potentially unsafe vehicles.
Most damning, perhaps, is a memo outlining a presentation in which a company executive lists as a "win" efforts that negotiated a fairly low-level recall of some 55,000 vehicles in 2007 to replace floormats.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:00 AM under Featured , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
A Glimpse of the Feeding Frenzy Toyota Faces
This week, Toyota President Akio Toyoda and other Toyota executives are scheduled 
to testify before two Congressional committees regarding the automaker's recall of millions of vehicles. The committees, which will hear from other industry experts as well, will attempt to answer the question of whether the public is at risk.
Toyota's recalls have generated massive amounts of global media and dozens of lawsuits. Toyota has hired a crisis management team to help with the hearings and the public relations effort that got off to a bungled start.
For a glimpse of what might be going on behind the scenes leading up to the hearings and how the hearings might play out, AutoObserver turned to Ford public relations veteran Jon Harmon, now an author and crisis management consultant. His book, Feeding Frenzy, published last October, tells the riveting behind-the-scenes story of the deadly rollover accidents involving Ford Explorers equipped with Firestone and subsequent recalls. Like Toyota is now, Ford faced intense media scrutiny, aggressive trial lawyers and an angry U.S. Congress.
Here's an excerpt covering Ford's preparation for and experience in Congressional hearings:
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:10 AM under Commentary , Featured , Ford , In the Media , Toyota | Comments (1) | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:43 PM under Companies , Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Revamped Ford Edges the Competition, Edmunds Readers Say
With the rest of the country focused on digging out from Snowmageddon or digging deeper 
into Toyota's recalls and fixes, the annual Chicago Auto Show opened its doors last weekend for the 102nd time.
Perhaps it's fitting then that enthusiasts on Edmunds' Inside Line aren't buzzing about the 40th Anniversary Nissan 370Z or the "Furious Fucshia" Dodge Challenger SRT8 or even the 552-hp Lexus LFA, each clamoring for attention on the floor of Chicago's McCormick Place, as much as they are about a certain domestic crossover that's had a mid-cycle refresh.
Yep, it's true -- they're wild about the 2011 Ford Edge.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:10 AM under Featured , Ford | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyoda Leads Quality Task Force But Is a Washington No-Show
Toyota Motor Co. President Akio Toyoda, in a press conference held in Japan, said he would personally lead a global task force to improve quality-control management, but he would not appear at Congressional hearings in Washington next week.
In his third news conference in two weeks, Toyoda also said the automaker is examining steering complaints on its Toyota Corolla. A recall of the Corolla, one of the world's best-selling cars, is possible.
Toyoda further confirmed the automaker plans to install brake-override systems in its future models. He said Toyota also will make better use of the onboard black boxes in its vehicles to alert management to problems.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:58 AM under Featured , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota vs. NHTSA: The Posturing Begins
With the first of a series of Congressional hearings only a week away, posturing by Toyota 
and the federal safety agency in charge of watching Toyota and other automakers has begun.
Both will be on hot seats during the hearings, and both are attempting to put themselves in the best light possible between now and then.
On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was using its statutory authority to force Toyota to provide paperwork showing when and how the automaker learned of the defects that led to the recall of million of vehicles in the U.S. The government safety agency wants to determine of the recall were conducted "in a timely manner."
At the same time, Toyota Motor Co. President Akio Toyoda is preparing to brief the media Wednesday evening in Japan. He is expected to provide detail the global task force he is leading to revamp Toyota's quality control system.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:42 AM under Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Firms Up Mercury's Future
The reports of Mercury's death just became even more exaggerated.
Dealers for Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln-Mercury division were told at this week's National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Orlando, that the weakly-endowed Mercury lineup will get a big boost come next year: Mercury is slated to get a version of the hot-looking and much-hyped (perhaps deservedly so) 2012 Ford Focus.
The choice of potential names might not be so hot: dealers told reporters at the convention Ford could revive the unflattering Tracer name for the planned Mercury-badged variant of the Focus. The Focus goes on sale in the U.S. about a year from now.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:16 AM under Featured , Ford | Comments (1) | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:52 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
COMMENTARY: Costs, Congress and Toyota's Fall from Grace
My boss reckons one consequence of Toyota Motor Corp.'s new and extraordinary quality-safety blunders is that the price of new cars is going to go up.
Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl suggests in a piece posted Thursday on AutoObserver that consumers should prepare themselves to pay for the increased safety the furor over the Toyota revelations seems to be demanding. And they will likely have to pay for the correspondingly amped-up regulatory oversight that also will be an inevitable outcome once Washington gets involved at the end of the month.
Our vehicles have become astoundingly, statistically safe. The question of the moment is: are we willing to pay whatever's required to move them closer to being absolutely safe?
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:00 AM under Commentary , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Set to Overtake Beleaguered Toyota in 2010, Edmunds.com Predicts
Toyota's mounting product quality and public image woes have prompted Edmunds.com to 
revamp its sales forecast for 2010, lowering Toyota's share and raising the share of other automakers.
Edmunds.com's most current forecast of 11.5 million vehicle sales for 2010 has Toyota losing market share that will be picked up by Ford, General Motors and Honda.
Ford's sales gain, in fact, likely will push the American automaker to the No. 2 sales spot in the United States, ahead of Toyota, Edmunds.com predicts. Toyota took the No. 2 position from Ford in 2007 and has held it ever since.
"It now seems clear that Ford will overtake Toyota to reclaim its position as the second biggest automaker in the U.S. market," Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell said at the Chicago auto show.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:32 AM under Analysis , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (9) | 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
Toyota Recalls 437,000 Hybrids Globally, Including Toyota Prius
Toyota Motor Co., as expected, announced Tuesday the global recall of 437,000 hybrid 
models, including the Toyota Prius and Lexus HS 250h, to fix faulty braking systems.
The latest recall covers four models and brings the total number of recalled vehicles for various problems to about 8 million worldwide.
Toyota Motor Co. President Akio Toyoda announced the hybrid recall at a press conference in Japan Tuesday. As he did at a press conference last Friday, Toyoda, grandson of the company founder, apologized for causing customers to worry about Toyota's quality and safety and vowed to "redouble our commitment to quality."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:58 AM under Featured , News , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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.
(Read more...)
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
President Toyoda Assures Toyotas Are Safe, Customers Are Top Priority
In his first public appearance since Toyota's quality issues captured global headlines, Akio Toyoda, Toyota Motor Corp. CEO and grandson of the company founder, told the media in Japan Friday that Toyotas insisted are safe to drive and customers remain the automaker's top priority. He apologized for causing customers' worry.
"The fact that we have caused such concern is a cause of regret for us," he said in the press conference, which was not aired globally but was blogged live by the Wall Street Journal. "We are all working in unison to establish confidence again ... We have to earn back the trust of our customers."
Toyoda said he has spoken with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who earlier this week announced he wanted to talk with the Toyota CEO. However, Toyoda would share little of those discussions. "We aim to cooperate fully with the U.S. authorities," he said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:19 AM under Featured , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Announces Fusion, Milan Hybrid Brake Fix
In response to customer complaints about unusual brake feel, Ford has announced it will update software on the brakes of some 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrids and 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrids.
"We have received reports that some drivers have experienced a different brake feel when the hybrid's unique regenerative brakes switch to conventional hydraulic braking," Ford's statement issued Thursday afternoon said. "While the vehicles maintain full braking capability, customers may initially perceive the condition as loss of brakes."
Ford's announcement comes as Toyota tries to figure out what to do about complaints regarding the Toyota Prius' brakes.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:56 PM under Featured , Ford , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Despite Quality Woes, Toyota Turns a Profit, Admits Prius Brake Problems
Despite recalls, stop-sales orders on some of its best-selling models and other mounting quality concerns, Toyota 
announced Thursday it had earned money in the previous quarter and raised its earnings forecast for the year, saying it will return to profitability this year.
Toyota's profit forecast comes as the automaker's quality issues are increasing. Toyota's latest quality problem involves its high-profile Prius -- the world's best-selling hybrid car -- that company executives admitted Thursday has brake issues.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:07 AM under Business , Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
January Whacks Toyota, But Sales Firm for Other Makers
The U.S. auto market in January continued its recent strengthening trend, with overall sales just shy of 700,000 vehicles (698,456 vehicles) for the month rising by nearly 7 percent compared with 654,757 vehicles in a very weak January 2009. The seasonally adjusted light-vehicle sales rate ticked up to about 10.76 million units versus last year's 9.59 million - and roughly in line with the firming picture of recent months.
Toyota was clearly the biggest loser in January due to its recalls and stop-sales order on eight of its bestsellers. Yet, January's results varied widely for its top competitors that may have tried to take advantage of Toyota's problems with special incentives meant to lure disaffected Toyota customers in particular.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:17 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Already Recovering from Recall, Edmunds.com Data Shows
Since announcing the fix for its sticky pedals Monday, Toyota already is experiencing a dramatic rise in purchase intent among shoppers on Edmunds.com's Web site.
"Toyota purchase intent fell from 13.9 percent of Edmunds.com car shoppers to 9.7 percent during the height of the recall frenzy," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst David Tompkins, PhD. "Toyota purchase intent is back to 11.8 percent and seems to be climbing steadily."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:58 PM under Analysis , Featured , Toyota | Comments (1) | 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
Incentive Plans Take Aim at Vulnerable Toyota with Mixed Reviews
Smelling "blood in the water" as NBC Today's show host Matt Lauer noted in a Monday morning interview with Toyota's top executive, Toyota's competitors have launched a host of incentives aimed at luring into their folds once-loyal, but now-shaken Toyota owners and shoppers who are concerned about Toyota's latest recalls, stop-sales and halt of production of its eight best-selling models. Toyota announced a fix to the problem on Monday.
Sales results posted by all automakers in the U.S. Tuesday will reveal if these shark-like maneuvers are working. Meantime, the promotions themselves have been earnings mixed reviews by visitors to Edmunds.com's sites.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:18 AM under Featured , Toyota | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Fixing Sticking Accelerator Pedals with 'Simple and Effective' Modification
Toyota Motor Corp., its reputation for unparalleled quality challenged by a recall of millions of vehicles for potentially unsafe sticking accelerator pedals, said Monday its engineers have devised a modification for the electronically controlled accelerator-pedal modules that the company can begin to deploy in a week or so.
"Nothing is more important to us than the safety and reliability of the vehicles our customers drive," said Jim Lentz, president and Chief Operating Officer, TMS. "We deeply regret the concern that our recalls have caused for our customers and we are doing everything we can - as fast as we can - to make things right."
Lentz was scheduled to appear on NBC's "Today" show Monday morning. He will hold a news briefing later in the morning.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:12 PM under Featured , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Sales Socked with 75-Percent Drop, Edmunds.com Forecasts
Toyota-brand sales will drop 75 percent during the sales suspension of its eight best-selling models and some potential Lexus and Scion sales will be collateral damage.
"As long as sales of recalled Toyota models are suspended, Toyota will suffer about a 75 percent hit in sales," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Ray Zhou, PhD.
Even though no Lexus of Scion models are covered under the sticky gas pedal recall and sales suspension, their sales may be down as well.
"During this period, Scion may be down about 20 percent and Lexus may be down about 10 percent because of damage to the Toyota corporate brand," added Zhou.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:55 PM under Analysis , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | 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.
(Read more...)
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
Ford Earns $2.7 Billion Profit in Tumultuous 2009
Ford Motor Co. reported Thursday it earned a $2.7-billion profit for 2009, its first profit in four years that came during one of the worst years in decades for global vehicle sales and auto company profits. The past year's performance led Ford to boldly declare it plans to be profitable for all of 2010. Ford's previous plan called for not being profitable until 2011.
"While we still face significant business environment challenges ahead, 2009 was a pivotal year for Ford and the strongest proof yet that our One Ford plan is working and that we are forging a path toward profitable growth by working together as one team, leveraging our global scale," Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement released Thursday morning.
"In every part of the world, we are providing customers with great products, building a stronger business and contributing to a better world," he added. "Our progress has helped us gain market share in most of our major markets."
Indeed, Ford's fortunes have vastly improved, largely because the company has tackled the basics: building and selling vehicles buyers want, enabling Ford to boost sales and gain market share, commanding higher prices and collecting higher profit margins against the backdrop of a reduced cost structure.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:32 AM under Featured , Ford | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Details Pedal Problem to Dealers; New Supplier Sought
Dealers are receiving more detailed information from Toyota regarding the recall and sales suspension of the eight models with possible sticking accelerator pedals, a problem Toyota blames on a supplier.
Dealer sources have provided Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com, with documents they received from Toyota Tuesday that provide more specifics on just which vehicles are or are not included in the lastest action, how to inspect the pedal for the supplier that produced its accelerator mechanism, and what dealers should do with the vehicles on their lots and brought in by customers.
Vehicles affected are equipped with an accelerator mechanism produced by an Elkhart, Indiana-based supplier, CTS Corp. Others equipped with a mechanism made by Japanese supplier Denso are not affected.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:04 AM under Featured , Toyota | Comments (9) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Suspends Sales, Production of Its Bestsellers
In an unprecedented move, Toyota announced Tuesday that it was suspending sales and production of eight Toyota-brand models -- some of its bestsellers -- due to safety concerns regarding sticking accelerator pedals on vehicles that only last week were covered in the company's latest recall.
"Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company," said Group Vice President and Toyota Division General Manager Bob Carter. "This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized. We're making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible."
Vehicles that will not be for sale temporarily are the: 2009-2010 RAV4; 2009-2010 Corolla; 2009-2010 Matrix; 2005-2010 Avalon; certain 2007-2010 Camry; 2010 Highlander; 2007-2010 Tundra; and 2008-2010 Sequoia.
No Lexus Division or Scion vehicles are affected by these actions. Also not affected are Toyota Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser and select Camry models, including all Camry hybrids. Those models will remain for sale.
In addition, Toyota also said it will halt production of the affected vehicles beginning the week of Feb. 1. Toyota did not say how long plants would be idle.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:38 PM under Featured , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Recall, Murky Messaging Spurs Consumer Mistrust
Discussion of Toyota quality and recalls on Edmunds.com has heated up again after the automaker's announcement last Thursday that it is recalling another 2.3 million vehicles.
In Edmunds' CarSpace Forums, Toyota owners are sharing personal experiences with what they say or wonder are accelerator issues in Corollas and Camrys - even some Siennas, despite the fact that the minivan isn't covered by the recall. One comment signs off as "Afraid Camry Owner."
Others defend Toyota, citing its history of quality and the customers' own good experience with their vehicles. Some readers blame recent problems not on Toyota but on suppliers and the American assembly of Toyota vehicles.
It's a debate that Toyota no doubt would like to end. But so far even the company's best public relations efforts appear to have led only to mounting consumer mistrust and an increasing lack of confidence in its vehicles.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:43 AM under Featured , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Whitacre Stays on as CEO To Create Stability
General Motors Chairman Ed Whitacre announced Monday morning that he will stay on as 
permanent CEO at the request of the automaker's board of directors. Whitacre said the board called off a search as it looked to create a stable situation at the company that went into and out of bankruptcy and has had a series of CEOs in the past year.
"The board asked me at a special meeting last week if I would be willing to stay on," Whitacre said at a press conference Monday. "I'm honored and pleased to accept this role. It's a great company with a terrific future, and I'd like to be part of it."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:39 AM under Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Recalls 2.3 Million Vehicles for Sticky Gas Pedal
Toyota issued another major safety recall late Thursday -- this one for 2.3 million Toyota- brand vehicles to correct sticking accelerator pedals.
The newest recall is in addition to an ongoing recall of 4.2 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles for sticking gas pedals due to the wrong floormat being in the car or an improperly placed floormat. About 1.7 million vehicles are covered by both recalls.
Toyota vehicles listed in the latest recall represent the biggest sellers for the automaker once known for bulletproof quality. In fact, the models covered under the recall account for more than two-thirds of Toyota brand's sales.
They are the: 2009-'10 RAV4, Corolla and Matrix; 2005-'10 Avalon; 2007-'10 Camry; 2010 Highlander, 2007-'10 Tundra and 2008-'10 Sequoia.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:07 PM under Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (2) | 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
Detroit Auto Show Debuts Generate Edmunds.com Buzz
The North American International Auto Show in Detroit just opened its doors to the public on Saturday, but already some vehicles introduced during the previous week's press preview have been generating substantial buzz on Edmunds.com.
Vehicles driving the biggest increases in Edmunds.com's site traffic are: Audi A8; Buick Regal GS concept; Ford Focus; Ford Transit Connect; and Honda CR-Z.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:39 AM under Analysis , Featured , Ford | Comments (1) | 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
Corvette Drops to 50-Year Sales Low as High-End Sports Cars Sputter
When automakers revealed 2009 full-year sales on January 4, data analysts from 
Edmunds.com unearthed a remarkable fact: sales of General Motor Co.'s seminal Chevrolet Corvette sports car fell to a low not seen in almost 50 years.
The Corvette's 13,934 sales were the worst for the nameplate since 1961, when Chevrolet sold 10,939 models - and the car was still in its first generation.
As recently as 2006, Chevrolet sold more than two-and-a-half times as many Corvettes -- 36,518 -- as it did last year, as sales for almost all premium sports cars were pummeled.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:12 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM | Comments (7) | 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
Ford Sweeps Car and Truck of the Year Awards
The Ford Fusion Hybrid and the Ford Transit Connect won the 2010 North American Car and 
Truck of the Year awards, it was announced Monday morning at the Detroit auto show.
The Fusion Hybrid won over two other finalists for the prestigious award -- the Buick LaCrosse and Volkswagen Golf. The Transit Connect beat out the Chevrolet Equinox and Subaru Outback.
"Winning both of these prestigious awards is confirmation that the One Ford plan is working, delivering industry-leading product for our customers," said Mark Fields, Ford president of The Americas.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:38 AM under Featured , Ford , GM , News | Comments (1) | 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
GM's Whitacre Sees Chance for 2010 Profit, Little Hope for Saab
General Motors Chairman and Interim CEO Ed Whitacre said the automaker has a shot at earning a profit in 2010, but he sees little hope to a rescue of Saab.
In a wide-ranging conversation with media in Detroit on Wednesday, Whitacre said GM's top priority to is earn a profit so that it can pay back its government loans and become a public company again. Going public wouldn't happen earlier than late this year, however.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:18 PM under Featured , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (3) | 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
Despite Year-End Blitz, Incentives Costs Dip, Edmunds.com Reports
Despite the year-end incentives blitz and holiday marketing campaigns, automakers actually spent less on incentives in December than they did a year ago or even in November.
Edmunds.com estimates the average automotive manufacturer incentive was $2,542 per vehicle sold in December, down $167, or 6.2 percent, from November, and down $320, or 11.2 percent, from December 2008.
"In December, only about a quarter of new cars sold were leftover 2009 models. That sent the average incentive expenditure lower compared to November and last December when the old model-year vehicles made up closer to half of the new car sales," said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com's director of Industry Analysis.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:33 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Car Sales Surged at December's End, Edmunds.com Reports
Car shopping on Edmunds.com surged in the waning days of December, prompting the Web site to suggest sales for the month may come in higher than previously expected -- and could be the highest non Cash for Clunker month of the year.
"The industry potentially could reach a seasonal sales rate of 11.7 million vehicles in December, given the current site traffic trend," noted Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell.
"Our Web site activity is through the roof," added Caldwell. "That makes sense as there are so many bargain-hunters scrambling to get year-end deals and cash in on the sales tax deduction opportunity that expires on December 31st."
An improving economy likely has helped as well. Edmunds.com Web activity in late December is 60 percent higher than the historical pattern for the period. Brands enjoying particularly strong activity are BMW, Ford, Honda and General Motors' Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn brands.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:48 AM under Analysis , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ready To Set Record-Low Sales, Chrysler Heads for 2010 in Reverse
A little more than a month after Chrysler Group LLC outlined a new five-year plan to 
restructure and reinvigorate the company as it combines operations with Italy's Fiat S.p.A., the market isn't helping Chrysler's plan look any less overreaching: sales plunged again last month; the company is cutting production and layering on incentives; and the new-product pipeline is scanty as ever.
Chrysler's limping finish to 2009 and dim prospects to start the new year are underscored by this simple fact: when full-year results are tallied, the company will sell less than 1 million units in the U.S. for the first time since 1962.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:16 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured | Comments (4) | 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:
(Read more...)
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 Decade's Winners and Losers: The Data
Not only is 2009, one of the single most tumultuous years for the auto industry, drawing to a 
close, but so is the first decade of a new century.
As the year winds down, data analysts at Edmunds.com are cranking away at numbers that are certain not only to entertain but also demonstrate how cataclysmic 2009 turned out to be, particularly viewed through the prism of a closing decade's worth of sales-performance trends: market share destroyed, market share gained. Years of growth turned upside down. Surprising sales-volume gains, foreboding losses.
The ever-present import-versus-domestic battle in almost startling perspective.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:05 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | 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
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
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
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
GM's Whitacre Outlines Automaker's Short-Term Game Plan
In his first media roundtable since adding CEO to his 
title only 14 days ago, General Motors Chairman Ed Whitacre said: the automaker would pay back $6.7 billion in government loans by June; selling more cars and generating revenue are GM's top priorities; and a sale of Sweden's Saab to Dutch sportsmaker Spyker is "possible."
Whitacre, the retired CEO of AT&T who became GM chairman at the request of President Obama's automotive task force following GM's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 10, said GM will make a $1.2 billion payment on the loan it received from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) this month.
GM then intends to make quarterly payments until June 2010 when it will pay in full the $6.7 billion in TARP funds it owes. At the same time, GM will make payments on its loans from the Ontario and Canadian governments.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:11 AM under Featured , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
What Vehicles at LA Show Will Win in the Market?
With the doors closed last weekend on the 2009 Los Angeles auto show, the vehicles that premiered there will soon be arriving in dealer showrooms. What ones will sell in the marketplace?
To answer that question, AutoObserver watched the behavior of Edmunds.com visitors who came to the car-shopping Web site for vehicle information and turned to Edmunds.com staffers who covered the show.
Edmunds.com visitors appeared most interested in the Buick Regal, Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 2 and Toyota Sienna, with those vehicles seeing the biggest rise in shopping consideration.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:54 AM under Analysis , Commentary , Featured , GM , Hyundai, Kia , Mazda , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Beijing Automotive Buys Some Saab Assets
General Motors confirmed Monday morning it had reached an agreement with Beijing 
Automotive Industry Holdings Co., Ltd. to sell some Saab assets to the Chinese automaker.
Meantime, talks with potential bidders to buy the rest of the Swedish automaker continue. The deal with BAIC could improve GM's prospects for finding a buyer for Saab, though Saab's survival remains questionable.
"This arrangement (with BAIC) is excellent for both parties, now and for the future," Jan Anke Jonsson, Saab Automobile managing director, said in a statement. "We have developed a good relationship with BAIC and look forward to working with them to integrate this Saab technology into their future vehicles."
No financial details were revealed.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:05 AM under Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
New GM North America Boss Tightening Up the Team
In webchat with a "consumer" audience that seemingly was populated by plenty of industry-savvy questioners, new General Motors Co. North America president Mark Reuss said Friday one of his first initiatives since assuming his new role early this month will be to streamline some of the corporate structure.
Reuss said his planned new system comprises just five direct reports that are "laser focused" on sales, marketing, manufacturing, Canada/Mexico and GM's OnStar telematics-service unit. He said recently-resigned CEO Fritz Henderson "had a lot more to do," inferring that the reporting to Reuss can be simplified because of the different duties of CEO and North American president positions.
Reuss also insinuated he will be working to solidify the ties between GM's North American engineering activities and its Adam Opel AG European Operations. After a lengthy period in which GM made preparations to sell off Opel, the company's board decided to retain the division. Now, Reuss said, he plans to leverage the engineering and product-development experience at Opel to the benefit of all GM vehicles.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 2:30 PM under Business , Featured , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevy Boss, Another GM "Lifer," To Retire
General Motors Co.'s crucial Chevrolet division has a new general manager as yet another long-serving executive is leaving GM.
The company announced late Wednesday that Brent Dewar, 31-year GM veteran and vice president, global Chevrolet, will retire effective April 1, 2010. Taking over immediately as Chevrolet general manager is 45-year-old James M. Campbell, who had been in charge of GM's Fleet and Commercial Operations.
Since GM emerged from bankruptcy in mid-July, chairman Ed Whitacre has emphasized GM is striving for younger faces and fresher thinking -- not to mention fresh blood from outside -- to reinvigorate GM's hidebound executive culture.
Chevrolet's new general manager is appropriately young, perhaps, but is no newbie at GM, having been with the company since 1988.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:19 PM under Analysis , Business , Featured , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (4) | 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
Latest GM Shakeout Possible Precursor to Lutz Departure
Since 2001, Bob Lutz has been the North Star for everyone who cares about the product at 
General Motors Co.
But the GM executive firmament is rapidly evolving thanks to a Big Bang orchestrated by chairman and temp-CEO Ed Whitacre, one that likely will lead to Lutz's departure sooner than later, some GM insiders believe.
The de-emphasis of vice chairman Lutz's role (although not title) to "advisor" on global product development and design could be the result of persistent rumors there's not enough room in a room for both Lutz's and Whitacre's egos.
Or it could be just what it appears: at 77, Lutz is a highly visible contradiction to everything Whitacre -- and the government-dominated GM board of directors -- professes needs to change with GM's moribund "lifer" executive culture: that GM management is dominated by executives who are too old or have been at GM too long. Or both.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:57 AM under Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (1) | 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
GM Details Management Shuffle
General Motors made official a number of key leadership changes, including the elevation of 
Mark Reuss, a 46-year-old engineer and "car guy," to president of GM North America, Nick Reilly to president of GM Europe and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz becomes an advisor on design and product development.
"I want to give people more responsibility and authority deeper in the organization and then hold them accountable," said GM chairman and interim CEO Ed Whitacre, in a statement. "We've realigned our leadership duties and responsibilities to help us meet our mission to design, build and sell the world's best vehicles."
Reuss served ever so briefly as vice president of global engineering after being brought back early as head of Holden in Australia.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:56 AM under Business , Featured , News , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
More GM Gyrations: Lutz To Be Reassigned, Reports Say
General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is being reassigned to a new role and some younger execs will be moved up in the continuing shake-up of the management ranks, being 
outlined later Friday morning.
Chairman Ed Whitacre, who replaced ousted Fritz Henderson as interim CEO, is building a team until a replacement CEO can be found, Bloomberg News reports.
Younger managers are being given "more prominent" positions, thus triggering the reassignment of 77-year-old Lutz to a product adviser role, the Wall Street Journal reports. Board member and auto analyst Stephen Girsky becomes an adviser; Mark Reuss, recently appointed vice president of global engineering, gets an expanded role, Bloomberg reports.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:08 AM under Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (0) | 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
GM's Henderson Resigns, Whitacre Takes Over
General Motors' CEO Fritz Henderson has resigned and government-appointed chairman Ed 
Whitacre has assumed control as interim CEO of the automaker. A search for a CEO begins immediately, Whitacre confirmed late Tuesday at a hastily scheduled press conference at which he refused to answer questions.
The decision had been made at the GM's board of directors monthly meeting earlier in the day.
In a prepared statement that Whitacre read to reporters gathered at GM's global headquarters in Detroit's Renaissance Center and aired via webcast, Whitacre praised Henderson for his career-long service to GM, including steering the automaker through bankruptcy this past summer. But his statement indicated that while progress had been made post bankruptcy, the pace need to accelerate.
"While momentum has been building over the past several months, all involved agree that changes needed to be made," said Whitacre, retired chairman of AT&T and former college professor.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:47 PM under Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Incentives Edge Higher in November, Edmunds.com Estimates
Higher Incentives on 2010 models, luxury cars, Hondas, Toyotas and General Motors' orphan brands along with an increase in leasing and lease deals pushed the average automaker incentive in November beyond that of October and that of November a year ago.
Edmunds.com estimates the average incentive at $2,713 per vehicle sold in November, up $52, or 1.9 percent, from October , and up $32, or 1.9 percent, from November 2008.
"With inventories of 2009s being cleared away and 2010 models hitting dealership lots in greater -- more normal -- numbers for this time of year, incentives on those new models are increasing," stated Jessica Caldwell, Director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:52 AM under Featured , GM , Toyota | 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
After a Wooly Weekend, Saab Still in Play
Thanksgiving week saw the blow-up of yet another deal for a cast-off General Motors Co. 
brand, but unsurprisingly, nobody's yet declaring Saab Automobile a dead turkey.
A Bloomberg News report from China early Monday had Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. (BAIC) president Wang Dazong insinuating his company is considering its own play for Saab after Sweden's Koenigsegg Group unceremoniously dropped its bid for GM's perennially money-losing Swedish auto division. BAIC was part of the consortium led by Koenigsegg that originally planned to take over Saab.
And yes, venture capital - the reddest of flags for flailing auto companies - appears to be involved, too.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:42 AM under Commentary , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (3) | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:20 PM under Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota to Replace 3.8 Million Gas Pedals; Edmunds.com Re-Enacts Problem
Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will repair and replace accelerator pedals on 3.8 million recalled Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the United States to address the issue of pedals being jammed by the floor mat, potentially causing unintended acceleration.
As an interim step, Toyota said it will have dealers shorten the length of the accelerator pedals beginning in January while the company develops replacement pedals, to be available in April. Some vehicles will have an engine management system-based brake override installed as well.
Based on Edmunds.com's re-enactment of the floor mat-pedal situation, these fixes should alleviate the problem.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:07 AM under Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Sale of Saab to Koenigsegg Collapses
General Motors confirmed Tuesday that its planned sale of Swedish automaker Saab to 
Koenigsegg Group AB has collapsed with Koenigsegg terminating the sale.
What's next for Saab has yet to be determined.
"We're obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase," GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement issued by GM. "Many have worked tirelessly over the past several months to create a sustainable plan for the future of Saab by selling the brand and its manufacturing interests to Koenigsegg Group AB.
"Given the sudden change in direction, we will take the next several days to assess the situation and will advise on the next steps next week," Henderson added.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:12 AM under Featured , GM , News | Comments (3) | 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.
(Read more...)
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.
(Read more...)
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:34 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (3) | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:46 PM under Commentary , Companies , Featured | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
For GM, It's North America - Or Bust
The good news after General Motors Co.'s report on its financial health was released Monday: the "new" General isn't dying.
But the patient's long-term prognosis, admitted CEO Fritz Henderson, isn't exactly a clean bill of health just yet.
"When you come away from it, we lost money (in the period from July 10 to Sept. 30)" said Henderson, calling the situation "not satisfactory."
And while GM's operating cash flow figure for the period was a healthy-enough $3.3 billion, one recurring malady has popped up on GM's first-ever post-bankruptcy report: North American operations didn't get the job done.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 4:33 PM under Analysis , Featured , GM | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Sales, Prices Rise Since Bankruptcy; Profit Per Vehicle Flat
General Motors, which reported its first financial results Monday since emerging from 
bankruptcy July 10, has boosted market share and hiked vehicle prices since its bankruptcy, but its typical profit per vehicle remains essentially flat, according to Edmunds.com.
GM's U.S. market share of 21.1 percent matched its high point for the year in October. Sticker prices are at their highest point of the year as well. However, higher share and higher prices aren't translating into higher profits per vehicle because, while consumers are willing to pay more for new GM models, they are unwilling to do so for the carryover ones.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:56 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Will Make First Government Loan Repayments in December
General Motors said Monday, in releasing its first financial statement since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 10, it would make its first loan repayments to U.S. and Canadian taxpayers next month. At that time, it will pay back a total of $1.2 billion.
Still, the new GM reported a loss of $1.15 billion in its first 83 days of operation. However, that was an improvement from last year.
"We have significantly more work to do, but today's results provide evidence of the solid foundation we're building for the new GM," said GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson in a company statement. "With a healthier balance sheet and a competitive cost structure, our focus is on driving top line performance. We'll achieve that by winning customers over, one at a time, with vehicles that deliver performance and value."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:59 AM under Featured , GM , News | 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).
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 7:33 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , In the Media | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Whitacre: A Sense of Urgency to Repay Taxpayer Money
General Motors has made remarkable strides since emerging from bankruptcy July 10 and is "better positioned for success than I thought was possible" then, said Ed Whitacre in his first public speech since becoming GM chairman in July.
"We're getting into a fighting shape. We have a long way to go, but we're definitely on our way," he told an audience at Texas Lutheran University near San Antonio. The retired AT&T chairman taught at the university just before taking GM's top job at the U.S. government's behest.
Whitacre said there's a strong sense of urgency inside the automaker to repay the billions GM owes in government loans.
"I can't tell you when (we'll pay it back) but it'll be sooner than you think," Whitacre told a political science student who asked when the company would repay taxpayers.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:44 PM under Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Some Good Ideas from Chrysler's Turnaround Plan
After a day-long session in which executives from Chrysler Group LLC and its managing 
partner Fiat S.p.A. made public the company's financial and product strategies that will carry it forward for the next five years, the overall impression is of a plan based on optimistic growth assumptions combined with dubious new-product directions.
But not all of Chrysler's five-year outline is unreasonable or illogical. Some aspects, if executed properly and promptly, can help Chrysler distinguish itself from the competition. The three best ideas to come from Chrysler's new business plan: a diesel engine for Jeep; a revamp of Chrysler's mid-size sedans; and a plan to pay back government loans.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:54 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Featured , Technology | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford's New Inflatable Seatbelts to Launch with Next-Gen Explorer
Hoping to mitigate crash-related injuries to a vehicle's rear-seat passengers, Ford Motor Co. 
unveiled what it is calling the auto industry's first seatbelts with integral air bags that inflate in an accident to provide additional protection.
The new rear-seat inflatable seatbelts will be offered for the new-generation Ford Explorer crossover, which begins production next year, said Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of sustainability, environmental and safety engineering.
Although several automakers and safety-systems suppliers have in recent years shown concepts for inflatable belts, Ford claims it will be the first to use them in a production vehicle.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:36 AM under Featured , Ford , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Outlines 'The Plan.' Now, Can it Work?
After Chrysler Group LLC detailed an all-encompassing, five-year business plan to a horde of analysts and the media Wednesday, most left the company's headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., wondering whether it was fair to judge the plan outlandish or merely wildly ambitious.
The two critical components to Chrysler's rejuvenation at the direction of 20-percent owner and managing partner Fiat S.p.A.: a) a massive increase in global sales, from 1.3 million units projected for this year to 2.8 million by the plan's finish in 2014; and b) a wholesale but hardly radical refreshening of its product portfolio that will enable the tremendous sales leap.
Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne acknowledged the plan's numbers and assumptions invite skepticism. In his closing comments, he enumerated at length epitaphs written for Fiat when he took over as CEO and Fiat was in similar straits.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:35 AM under Chrysler , Featured , Personalities | Comments (10) | 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
Ford Earns Nearly $1 Billion in Third Quarter
Ford Motor Co. reported it earned a profit of $997 million in the third quarter, with its North American operations posting its first profit since the first quarter of 2005. The automaker said the results put it on track to be "solidly profitable" in 2011.
The results far surpassed forecasts by analysts, most of whom expected a loss. That sent Ford's shares up 6 percent in pre-market trading Monday morning.
Ford said its third-quarter earnings represented a $1.2 billion improvement from the same period a year ago.
"Our third-quarter results clearly show that Ford is making tremendous progress despite the prolonged slump in the global market," Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement issued Monday morning. He acknowledged "we still face a challenging road ahead."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:10 AM under Featured , Ford | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Union Obstinance Resurfaces for Mulally as UAW Vetoes Concessions for Ford
Alan Mulally might have reckoned he left union discord behind when he left aerospace giant
Boeing Co. to become Ford Motor Co.'s president and CEO in 2006. But this weekend's resounding dismissal of Ford's desired concessions from the United Auto Workers union may set the tone for ongoing tension between Ford and its union similar to that Mulally became accustomed to at Boeing.
Although nationwide voting will not be official until 
sometime today, the UAW already was conceding its rank-and-file workers had widely rejected a Ford proposal of contract concessions that would equate to those the UAW earlier this year granted General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, both of which tripped through hasty Chapter 11 bankruptcies this summer.
This despite the fact UAW counterparts at the Canadian Autoworkers Union approved the concessions.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:57 AM under Featured , Ford | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
October Is Year's Best Non-Clunker Month for Car Sales, Edmunds.com Forecasts
October car sales are expected to come in at the highest level of the year except for during the summer's frenzied Cash for Clunker months, Edmunds.com forecasts.
Industry sales, being reported on Tuesday, are expected to total 830,000 vehicles, almost even with a year ago and up 11.4 percent from September. That would push October's Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) to 10.35 million, up from 9.19 in September.
""There are clear signs that the automotive industry is finally starting to recover from the painful lows experienced earlier this year,"said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com's director of Industry Analysis.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:59 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (2) | 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
COMMENTARY: Good News Turns Bad for Ford
Too much good news is turning out to be a bad thing for Ford Motor Co.
The good news apparently has convinced members of the United Auto Workers union that things are hunky- dory at Ford, and there's no reason for them to give the automaker the same concessions competitors General Motors and Chrysler got from bankruptcy proceedings.
As of day-end Tuesday, union members at half-dozen Ford plants had rejected -- in some cases resoundingly so -- the new contract that puts Ford at parity with union brothers and sisters at GM and Chrysler. Voting continues through Saturday, but the outlook is not good as only two plants with votes tallied so far have voted in favor of a new contract.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:42 PM under Commentary , Featured , Ford | Comments (3) | 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
Consumer Reports: Ford Among World's Most Reliable Carmakers
Ford Motor Co. secured its position as the only Detroit automaker with world-class reliability, 
according to Consumer Reports magazine's 2009 Annual Car Reliability Survey.
Of 51 Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln models, 46 had average or better reliability, the magazine said in an announcement made Tuesday at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.
"Ford's sustained production of vehicles that are as dependable -- or better than -- some of the industry's best dispels the notion that only Japanese manufacturers make reliable cars," the magazine said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:50 AM under Analysis , Featured , Ford , News | Comments (2) | 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
Chrysler Looking to New Big Rams to Haul in Some Cash
Chrysler Group LLC's Dodge Ram pickup has been the company's biggest - literally and 
figuratively - success story since the launch of the "big rig"-looking light-duty Ram in 1993. That new-generation Ram reinvigorated Chrysler's market share in the segment in which it was a distant No. 3 in a two-company race.
Now Chrysler needs the Ram to come through again. The new, 2010 Heavy Duty variant of the Ram coming to showrooms next month is the first genuinely fresh product Chrysler has launched since emerging from bankruptcy in early June and many analysts believe Chrysler - starved for new product and with few meaningful prospects in its near-term pipeline - could use a boost for what is widely believed to be a cashflow-poor bottom line.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:22 AM under Chrysler , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford to Build European Kuga in Kentucky, Report Says
Ford Motor Co. is moving production of its small Kuga crossover from Europe to the U.S. to 
take advantage of lower labor costs and the weaker dollar, Bloomberg News reports.
Ford will shift Kuga production from Germany to Louisville, where Ford makes trucks, in October 2011, says Bloomberg, quoting three unnamed sources apparently familiar with the plans. As many as 80,000 a year will be exported to Europe.
The automaker is not confirming the report.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:44 AM under Business , Commentary , Featured , Ford | 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
Japan Makers Attending Party for Themselves: The Tokyo Motor Show
Imagine having a football, baseball or soccer game and the visiting team doesn't show up.
That's sort of what's going on this week at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, where thanks to global belt-tightening and the ever-present perception of the Tokyo show as a home-team-dominated affair, the major U.S. and European automakers are effectively not coming to the game.
Although carrying on with the show is up to them alone, the Japanese makers have toned down the Tokyo show's typical hyperbole - even for Tokyo's typically far-out concept cars, not to mention the production or near-production unveilings. Environmental themes will dominate and any ostentatious displays of power and performance will be limited.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:01 AM under Featured , Technology , Toyota | 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
GM Regaining Lost Market Share Ground in October, Edmunds.com Reports
General Motors is regaining some ground it lost in terms of market share this month, 
according to Edmunds.com.
If the early October trend continues, GM's market share should rise to 22.4 percent this month, a boost from the third-quarter average of 19.1 percent. Based on early October numbers, the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of industry sales will come in at just above 10 million vehicles.
Launches of new models combined with a substantial hike in ad spending this month are helping.
Indeed, GM needs good news on the market-share front since its business plan is based on maintaining a market share of at least 19 percent with half the brands and fewer models, one of its board directors said Thursday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:35 AM under Analysis , Business , Featured , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
"New" GM Goes on the Offense with Quarterback Lutz
Expect the "new" General Motors to play offense when it comes to marketing and communications, Bob Lutz, GM's chief marketing quarterback, told the media Tuesday.
"We have to shock Americans into a new awareness about the competitiveness of GM products," Lutz said. "We can't do it the way we used to do it by gently showing our products. We've got to take it on boldly and head-on. We can stand the comparison with just about anybody."
The recently launched May the Best Car Win, starring GM's government-appointed chairman Ed Whitacre was just the beginning.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:10 AM under Featured , GM , In the Media , Personalities | Comments (6) | 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
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
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
Brent Dewar: Chevrolet Is General Motors
The future success of the new General Motors Company rests largely on the bowtie of 
Chevrolet. With the automaker winnowing its brands from eight to only four, Chevrolet carries the load for sales and market share around the world.
And the weight of Chevrolet rests on the shoulders of Brent Dewar, who was named the vice president of Chevrolet Global after the automaker emerged from bankruptcy in July. He headed Chevrolet in the early part of the decade as the automaker made plans to take the brand global.
"Chevrolet needs to be the General Motors Company," Dewar told AutoObserver.com in an exclusive interview recently.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:49 AM under Business , Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (0) | 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 Satisfied with Early Post-Bankruptcy Progress
Saying the "new" General Motors Co. that emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 10 is mostly achieving its goals for cost and debt reductions and is exceeding its projections in some key business metrics, CEO Fritz Henderson said in a media conference call Wednesday that GM is making progress in its three-pronged future strategy to focus on customers, cars and changing its corporate culture.
Just 90 days into its new status as a private company, GM was long on generalities and brief of specifics, however.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:10 AM under Business , Featured , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
2010 Ford Taurus Design Captures Attention, Price Questioned
The 2010 Ford Taurus is rolling onto dealer lots across the country, and, judging by a flurry of 
recent posts in Edmunds' CarSpace Forums, its all-new design appears to have captured the attention of the car-buying public.
But with no lack of tough competitors out there, will it also capture their business? And is it priced right?
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:15 AM under Commentary , Featured , Ford | Comments (5) | 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
Strong Yen Could be Next Problem For Japan Automakers
Tough selling to still-wary American consumers might be a problem at the lower end of Japanese automakers' list if currency exchange rates continue their current trend. A soaring yen and a drooping dollar are raising red flags for the bottom line in corporate Japan.
Late last week -- after the yen hit a near high for the year at just more than 88 yen to the dollar -- Honda Motor Co. Ltd. president and CEO Takanobu Ito expressed concern about the yen's ongoing strengthening. Although Honda and many other Japanese automakers, such as chief rival Toyota Motor Corp., produce the preponderance of their vehicles sold in the U.S. inside North America, revenue earned in dollars still must be erodingly converted to yen.
With the global automotive sales environment tenuous and the economies of most large auto-buying nations still sputtering, Takanobu said in an Associated Press report that the currency exchange situation is helping push Honda to a "danger zone" that is hampering fragile recovery efforts.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:25 AM under Business , Commentary , Featured , News | Comments (1) | 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
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
Penske Breaks Off Talks with GM for Saturn; Saturn Goes Away
In a surprise move, Penske Automotive Group terminated discussions with General Motors to acquire 
Saturn due to its inability to secure agreements for the future supply of vehicles beyond what it had negotiated with GM. As a result, GM will wind down Saturn much as it is doing now with its Pontiac division.
In a statement issued by the Penske Group late Wednesday, on the eve of the expected close of the deal, the auto retailing group cited "concerns directly related to the future supply of vehicles beyond the supply period it had negotiated with GM."
Retailers who had signed franchise agreements for the new Penske-run Saturn group were as shocked as anyone. They were scheduled to attend meetings with company founder Roger Penske next week, after the deal was closed, to hear about plans for product and timing. Instead, they head through the media - not the Penske group, Saturn or GM -- that the deal had fallen apart. Some are hoping something can be salvaged of the plan.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:33 PM under Featured , GM | Comments (4) | 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
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...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:23 AM under Companies , Featured , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
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
Chrysler Puts Pedal to the Metal on New Models, Report Says
Addressing its glaring problem of an empty product pipeline, Chrysler will do a speedy makeover of at least five models by mid-2011, along with 
introducing the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and redesigned Chrysler 300 that year, as part of a five-year plan reportedly being submitted to the automaker's board by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne on Friday.
The Detroit Free Press reports Marchionne wants makeovers accomplished within a quick 18 months on the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Caravan minivans; the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot compact crossovers; and the Chrysler PT Cruiser, which Fiat revived from the to-be-killed list.
The Fiat 500 minicar will be built at the Toluca, Mexico, plant that also assembles the PT Cruiser, for a mid-2011 U.S. introduction, the newspaper reported.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:04 AM under Chrysler , Featured , News , Personalities | 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
Commentary: Does Anybody "Get" Chrysler?
Monday's report from Business Week that Chrysler LLC is tasking account-seeking advertising agencies with positioning Chrysler-brand vehicles as "premium" choices indicates new manager Fiat S.p.A. has no more clue about what Chrysler represents in the U.S. than did the company's most-recent other inept foreign owners -- Daimler AG.
Chrysler has heritage as an upscale brand, but that image died by at least the 1970s, the same time most all memories of Detroit's long hoods and tailfins well and truly were overwhelmed by the leaner, meaner imports from Europe and Japan. Ask rival General Motors Co. what its Detroit lead-sled heritage has done for the company lately.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:04 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Featured | Comments (16) | digg this | del.icio.us
Buick Launches Ads Starring LaCrosse and "Class" Tagline
General Motors' Buick division launches a major advertising campaign with the first 
ads starring the new LaCrosse and premiering the new tagline -- "The New Class of World Class."
The Buick ad, airing for the first time in prime time Monday, is one of the promised brand- and model-specific follow-ups to come on the heels of a GM corporate marketing program that was heavily promoted last week.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:10 AM under Featured , GM , In the Media , News | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
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...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:04 AM under Companies , Featured | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
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...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:16 PM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
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
Ford Confirms C-Max Coming to U.S.
At the Frankfurt Motor Show Tuesday, Ford Motor Co. said it will bring the new generation of 
its popular European compact people-mover, the Focus C-Max, to the U.S. sometime near the end of 2011.
The C-Max, the all-new generation of which was unveiled in Frankfurt, has been a widely acclaimed hit for Ford of Europe since the original went on sale in 2003.
Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president in charge of global product development, told a group of reporters at its Dearborn, Mich., headquarters Monday the initial U.S.-market C-Max will be the 7-passenger variant (to be called the Grand C-Max) that is longer and taller than the standard 5-passenger C-Max and has a sliding rear door on each side. Both are based on Ford's new global C-segment architecture, also used for the Ford Focus.
Ford marketing sources say it has not yet been decided how the vehicle will be badged in the U.S. - the Focus name, for example, may not be included in the car's branding.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:35 AM under Featured , Ford , Technology | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
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
GM Tries "If You Find a Better Car, Then Give Ours Back"
General Motors will launch a marketing campaign it calls "May the Best Car Win" that offers buyers of Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC vehicles a 60-day money-back guarantee.
The promotion will kick off with an advertising blitz on Sunday during morning news shows and NFL football games. The ads will feature GM's chairman Edward Whitacre.
Though GM has not provided advanced viewing of the advertisements, there's a hint of deja vu from Chrysler's first emergence from bankruptcy when then-Chairman Lee Iacocca challenged American consumers to buy Chrysler cars with the tag line: "If you find a better car, buy it."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:57 AM under Featured , GM , News | Comments (7) | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:50 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , GM , News | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Poised To Grab Medium-Truck Share With New Power Stroke Diesel
Medium-duty truck buyers are due for a potential treat when Ford Motor Co. launches 2011 
models of its Super Duty F-Series next spring powered by the company's all-new Power Stroke 6.7-liter V8 turbodiesel.
The new, in-house-developed engine ends Ford's decades-long supply arrangement with Navistar International Corp., a relationship that ends this year after a long and publicly nasty dispute.
The engine, which Chief Engineer Adam Gryglak said is a total clean-sheet design, is something of a technical tour de force: It has an innovative twin-turbocharger setup packaged as a single unit, a reversed exhaust-port design in which exhaust exits on the inner portion of the engine's vee and Ford's first medium-truck use of weight-saving compacted graphite iron for the engine block.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:26 AM under Business , Featured , Ford , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Math: Cash for Clunkers Numbers Don't Add Up
The government's Cash for Clunkers program made August an extraordinarily difficult month to predict. Analysts' forecasts for the month's annualized sales rate spanned an unprecedented 4 million range -- from a low of about 12 million to a high of 16 million. Edmunds.com's forecast proved too low at about 13.2 million.
But now the final numbers are in. The August SAAR tallied up to 14.1 million.
Still, some numbers simply don't add up.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:04 AM under Analysis , Featured | Comments (1) | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:40 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | 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
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
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Shutdown of Cash for Clunkers To Smack Down Industry Sales
Watch out for a world of sales pain now that the federal Cash for Clunkers rebate program is over, as data from Edmunds.com projects a serious decline in industry sales for the coming weeks.
Edmunds.com's proprietary tracking of purchase intent from visitors to its Web site -- which has proven to be a reliable leading indicator of actual near-term industry sales -- has plunged some 50 percent from its peak during the Cash for Clunkers program.
It is an effect analysts had warned was likely.
"Cash for Clunkers distorted the market in a way that benefited the industry for four weeks -- now the payback begins," said Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:21 AM under Analysis , Business , Featured , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Readies Break With Four Divisions, but Opel Intrigue Continues
With the news-dominating Cash for Clunkers program now officially finished, the auto industry can get back to normal: battling U.S. and global recessions and trying to figure out who's going to own half of the former divisions of General Motors Co.
The last month's news was devoted almost exclusively to Cash for Clunkers, so anybody could be forgiven for not being caught up on what's been happening with the sales of GM's Hummer, Saturn, Saab Automobiles and Adam Opel AG divisions. Here's the updated scorecard:
Opel
Suddenly, Opel is GM's problem child.
The company's board last week slapped down the bid from a consortium led by Canadian mega-supplier Magna International Inc., a deal that was favored by GM's management and had the vital blessing of the German government, which was to provide billions in assistance in exchange for Magna's vow to minimize job losses.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Analysis , Business , Featured , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash-For-Clunkers Expected to Go Out With a Bang: Edmunds Projects 15-Million Weekend SAAR
The federal Cash-For-Clunkers incentive program ends today, and despite frustrating administrative snarls, the program's close was expected to have prompted a rush of last-minute new-vehicle purchases over the weekend leading up to the program's shutdown at 8:00 p.m.
Whatever its problems, Cash-For-Clunkers certainly will be credited for injecting life into auto showrooms that had been moribund until the program began in late July. The industry's Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate of sales had struggled all year to broach the 10-million mark, but before the actual transaction details for the program's last weekend can be assessed, Edmunds.com is projecting the SAAR for the final weekend of the Cash-For-Clunkers program to be 15 million.
The final burst of sales should in turn generate an August SAAR of 13 to 13.5 million, said Edmunds forecasters.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 3:00 AM under Business , Featured , In the Media | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
It's Dealers Versus DOT as "Clunkers" Program Set to Close
No auto dealer is complaining about the extra customer traffic the Cash for Clunkers program has generated in the past weeks. But although the federal program has been a solid lifeline in what surely would have been a dead summer for sales, the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) is amounting to the ultimate in profitless prosperity for too many dealers.
Complicating the situation, data from Edmunds.com indicates that with the program nearing its conclusion - just announced to be Monday, Aug. 24 - Cash for Clunkers transactions are slowing markedly from highs of 40 percent or more of all new-vehicle sales to less than one in five new-car deals.
Despite the CARS program's undeniable invigoration of previously tomblike showrooms, angry and dispirited dealers across the nation said they had no choice but to give up on Cash for Clunkers participation. The government was so slow in repaying the $3,500 or $4,500 rebates they literally couldn't afford to keep selling new vehicles.
The government foot-dragging was so endangering the final days of the CARS program that General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and others stepped in today to say they will provide cash advances on Cash for Clunkers transactions so dealers don't have to wait for the feds to pay up.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:18 AM under Analysis , Business , Featured , GM , In the Media , News | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Cancels "Vue-ick" Crossover
Barely a week after showing it and many other pending new models and concept vehicles to the media and a select group of the public, General Motors Co. is pulling the plug on a Buick variant of the Chevrolet Equinox/GMC Terrain compact crossover the company only first confirmed weeks ago it would build.
The company announced the new Buick crossover just last month during a high-profile industry conference at which the recently-emerged-from-bankruptcy GM seemingly sought to generate some positive news. So the company said Buick -- the brand's minders still flush with the comparative success of the Enclave full-size crossover -- would try again to catch lightning in a bottle with its own model based on GM's global compact crossover architecture.
Better still, Buick would launch a plug-in hybrid variant in 2011, allowing GM to get some green mileage from the investment it made in the plug-in technology originally intended for the Saturn Vue version of this crossover family.
All that was before the media and GM's hand-picked "civilian" viewers got a look at the still-unnamed Buick, though.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:26 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM, Honda Latest To Boost Production as Cash for Clunkers Resuscitates Small-Car Sales
General Motors Co. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. are the latest automakers to spool up U.S. vehicle production to answer inventories depleted by the ongoing "Cash for Clunkers" new-vehicle rebate program.
GM will add one day shift at the Orion Township, Michigan, plant that assembles the Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan; the plant currently is on a four-day work week. Also ramping up with the addition of a two-shift day will be the automaker's plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that produces the Chevrolet Cobalt compact cars, Dow Jones reported.
GM is expected to announce more production increases as it adjusts a third-quarter output that had been drastically reduced from year-ago levels. In extending the Car Allowance Rebate System, the official name of Cash for Clunkers, from the original $1 billion in funding to a total of $3 billion, the program has put unanticipated pressure on the stock of many of the most popular vehicles purchased by those trading clunkers.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:20 AM under Analysis , Featured , Ford , GM , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
COMMENTARY: Two Dozen New Models May Overcrowd GM's Four-Brand Garage
It's not unusual for General Motors Co. and other big car companies to show the media a 
couple year's worth of pending new models. The difference this week was that GM showed the goods - and allowed reporters to tell all about what they saw.
With the U.S. Treasury Department holding some $60 billion of its markers, GM must quickly convince all its stakeholders the company's got stuff people will want to buy. Good stuff - better than the stuff it insisted was good in the past. The kind of stuff that generates revenue that pays back the kind of debt GM's run up.
Notwithstanding the 230-miles-per-gallon Chevrolet Volt coming next year, GM brags it has some two dozen new-model launches scheduled between now and 2011, but this quantity indicates nothing about the more-important factor: whether a significant number of these new models are winners.
What GM wouldn't allow was photography. But we'll describe with a division-by-division analysis of the new products, most of which are coming by 2011:
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:25 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (5) | 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
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
Why Toyota Must Make Its Joint-Venture Coupe
The case of the maybe-we're-making-it-or-maybe-we're-not Toyota-Subaru joint-venture sport
coupe was solved by new Toyota Motor Corp. president Akio Toyoda when he told reporters this week he was prioritizing development of the rear-drive car.
Although the coupe's development program was known, its status as a "live" project has been the topic of speculation. Toyoda's comment confirmed the company is committed to the project.
As the new president of the company, Toyoda, seemingly to underscore his dedication to addressing the conservative corporate culture that is perceived as holding Toyota back, said this week of the sport coupe, "I am very excited about it and I plan to put it on the fast track."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:09 AM under Analysis , Featured , Toyota | Comments (5) | 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
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
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
Cash for Clunkers Produces July Sales Increase for Ford
Ford Motor Co. will announce Monday a year-over-year sales increase for July, thanks to the
government's cash for clunkers program. It will be Ford's first year-to-year sales increase since November 2007.
The Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) is expected cash for clunkers pushed the Seasonally Adjusted Sales Rate (SAAR) to well above 11 million vehicles sold to as high as 13 million, the highest level this year by a long shot.
July's SAAR will be 11 million to 12 million "for sure," Ford's sales chief George Pipas told AutoObserver.com in a phone interview Sunday. "The increase is a nice proof point of the progress Ford has made but being the first of the Big Six automakers to post an increase may be a sign that the consumer is a little more optimistic."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:13 PM under Featured , Ford , News | 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 Could Be Done or on Hiatus
The Department of Transportation (DOT) reportedly is suspending the Cash for Clunkers program, as it is running out of its $1 billion allocation.
The DOT, which administers the program, hadn't confirmed publicly the move but the agency had informed Congressmen and dealer groups of the action. What's not clear is if it will end completely because it is, indeed, out of money, as dealers and dealer organizations suspect, or will be suspended as the agency calculates how close the program is to the $1-billion mark.
From the start, the program called for a November 1 expiration or the depletion of the $1 billion in funding. It became clear the program would run out long before November 1, but no one expected it to run out of money in the first week.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:33 PM under Featured , News | Comments (3) | 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
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
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
COMMENTARY Cart-Before-Horse Alert: Gov Plans Quick Sell of GM, Chrysler Stakes
With a combined $65 billion invested in the turnarounds of General Motors Co. and the
Chrysler Group LLC, the federal government Monday expressed an optimism for those companies' future that would have made their own executives blush: Ron Bloom, new chief of the Presidential Task Force On Autos, said the feds want to recoup the taxpayer dough as soon as possible after GM's planned initial public offering next year.
An IPO? That can generate billions? Next year?
Huh?
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:14 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Featured , 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
GM Fills Board, Shuffles Execs - Doesn't Change Much
Not yet a month emerged from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, General Motors Co.'s promised
upper-management transformation begins with - not much in the way of transformation.
There's nobody new from outside the company, a few respected old hands are retiring and the five remaining seats on the "new" GM's board of directors have been filled, although not with anybody who would have been out of place on the "old" GM board.
Anyone searching for "mavericks" would instead do better to procure a supply of recycled Sarah Palin campaign posters - the most excitement to be found in the list of new GM executive appointments is the seeming formation of two potentially volatile factions, one charged with sales and the other ostensibly with marketing.
And the most one might say for "diversity" or different thinking from the five new appointees to the GM board is that two of them are women.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:21 AM under Featured , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota's Inaba Looks To Spice Up Models, Revive Scion, Reshape Lexus, Turn a Profit
Making Toyota's North American operations profitable again is the top prioity of the
new boss, Yoshimi Inaba. That's why he was sent back to the U.S. by new Toyota global chief, Akio Toyoda.
But that won't happen for awhile. Inaba told reporters in Detroit Thursday that Toyota in North America will not be profitable in this fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2010, but just might eke out a profit in the following fiscal year, depending on industry sales.
On the job just over a week, Inaba said he's looking at short-term, quick fixes but also studying long-term solutions to Toyota North America's financial woes.
"There is no dramatic reorganization or consolidation of our North American operations planned, but I do hope to create a stronger and better integrated regional business that can make faster decisions based on local needs," he said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:01 PM under Featured , Personalities , Toyota | 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
Ford Reports $2.3 Billion Net Profit, $424-Million Operating Loss
Ford Motor Co. reported a net profit of $2.3 billion in the second quarter, thanks to a one-time
special gain. However, the automaker continues to lose money in its operations.
Ford said Thursday its net profit was the result of a $2.8-billion net gain due to debt-reduction actions the automaker took. Its pre-tax operating loss came to $424 million in the second quarter, excluding those special items. Its after-tax loss totaled $638 million.
Still, Ford's second-quarter results show the automaker is improving its financial position and narrowing losses. Further, Ford's results beat analysts' forecasts, although the company's automotive operations still "burned" slightly more than $1 billion for the quarter.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:54 AM under Business , Featured , Ford | Comments (2) | 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
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
Pontiac G8: The World's Best Car Nobody Was Buying
By Bill Visnic
On the FastLane blog
at General Motors Co.'s Web site, vice chairman Bob Lutz now concedes the company can't make a business case for rebadging the suddenly lamented Pontiac G8 sport sedan, the car that caused a first-week-on-the-job train wreck between Lutz's vision of GM's product-strategy future and that of CEO Fritz Henderson.
Days before and barely hours into his return to GM's salaried-exec payroll, Lutz said GM was going to rebadge the underappreciated, Australia-sourced Pontiac G8 as a Chevrolet, calling it a car "too good to waste."
The pronouncement flew directly against an earlier thumbs-down verdict about the G8 from Henderson, who said he does not favor rebadging and insists every model in GM's line "pay its own rent."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:32 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
"New" GM Has Busy First Week
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT - The "new" General Motors, which emerged from bankruptcy just last Friday, had a busy first week
The automaker announced a series of executive retirements, departures and re-assignments, likely the first of many as it sheds about a third of its executive ranks. The top three executives, it was revealed in government filings, will retain their previous pay. Unretired executive Bob Lutz had his first misstep in the communications role he now heads. And the automaker got back to the business of building, promoting and selling vehicles
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:55 AM under Business , Featured , In the Media , News , Personalities , Technology | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Plant Closings May Not Be Over For GM
By Bill Visnic
When General Motors Corp. announced 14 plant closings or standby shutdowns as part of its bankruptcy restructuring, the news hit hard - particularly for the thousands of workers tied to those facilities.
GM, which emerged from bankruptcy last Friday, has acknowledged its manufacturing empire must be smaller, leaner and meaner to match its emaciated market share as well as its profitable rivals' costs. While 14 facilities sounds like a lot, the move may not go far enough for the consolidation required to align production with the demands of a company with only four divisions.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:17 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
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
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...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:34 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Lutz Already Making 'Em Nuts
By Bill Visnic
The ink wasn't yet dry on Bob Lutz's new contract with the newly constituted General Motors Co. to be vice chairman of, ah, just about everything, and Lutz was back to the business of baiting the media and most likely making his peers and superiors (if he has any) slightly crazy.
Exhibit 1: Lutz - whose job GM loosely and rather unnervingly describes as "vice chairman for all creative elements of products and customer relationships" - had Automobile magazine slurping out of his hand when he tossed out the remark that GM isn't going to let the rear-drive G8 sport sedan slip away with Pontiac when the division shuts down at the end of the year. The G8, Automobile breathlessly reported, will "live on" in the Chevrolet division as a new-age Caprice.
"The last time we looked at (the G8), we decided that we would continue to import it as a Chevrolet," Lutz told Automoblile.
The problem: GM CEO Fritz Henderson was widely quoted last month, including here on AutoObserver, as summarizing his product-development preferences by saying, "I'm no fan of rebadging," squarely implying the G8 would not continue under another nameplate after Pontiac's shutdown.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:58 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , In the Media , Personalities , Rumors | Comments (8) | 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
The "New" GM Focuses on Customers, Cars, Culture
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- The world was introduced to the "new" General Motors company Friday, one that is largely owned by U.S. taxpayers and will be focused on customers, cars and culture.
"Going forward, the new General Motors is fully committed to listening to customers, responding to consumer and market trends, and empowering the people closest to the customer to make the decisions," GM CEO Fritz Henderson said at a Friday morning press conference.
"Our goal is to build more of the cars, trucks and crossovers that customers want, and to get them to market faster than ever before," Henderson said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:14 AM under Featured , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Judge Clears Way for GM To Leave Bankruptcy
By Michelle Krebs
NEW YORK -- A U.S. bankruptcy judge has cleared the way for General Motors to leave Chapter 11 by approving the sale of some of the automaker's assets, including the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC divisions, to a new, largely government-owned company.
Judge Robert Gerber of the U.S. bankruptcy court in New York ordered the approval of asset sale, despite the filing of 11th-hour appeals. GM will close the sale Friday morning and hold a press conference immediately after to provide details.
Judge Robert Gerber wrote in his ruling that allowing the sale was in the public's best interest, by saving jobs and health-care coverage for hundreds of thousands of employees and retirees globally as well as the tax base of communities. "If GM were to have to liquidate, the injury to the public would be staggering," he said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:19 AM under Featured , GM , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Culture Clash, Part 2: Chrysler Small-Car Big-Wig Outta There
By Bill Visnic
First it was Americans and Germans who couldn't make it work at Chrysler Group LLC. Now it might be Germans and Italians having trouble finding the love while mutually working to revive Chrysler.
Automotive News reports that barely a month after new managers from 20 percent owner Fiat S.p.A. hit the ground at Chrysler's Auburn Hills, Mich., headquarters, Andreas Schell -- a fast-track engineer-manager who stayed on after former Chrysler partner Daimler AG exited in 2007 -- is leaving the company.
This after Schell was just named vehicle line executive for Chrysler's A- and B-class cars, the compact and subcompact models it either will borrow wholesale from Fiat or on which future Chrysler small cars will be based.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:58 AM under Chrysler , Featured , Personalities | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Judge Approves GM Asset Sale, Paving Way To Emerge From Bankruptcy
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- A U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved General Motors' plan to sell its "good" assets to a new company and leave "bad" assets with the old one, paving the way for the automaker to emerge from bankruptcy proceedings.
Late Sunday night, Judge Robert E. Gerber of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the sale of substantially all of GM's to a new company to be called General Motors Company and to be funded by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In his ruling, Gerber wrote the sale is needed to avoid "immediate and irreparable harm" to GM.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:42 AM under Featured , GM , News | Comments (9) | digg this | del.icio.us
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 Is Priciest Ever for Automaker Incentives, Edmunds.com Reports
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Automakers spent more in June on incentives than any June on record, Edmunds.com reports.
The average automaker incentive was $2,930 per vehicle sold in June up $489 -- or 20 percent, from a year ago, Edmunds.com estimates. Incentives were down a scant $22, or 0.8 percent, from May.
"June incentives have never been higher, but we anticipate that the tide is about to turn," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of Industry Analysis. "The effects of recent production cuts are starting to be felt, and as supply dwindles, incentives will fall."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:42 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
"Good" GM: Maybe Not All That Good
By Bill Visnic
General Motors's Chapter 11 bankruptcy is winding its way toward completion -- perhaps even quicker than the lickety-split Chrysler bankruptcy restructuring. And everybody knows the plan, as it was with Chrysler, is to leverage the now-famous section 363 of the bankruptcy code to create a "good" GM that sallies forth with all of the company's best assets.
In addition to the numerous hard parts -- assembly plants, stamping facilities, powertrain- and other major component-making operations -- the "good" GM will comprise four major marketing divisions: Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick.
Chevy need make no excuses: it is the domestic counterpart of Toyota, a sales channel for unapologetically mainstream cars and trucks that remains one of the most effective brands on the planet. 
But Buick, Cadillac and GMC? Be careful, "new" GM and Obama Administration Auto Industry Task Force: recent sales and market-share data compiled by Edmunds.com shows these brands may not be the rock-solid foundation for the leaner, meaner GM they've led the company's new taxpayer-owners to believe is coming.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:00 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM | Comments (9) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Selects Michigan Plant To Build New Small Cars
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- General Motors selected the Orion Township, Michigan, assembly plant to build its all-important future small cars that represent "the fastest-growing segments in both the U.S. and around the world," Troy Clarke, GM North America president, said in a media conference call Friday.
Clarke wouldn't flat-out confirm what models will be built at the plant, but it appears the plant's primary product will be derived from the next-generation Chevrolet Aveo (also sold now as the Pontiac G3 and currently built in Korea by GM-Daewoo) with some production of the Chevrolet Cruze also possible at the facility.
Clarke insisted the widely speculated Chevrolet Spark, an A-class size that is smaller than the Aveo and Cruze, will not be made at the plant.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:40 AM under Featured , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM To Announce Michigan Gets Its Small Car Plant
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- General Motors will announce later Friday that its future small car, likely the Chevrolet Spark, will be built at a Michigan plant and not plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, or Janesville, Wisconsin.
GM President North America Troy Clarke will host a media conference call Friday afternoon to make the official announcement, although word already had leaked out by Thursday's evening news.
The Orion Township, Michigan, plant, located in the Detroit suburbs, assembles the Pontiac G6 sedan, which will be discontinued when the entire Pontiac division is eliminated at year-end. The plant then added production of the popular Chevrolet Malibu, which is also made at a Kansas plant.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:22 AM under Featured , GM , News | Comments (0) | 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
GM CEO Henderson "No Fan" of Rebadging, but...
By Bill Visnic
During a recent Webcast with reporters, General Motors Corp. CEO Fritz Henderson said that when the Pontiac division turns out the lights at year-end, its critically acclaimed G8 sedan won't be picked up by any of GM's four remaining brands.
The CEO added: "I'm not a fan of rebadging."
If that's one of the reasons the G8 won't be seen wearing another division's crest, then Henderson has long suffered his distaste for rebadging: almost from its origin, GM's modus operandi has been rebadging, probably the most callous examples coming in the 1980s, when precious little in the way of genuine engineering differentiated one brand's vehicle from another.
And rebadging looks to be at least part of the modus operandi of the "new" GM to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:59 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , In the Media | Comments (15) | digg this | del.icio.us
Miata Designer Matano Provides Cryptic Clues to His Mysterious New Venture
By Michelle Krebs
Ah -- the plot thickens.
Legendary Mazda Miata designer Tom Matano, who last week was revealed to be the design director for a start-up company that will assemble cars in Louisiana, provided only cryptic clues about the kind of vehicle to be produced and the more important, innovative business model to be employed.
Without giving away any secrets, Matano said in a phone interview with AutoObserver that the business model is more revolutionary than the car itself. But he promised a kinship between the buyer and the car, not identical but similar in spirit to that between the Miata and its owner.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:50 AM under Featured , News , Personalities | 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
Half-Hearted Cash for Clunkers Bill Awaits President's Pen
By Bill Visnic
Finally agreeing on legislation hoped to spur the nation's beaten-down auto sales and get some gas-guzzlers off the road, the Senate last night passed a version of the long-debated Cash for Clunkers bill that only needs President Obama's signature -- which he said will happen -- to become law.
Too long in coming and too limited in reach, the final bill, part of larger war-spending legislation, earmarks a $1 billion fund for owners of older, less-efficient models to trade in for new vehicles that use less fuel and emit less pollution. The program's official name is Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS).
Owners of 1984 or newer vehicles with a combined fuel-economy rating of 18 mpg or less will get a voucher for $3,500 if the car they trade for gets at least 4 miles per gallon better than their clunker. The payday improves to $4,500 if the purchased vehicle delivers a combined rating of 10 mpg better than the traded vehicle.
Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver, reckons the measure, expected to take about 30 days to implement and set to expire in November, might generate only about 250,000 new sales for struggling automakers and dealers -- a fraction of what originally was hoped and with a stimulus impact much less than seen in other nations that have adopted similar programs.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:23 AM under Business , Featured , In the Media , News | Comments (6) | 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
GM CEO Henderson on Dealers, Clunkers, Exec Compensation and More
By Bill Visnic
In a wide-ranging and comparatively wide-open web chat with the automotive media on Tuesday, General Motors Corp. CEO Fritz Henderson confirmed GM has rescinded the decision to close at least a few dealers, is committed to further cutting its executive ranks and believes it will benefit - to a degree - from the still-debated "cash-for-clunkers" legislation.
Henderson took on several questions about the contentious decision to deny franchise renewal to some 1,100 dealers by the end of next year. He said that of the reported excess of 800 dealer requests for review of their franchise termination, GM has relented on 49 and will be done with the review process this week.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:05 PM under Featured , GM , In the Media , Personalities | Comments (1) | 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
In Trucks, Bare-Knuckles Marketing Continues
By Dale Buss
In a throwback to a simpler era, the new Ford F-150's drop-down tailgate step has become an entertaining flashpoint in the marketing war between heavyweights in the pickup-truck segment.
In a current TV ad for the Silverado, Chevrolet's celebrity pitchster, Howie Long, tweaks the addition of the "man step" to the F-150 as an embarrassment -- because it only helps make up for the unreasonably long reach required to get over the tailgate to the bed of the F-150.
But Ford executives assert that Chevy's gambit actually highlights an appealing innovation for potential truck buyers -- and makes them more likely to choose an F-150.
"Our steps have done very well, because they're selling at about 30 percent of the mix of our F-150s," said Doug Scott, Ford's truck marketing manager. "So I hope GM keeps running the ad [in which] they're panning it."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:02 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler, GM Losing and Moving Execs
By Bill Visnic
The Chrysler Group's bankruptcy is over, General Motors Corp.'s is accelerating like a Corvette and both companies are moving and losing significant personnel in sync.
None of this is unexpected, particularly as Chrysler is sure to be entertaining a certain amount of Fiat S.p.A executive injections now that Fiat is Chrysler's operational owner. And most insiders and industry analysts say GM still has plenty of management dead wood to burn and will see more voluntary separations, too.
GM still dealt a serious surprise when announcing Friday that purchasing chief Bo Andersson is leaving the company. Andersson was generally well-regarded in the supplier community, despite its usually tumultuous relationship with Detroit automakers for the past decade or more. Andersson had a reputation for being demanding and calculating but eminently fair in one of the toughest jobs in Detroit, if not the entire auto industry.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:48 PM under Chrysler , Featured , GM , News , Personalities , Rumors | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevrolet Ready To Be Lead Horse in GM Revival
By Bill Visnic
PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- Through the months of the unfolding General Motors Corp.'s bankruptcy story, one plotline has been clear and unwavering: the Chevrolet brand will be the backbone -- and linchpin -- of GM's attempt to restructure and revitalize with a lot fewer brands and a lot smaller operational footprint.
At an event this week to launch the new 2010 Equinox compact crossover, Chevrolet North America Vice President Ed Peper reiterated GM isn't planning to wear the bankruptcy label for long, and added that Chevrolet is ready to drive GM's recovery. He said Chevrolet is loaded with coming products that should resonate in the new patterns of the U.S. auto market.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:47 AM under Business , Featured , GM , Technology | Comments (3) | 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:57 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | 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."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:59 PM under Companies , Featured , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Last Call: Tuesday Is End of the Road for Some Chrysler Dealers
At midnight Tuesday, Chrysler will have 789 fewer Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers.
Actually, some already have closed for good after finding out Chrysler was canceling its franchises only weeks ago. Some plan to reopen Wednesday morning as used-car stores or centers providing some kind of automotive service.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:35 AM under Chrysler , Featured | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
U.S. Supreme Court Puts the Brakes on Chrysler-Fiat Deal
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court has put on hold Chrysler's proposed deal to be
taken over by Italy's Fiat. The move pushes forward Chrysler's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and puts the Fiat deal, which expires June 15, at risk.
It also calls into question if General Motors, which followed Chrysler into bankruptcy, might face similar roadblocks.
Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the nation's highest court ruled Chrysler cannot yet transfer most of its assets to Fiat until more information is gathered and a hearing held on the subject.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:34 PM under Chrysler , Featured , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler-Fiat Deal: Will It or Won't It? Only Supreme Court Knows for Sure
By Bill Visnic
Tension mounted over the weekend as investors in Chrysler LLC asked the U.S. Supreme
Court to consider their appeal of the sale of Chrysler's assets for Fiat S.p.A.
Given past history, it was unlikely the Supreme Court would further delay the decision of a New York appeals court that approved the sale. But the three objecting constituencies -- investment funds located in Indiana, including ones for state police and teachers -- submitted an emergency request that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg will consider, the Associated Press reported.
It was expected Justice Ginsberg would decide on the merits of the emergency appeal Monday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:02 AM under Chrysler , Featured , News , Personalities | Comments (0) | 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.)
(Read more...)
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:15 AM under Companies , Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM, Chrysler Defend Dealer Cuts in U.S. Senate
By Michelle Krebs
WASHINGTON -- General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson and Chrysler President Jim Press found themselves on the hot seat yet again in Congress Wednesday as they testified that it is essential to cut thousands of dealers in order to survive.
And once again, much as Detroit Three executives were at last fall's hearings for federal loans, the executives were grilled and skewered by members of Congress. Dealers being put out of business and dealer association executives chimed in as well.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:41 AM under Chrysler , Featured , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Scrambles To Clarify Financial-Disclosure 'Tude
By Bill Visnic
Barely 48 hours into its new era as a bankrupt company, General Motors executives hustled to backtrack on a provocative statement from its chief financial officer that also was tinged with an arrogance that could damage the company's need to appear contrite before customers and politicians.
GM CFO Ray Young told the media that thanks to its now-bankrupt status, GM technically is a private company -- and as such is not obligated to make available the same depth of corporate financial information as are public corporations.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:41 AM under Featured , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
May Car Sales: Flirting with 10-Million SAAR
By Bill Visnic, Mary Connelly, Michelle Krebs
DETROIT - It's far too premature to break out the champagne and even too early to finally call the absolute bottom of one of the worst auto sales slumps in decades. But May sales reports from auto manufacturers in the U.S. hinted the worst just may be over.
"We saw glimmers of hope in May sales reports," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:58 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , News , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Japanese Automaker Incentives Hit New Record, Edmunds.com Estimates
SANTA MONICA -- Proof that the U.S. car market is in chaos: two automakers in bankruptcy are generating huge interest from car shoppers; Japanese automakers are spending record amounts on incentives, and luxury-maker Mercedes-Benz was the highest incentive spender of all brands in May.
"The industry is chaotic right now and every automaker is struggling to find something that works," stated Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com. "Many of the bankrupt brands are drawing an impressive amount of attention from bargain-hunters, but the rest of the automakers have their work cut out for them."
As auto company sales reports poured in Tuesday, Edmunds.com estimated the average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,946 per vehicle sold in May, down $111, or 3.6 percent, from April, and up $622, or 26.8 percent, from May 2008.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:35 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
President Obama, CEO Henderson: Paving the Way for a New GM
By Michelle Krebs and Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- President Obama, in a White House press conference Monday, said General Motors' filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy "marks the end of an old GM and the beginning of a new GM."
The president, recalling the famous quote of former GM CEO and U.S. Defense Secretary Charlie Wilson in the 1950s, that "we'll be able to say again what's good for General Motors is good for America."
And in a statement less than an hour later, GM president and CEO Fritz Henderson called the action a "defining moment in the history of GM."
GM, which only last year celebrated its centennial, made history Monday by filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. Henderson said the company expects the bankruptcy to be complete in 60 to 90 days.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:12 AM under Featured , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Bankruptcy: History in the Making
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Once the largest and one of the mightiest corporations on the planet, General Motors, which only last year celebrated its centennial, makes history Monday, June 1, as it files for bankruptcy.
The automaker is asking the Southern District of New York court to grant it protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy court early, to approve the transfer of most of its global assets to a new GM entity and to allow GM's operations to continue operating uninterrupted during the process.
"Today marks a defining moment in the reinvention of GM as a leaner, more customer-focused, and more cost-competitive company that, above all, can quickly generate winning bottom line results," GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson, who will hold a press briefing later Monday, said in a statement.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:42 AM under Featured , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Commits to More U.S. Small-Car Production
By Bill Visnic
The timing of the announcement is curious, but General Motors Corp. said Friday it will build unnamed, next-generation small cars in the U.S. using a currently idled assembly plant and stamping facility and United Auto Workers union labor.
The small car GM plans to build on U.S. soil likely will be based on the Chevrolet Beat concept introduced at the 2007 New York Auto Show and paraded around other shows as well as Washington, D.C., events as GM's small, fuel-efficient car of the future.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:05 AM under Featured , GM , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
May Car Sales: Ever-So-Small Hint of Hope
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- May car sales, due to be reported by auto manufacturer Tuesday, remain off by double-digits from last year, but the sales increase from April to May is in line with typical April-May seasonal bumps and the drop from a year ago is largely due to lower fleet sales, according to Edmunds.com's forecast.
For May, manufacturers are expected to report new vehicle sales -- retail and fleet -- of 890,000 units, a 36.1 percent decrease from the 1.4 million sold in May 2008 but an 8.9 percent increase from the 817,000 sold in April. A typical seasonal increase between April and May is a 9 percent rise. When adjusted for this difference in the number of selling days in May versus a year ago, sales decreased 33.6 percent.
That would put the Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate at about 9.5 million vehicles, up from 9.3 million in April.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:24 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Lutz: "New" GM Will Be Smaller, Leaner "Powerhouse"
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- General Motors' Bob Lutz predicts the "new" GM will be "smaller and leaner but a powerhouse" that is very profitable after the "cleansing fire" of the radical restructuring the automaker is undergoing.
Lutz would not confirm to reporters at an Automotive Press Association luncheon in Detroit Thursday if, indeed, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing is inevitable. Speculation is that GM will file for bankruptcy Monday and transfer its good assets to a newly created company.
Lutz did say if GM files for bankruptcy, it would be a quick one. "We intend to get in and out very soon," he said. "The U.S. government wants its money back, and our plan is to pay it back as quickly as possible. The U.S. government doesn't want to own auto companies."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:10 PM under Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Bondholders Committee Accepts Sweetened Deal; Chrysler-Style Bankruptcy Next
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- A committee of General Motors' bondholders, after soundly rejecting an earlier debt-for-equity swap by the automaker, has accepted a sweetened deal backed by the U.S. government that paves the way for a quick pre-packaged bankruptcy a la Chrysler's, CNBC reported.
GM, in a statement issued Thursday morning, said the U.S. Treasury had proposed incentives for GM's unsecured bondholders that would allow GM to pursue a pre-packaged bankruptcy under section 363 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.
"Implementation of this proposal would result in a new GM with a healthy balance sheet, putting the new company on a clear path toward long-term viability and success," the automaker said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:37 AM under Featured , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Auto Supplier Visteon Files for Bankruptcy
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Auto parts supplier Visteon Corp., as long anticipated it would, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday.
Visteon, one of the world's largest auto-parts suppliers, was created from Ford Motor Co. parts operations and employs 31,000 people in 27 countries.
Visteon follows in the footsteps of Delphi Corp., formed from General Motors' parts operations. Delphi has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy for three and a half years.
Like all automotive suppliers, Visteon has struggled with the dramatic fall-off in vehicle sales, which have prompted its automaker customers to slash production.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:07 AM under Business , Featured , Ford , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Only Question: What Day Will GM File for Chapter 11?
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- About the only question regarding a General Motors Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that remains is what day it'll be filed.
GM announced Wednesday morning that bondholders, who had until midnight, to trade $27.2 billion in debt for a 10 percent stake in the restructured GM, had rejected the automaker's offer. GM confirmed that the number of bondholders who agreed to the deal "was substantially less" than the amount required by the U.S. Department of Treasury.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:42 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Working Toward $100 Billion in the Red; Bankruptcy Filing Imminent
By Bill Visnic
With a barely noticed new "draw" of $4 billion from the U.S. Treasury Department late last week, General Motors Corp. is sputtering its way to a long-expected bankruptcy announcement that some insiders speculate could come as early as Wednesday.
Last week's cash infusion to GM brought the total government investment in the company to $21.6 billion by June 1, The New York Times reported. In addition, GM has said in Security and Exchange Commission filings that it will need more than $7.5 billion after June 1 to continue operations.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:01 AM under Featured , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Midsize-Car Plant Restart Questionable
By Bill Visnic
Not yet a month into its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, news is starting to emerge about which pieces of Chrysler's manufacturing puzzle are likely to serve a purpose in the proposed new Chrysler-Fiat global alliance -- and which won't.
One that clearly has no future is Chrysler's Sterling Heights, Michigan plant, just outside of Detroit. The plant assembles the unloved and underachieving Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger midsize sedans and two-door convertibles.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:39 PM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Rumors | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Feds' New MPG Mandate May Collide With Buyer Preferences
By Bill Visnic
The Obama administration's "Kennedy moment" of announcing high-minded new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards of 39 miles per gallon for passenger cars and 30 mpg for light trucks by 2016 drew kudos across the nation this week -- even from the automakers.
The new CAFE numbers sound great. But judging by the popularity of the vehicles on sale right now that comply with the ambitious new targets, car buyers might not stampede to get their hands on the future high-mileage wunderkars.
To be blunt, many of today's vehicles that can comply with the new CAFE numbers -- mostly compact or subcompact cars, hybrid-electric vehicles or four-cylinder crossovers or pickups -- are not exactly sales overachievers. For example, of the 100 most purchased vehicles in the U.S., only 17 could comply with the new fuel economy standards.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:01 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured | Comments (16) | digg this | del.icio.us
CAFE, EPA Math: 35 Equals 26
By Michelle Krebs
One fully expected those gathered Wednesday in the White House rose garden -- environmentalists, captains of the global auto industry and government officials -- to break out into a rousing chorus of Kumbaya.
Everybody, including dueling parties normally at odds, expressed their delight with President Obama's announcement of the more stringent and earlier-than-planned fuel-economy and emissions standards that would be applied from sea to shining sea.
However, as in all things involving politics, the new fuel-economy standards aren't what they seem.
"Turns out that there are loopholes almost big enough to drive an SUV through," quipped Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:51 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Names C. Robert Kidder as New Chairman
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Chrysler announced the appointment of a new chairman. C. Robert Kidder, former chairman of Borden Chemical and Duracell International, who will lead the company after its completes its alliance with Fiat.
Kidder is currently chairman and CEO of 3Stone Advisors LLC, an investment firm that focuses on clean-tech companies, according to a statement issued by Chrysler.
He succeeds Robert L. Nardelli, who earlier announced he would return to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, Chrysler's current owner, when the automaker emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and joins with Fiat.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:59 PM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Fuel Rules: Automakers May Build Them, but Will Customers Buy Them?
By Michelle Krebs
President Obama declared the new combined fuel-economy and emissions standards historic. In a press conference in the White House rose garden, surrounded by environmentalists and captains of the global auto industry, Obama said the new rules mark the nation's first comprehensive effort to curb vehicle emissions while cutting dependence on imported oil -- a turning point toward a "clean-energy economy."
Still, the new standards fall short on one critical element: What will make consumers buy the new clean vehicles required by the law?
The government can dictate that automakers build highly fuel-efficient vehicles that emit few pollutants, but will customers buy them? Recent history illustrates that customers are not stirred by their conscience but by their wallets, buying smaller, fuel-economy cars only when gas prices rise to the point of hurting them financially.
"Defining what should be built does not create demand," asserted Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl. "There are tons of great fuel-efficient cars out there today but most consumers aren't interested, and the new fuel-economy standards don't appeal to deal with the demand side at all."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:18 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured , Technology | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
Commentary: Marchionne's Plan Is Gutsy but Iffy
By Richard Feast
LONDON -- Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne scores top marks for ambition. His grand plan to sweep the whole of Chrysler plus General Motors' extensive European arm into Fiat's car operations is truly gutsy.
He may yet make the vision a reality. However, his chances of turning the partnership -- or whatever it might be called -- into a long-term success are minimal. The auto industry is littered with the memorials of empire builders who were long on vision and short on delivery.
And yet, despite the most severe economic collapse since the emergence of a globalized auto industry, Super Sergio wants to push through two deals simultaneously. Maybe he believes all those adoring media profiles.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:16 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Looking for Orderly Wind Down of 1,100 Dealers
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- General Motors notified 1,100 dealers Friday that their franchise agreements would not be renewed when they expire in October 2010, and GM will help them wind down in an orderly way.
GM, which has not filed bankruptcy but likely will, is taking a different route than Chrysler, which is now in bankruptcy. Chrysler immediately terminated 789 dealers on Thursday. Unless they pursue legal action, those Chrysler dealers will go out of business quickly and with no financial support from the automaker.
GM has chosen to wind down the 1,100 dealers over the next 18 months with its financial support. In addition to the 1,110 dealers, who were not revealed, the future of 500 Hummer, Saturn and Saab dealers has yet to be determined as well.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:18 AM under Companies , Featured , GM | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Cuts 789 Dealer Agreements; GM Slashes Dealerships Friday
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Chrysler filed papers with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York Thursday morning asking for permission to eliminate franchise agreements with 789 of its nearly 2,400 dealers.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez must approve Chrysler's proposal and is likely to do so. Upon that ruling, the dealer rejections would take effect.
On Friday, General Motors is expected to notify 1,000 or more of its 6,200 dealers that their franchise agreements are being terminated as well even though GM has not filed for Chapter 11 reorganization as Chrysler has. However, GM is fully expected to file by June 1.
Both automakers have dealership networks, built over the years when the Big Three dominated the market, too large to support their lower sales volume and shrinking market share.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:05 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured | Comments (9) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Legislation Eyed for Tuneup
By Bill Visnic
The U.S.'s "cash for clunkers" legislation earmarked to both prop up the auto industry and improve the environment is sputtering along without resolution, hampered by compromises forced by trying to attain two worthy but dissimilar goals.
The proposed used-vehicle scrappage legislation, it is hoped, will incentivize Americans to trade in older, less-efficient (and higher-polluting) models for a new vehicle, both stimulating the auto industry and the economy and also helping air quality. But muddy details, dual policy goals and squabbling constituencies have turned what seems like a good idea into a political quagmire.
"Because this program aims to achieve both environmental and industry goals, it falls short in both directions," said Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:52 PM under Business , Featured , In the Media , News | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Pickups Sales Plunging But Ford Buyers Spending More - What Gives?
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- By now, everyone knows the raw sales numbers are bloody red: the full-size pickup market was one of the first to be savaged by last summer's high gasoline prices and by the end of 2008, pffft -- five points of market share and some three-quarters of a million units were gone.
Maybe never to return. At least to the segment's former glories.
But there may be a sliver of a silver lining in the pickup sales plunge. At least one automaker -- Ford Motor Co. -- says those still buying pickups are splurging. Since its launch late last year, the "mix" of Ford's new '09 F-Series has been unexpectedly rich, slanted toward more expensive and heavily optioned models and trim levels.
The best example: the F-Series' ultra-plush Platinum -- the new top-of-the-line trim level -- has run at 8 percent of the total F-Series mix. Ford predicted a 3 percent take rate.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 6:00 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Ford | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Dissident Investors Cave; Political, Legal Wounds Linger
By Bill Visnic
Industry analysts. Political commentators. Legal scholars (and those who think they are). Journalists.
Everyone's got an opinion -- plenty of it critical -- about how the Chrysler Chapter 11 bankruptcy has gone down and is proceeding. And about whether Fiat's resulting takeover of Chrysler can really work.
Most criticism of "the deal" focuses on whether the government, acting as the agent of compromise and haste, outstepped legal and ethical boundaries in abrogating the property rights of Chrysler's secured creditors and later "strong arming" those creditors who rejected a government offer of about one-third the value of their holdings.
Whether the bullying was real or perceived no longer matters. The remaining secured-lender holdouts, their numbers dwindling by the day, announced late last week they are withdrawing their objection of the bankruptcy procedure laid out to allow the sale of Chrysler's assets to a new, reconfigured Chrysler run by Fiat.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:12 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Posts First Loss in Decades; Red Ink To Continue
By Michelle Krebs
Toyota, still the world's largest automaker and once the world's most profitable one, posted a quarterly loss heftier than what analysts had forecasted and even bigger than the one beleaguered General Motors reported Thursday. The fourth-quarter red ink pulled Toyota's full-year results into negative territory.
For the fourth quarter ended March 31, Toyota lost the equivalent of about $7 billion, one of the biggest quarterly losses recorded by a Japanese manufacturer and more than the $6 billion GM lost in the same quarter.
The fourth quarter pushed Toyota's full-year results to a loss of about $8.6 billion, its first loss in about six decades.
And Toyota, scrambling to cut costs and boost revenue, revealed Friday it expects an even larger loss in the current fiscal year because of another 1 million drop in sales for the year. Toyota's anticipated loss is bigger than analysts predicted.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:49 AM under Business , Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM Loses $6 Billion in First Quarter
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- With a June 1 deadline for a finalized restructuring plan or bankruptcy filing looming, General Motors posted a $6-billion loss in the first quarter of 2009, about double what it lost in the same quarter a year ago but smaller than what analysts had forecasted.
Revenues this year were about half of last year's, reflecting the global economic downturn. GM spent $10.2 billion more than it earned.
"Our first-quarter results underscore the importance of executing GM's revised viability plan, which goes further and faster to lower our breakeven point," GM CEO and President Fritz Henderson said in the company's press statement issued Thursday morning.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:08 AM under Business , Featured , GM , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler's Politicized Bankruptcy a Warm-Up for GM
By Bill Visnic
Watching and analyzing as the increasingly contentious Chrysler bankruptcy unfolds, a Detroit-area legal expert on bankruptcy and creditors' rights reckons the charged atmosphere surrounding Chrysler's trip to bankruptcy court is a warm-up act for the headline show: the bankruptcy of much-larger General Motors Corp.
Although the Chrysler bankruptcy already has generated something only slightly less than a full-blown political firestorm and is proceeding with questionable ethical and legal departures from established bankruptcy conventions, "We may well face it again in a month," as GM's bankruptcy deadline nears, said Doug Bernstein, a partner in the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, legal firm Plunkett Clooney and head of the firm's Banking, Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights practice group.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:49 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler's Challenge: Finding Customers During Bankruptcy
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Chrysler has launched a major advertising campaign, to be coupled with a cash and dealer incentives, in its effort to convince new buyers to purchase Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles and keep current owners in the fold.
But even before it officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Thursday, Chrysler was struggling to maintain its once-loyal buyers. In the months leading up to Chrysler's bankruptcy filing -- and despite some of the highest incentives ever in the U.S. auto industry doled out by Chrysler -- the automaker's customer loyalty has dropped on the news of its financial duress. Customer loyalty fell below 50 percent in April, according to Edmunds.com's data. That is, less than half of Chrysler owners who traded in their vehicle did so for another Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep vehicle.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:43 AM under Analysis , Business , Chrysler , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tata Nano: 200,000 Orders and a Waiting List Through 2011
By Nick Kurczewski
MUMBAI -- Get ready to wait if you want to buy a Tata Nano, the Indian-built $2,000 four-door billed as "the world's cheapest car."
The Nano might be bargain-basement priced, but the waiting list to buy one is worthy of top-notch luxury nameplates like Ferrari, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. Expect delivery no sooner than early 2011 if you haven't already put your name down to buy one.
According to figures released by Tata Motors, up to 203,000 people have placed orders for a Nano. Deliveries begin in July, with the first allotment of 100,000 customers due to receive their car no later than the last quarter of 2010.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:58 AM under Companies , Featured , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Saturn Blazed Ahead of Its Time, Then Faded Into Oblivion
By Dale Buss
Around mid-February when General Motors placed Saturn on the chopping block, number-crunchers at Edmunds.com
were shocked to discover how badly the brand had eroded -- already more than a year ago.
Edmunds.com figures showed that way back in January 2008, Saturn customers were demonstrating the least loyalty of any in the entire U.S. auto industry: Fewer than 5 percent of those who traded in a Saturn purchased another one.
That paltry showing contrasted with a loyalty factor for all of 2008 of more than 51 percent for Subaru, nearly 49 percent for Hyundai, and more than 47 percent even for Saturn's sibling brand, Chevrolet.
"Saturn's numbers even back then were horrendous," said Jessica Caldwell, industry analyst for Santa Monica, California-based Edmunds. "They had lost their message along the way. Saturn wasn't sporty, wasn't utility-oriented, wasn't even necessarily value-oriented. It had just become a one-off of other GM products."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:12 PM under Analysis , Featured , GM | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
With Chrysler Captured, Fiat Moving on Opel
By Bill Visnic
With Chrysler LLC now in bankruptcy and its assets all but promised to Fiat S.p.A. as part of a months-in-the-making ownership and alliance proposal, Fiat's hyper-acquisitive chief executive Sergio Marchionne already is laying out a plan to take over General Motors Corp.'s foundering European operations.
And yes, Marchionne's already throwing around the "S" words: synergies and savings.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:12 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , GM , Personalities | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
April Car Sales: The Bottom's Around Here Somewhere
By Dale Buss, Michelle Krebs and Bill Visnic
April's auto sales numbers looked pretty much like those from March, and February, and January - abysmal. Industrywide sales plunged by 34 percent last month compared with a year earlier, continuing the first-quarter trend of dreadful comparisons tied to a moribund economy.
But in those April results, carmaker executives and analysts on Friday also thought they saw more than just the latest in a long string of awful comparisons with 2008. Almost to a person, they interpreted April's performance and other economic data as painting at least a near bottom of the dreadful U.S. car market - and as the harbinger of an eventual recovery.
"We won't truly be able to call the bottom until summer when we can look back at three consecutive months of increase in the annualized rate of sales," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com. "We had expected April would be the start of that. And April's annualized sales rate, while lower than March, still didn't dip to February level."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:49 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Files for Bankruptcy and Combines With Fiat
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- President Obama announced Thursday that Chrysler will combine with Italy's Fiat but is filing for Chapter 11 reorganization to get the job done.
In a White House press conference Thursday, President Obama chastised the banks and hedge funds that refused a government-sweetened deal to reduce Chrysler's debt owed to them.
Obama called them "speculators" who refused to make sacrifices when the workers, plant communities, major lenders and dealers did. As a result of debtholders holding out, the president said, Chrysler is filing for bankruptcy to "clear away remaining obligations so the company can get back on its feet onto a path of success."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:47 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , News | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
President Obama Set To Discuss Chrysler; Bankruptcy Path to Fiat Deal
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Chrysler will live to see another day as part of the growing empire of Italy's Fiat, but a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing is the path that Chrysler and Fiat will take to get there.
President Obama will hold a briefing on Chrysler at noon Thursday. Word is that he will announce Chrysler will file bankruptcy, likely in New York. The hope is for a quick in and out of bankruptcy, with Chrysler emerging as a more viable company with only the good assets under Fiat ownership.
On Wednesday night, negotiations with Chrysler's lenders over reducing the automaker's debt collapsed. At the same time, members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union overwhelmingly approved a concessionary contract.
Beyond dealing with debtholders, bankruptcy likely is seen as a quick and cheaper way to halve Chrysler's dealer ranks of 3,200.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:28 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler To Be Taken Over By Fiat; Bankruptcy Not Ruled Out
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- The precise sequence of events appears murky at the moment, but two things appear to be happening with Chrysler on the eve of the government-imposed deadline: Italy's Fiat will take over Chrysler, and Chrysler is preparing Chapter 11 reorganization papers, that may or may not be filed in bankruptcy court.
Either way, President Obama reportedly will make an announcement on Thursday on the future of Chrysler.
However, so far, no one is confirming anything -- not Fiat, not Chrysler and not the Obama administration.
A couple of scenarios are emerging on how the Chrysler-Fiat alliance will come together, a couple of them involving bankruptcy, another keeping it out of bankruptcy court..
What's clear is heavy negotiating continues as the clock until the midnight deadline Thursday ticks down.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:46 PM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Rumors | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Deadline Looms; Progress Made, Nardelli Says
Thursday marks the deadline the U.S. government has set for Chrysler to get its ducks in
order and make a final deal with Italy's Fiat. And Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli, told employees in a letter Wednesday that progress is being made.
"I'm encouraged by this progress and I want you to know I deeply appreciate the sacrifices made by so many constituents to help us reach the restructuring targets established by the government," Nardelli wrote.
At a town meeting in Missouri, President Obama said: "We don't know yet whether the deal is going to get done," according to the French news agency, AFP.
Meantime, Chrysler hourly employees represented by the United Auto Workers union were voting Wednesday on a contract that would give them 55 percent of Chrysler's stock in exchange for a pay freeze, work rule changes and other modifications to the current contract negotiated in 2007. Workers were expected to approve the new deal.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:40 AM under Chrysler , Featured | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler Clears More Hurdles but to What End?
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- Chrysler has cleared another hurdle for getting a deal done with Italy's Fiat with the U.S. Treasury Department's announcement that an agreement had been reached with Chrysler's main creditors and Daimler AG had cut loose its stake in the automaker.
However, the creditors' agreement along with the necessary union contracts, also settled in recent days, does not mean Chrysler will avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:15 AM under Chrysler , Featured , News | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's New Viability Plan: An Opportunity To Restructure GM -- "And Do It Once"
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson, calling this a "defining moment" for the automaker, laid out his "go faster, go deeper" restructuring plan that includes more cuts in jobs, plants, dealers and products, including elimination of the Pontiac brand.
The revised viability plan also includes a debt-for-equity swap for bondholders, the union retiree health-care fund and the U.S. taxpayer.
"We have an opportunity to restructure GM, and we're going to do it once," Henderson said in a press conference Monday morning.
Henderson said GM still prefers to restructure out of court but will do it in bankruptcy court if necessary -- a strong signal to unions, dealers and bondholders that they'd better get on board with the new plan. Henderson said the chances of filing bankruptcy are higher today than they were earlier largely because of the bondholder exchange.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:42 AM under Featured , GM , News | Comments (1) | digg this |