ArvinMeritor: Former Ford Exec To Run Auto Parts Spin-off
Former Ford Executive Phil Martens will become CEO of a new company, Arvin Innovations, a spin-off of auto parts supplier ArvinMeritor, Inc., struggling to return to profitability by restructuring, expanding globally and becoming less dependent on Detroit’s Big Three.
Martens, who ran product development at Mazda and later Ford North America, was among a handful of executives who left Ford in a political battle that had Martens’ rival Mark Fields becoming Ford’s President of the Americas.
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Dodge Journey Ads a Hit, But Ford’s Drive One Has Mixed Impact
By Dale Buss
Chrysler’s advertising campaign for its new Dodge Journey crossover has greatly boosted initial online interest in the vehicle, according to an analysis by Edmunds.com. But the new omnibus marketing effort launched by Ford recently, Drive One, isn’t packing nearly the same punch.
Those are the conclusions of research by David Tompkins, executive director of business solutions for Edmunds.com, based in Santa Monica, Calif., using consumer visits to the New Vehicle Detail Pages (NVDPs) of the site in April, in the immediate wake of the launches of the two advertising campaigns.
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April Car Sales: U.S. Consumers Flock to Cars, Gouging Detroit Three
By Dale Buss
Americans rushed to swap their thirsty trucks and SUVs for fuel-efficient cars in April, making the month a turning point for the industry’s biggest segment shift in memory.
The stampede to cars left in the dust a Detroit Three that simply weren’t ready for its magnitude because of their reliance on truck-based vehicles, while it lifted Japanese automakers whose traditional strength has remained in small cars.
As U.S. consumers definitively reacted to $3.50-a-gallon gasoline, passenger cars outsold truck-based vehicles for the first time in at least 20 years. The move comprised a shift of six percentage points for the industry compared with last April, to 54 percent car sales.
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Gasoline Programs Could Be Next Wave of Incentives, Edmunds.com Predicts
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — As gas prices rise this summer, automakers may well turn to marketing programs that include free gasoline instead of or in addition to cash rebates and low-interest financing, Edmunds.com predicts.
“Gas prices are having a profound effect on the psychology of car-buyers, so we expect that automaker and dealer marketing tactics may include free gasoline programs this summer,” stated Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com. "As indicated in Edmunds’ True Market Value Predictive Alerts, transaction prices of gas-guzzling large SUVs and trucks will likely continue to fall.”
Meantime, Edmunds.com estimated Thursday that the average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,449 per vehicle sold in April 2008, up $13, or 0.5 percent, from March 2008, and up $39, or 1.6 percent, from April 2007.
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Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion, Pontiac G6 Gain Traction in Crucial ‘C’ Segment
By Dale Buss
Chevrolet Malibu is helping put Detroit back on the map in the mid-size sedan segment. Even the three-year-old Pontiac G6 and Ford Fusion are helping out on that front as well.
Of course, the real Big Three of the so-called “C” segment of the market remain solidly entrenched atop it: Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima. Accord was the nation’s hottest-selling vehicle during the first quarter, according to Edmunds.com data, overcoming a sluggish start since the new model’s debut last fall to move 88,000 units from January through March. Camry, at 84,000 units, and Altima, with 76,000 sales, were right behind.
But domestic automakers nevertheless are encouraged by recent glimmers of hope in a crucial segment in which they haven’t been competitive for several years -- even though mid-size sedans used to be the Big Three’s bread and butter. At least the progress lately is a place to start.
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Ford’s Early Agreement with Canadian Union a Positive Sign
By Michelle Krebs
The news that Ford reached an early agreement with its Canadian union is being overshadowed by Las Vegas billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's purchase of the automaker’s stock, but the Canadian deal is every bit as significant -- maybe even more so.
Talks between Detroit’s three automakers and the Canadian Auto Workers union regarding a new contract to replace the current ones that expire in September appeared as if they could be extremely rancorous. A strike appeared to be a distinct possibility.
But Ford’s announcement Monday that it had reached an agreement with the Canadian union -- especially in an unheard of four months plus ahead of schedule decreases -- lessens the odds.
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April Auto Sales: Buyers Continue Shift to Smaller Cars and SUVs
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – As gas prices skyrocket, the biggest growth in April vehicle sales
are expected to be in small cars and small SUVS. In total, April vehicle sales likely will show a decline from April of last year but increase from this past March, according to a forecast by Edmunds.com.
Automakers are expected to report new vehicles sales, including fleet sales, of 1.3 million units for April, a 2.2 percent decrease from April 2007 and a 3.7 percent increase from March 2008, Edmunds.com predicts. April 2008 had 26 selling days, two more than last April 2007. When adjusted for this difference, sales decreased 9.7 percent from April 2007.
“It’s clear that gas prices are weighing heavily on car-buyers’ minds," observed Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com’s executive director of Industry Analysis. “We predict that this month, the segments with the most year-over-year growth will be compact SUVs and compact cars at 52 percent and eight percent, respectively.”
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Kerkorian's Tracinda Builds Stake in Ford
He’s back and Ford is the object of his affection this time.
Last Vegas billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, through his Tracinda Corp., has amassed 100 million shares for a 4.7 percent stake in Ford just this month. Further, Tracinda said it plans to buy up to 20 million more shares at a premium to last week’s closing price.
Kerkorian’s move on Ford is a vote of confidence for Ford management led by CEO Alan Mulally and the company’s turnaround prospects.
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Ford-Toyota: A Race to Watch
By Michelle Krebs
While most eyes are on the global sales and production race between Toyota and General Motors, another interesting contest is developing in the U.S. – between the Ford and Toyota brands.
For the past two months, the Ford brand has outsold the Toyota brand. Ford’s recent gains narrowed the gap for the first quarter to less than 3,000 vehicles between it and Toyota. In 2007, Toyota closed the books 127,606 vehicle sales ahead of Ford. Throughout 2007, Toyota led Ford by about 10,000 plus vehicles a month.
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Ford Surprise: Turns Red Ink into Black
By Michelle Krebs
DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford reported Thursday morning that it was in the black in the first quarter, compared with the red ink it reported in the year-ago quarter, thanks to aggressive cost cutting and strong international sales.
Analysts had predicted Ford would announce a loss. Instead, Ford surprised them by posting net income of $100 million in the first quarter this year, compared with a $282 million loss in the year-ago quarter.
Profitability will be short-lived, however. Ford executives said in a conference call with media and analysts that the automaker will post a loss for full-year 2008, albeit vastly improved from 2007. They added the company is still on target to be profitable for 2009.
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Strategies Changing Quickly in the Green Game
By Dale Buss
As Earth Day comes around once more, there are a few different scoreboards for tracking the relative progress of automakers in their attempt to win the green derby.
According to Toronto, Canada-based consumer-research firm BrandIntel’s recent survey of online discussion, for example, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes and Volkswagen have the most “green credibility” due to their hybrid and diesel vehicles. General Motors and Chrysler have been stuck among the least-credible because of their large fleets of trucks and SUVs and weaker lineups of hybrids and diesel options. Ford sits in the middle.
But several automakers are forging strategies for changing such scoreboards in their green credentials. A look at a few:
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For Automakers, Green Mantle Could Become a Golden Cloak
By Dale Buss
Toyota clearly donned it for awhile. Ford tried it on for size. American consumers seem to think it fits Honda pretty well these days. But no one covets it more now than General Motors.
We’ll call it the “green mantle:” a figurative decoration on the shoulders of automaker that tells the world, and competitors, that their company is the most environmentally renowned in the industry, both for their products and technologies and – perhaps even more important – in the public’s overall regard.
And taken particularly in the context of an annual worldwide recognition such as today’s Earth Day, it seems at least as important for any corporation to earn the perception of environmental responsibility as to actually be doing something tangible.
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Ford’s Drive One Could Be Right Campaign, Right Time
By Dale Buss
American consumers have had their long fling with raw power and size. They’re continuing to demonstrate that vehicle design is very important to them. And in a softening economy, there’s still nothing that speaks louder than price.
But Ford may be on to something with the new, omnibus Drive One marketing campaign that the company has been revealing in stages over the last few weeks – and plans to use for years. The effort is the first major manifestation of the marketing strategy that has been hatched at Ford over the last six months by Toyota émigré Jim Farley.
And in what it says both about Ford and about the state of the U.S. automotive market, Drive One may be able to create a fortunate synchronicity for the long-beleaguered OEM.
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Ford Dealers Get a Glimpse of 2010 Taurus
Ford CEO Alan Mulally showed dealers the next-generation Ford Taurus behind closed doors at a Las Vegas gathering. The Taurus is believed to be scheduled as a 2010 model and could be unveiled at the Detroit auto show in January.
Ford has given no official details about the new Taurus to the media yet. However, last week, the Taurus Car Club of America Web site posted a hazy photo showing a far more chiseled shape and European appearance than the current model, as reported by Edmunds' InsideLine.com.
Jim Farley, Ford's group vice president for marketing and communications, told the Detroit Free Press that dealers gave the Taurus a standing ovation.
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American Idoling With the Fords
By Michelle Krebs
Anyone who tuned into American Idol Tuesday night saw Ford Chairman Bill Ford and family sitting in the front row. The cameras focused in on Ford at the very start of the show, identifying him even before host Ryan Seacrest took center stage or the judges were introduced.
Ford is a major sponsor of the national talent show, and Tuesday night’s American Idol marked the premiere of Ford’s new “Drive One” advertising campaign starring Ford employees.
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Chrysler Elbows in on Ford’s American Idol Action
Ford may own American Idol but Chrysler managed to uses the popular program to debut
its new ads for the Dodge Journey crossover.
Chrysler aired a 30-second spot it had unveiled to the media on Monday. Entitled Water Slide, the Journey crossover pulls up on a crowded city street on a sweltering day. From its flexible interior space and numerous storage spaces emerge various pieces that are used to build a 700-foot water slide, which Chrysler alleged is “the world’s largest.” Professional types quit their offices and come out to see what all the commotion is about.
The Journey’s theme line is “if you can dream it, do it.” The ad is intended to demonstrate the Journey "is a car that lets you do anything.”
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Ford, Microsoft Find They're in ‘Sync’ with Young Buyers
By Dale Buss
One of the few highlights of the industry’s dismal sales picture in recent months has been the Ford Focus.
In an otherwise dismal month and quarter for industry sales, March retail sales for the Focus marked their highest level for any month since August 2005 – with retail sales up 36 percent in March and 35 percent in the first quarter compared with the same periods a year ago. Counting fleet sales, Focus sales were up 24 percent in March and 23 percent for the quarter.
The reason for higher retail sales, Ford says, is in large part because younger consumers were flocking to buy Sync, the in-vehicle connectivity system that has been featured lately in marketing for the subcompact car.
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Big Three Boost U.S.-Made Exports
Last year's landmark labor contracts and the weak U.S. dollar are breathing new life into U.S. auto plants as Detroit automakers boost exports of U.S.-made vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reports.
General Motors plans to export U.S.-made vehicles to Europe, China and Latin American markets such as Brazil; Chrysler is shifting production from Europe to the U.S. to take advantage of lower costs and available plant capacity; and Ford is considering ramping up exports if it can bring labor costs down, the business journal reported in Tuesday’s edition.
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Sunday Nights are Special on the ‘Ford Television Network’
By Dale Buss
Sunday evening television has become very popular with Ford executives. And no wonder – for them, it’s like watching slickly produced home movies.
But instead of chuckling at their kids’ or grandkids’ foibles, or watching their dogs catch Frisbees, the Ford folks get to see the Edge and the Mustang and the Escape starring in their favorite ABC TV shows: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Oprah’s Big Give.
Tonight (April 6) might be the most fun they’ve had all season. Ford has organized more than 1,100 “viewing parties” across the nation to gather charitably minded individuals for what it’s calling The Big Drive. Attendees will watch tonight’s episode of Big Give, help their hosts submit a plan in a contest to give away 10 Ford vehicles to worthy charities, and also be invited to test drive the hosts’ Ford vehicles -- which the company expects to translate into 10,000 to 15,000 test drives in one night.
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Ford’s Farley to Unveil Marketing Plan
Next week, Ford’s long-awaited marketing plan will be unveiled by Jim Farley, Ford’s
group vice president for marketing and communications who was lured away from Toyota last fall.
The marketing plan includes an experiential aspect taking place this weekend in conjunction with the ABC TV show "Oprah's Big Give"; a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, with the tagline "Drive One," rolls out Tuesday.
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Ford: One Less Mouth to Feed as Worker Wins the Lottery
Ford Motor Co. has been offering all kinds of incentives to shed workers from its ranks, but this week it has one less, thanks to a payout bigger than anything Ford could deliver when one of its employees won the lottery.
David Sneath, a Ford hi-lo operator from Livonia, Mich., won Michigan’s $136 million Mega Millions jackpot — Michigan’s third-largest ever — on Tuesday, which was both April Fool’s Day and his 60th birthday.
What did Sneath do first? He quit his job at Ford, where he’d worked for 34 years.
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Think City, the Electric Car that Could Change Everything
By Nick Kurczewski
MONACO -- Jan-Olaf Willums, CEO of Think Global and the driving force behind the company’s new electric car, looked like his own batteries were nearly flat by the time AutoObserver sat down to chat with him at the EVER Monaco ecological car show. Held March 27-30, EVER Monaco is an annual exhibition of alternatively powered vehicles and energy systems. After a full day of interviews and roundtable discussions, Willums’ eyes looked weary, his tie was undone, and he bravely tried to stifle a yawn as we began the interview.
Five minutes into our conversation, the fog had lifted and Willums had hit his stride. His eyes were sharp, and the professorial-looking automotive CEO made it clear Think will not be content to simply reignite interest in electric vehicles. Think wants to revolutionize how customers buy a car, how they consume energy and even how they interact with their vehicle.
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March Sales: No Denying the Slump Is Real
By Dale Buss and Michelle Krebs
Automakers in March finally experienced the full brunt of two huge economic problems that had been nibbling at their market for months: rising gasoline prices, and American consumers’ falling economic expectations.
Sales for the industry dropped 11.9 percent in March, to 1,351,838 units, the worst performance for the month since 1993. Even more significant, the results accelerated a market deterioration that saw overall U.S. auto sales fall by 7.8 percent to 3,565,828 units for the first quarter. Annual sales rates, seasonally adjusted, slipped to near 15 million units.
A wicked combination of $3.50-a-gallon gasoline, higher prices for food and other necessities, mortgage woes and a shaky stock market left many American consumers more nervous and dispirited than anyone had expected them to be just a few months ago.
“We’re seeing new-car sales decline, not because people can’t afford them, but because there’s a lack of trust in the stability of the economy,” said Jesse Toprak, chief industry analyst for Edmunds.com. “There’s been a real erosion of wealth, and consumers are not in the mood to shop for a car. This is more of a psychological impact more than the inability to purchase a new vehicle.”
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Incentives To Rise Through the Spring and Summer, Reports Edmunds.com
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The average automaker incentive was largely unchanged in March compared with February, but incentives generally are likely to rise for the next several months as automakers try to break the sales slump, Edmunds.com predicts.
"Incentives are likely to rise through the spring and summer," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com. “We anticipate that this will be especially true for the European automakers, as long as the euro remains strong.”
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The Jaguar/Land Rover Sale: It’s Best Not To Add Up How Much Ford Wasted
By Richard Feast
So, Ford has finally stitched together the long-trailed sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata. It is the inglorious end of the vainglorious Premier Automotive Group that was supposed to challenge the mighty Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
We can now see the venture was doomed nanoseconds after it was created.
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UAW Membership Falls to New Low; American Axle Strike Goes On
The United Auto Workers union reported its membership dropped below a half-million people for the first time since World War II.
In U.S. Labor Department filings, the UAW said it closed 2007 with 464,910 members, a decline of 14.7 percent or 73,500 members from the previous year and more than two-thirds below its peak of 1.5 million members in 1979. It marks the union's low-water mark of membership since 1941.
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March Sales: Consumers Not Compelled to Buy, Says Edmunds Forecast
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Despite an abundance of rich incentive deals, March
vehicle sales for the industry are expected to be lower than March 2007 and even lower than February when automakers report results Tuesday, Edmunds.com has forecast.
March new-vehicle sales, including fleet sales, are expected to total 1.33 million, a 13.2 percent decrease from March 2007 and a 13.9 percent increase from February 2008, according to Edmunds’ forecast on sales figures not adjusted for the difference in selling days.
The forecast is less dreary when adjusted for the difference in selling days. This March had 26 selling days, two fewer than last March 2007. When adjusted for this difference, sales decreased 6.5 percent from March 2007.
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Tata Will Get Near-Death Jaguar, Recovering Land Rover from Ford In U.S.
By Michelle Krebs
The long-awaited deal that hands British brands Jaguar and Land Rover over to India’s Tata Motors from Ford is finally done.
So what does Tata get from Ford, at least in the U.S.?
Edmunds.com’s analysis of sales, market share and manufacturer incentives shows Tata has one nearly dead brand with Jaguar; Land Rover appears in recovery but with the cost of its meds climbing.
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Ford Sells Jaguar, Land Rover to India's Tata for $2.3 Billion
By Michelle Krebs
DEARBORN, Mich. — It's official. Ford Motor Co. announced Wednesday morning
it has signed a deal to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to India's Tata Motors for approximately $2.3 billion.
When the sale closes by the end of the second quarter, Tata will pay $2.3 billion for Jaguar and Land Rover; Ford will deposit $600 million into the Jaguar and Land Rover pension funds.
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Less Than a Week in Q1; Matching 2007 Sales an Impossible Dream
By Bill Visnic
Analysts and industry-metrics powerhouse J.D. Power and Associates already are predicting a heavy downturn in auto sales for March, based on sales figures from the first half of the month. Now, analysis from Edmunds.com is providing perspective on how bad not just March, but first-quarter sales are likely to be when announced next week.
Based on average sales for the first two months of 2008 compared with last year, the Detroit Three automakers have virtually insurmountable deficits to recover to match first-quarter sales from last year. But longstanding sales juggernaut Toyota Motor Corp. — and several other Japanese automakers — won't be likely to fare much better in what is shaping up to be the brutal retail-sales environment many had predicted.
Indeed, everyone predicted 2008 car sales would be worse than those in 2007; the analysis shows just how much worse in the early going. Some forecasts predict an uptick in the second half; others do not.
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Alfa Romeo: Returning to America
By Michelle Krebs
Alfa Romeo is returning to the U.S. next year, the Financial Times reports in
Tuesday’s edition.
Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne told the London newspaper Alfa would beginning selling cars in the U.S. next year and be producing them in North America by 2011 or 2012 — with a partner.
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March Car Sales Down, J. D. Power Report Says
Not surprisingly, major automakers saw retail sales drop in the first half of March compared with the same period a year ago, according to a report by research firm J.D. Power and Associates. The firm predicts total March sales will hit an annual selling rate of 15 million, dramatically lower than the 16.2 million rate of a year ago.
J.D. Power said in a report to its clients cited by Dow Jones that March saw year-over-year double-digit declines in retail car sales at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Toyota's sales also were off in the early weeks of the month.
J.D. Power recently reduced its 2008 car sales forecast to below 15 million, which would be the lowest level since 1994.
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New York Auto Show: The Good, Bad and Ugly
By Jane Nakagawa
NEW YORK — The New York International Auto Show opens to the public Friday, and what a difference a year makes.
Toyota is the nation’s second-largest brand not Ford. Jim Press is the vice chairman and president of Chrysler, not Toyota. Cerberus Capital Management, not Daimler, owns Chrysler. The national average price for a gallon of premium gas is $3.60, not $2.80.
And the most interesting cars at the New York auto show are diminutive and original, not colossal and extravagant.
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Economy Grabs the Spotlight at New York Auto Show
You know the economy is bad when the endlessly thriving Toyota says it may not hit its sales targets.
Remarks by Toyota executives in South Korea on Wednesday about the economy echo those being made by other auto company executives during this week's press days for the New York auto show where the economy, more than the cars, grabbed the spotlight.
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Wolfgang Reitzle: Thriving in the Prosperous Gas Business
When German engineer and businessman Wolfgang Reitzle departed Ford Motor Co. in May 2002, it was expected he eventually would turn up somewhere in the auto industry he’d grown up in.
Dubbed the auto industry’s preeminent car guy by Fortune magazine in 2000 and advocated by some to become CEO of BMW, where he had spent most of his career, Reitzle ended his automotive career as head of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group.
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Ford Takes a Stab at Reinventing NYC Cab
NEW YORK — When the call went out that New York City wanted to reinvent
the venerable taxicab to bring it into the 21st Century, Ford — already the leading provider of cabs nationwide — responded using an upcoming model as its basis.
Ford unveils its concept of the futuristic taxicab based on the Ford Transit Connect at the New York auto show Wednesday.
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Middle East Aston Martin Sues Aston Martin Lagonda UK for $50 Million
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — British luxury car maker Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. UK is being sued for
$50 million by its distributor in Dubai, Middle East Aston Martin, for breach of contract.
The lawsuit contends the strained relationship between Middle East Aston Martin (MEAM), the exclusive distributor of Aston Martin cars in the region, and the parent company to which Ford sold the bulk of the company a year ago is due “to the entrenched interests of its majority shareholder, the Kuwaiti investment group DAR, and their intention to refinance its stake in the company which had been purchased in March 2007, allegedly for an overprized rate.”
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Ford Beefs Up Global Management Team
By Michelle Krebs
Ford beefed up its global management team with the elevation of five executives to group vice president reporting directly to Ford CEO Alan Mulally and naming a chief operating officer in Europe.
Since his arrival more than 18 months ago, Mulally, a former Boeing executive, has said repeated like a mantra that he wants Ford to be a truly global car company a la Toyota, not a global carmaker made up of a disparate regional units.
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GM, Ford Stock Plummets to Historic Lows
Shares of General Motors and Ford plummeted to historic lows Thursday after Morgan Stanley Research cut its earnings forecasts based on a lowered outlook for U.S. auto sales. The report came on top of waning consumer confidence, higher gas prices, tightening credit availability and issues with auto suppliers.
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Commentary: Detroit Back to Its Old-School Tactics
By Bill Visnic
Despite stock prices and market shares nosediving toward near-historic lows, Detroit scions General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. once again are doling out bonus cash to blue- and white-collar workers alike — but the implied justification that “turnaround” goals are being met is, in the grandest tradition of car-town back-slapping, a bit self-serving.
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February Sales Leave Automakers Trying To Find the Bottom
By Dale Buss and Bill Visnic
February was an awful sales month for the U.S. auto market. If the
industry isn’t in its own recession against the backdrop of general
economic uncertainty, it’s surely looking for the bottom.
Overall sales dropped by 6 percent compared with February 2007,
following a year-over-year decline of 4 percent in January. The pace
represented a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15.5 million to 15.8
million vehicles, General Motors said. In the first two months of the
year American consumers bought about 2.2 million cars and trucks, or
about 126,000 fewer than in 2007.
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The More They Learn, the More Automakers Eye Internet
By Dale Buss
Automakers will always do brand building via traditional advertising media such as TV, radio, outdoor and print. But in an ever-toughening marketplace, they’re more and more intent on obtaining solid sales leads and on buttressing relationships with existing customers — so they’re putting their marketing resources into the channels that best deliver on those goals.
That’s the main reason the Internet will be vacuuming up a much bigger share of vehicle-advertising dollars in the U.S. market in 2008.
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Ford Flex Pricing to Start at Nearly $29,000
By Dale Buss
Ford is promoting its new 2009 Flex as a “white-space vehicle” that will be delightfully difficult to categorize. For the privilege of purchasing the flat-topped, three-row vehicle, consumers will have to pay a suggested starting price of $28,995, including shipping charges — a beginning price point that will put Flex atop the automaker’s growing lineup of crossovers.
When it is introduced this summer, the Flex will be offered in three trim series, and in front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive versions. Flex SE is the base model, a front-wheel-drive version. Prices for the all-wheel-drive Flex Limited will start at $37,255, including shipping, but options could make the top price much higher.
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Posted by at 2:37 PM under Ford , News | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Linked to Jaguar, Land Rover Despite Sale to Tata
Ford, which is expected to sign a deal to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover brands to India’s Tata Group next week, will continue to be linked to the luxury brands for years to come, according to a news report.
Ford plans to sell its entire stake in the brands as well as facilities and technology to Tata for $2 billion. But Tata has signaled to British labor leaders that, under the deal, it intends to continue using engines and other parts currently built in Ford-owned plants in the U.K., the Wall Street Journal reports. Tata could continue to get the engines from Ford for the next five years, and perhaps longer, a source told the newspaper.
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Posted by at 6:50 AM under Business , Ford | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Pursues 'Good' Fleet Business
By Michelle Krebs
The not-so-good fleet business — the daily rental-car business automakers are trying to depart — has been much discussed in recent years. But there’s the 
often-ignored “good” fleet business, which Ford in particular is trying to capitalize on in the U.S. as it has done so well in Europe.
Ford has made a number of recent moves to enhance its position in the profitable commercial-fleet sector. Its latest comes this week with the introduction of a freshened E-Series van at a commercial vehicle show in Atlanta.
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Posted by at 8:57 AM under Business , Ford | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Forecast: Better Car Sales in February than January
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — February car sales likely will be off some from year-ago levels but improved from dismal January when automakers report them Monday, according to a forecast by Edmunds.com.
February’s new-vehicle sales are expected to be 1.22 million units, a 2.3 percent decrease from February 2007 but a 16.8 percent increase from last month.
"The month is proving better than some industry watchers may have expected," observed Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com’s executive director of Industry Analysis. “This month should exceed the typical 10 to 15 percent boost in sales from January, historically the slowest car-sales month of the year.”
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Posted by at 8:24 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford, Tata Deal Close to Signing
Ford reportedly is close to signing a long-anticipated agreement with India’s Tata Motors for the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover, having resolved issues with union members in the United Kingdom.
The official sale is expected to be announced next week. Ford had targeted to close the deal by the end of first quarter, which ends March 31.
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Posted by at 6:18 AM under Companies , Ford | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM and Ford Should Have Learned Lessons from Lada and Russia's Central Planning
By Richard Feast
LONDON — Ford’s sale of Jaguar and Land Rover, to be finalized within days, and General Motors’ continued stumbling in search of a role for its Saab subsidiary, which shows off new concepts at next week's Geneva Motor Show, remind me of something I saw during a tour of the shabby, sprawling AvtoVAZ factory in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s.
The events are unrelated except for the way in which they highlight the laughable results of central planning. For the Kremlin then, read Dearborn and Detroit today.
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Posted by at 4:03 PM under Commentary , Featured , Ford , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tata Shareholders Not Thrilled with Proposed Jaguar, Land Rover Purchase
A lot of people — investors, specifically — are not thrilled with India’s Tata
buying Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford. They insist the company should focus on the $2,500 Tata Nano microcars, not $100,000 Jaguars.
Bloomberg News reported a number of investors, including A.S. Thiyaga Rajan, who manages a $250 million fund, are dumping their Tata stock.
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Posted by at 7:19 AM under Commentary , Companies , Ford , Personalities | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Help Wanted: Autoworkers at $14 an Hour
By Michelle Krebs
New labor contracts negotiated between Detroit’s automakers and the United Auto Workers union last fall, combined with upcoming buyouts and retirements of aging baby boomers, may lead to a healthy hiring spree of engineers and hourly workers by auto companies nationwide, according to a new study.
The overall employment level for workers at auto companies in 2016 will be about the same as in 2007 — about 355,000 people — well off this decade’s peak of nearly 500,000, says a study on automotive hiring trends released this week from the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.
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Posted by at 4:06 AM under Analysis , Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Still Moving Cautiously on Mobile Advertising
By Dale Buss
Auto-marketing executives know they’ll be advertising more on cell phones and other mobile devices in the coming months. But they still have a “prove-it” attitude toward the medium, as mobile-service providers work through issues such as image enhancement and platform standardization.
“The biggest issue with mobile is still that we have to do everything different for each different carrier,” said Gregg Benkendorfer, Toyota’s national manager of media and digital. “Until they really sort that out, I don’t think you’re going to see tremendous growth.”
Christine MacKenzie, Chrysler’s executive director of multi-brand marketing and agency relations, said mobile-advertising providers still can’t “provide us enough data to justify a major move into mobile yet.” She added, “it’s still an area where we’re learning, and we’ll continue to learn.”
But carmakers clearly are moving into mobile in a significant way nonetheless, encouraged in part by the booming popularity of Apple’s iPhone and the richness of its interface.
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Posted by at 4:59 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
What Would George and Abe Say? Automakers Shelve ‘Made in America’
By Dale Buss
Maybe, more than six years after 9/11 and nearly five years after the start of the war in Iraq, consumers are tired of patriotic pitches. Maybe the unmitigated globalization of auto production makes it just too hard. It might be that “green” marketing doesn’t leave room for the red, white and blue. Or perhaps the idea is just in a lull.
But whatever the reasons, the use of “Made in America” themes in car marketing seems to be at a generational low these days.
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Posted by at 12:50 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Marketing Powertrains Becomes Trickier
By Dale Buss
Back in the good old days, when an engine was still an engine and not some fuel-sipping mockery of locomotion, Chrysler dusted off its Hemi tradition, gussied up a powerful new V8 and wrote a great chapter in sub-branding history by promoting its robustness. Consumers went nuts from 2002 through 2006 selecting the 5.7-liter option and turning "That thing got a Hemi?" into a cultural touchstone.
What a difference two years and $3-a-gallon gasoline can make. Nowadays, Chrysler still touts the Hemi. But it is repositioning the iconic engine brand into a platform for powertrain diversity that notably includes a version that boosts fuel economy by shutting down half of its cylinders at cruising speeds.
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Posted by at 10:22 AM under Analysis , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Are Customers Finished Buying Tickets to the Horsepower Race?
By Bill Visnic
The evidence is mounting. Big engines and huge horsepower no longer are the keys to the car-buyer’s heart. In fact, it quickly may become the opposite.
Installation rates for V8 engines -- the bread-and-butter powerplant for the horsepower wars that have dominated the U.S. market for more than a decade -- are dropping. And data from Edmunds.com extrapolating the purchase intentions of consumers actively shopping for a new vehicle show those potential customers are markedly less interested in V8 power.
Certainly, it’s a time of deep but swift transition for the U.S. light-vehicle market. At the recent Detroit auto show, there were numerous examples of high-horsepower wares, but they most decidedly were presented in modest tones, taking a back seat to whatever fuel-efficient and eco-friendly model or technology was available. The chest-thumping days of explosive, twin-Hemi concept SUVs are done.
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Posted by at 1:19 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology | Comments (17) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Marketing: Restore the Trust
Ford Motor Co. plans to unveil a new marketing campaign in March or April that works to restore consumer trust in the Dearborn automaker's products, according to Jim Farley, Ford's group vice president of marketing and communications.
"The key elements are" to "restore the trust," he said Sunday, following a meeting with Ford dealers in San Francisco at the National Automobile Dealers Association's annual convention.
Farley is expected to lay out his plan for revamping Ford’s global marketing efforts on the eve of the New York auto show in March.
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Posted by at 10:52 AM under Companies , Ford , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chicago Auto Show: Best and Worst of Show
By Jane Nakagawa
It’s hard to outshine the glitz and glamour of Detroit’s North American International Auto Show. But the Chicago auto show has always drawn crowds, and this year is cause for a true celebration because the nation’s biggest and oldest auto show marks its 100th anniversary.
This impressive milestone is well chronicled on the show’s official Web site, where the history of America’s automobile culture can be viewed through myriad photographs gathered from manufacturers’ and private collectors’ archives. Simply click on the decade of your choice and you can practically hear the music.
The Chicago show was closed during World War II and reopened with well-deserved fanfare in 1950. Through the next two decades you can see America’s soaring confidence, initially through fins and chrome, and then through muscle cars. But signs of a breakdown began to show in the late 1960s. First came Ralph Nader and the safety crusade, and then the oil shock of 1973.
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