President Toyoda Details Plan to Restore Toyota Quality, Consumer Trust
In advance of Wednesday's Congressional hearings on the automaker's recent recalls, 
Toyota Motor Co. President Akio Toyoda detailed in a letter published in the Washington Post his plan to restore product quality and regain customer trust.
In the letter printed in Tuesday's edition, Toyoda, grandson of the company founder, accepted personal responsibility and apologized for the recalls, vowing to Toyota back on track.
Toyoda, who has been largely invisible during the last few weeks of recalls and negative headlines, wrote: "You have my commitment that Toyota will revitalize the simple but powerful principle that has guided us for 50 years: Toyota will build the highest-quality, safest and most reliable automobiles in the world."
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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."
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:58 AM under Featured , News , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Crisis Management, Japanese Style
Last Friday's press conference held by Toyota's chief executive Akio Toyoda has generated 
plenty of buzz. Much has been made in the Western and Japanese media about whether or not his "apology" -- and even his bow at the start of the conference -- demonstrated true contrition. And there's been various interpretation of his words -- was he sorry for the quality problems or sorry for the concern it caused.
In a recent column in the Wall Street Journal, Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan, discusses the uniqueness of the Japanese business culture that led to what the headline describes as "A Crisis Made in Japan."
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:53 AM under Commentary , In the Media , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Tiptoes Around Toyota Storm with Its Own Hybrid Fix
Careful - at least at the moment - what you call it when it comes to fixing hybrids. You 
might want to say "recall," but Ford's got a better idea, to coin a phrase.
Almost in lockstep with embattled Toyota Motor Corp. reportedly on the verge of announcing a recall or brake software recalibration on its Prius, Ford Motor Co. also announced a decision last week to reprogram the braking strategy for its Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:07 AM under Business , Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
January Sales: Automakers Joust for New Sales Slots
January car sales had automakers jousting for new positions in the sales rankings.
General Motors retained its No. 1 sales spot. But Toyota's recall and stop-sale order on eight of its best-selling models caused the Japanese automaker to slip to No. 3, behind Ford.
Ford had lost the No. 2 sales spot to Toyota in 2007 and has been fighting to win it back. It closed 2009 by slashing in half the gap with Toyota. This could be the year with Ford gaining momentum and Toyota in reverse with its quality woes.
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Are Toyotas Safe To Drive? Transportation Secretary Confuses the Issue More
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood publicly recommended that owners of recalled Toyotas should stop driving them during Congressional hearings on Wednesday. Then he backtracked on his statement in later in interviews, only adding to the confusion Toyota owners are experiencing.
"This flip-flop is not helping concerned motorists who are being presented with confusing and contradictory information about the Toyota recall at every turn," stated Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:19 AM under Commentary , In the Media , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Transportation Secretary Says Stop Driving Recalled Toyotas
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said owners of Toyota vehicles recalled for 
accelerator-pedal defects should "stop driving" them and bring them to a Toyota dealer for repair.
"We need to fix the problem so people don't have to worry about disengaging the engine or slamming the brakes on or put it in neutral," LaHood told a House Appropriations panel hearing in response to questions from a lawmaker.
"If anybody owns of these vehicles, stop driving it and take it to a Toyota dealer," he added.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:29 AM under News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (1) | 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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:17 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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."
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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."
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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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:18 AM under Featured , Toyota | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota's Lentz Making the Media Rounds
Jim Lentz, a Toyota sales exec who rose through the ranks to become Toyota Motor Sales president and COO in the U.S., faces his hardest sell yet: convincing Toyota buyers that their cars are high quality and safe.
Lentz, who stars in the company's video aimed at consumers and located on the automaker's Web site under the "recall update" section, is the front man for explaining the remedy for Toyota's latest recall that covered 2.3 million vehicles, in addition to a 4.2- million recall late last year. The automaker had largely gone silent in recent days after announcing the recall, stop-sale and production halt of eight of its most popular models mid last week.
On Monday, however, Toyota is covering the airwaves and the headlines. Lentz kicked off a host of interviews on national media with an appearance on NBC's "Today" show. He'll be on a number of other networks, including MSNBC and CNN, before hosting a media conference call at 11 a.m. Eastern.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:16 AM under Personalities , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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.
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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.
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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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:57 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota CEO Apologizes; Company Advertises Apology in U.S. Media
Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder of Toyota who was named president and CEO of the company last year, made his first public comment about the massive recall that led to a stop-selling order of eight popular models in the U.S. this week.
"I am deeply sorry," Toyoda said in a brief interview with the Japanese network NHK as reported by ABC News. Toyoda was attending the famous economic conference in Davos, Switzerland.
He apologized to customers for causing them worry. He said he could not answer questions because the company "was still investigating," but he hoped to provide customers with an explanation soon. "I would like for people to trust us," he said.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:35 PM under In the Media , News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (3) | 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.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 2:15 PM under Business , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Clarifies Some Recall Info; Recall Expands to Europe, China
A top Toyota executive, in a briefing with Edmunds.com staffers, clarified some points of the automaker's recent actions regarding the recall and subsequent sales and production suspension of eight best-selling Toyota-brand models. He described symptoms that suggest unintended acceleration in these vehicles could occur and provided an update on a remedy for the problem.
Meantime, Toyota expanded its stop-sale to Europe and Asia as well as to the U.S. Toyota Corolla/Matrix-based Pontiac Vibe, a model from a brand that General Motors has discontinued. The Vibe had been built at the New United Motor Manufacturing GM-Toyota joint venture plant in Fremont, California, that is being closed by Toyota. Toyota also added about 1 million vehicles to the floormat recall initiated last fall.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:25 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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.
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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.
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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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:43 AM under Featured , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Fusion Hybrid Beats Toyota Prius as Consumer Favorite Hybrid
The Ford Fusion Hybrid won the Consumer Favorite in Edmunds.com's hybrid vehicle survey, 
narrowly beating the Toyota Prius.
The Ford Fusion Hybrid earned 26 percent of the votes, closely followed by the Toyota Prius with 23 percent.
"Ford's midsize hybrid sedan, which helped boost Ford's overall sales performance in an otherwise dismal 2009, has been praised for its smooth operation, fuel economy, looks and interactive information system that helps drivers modify their behind-the-wheel behavior to increase fuel economy," according to Edmunds' GreenCarAdvisor.com Senior Editor John O'Dell.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:16 AM under Ford , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:07 PM under Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Detroit Auto Show: Eleven Vehicles That Matter - Or Don't
The 2010 North American International Auto Show is one of the most restrained editions of 
the Detroit confab many can remember.
But the show's comparative scarcity of high-impact concept and production vehicles didn't stem the avalanche of opinion on the most notable vehicles.
After scores of media outlets have weighed in, AutoObserver cuts through the clutter to give the real score on the 10 most significant - for better or worse - vehicles of the 2010 Detroit auto show.
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Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:31 PM under Analysis , Business , Commentary , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota , Volkswagen, Audi | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:49 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
What We'll See at the Detroit Auto Show - And What We'd Like To See
Thanks to the beat-down 2009 threw on almost every automaker, the 2010 installment of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week isn't expected to be one of the more ebullient in the storied show's history.
Most makers are laying low. And that's the ones who are even coming. Like last year, many automakers are taking a pass: Nissan and Porsche, for instance.
Many makers let the hometown companies make the biggest splashes, but Chrysler, for one, is displaying vehicles but having no press conference (our hopes remain Chrysler will import some Italian food to feed the media masses).
You can get a rundown of what will be displayed at the Detroit show at Edmunds.com's Inside Line. But we're adding a new twist: in addition to a scorecard of what some automakers are showing at the Detroit auto show, AutoObserver is adding what each automaker ought to be showing.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:31 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
December Sales Provide Hopeful Farewell to Last Year
U.S. auto sales in December accelerated to their best pace of the year outside last summer's Cash for Clunkers bonanza, providing a hopeful punctuation mark to the industry's worst year in decades.
Sales in December totaled 1,010,003, up 1.9 percent from December 2008, when automakers and American consumers were newly stunned by the economic debacle unfolding on several levels around them.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:56 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Auto Industry Believes 2009 Close Bodes Well for 2010
Some day, automakers hope to look back on 2009 as the year that both sales and corporate fortunes finally bottomed out. It's far too early to tell if history will treat last year that way, but for now, at least, the industry is taking heart from a definite surge of sales momentum as the decade closed.
Automakers sold about 10.4 million units last year, a disastrous tally that comprised the lowest total of light-vehicle sales in this country since 1970.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:38 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | 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.
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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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:57 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Los Angeles Auto Show Vehicles Generate Edmunds.com Buzz
Five new models displayed at the recently wrapped-up Los Angeles auto show are generating tremendous buzz on Edmunds.com. The five most talked-about vehicles are the Buick Regal, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Sienna and Cadillac CTS coupe.
Here's what readers have to say:
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:43 AM under Analysis , Commentary , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:09 AM under Companies , Featured , Ford , News , Toyota | Comments (7) | 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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:54 AM under Analysis , Commentary , Featured , GM , Hyundai, Kia , Mazda , Toyota | 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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:56 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | 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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:52 AM under Featured , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | 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.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:07 AM under Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (5) | 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
VW Pushes Past Toyota as Global Production Leader
The distractions for much of the year surrounding the Volkswagen Group's ownership tussle with Porsche AG didn't stop VW from achieving a significant global milestone: VW this month surpassed Toyota Motor Corp. as the world's largest vehicle manufacturer.
The United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper reports IHS Global Insight figures as indicating Volkswagen (now with Porsche included) production hit 4.4 million units for the year, easily shouldering by Toyota and its production of about 4 million units year-to-date.
Analysts have noted this event was not unpredictable; in the face of a global dropoff in demand, Toyota had made the decision to drastically curtail production in the early part of the year, a move that removed as much as 1 million units or more from Toyota production schedules.
Volkswagen, meanwhile, has been the beneficiary of large-scale stimulus efforts in China and many European countries trying to prop up flagging new-vehicle sales.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:54 PM under Business , Companies , News , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Incentives Dip as Automakers Launch 2010 Models
Incentives paid by automakers dipped in October from September and a year ago as they launch new 2010 models, which don't need them yet, and wind down 2009 models, Edmunds.com reports.
The average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,468 per vehicle sold in October 2009, according to Edmunds.com analysis of Total Cost of Incentives (TCI). That's down $329, or 11.8 percent, from September, and down $209, or 7.8 percent, from October 2008.
"Incentives declined because fewer old model-year vehicles were sold in October, and the newer vehicles are not discounted nearly as heavily," explained Jessica Caldwell, director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com. "Over 55 percent of vehicles sold in October were 2010 model year, compared with about 36 percent in September."
(Read more...)
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October Car Sales May Show Signs of Life When Reported Tuesday
Automakers report October sales on Tuesday and those reports are likely to show some signs of life.
Edmunds.com forecasts the Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of car sales will come in at 10.3 milllion to 10.4 million, the year's highest level aside from the summer's Cash for Clunkers months of July and August.
Toyota's Bob Carter told reporters in Detroit Monday that he expects the SAAR to come at between 10.3 to 10.5 million units. "Toyota will be up single digits on a daily selling rate basis versus September and down slightly - single digits - versus a year ago," Carter said. Edmunds.com forecasts Toyota sales will be off 9.6 percent from a year ago.
(Read more...)
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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
Screaming Deals on Convertibles, Luxury Cars, Sports Cars and Dying Models, Edmunds.com Reports
The industry's best deals right now are in luxury cars, sports cars and convertibles as well as 
leftover 2009 models, according to Edmunds.com.
As for brands, Lincoln, Saab and Volvo are offering great deals, as are Pontiac and Saturn, which are being discountinued completely by General Motors.
"Dealers should be open to any decent offer since they know that these vehicles, which often sell to a fashion-conscious crowd, will drop in value once the 2010 model year vehicles roll in. There will be nothing harder to sell than a 2009 convertible in winter with 2010 fast approaching," said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. And there is ample inventory of 2009 models, she added
(Read more...)
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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...)
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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
Big Bucks on the Hood of Pricey Hybrids
Low gas prices and even lower demand in the luxury market have conspired to short-circuit sales of premium hybrid-electric vehicles. Now, as the fourth quarter begins to wind down a fairly lousy year for auto sales - and new 2010 models are shouldering their way onto dealer lots - automakers are piling on some fantastic incentives in the hope of clearing out leftover big-money hybrids.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus premium division, owner of the market's most-expensive hybrid in its LS 600h L, rang in October with a bulging $10,000 dealer-cash incentive on the '09 model of the flagship hybrid. The company also is offered a bounty of $1,000 to any sales associate selling an '09 LS 600h L, which starts at $106,035.
Toyota doesn't break out sales of the hybrid LS in its monthly sales reports, but sales of the entire LS line are down 53.7 percent through September as sales in almost all luxury segments continue to fade.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:17 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Eager to Move Past September's Tepid Sales
U.S. auto sales in September dipped to predicted lows because the Cash for Clunkers program ended in August and there weren't many buyers left, car company executives reported Thursday. They're just hoping that the market's massive "payback" via September's sales drought isn't extended into the fourth quarter.
Americans bought just 745,516 vehicles in September, a 23-percent drop from a year ago. That represents an abysmal Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of sales of just 9.2 million units - the lowest since February and roughly the laconic pace at which economically shell-shocked consumers purchased cars during the first half of the year.
And it was far below -- 41 percent, to be exact -- the relatively breathtaking sales rate of 14.1 million units that prevailed for August, when most buyers took advantage of a total of $3.5 billion in rebates under the federal government's clunkers program and purchased more fuel-efficient vehicles. September's sales volume plunged by more than a half-million units compared with August.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:28 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (13) | digg this | del.icio.us
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
Toyota's Lexus Advertises on Paid CNN App
Toyota's luxury division Lexus is among initial marketers to advertise on CNN's iPhone and iPod Touch application, making its debut Tuesday.
CNN followed the Wall Street Journal in charging for news on such mobile devices. The one-time fee is $1.99 for the news feeds that can be personalized by location or topic and shared by email, Twitter and Facebook, CNN said. Content includes articles, videos, photos and user-generated material. CNN said it has taken almost six months to develop the app. The Wall Street Journal begins charging $2 a week for its mobile app beginning in October.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:28 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Only Automaker Among Top 10 Global Brands
Toyota Motor Corp. remains one of the world's best brands, according to the 2009 edition of the now heavily anticipated list of the top 100 global brands generated by international brand consultant Interbrand.
Toyota was the only automaker to crack the top 10 on Interbrand's list, coming in at No. 8. Toyota's performance does represent a decline, however, from its place as No. 6 on last year's Interbrand list.
Although Toyota is the only maker to achieve a Top 10 position on the list, automakers are better represented in the top 20: Mercedes-Benz placed No. 12 (down from No. 11 in 2008), BMW is No. 15 (losing two places from last year's rank of No. 13) and Honda scored a No. 18 rank, improving from its No. 20 position in 2008.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:01 AM under Companies , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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
Buick Billboards Poke Fun at Lexus; Tweets Poke Fun at Buick Tagline
At least a couple of automakers are headed into the 2010 model year donning boxing gloves.
Feisty billboards popping up across the country have the Buick LaCrosse taking dead aim at Lexus ES 350. One shows the LaCrosse with the line "Another thing for Lexus to relentlessly pursue" in a play on Lexus' ad tagline.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:16 AM under Commentary , GM , Toyota | Comments (11) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Final Tally: Cash for Clunkers Buys, Trades; Ford Focus No. 1 Buy
Edmunds.com has completed its final tally of the most popular vehicle purchases and most 
frequent trade-ins under the Cash for Clunkers. The Ford Focus held its No. 1 spot as the favorite buy; the Ford Explorer remained the No. 1 trade-in.
Indeed, the top 10 lists in both categories wound up little changed from the early scoring on Edmunds.com's lists.
And, in fact, many of the top clunker buys are the industry's bestsellers in non-clunker times. Eight of the 10 vehicles on the top 10 clunker buy list are also in the top 10 for the year so far in total; only the order is changed.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:20 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
'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
Toyota Closing Nummi In March; Tacoma to Texas
Toyota Motor Corp. announced late Thursday it will end its production contract at the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. assembly plant in Fremont, CA, next March, shifting assembly of NUMMI-manufactured Tacoma midsize pickups to Toyota's recently built plant in San Antonio, TX.
The NUMMI facility was a joint-venture operation between Toyota and the General Motors Co., but in June, just prior to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, GM said it was vacating the NUMMI operation and leaving its ownership in the venture with the "old" GM.
GM did not see a future for NUMMI and shortly thereafter Toyota also began to send signals it, too, might abandon the venture that began in 1984. GM ended production of the Pontiac Vibe (a badged variant of the Toyota Matrix) on Aug. 17.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 5:36 PM under Business , GM , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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
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
Toyota: No Plan To Undercut U.S. Ad Agencies
An Internet blog was entirely off-base when it suggested this week Toyota Motor Corp.'s
restructuring of its marketing organization in Japan will adversely impact the company's relationship with its U.S. advertising agencies, a senior Toyota source tells AutoObserver
.
Toyota announced it was forming two new internal marketing units, one in Japan to "primarily handle marketing within Japan," and an internationally focused unit "to carry out and assist global marketing as well as coordinate and assist the marketing activities of TMC affiliates."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:52 AM under Business , Rumors , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Updated Data Revises Some Hybrid Payback Times
Armed with more detailed 2010 model-year data regarding hybrid-electric vehicle pricing,
incentives and equipment levels that affects payback times, data analysts at Edmunds.com
are issuing revised payback times recently listed for several hybrid models.
Most notably, the battle between Toyota Motor Corp.'s new Prius and the equally new 2010 Insight from Honda Motor Co. Ltd. draws considerably closer than Edmunds.com's analysis originally reported.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:45 PM under Analysis , Companies , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Cash for Clunkers Drives Consumers to Fuel-Efficient Choices, Edmunds.com Reports
Should the federal government fund a Cash for Clunkers extension, and is it worth the added
$2 billion cost as an economic and environmental stimulus?
Those are the questions the Senate considered this week as it debated the extension the House already passed. Data based on real Cash for Clunker transactions by Edmunds.com shows clearly vehicles turned in as clunkers -- mostly gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs -- would have been traded in at some point even without the program.
However, those vehicles were traded for vehicles that were more likely to be cars than trucks or SUVS and vehicles that deliver better fuel economy with the $3,500 to $4,500 government vouchers provided under the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS).
Further, the clunker plan appears to have had a rub-off effect. The program created a feeding frenzy, with the last week of July generating a seasonally adjusted selling rate of a stunning 19.6 million vehicles. And those consumers buying vehicles regardless of trade-ins opted for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars during the Cash for Clunker program at a higher than usual rate.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:34 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Eying More Control Over Ads?
In a move that may signal significant implications for Toyota Motor Corp.'s relationship with its
U.S. advertising agencies, the company said it is establishing two new internal marketing organizations, "[one that] will primarily handle marketing within Japan and a company to carry out and assist global marketing as well as coordinate and assist the marketing activities of TMC affiliates."
Whether this means Toyota is pulling the rug out from under its U.S. advertising agencies and will bring some, or all, future creation of advertising in-house via the new marketing organization -- as one media-watching Web site surmised -- remains to be seen.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:53 AM under In the Media , Rumors , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Loses $819 Million in Quarter; Better Than Analysts' Estimates
Toyota reported Tuesday it lost 77.8 billion yen -- the equivalent of $819 million (U.S.) in the
most recent quarter. The loss was smallerthan analysts had forecasted, suggesting the worst is over and that Toyota's full-year losses will be less than previously expected.
Toyota said it now expects to lose 450 billion yen ($4.7 billion) for the fiscal year that ends March 31, 2010. Previously, Toyota expected to lose 550 billion yen ($5.8 billion) for the year.
In a conference call with media and analysts Wednesday morning, Toyota Managing Officer Takuo Sasaki noted a dramatic drop in vehicle sales volume. "However, the introduction of demand stimulating measures by various governments, including Japan, has begun to trigger a revival in some regions," he said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:01 AM under Business , News , Toyota | Comments (1) | 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
Toyota Retains World's No. 1 Sales Spot
Toyota Motor Corp. held onto the No. 1 position for global auto sales in the first six months
of this year despite being outpaced by General Motors in the second quarter. GM lost its more than seven-decade world reign to Toyota in 2008.
Toyota reported Tuesday it sold 3.56 million vehicles worldwide in the first half that ended June 30; GM sold 3.55 million. In the April-June quarter, GM sold 1.94 million vehicles, due to strong sales in China, compared with Toyota's 1.80 million.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:21 AM under GM , News , Toyota | 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
Consumers Find New, Remade Models More Appealing Than Ever, J. D. Power Finds
By Michelle Krebs
Like Sally Fieldwhen 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
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
GM Out in Joint-Venture Plant With Toyota
By Bill Visnic
The status of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. General Motors Corp.-Toyota Motor Corp. manufacturing joint-venture assembly plant in Fremont, California, is decided:
GM is out.
Speculation about GM's involvement in the NUMMI facility -- opened in 1984 -- began immediately after GM's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on June 1. The two companies currently make individually badged versions of the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe at the NUMMI site; Toyota also makes versions of the Tacoma pickup.
GM announced today its ownership in NUMMI will go along with the company's discarded liabilities in the "old" GM it seeks to form as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 11:28 AM under Business , Companies , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Nada for NUMMI, So Far
DETROIT -- General Motors North America President Troy Clarke said the automaker has yet to find a model that is suitable to build at the GM-Toyota joint venture plant in California, New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.
GM will stop making the Pontiac Vibe at NUMMI in August as it winds down the entire Pontiac brand. The Vibe is based on the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Matrix.
"We've just not found a product that suitable for NUMMI," Clarke told reporters Friday in a conference call on GM's small car plans. "They've been great partners...and the dialogue continues."
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:02 PM under GM , News , Toyota | 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
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
Pontiac Vibe Done in August
DETROIT -- General Motors declared the end of the Pontiac Vibe in August.
GM, as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, will eliminate the Pontiac division entirely by the end of the year.
However, GM will end the production of the Vibe, which is built at a GM-Toyota joint venture plant known as New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) in Fremont, California. The Vibe shares its underpinnings with the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Matrix.
GM says it is in "active discussions regarding potential future production at NUMMI." Toyota reportedly has been considering building the Prius hybrid there.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:38 PM under GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Incoming Rounds in Hybrid War
By Bill Visnic
When gasoline prices plunged early this year, sales of hybrid-electric vehicles went South, too.
Quickly.
The timing may be unfortunate, but major hybrid players Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. launched new hybrids this spring -- and both seem determined to grub out a larger portion of the yo-yoing hybrid market. That battle, the latest summertime jump for gasoline prices and the U.S. auto market's continuing gyrations are once again cranking up the attention on hybrids.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:51 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Mystery Company To Assemble Cars in Louisiana
Baton Rouge, La. -- A company described as a well-financed start-up reportedly is close to
choosing a shuttered north Louisiana site to start a new automobile manufacturing facility -- its first, creating up to 1,500 jobs, two elected officials from the region told the Associated Press.
A formal announcement on the mystery company could come Wednesday from Gov. Bobby Jindal, Rep. Jim Fannin told the wire service.
Fannin said the vehicles would be the company's first, they would be fuel-efficient ones and they will be built at a former Guide Corp. plant.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:08 AM under Business , Companies , GM , Rumors , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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
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
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
Future of GM-Toyota NUMMI Plant Uncertain with GM Bankruptcy
General Motorsmay stop building cars at a factory it owns with Toyota in California, known as NUMMI, following
the Detroit-based carmaker's bankruptcy filing Monday, Bloomberg News
reports.
The only GM product the plant builds is the Toyota Corolla/Matrix-based Pontiac Vibe, which will be eliminated as the automaker closes down the Pontiac brand.
The plant also builds the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Tacoma.
(Read more...)
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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
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-quarterred inkpulledToyota'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
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
2010 Toyota Prius Priced Above 2010 Honda Insight
TORRANCE, California -- Toyota announced pricing on its 2010 Toyota Prius that puts it
higher than the 2010 Honda Insight.
The 2010 Toyota Prius will start at $22,750, including a $750 destination charge, when it goes on sale in late May, putting it higher than the 2010 Honda Insight, which starts at $20,470 and went on sale March 24.
However, Toyota's pricing strategy includes the rollout later this year of the 2010 Toyota Prius I, a stripped-down base model that will start at $21,750 -- still more expensive than the cheapest Insight.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:16 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Prius Beats Honda Insight in Edmunds' Inside Line Comparison Test
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The 2010 Toyota Prius beat the 2010 Honda Insight in a
comparison test conducted by Inside Line
, Edmunds.com's
online enthusiast car magazine.
"The 2010 Toyota Prius is quicker, it stops shorter and, with its smoother ride quality and quieter cabin, it's the one you want to be in when commuting," says Erin Riches, Edmunds' Inside Line senior editor.
In the comparison test, the 2010 Honda Insight was praised for its steering and for the responsiveness of its continuously variable transmission (CVT).
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:12 AM under Analysis , Companies , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota May Report Operating Loss for Second Year, Nikkei Says
Toyota may report an operating loss for a second-straight year, the Japanese newspaper
Nikkei reported.
Toyota already is expected to post a $5-billion loss of $5 billion for its fiscal year that just ended on March 31. Now Nikkei reports Toyota could report an operating loss even larger than that for its current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2010.
Toyota will sell about 6.5 million vehicles this year, the first time in six years its sales have fallen below 7 million.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:18 PM under Rumors , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
BMW, Toyota Named Among Most Ethical Companies
BMW and Toyota were the only two auto companies to make the list of 99 of the world's most ethical companies in the Ethisphere Institute's third annual rankings announced Monday.
"The mission of our group is to improve corporate behavior," said Alex Brigham, executive director of the international think-tank based in New York dedicated to the advancement of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability.
(Read more...)
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Global News: UK Electric Car Subsidy Criticized; Nissan, Renault Do Electric Cars in China; Tesla Opens EU Stores; Australian Sales Fall
In global news, the auto industry criticized Prime Minister Gordon Brown's subsidy for electric cars, Nissan and Renault announced plans to supply China with electric cars by 2011; U.S.-based Tesla is expanding to Europe; and vehicle sales in Australia tumbled in the first quarter.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:38 AM under Companies , Ford , GM , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota, Mississippi Officials Sued for Racism
A black-owned construction company has filed a federal civil lawsuit against Toyota,
MississippiGov. Haley Barbour andthe Mississippi Development Authorityclaiming racial discrimination in the construction of Toyota's new plant innortheast Mississippi.
The owners of Fish & Fisher, Jacqueline Williams and Renna Fisher, say Barbour, MDA and the car company acted in concert to bar them from participating in what they claim was a whites-only bid process for site preparation.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:06 AM under News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
New Toyota Prius Has To Address Tough Market and Tough New Rival
By Bill Visnic
ORLANDO, Florida -- Acknowledging that low gasoline prices have hampered hybrid sales growth and that rival Honda Motor Co. could be a threat to its dominance in the hybrid-electric vehicle market, a Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. executive says the company remains confident hybrids are a strong growth opportunity.
At a media preview of the heavily redesigned 2010 Prius hybrid here, Ed La Rocque, Toyota's national car marketing manager, confirms Toyota has a plan to address Honda's new Insight hybrid, the recent U.S. launch of which has whipped analysts and industry watchers into a frenzy because the Insight's base price ($19,800) undercuts the current Prius by thousands.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:34 AM under Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Considers Revamp Of U.S. Operations To Stem Losses, Reports Say
Toyota Motor Corp. is considering a reorganization of its U.S. operations, pulling
sales, marketing and manufacturing under one powerful executive in an effort to stem its current losses, reports say.
The possible reorganization, reported by the Detroit News Wednesday and confirmed by AutoObserver sources, comes as Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company founder, is about to take over as president and CEO in Japan.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:54 AM under Personalities , Rumors , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
March Car Sales Show Signs of Life
By Michelle Krebs and Bill Visnic
A late-month uptick caused March car and truck sales to surpass forecasters' expectations, providing a glimmer of hope to the U.S. auto industry that the long and ugly drought is nearing an end.
"We started to see some signs of life in the March numbers," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com. His remark echoed similar comments made by auto company executives and analysts as they delivered their March sales results Wednesday.
Particularly encouraging to everyone was the rise in the annualized rate and the above-average hike in sales from February to March.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:22 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Incentives Set All-Time Record, Edmunds.com Reports
By Michelle Krebs
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Automaker incentives set a new all-time high in March, even though it appears they didn't helpsales much, according to Edmunds.com
.
The average automotive manufacturer incentive was $3,169 per vehicle sold in March, the highest industry average on record.
"Automakers are pulling every lever in their effort to attract buyers, as evidenced by the new programs from Ford and General Motors," stated Jesse Toprak, Edmunds' executive director of Industry Analysis. "The typical incentive programs simply do not resonate in today's economy."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:49 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
March Car Sales Look a Lot Like February Car Sales
By Michelle Krebs
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- March car sales to be reported April 1 by manufacturers look a lot like February car sales, and that's not a good thing since March traditionally marks the kick off of the busy spring selling season.
"If sales continue at this pace all year, we're looking at a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate of only 8.9 million vehicles sold, which is slightly more than half of 2007 sales," said Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:06 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Newly Born Baby Boomers: What Cars Will They Buy?
By Michelle Krebs
When he was Toyota's top American executive, Jim Press often cited his visits to the hospital nursery to support his prediction that U.S. motor vehicle sales would hit 20 million units a year.
"What I see in each of those baskets is 20 purchase cycles," Press, now president of Chrysler, would say of the rows of babies -- future car buyers -- in cribs.
Press no longer predicts 20 million vehicle sales; instead he sees 14 million at best for the near future. Nevertheless the hospital nurseries are jampacked with a record number of new babies.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:04 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Buick, Jaguar Tops For Vehicle Dependability
By Michelle Krebs
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. - Buick and Jaguar ranked highest in vehicle dependability, in a tie for first place in the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Vehicle Dependability Study released Thursday morning.
Buick climbed to the top this year from sixth place in the 2008 rankings; Jaguar moved up from 10th place. Both surpassed Toyota and its luxury division Lexus, though Toyota and Lexus immediately followed in the No. 3 and 4 spots while also nabbing the most individual categories for vehicle dependability.
"Buick has ranked among the top 10 nameplates each year since the study was last redesigned in 2003, while Jaguar has moved rapidly up the rankings," David Sargent, vice president of automotive research at J.D. Power and Associates, said in a statement.
"Lexus remains a very strong competitor in long-term quality. In particular, the Lexus LS 430 sets the industry standard for dependability, with fewer problems reported than any other model in the study," Sargent added.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:38 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Global News: Toyota Prius Plug-In Trials in France; Chinese Cars in Israel; Canadian Economy to Shrink
In news from around the world Wednesday, Toyota has partnered with French utility company EDF to road test the plug-in Prius, a Chinese vehicle brand is set to launch in Israel, and Merrill Lynch forecasts dramatic retraction of Canada's economy in the first quarter of 2009.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:30 AM under Business , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Global News: Mazda Seeks Government Help; Toyota To Slash Prius Price; China Incentivizes Rural Car Sales; Kia Cuts Russia Sales Targets
In global news Tuesday, Mazda said it was seeking financial help from the Japanese government, China is giving incentives to rural dwellers to buy cars, and Kia slashed its forecast for Russia.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:44 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Japan's Big Three Reject Higher Pay for Workers
Toyota, Nissan and Honda rejected their unions' requests for higher wages and heftier bonuses for workers.
In Japan, salaries and bonuses are usually negotiated in the winter, in advance of the start of the new fiscal year on April 1. Typically, the companies grant whatever is requested for base pay and bonuses, but this year is different.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:07 AM under Business , Companies , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Global News: Toyota Cuts Bonuses, Ford Cuts Europe Production, China Caps Fuel Prices, Russia Cuts Out Foreign Competition
In news from around the globe Monday, Toyota announced 50 percent bonus cuts for Japanese management, Ford is reducing output at several European plants, consumer gas prices in Shanghai rose to the government-limited maximum, and Chinese automaker Geely has halted production in Russia.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:10 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Obama Auto Task Force: What Did They Think About Their Detroit Visit?
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- You could imagine a collective sigh of relief as General Motors and Chrysler executives closed their doors late Monday behind the most important guests they've ever had visit.
And you could imagine them wondering what kind of impression they had made on the representatives of President Obama's automotive task force that will decide their fate. "So what did they think?" they must have been asking.
Yet those task force members, none of whom have automotive experience, remain as poker faced as any card player, not providing even the slightest hint about their impressions of their Detroit visit, their thoughts on the precarious situations of GM and Chrysler and their plans for what they will do when the March 31 deadline arrives.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:06 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , GM , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
President Obama's Auto Advisors Visit Detroit
DETROIT -- Representatives of President Barack Obama's automotive task force are visiting
Detroit Monday. Their trip includes a tour of a Chrysler assembly plant and General Motor's Technical Center and a test-drive of the Chevrolet Volt.
All the while, auto company executives will try to convince them further federal assistance is a worthwhile investment for taxpayers.
Their visit comes as Republicans cranked up the volume on their opposition to support Detroit automakers and yet another survey showed the American public generally is opposed as well.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:59 AM under Business , Commentary , Companies , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Despite Economy, Auto Shows Remain Crucial Marketing Stage
By Dale Buss
Nissan just announced that it plans to stay away from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next year, as the company did this year. It also plans to skip other major U.S. shows and dozens of smaller ones scattered across the country, as well as the Frankfurt exhibition this September.
But as auto company executives, suppliers and the global news media gathered in Geneva last week for one of the most prestigious regular shows, Nissan appears to be alone in its strategy of making draconian cuts in its annual exhibition budget to help get costs under control in this severe sales environment.
In fact, most other automakers -- even badly damaged Chrysler -- so far are making it a point to stick with their expensive investments in auto-show participation.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:10 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Seeks Loans From Japan
You know the economic environment is tough all over when formidable Toyota goes hat-in-
hand to the Japanese government for a handout.
In fact, public broadcasting station NHK in Japan, reported that Toyota, which expected to report its first loss in history for the fiscal year that ends March 31, has asked the Japanese governments to loan about $2 billion to Toyota Financial Services because private investors are demanding up to 50 percent or more in interest for the company's debt.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:03 AM under Business , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
February Car Sales: Fearful Americans Hunker Down, Steer Clear of Dealer Showrooms
By Michelle Krebs and Bill Visnic
DETROIT - Americans, unemployed or fearing they will be, hunkered down last month, cutting their household budgets, squirreling away money and avoiding dealer showrooms as February car sales sunk to their lowest level of any February in more than four decades.
Automakers sold 691,073 vehicles in February, down 40.9 percent from the 1,168,729 they sold in February a year ago. That marked the lowest level of car sales for any February since 1967, according to General Motors' record books. That fact is even more eye-popping when population is considered: in 1967, the U.S. had 103 million registered drivers; today the nation has nearly twice that many.
And it put the closely-monitored Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) at 9.1 million vehicles, the lowest SAAR since 1982.
Not coincidentally, consumer confidence, a key indicator for how vehicle sales will fare, sunk to record lows in February, according to at least two measurements. And much of that has to do with dimming employment picture as well as dwindling household worth.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:57 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Says Market Has Room for 2010 Prius and New Honda Insight
By John O'Dell
Gas is down around $2 a gallon again. Honda is about to introduce a $19,000 (give or take) hybrid. The economy's in the tank. People are pinching pennies like crazy. And new-car sales are at their lowest levels in decades.
Sounds like a great time for Toyota to hit the market with its third-generation Prius, a car likely to be priced thousands of dollars above its prime competitor, the new Honda Insight hybrid.
But that's exactly what Toyota's doing. Toyota expects the 2010 Prius, which arrives in showrooms in June, will reverse the model's sliding sales and bring 100,000 buyers into the market in the last seven months of this year.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:02 AM under Business , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
February Car Sales: Consumers Sit the Month Out Again
By Michelle Krebs
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The still-deteriorating economy and the continued uncertainty about employment kept consumers away from buying new cars again in February despite the record-breaking deals available to them.
February car sales, to be posted by automakers Tuesday, are expected to be down about 40 percent from a year ago to 685,000 vehicles sold for the month, according to Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com.
That puts the closely watched Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) for the month at 9.3 million vehicles, down from 9.6 million the previous month.
"The fluctuation in car sales and the instability of the stock market are just two examples of the volatility in the marketplace, which is wreaking havoc on consumer confidence and hampering any economic recovery," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of Industry Analysis.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:13 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Brings Inaba Back To Clean Up U.S. Mess
Toyota Motor Corp. has rehired Yoshimi Inaba to revive the automaker's operations in North
America where U.S. vehicle sales have plunged to their lowest level in nearly three decades.
The 62-year-old Inaba left Toyota in 2007 to run Central Japan International Airport Co. in Nagoya. He first joined Toyota in 1968 and later was president of North American sales. A Toyota spokesperson said he will oversee some North American projects.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:51 AM under News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chicago Auto Show: Calm Before the Storm
By Bill Visnic
This week's Chicago auto show isn't expected to be chock-full of prominent concept- or production-car introductions, as automakers hunker down to evaluate how best to absorb still-disintegrating auto sales.
More important, Chicago comes after a definitely somber Detroit auto show - and just before General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are scheduled to present the next phase of their restructuring "blueprints" to federal officials on Feb. 17. From there, the two automakers must present the full case by March 31 that they are "viable" and worthy of more government investment - a cash infusion both say they need to avoid bankruptcy.
So the Chicago show will make the most of introductions that are, for the most part, likely to reflect these less-ebullient industry times.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:18 PM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Hits Global Loss, But Exec Says Pent-Up Demand in U.S.
By Bill Visnic
Saying the company expects auto sales levels to begin recovering in the second half after "bouncing around the bottom" the first six months of this year, Don Esmond, senior vice president, automotive operations, Toyota Motor Sales USA, says the industry seasonally adjusted selling rate should begin to rise toward more tolerable levels later this year.
After recording January sales, the U.S. industry's SAAR projected to less than 10 million units. And Toyota today reported the global auto sales plunge that began in the second half of 2008 will drag it to its first net operating loss in 59 years, as the company expects to record a loss of some $3.85 billion for the year ending in March.
The loss comes on the expectation Toyota will sell nearly 1.5 million fewer vehicles around the world than it originally projected.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:17 AM under Featured , In the Media , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fleet Cutbacks Help Shrink January Sales to Early-1980s Levels
By Dale Buss and Bill Visnic
Two huge drags on the U.S. auto market - an utter lack of consumer confidence, and a paucity of credit -- persisted in January and were joined by a new one: at least a temporary evaporation of the fleet market.
Industry-wide sales in January cratered from a year earlier, falling by 36.9 percent, to about 677,000 units from 1.06 million vehicles sold in January 2008. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate fell to fewer than 10 million units for the first time in more than 26 years. And the American auto business sold fewer cars than for any month since the depths of a recession in December 1981.
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Scion Not Scorched by 2008, but Wants Fourth Model
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- Sales analysts for Toyota Motor Corp.'s Scion brand are still looking at the numbers from the last half of 2008 -- a disastrous six months for U.S. auto sales -- but the brand's vice president says the economy's credit meltdown probably did not hurt Scion as much as it might be assumed for a brand that broadly target's young and first-time buyers.
And despite the rapid and debilitating contraction of the U.S. market, Scion wants another model to sell.
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Few Auto Ads Air on Super Bowl
By Michelle Krebs
Super Bowl audiences will see a dearth of car ads during Sunday's big game, and they will see none from Detroit's ailing automakers. Only Audi and Hyundai, back for the second year as they seek to increase market share in the game, and Toyota will advertise during the game.
The cost of the ads, which hit the $3-million mark for a 30-second spot (of which there will be nearly 50) this year, is significant barriers to entry for automakers with auto sales slumping to their lowest levels since the early 1980s and most companies struggling to turn a profit. And the payoff is mixed for advertisers, even though the Super Bowl attracts millions of eyeballs.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:46 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , In the Media , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
January Car Sales Drop From December on Fewer Fleet Sales, Edmunds.com Forecasts
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- U.S. car and truck sales in January are expected to come in at a weak 730,000 units when automakers report them Tuesday.
January sales are expected to be down 18.1 percent from very weak sales in December, Edmunds.com estimates, largely due to significantly lower rental-car and corporate fleet sales. Retail sales will be about flat with December's.
"Our research indicates that retail sales are pretty much flat compared with December," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of Industry Analysis. "However, automakers' decision to cut fleet sales and make other production cuts will cause a large sales decline to be recorded on the books."
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Dealer Dilemma: Stuck With Old Models; Pressured To Order New Ones
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- In Washington, the talk is of what cars automakers will produce in 2011, 2016 and 2020, but the auto industry faces an immediate demand: sell cars today.
Dealers, particularly, face a challenging dilemma as to just how to do that. The auto manufacturers, notably General Motors and Chrysler, are pressuring them to order more 2009 models so that factories can remain open and the automakers can book revenue.
Yet, dealers are buried with bulging stockpiles of old models, becoming increasingly expensive to keep and eating into their bottom-line. Yet, even hefty incentives aren't attracting buyers.
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Toyota Denies Plans To Cut Output Further
Despite published reports in Japan to the contrary, Toyota is denying that it will cut worldwide vehicle production by at least 20 percent this year.
The Japanese newspaper Tokyo Shimbun reported Monday that Toyota planned to produce about 6.5 million vehicles this year, down from the 8.21 million it assembled in 2008.
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Toyota: No. 1 in Global Sales; Beats GM
By Michelle Krebs
Toyota displaced General Motors as the global leader in vehicles sales in 2008, a spot the Detroit automakers had held for 77 years.
Toyota sold 8.97 million vehicles worldwide in 2008; GM sold 8.35 million, it announced Wednesday morning. Toyota's sales slipped 4 percent in 2008 from 2007; GM's fell 11 percent.
"The story has yet to be written" as to whether Toyota will maintain that No. 1 spot, said GM's analyst Mike DiGiovanni in a Wednesday conference call on global sales with media and analysts.
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Tokyo Show Could Be No Show; Big Three Bow Out
The Japan Automobile Manufacturers' Association reportedly plans to meet later this month
about whether or not to hold the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. A decision likely will be announced shortly thereafter.
An official of the organization was quoted as saying the show, held every other year, may be canceled due to the global economic crisis.
The Tokyo show has struggled in recent years to maintain its status as an international show because of Japan's largely closed market. Automakers have opted instead to shift their auto show dollars to China.
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With Workable Stimulus, Toyota Forecasts Better Second Half
By Bill Visnic
DETROIT - Saying at the Detroit auto show here that the U.S. auto market is entering a period of transition that is almost certain to be difficult for both automakers and consumers, a senior Toyota U.S. executive is forecasting a rebound in the second half of 2009.
Acknowledging drastically reduced vehicle sales in the second half of last year reached levels as painful for Toyota as most other automakers, Bob Daly, Senior Vice President, Toyota Motor Sales USA, says a number of factors make Toyota confident a "recovery" is coming in the second half.
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Sales Aren't the Only Thing Detroit Lost in 2008
By Bill Visnic
Nearly 3 million U.S. auto sales evaporated in 2008, and plenty of that blood was lost by the Detroit Three: General Motors Corp. sales were down 23 percent, Ford Motor Co. sales slid by 20 percent and Chrysler LLC sales dropped by 30 percent.
Total U.S. sales plunged from 16.1 million units in 2007 to 13.2 million for 2008. Equally interesting -- and troubling, for Detroit -- was that not only did the pie get painfully smaller, the domestic automakers' portion, market share, once again lost ground.
According to data from Edmunds.com, the Detroit Three lost a collective total of 3.7 points of market share in 2008. Chrysler led the group, ceding 1.9 points of share (from 12.9 percent of the market in 2007 to 11 percent in 2008). GM lost 1.4 percent (from 23.8 percent in 2007 to 22.4 percent). Ford gave back 0.4 points of share (from 15.5 percent to 15.1 percent for 2008).
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:44 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Seek Game-Changers in Fresh TV Ad Campaigns
By Dale Buss
Striking every attitude from empathy to ambivalence to something resembling snarkiness, automakers have been using new TV-advertising campaigns to try to jolt consumers off their couches and into dealer showrooms.
The headwinds are daunting, but automakers have been launching a greater variety of messages than at any time in recent memory - attempting to find something, anything that punches effectively through the pervasive gloom in American households and reignites their desire and confidence to make a major purchase.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:44 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
2008 U.S. Auto Sales Are Worst Since 1992
By Michelle Krebs and Bill Visnic
U.S. auto sales continued their precipitous tumble in December, closing the books on the industry's worst year since 1992.
Five of the Big Six automakers -- General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Nissan and Honda -- saw sales slide another 30 percent each in December; Chrysler's plummeted 53 percent. No automaker showed higher sales December to December. The lucky ones saw mere single-digit dips.
For the full year of 2008, all of the Big Six automakers reported sales declines. In total, the industry sold 13.2 million vehicles for an 18 percent drop from 2007's 16.1 million.
"It was an unbelievable year -- not one I want to repeat," said Mark LaNeve, GM's head of sales and marketing in a conference call with reporters. "Hopefully, 2009 will improve from December's low point rather than deteriorate as 2008 did."
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December Incentives Set Record, Edmunds.com Estimates
By Michelle Krebs
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Automaker incentives set a new record in December, Edmunds.com estimates, and, surprisingly, leasing showed a remarkable jump despite reports of its demise.
"Never before has the December average incentive been this high," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of Industry Analysis. "Automakers have been pulling out all the stops to keep motivating shoppers during these tough times."
Slowing sales have struck virtually every automaker and every market segment. U.S. auto industry sales for December and the full-year of 2008 are being reported Monday. December sales are expected to look a lot like the dismal levels of October and November -- and down from in the neighborhood of 30 percent or more from December 2007. Full-year sales are likely to be the worst since 1992.
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Toyota Tracking To Post First-Ever Annual Loss
By Bill Visnic
Japan's financial sector is buzzing with the prospect Toyota Motor Corp., one of the nation's most successful and powerful corporate entities, is likely to record it's first-ever full-year operating loss, reports Japan's Nikkei English-language business newspaper.
Toyota has not recorded an annual operating loss since it began publicly reporting its earnings in 1940, and the Nikkei says fallout from World War II led to Toyota's only pre-tax loss -- in 1949.
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December Sales Rate Will Be Year's Lowest, Edmunds.com Forecasts
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The deteriorating economy, the precarious employment situation and the lack of available credit will push the annual sales rate in December for U.S. car sales to their lowest level of the year below 10 million units, Edmunds.com forecasts.
December sales (retail and fleet) are expected to total 852,000 units, a 38.4 percent decrease from December 2007 but a 14.6 percent increase from November, Edmunds.com predicts. Typically, December sales are about 18 percent higher than November's.
With the year closing on a low note, U.S. vehicle sales for all of 2008 will total just over 13 million, a decrease of almost 3 million vehicles, or 18 percent, from 2007. Automakers report December and 2008 sales figures January 5, 2009.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:28 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Delays Mississippi Plant Launch; Slashes Forecast, Details Cost Cuts Next week
Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it is delaying plans to open its newest U.S. plant in
Mississippi, which was to have built the next-generation Prius hybrid.
Citing the steep decline in the auto market, Toyota said it would complete construction of the building but would hold off on installing equipment, delaying the start of production that was slated for 2010.
The delay of the Mississippi plant is part of a massive cost cutting the Japanese automaker has undertaken. Next week, Toyota is expected to slash its 2009 sales forecast by at least 1 million vehicles and outline plans to cut costs at its year-end news conference December 22, Reuters news service reports.
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NYT Columnist: Detroit Aid Should Hinge on Hybridizing Everything
By Bill Visnic
With a pending vote Congressional vote on a bailout package to extend so-called "bridge loans" to Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. by perhaps as soon as this week, New York Times
columnist Thomas L. Friedman -- often prominent for his provocative views on the auto industry -- is calling for one unique "string" to be attached to federal bailout funds: forcing the domestic automakers to present plans to hybridize their entire model ranges in three years.
Friedman has been a vocal advocate for hybrid-electric technology and has been criticized for a view of the industry that typically is unkind to the Detroit auto-industry establishment. Friedman often argues in favor of the management style and operational practices of Detroit's chief competitors, the Japan-based automakers -- and caused fireworks when he once suggested GM should go out of business and let Toyota assume GM's longstanding role.
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7 Myths About Detroit Automakers, Detroit Free Press
The debate over aid to the Detroit-based automakers is awash with half-truths and misrepresentations that are endlessly repeated by everyone from members of Congress to journalists. Here are seven myths about the companies and their vehicles, and the reality in each case.
This column by Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan originally was published on November 17 and was updated last Friday to debunk the myths as Congress was about to fashion an automotive rescue package.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:33 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Commentary , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Funereal November Sales Provide More Ammo for Bailout Plea
By Dale Buss
In case members of Congress needed any more reminding why the domestic automakers are hat-in-hand before them this week, the 37 percent drop in November sales has provided them with the latest bleak snapshot of a moribund U.S. vehicle market.
As the Detroit Three were presenting their restructuring plans in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, the sales data rolling in from them and all other OEMs gave further dimension to the vast pall that has come over the nation's automotive market and quantified the paralyzing dread that is felt by American consumers.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:35 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
U.S. Vehicle Sales Plummet More Than 30 Percent in November
With reports still rolling in, U.S. vehicle sales for November look as if they will be down about 35 percent from a year ago. The annual sales rate appears to be a weak 10.6 million vehicles.
General Motors' sales fell a hefty 41 percent. Ford said its U.S. sales fell 31 percent. Toyota reported sales down 34 percent; Honda a 32 percent decline. Chrysler saw sales plummet 47 percent. Nissan sales took nosedive at 44 percent.
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Domestic Automakers Ease Off Incentives While Imports Rev Them Up in Pursuit of Market Share, Edmunds.com Reports
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Domestic automakers eased off the incentive gas in November while import automakers revved up incentives, according to Edmunds.com.
"All three domestic automakers lowered their incentive spending this month, seeking to preserve cash during these incredibly tough times," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of Industry Analysis. "Meanwhile, the imports have poured more money into incentives, attempting to seize the opportunity to gain market share. Toyota's monthly incentives spend hit a new record high in November, and the company's market share might follow suit."
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:00 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Gas Prices and Heavy Incentives Keep Car Sales From Sinking Below October's Depths
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- November car sales improved over October's historic lows thanks to lower gas prices and high incentives.
November new vehicle sales, including fleet and retail sales, are expected to be 850,000 units, a 27.6 percent decrease from November 2007 but showing a 1.9- percent increase from last month, according to Edmunds.com's forecast.
Still, the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) for the month is expected to be only about 11.5 million units.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:45 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Nissan Leads in Japan Spending Cuts, Report Says
Nissan is among Japan's leaders in capital spending spending cutbacks, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported Monday. Nissan said its capital spending will total $4.4 billion in the year ending March 31, 2009. That's 50 billion yen, or 11 percent, less than the forecast Nisan announced on May 13.
Toyota did not revise its 1.4 trillion yen capital-spending plan when it released earnings on Nov. 6.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:57 AM under Business , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota's Stellar Credit Rating May Be Downgraded
Toyota, the automaker with the best credit in the industry, may see its AAA rating cut by Fitch Ratings due to the "unprecedented challenges" in the economy. It would be the first downgrade for Toyota in a decade.
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Sen. Shelby: How Sweet Is the Auto Business in Alabama? Not Very
By Michelle Krebs
Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, took to the airwaves over the weekend as the chief opponent of loans to Detroit automakers. His premise: This is a Detroit problem not a national problem and taxpayers shouldn't subsidize these poorly managed dinosaurs.
"I don't believe they've got good management. They don't innovate. They're a dinosaur, in a sense, and I hate to see [them get government loans]," Shelby said on NBC's Meet the Press.
With all due respect Senator Shelby, this is not only a Detroit problem. It's an Alabama problem. It's a national problem. And it's a global problem. Recession is spreading around the globe like a California wildfire. Once-hot auto markets have caught cold. And automakers everywhere -- not just in the U.S. -- are asking their governments for a helping hand.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:44 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota: Biggest Profit Drop in a Decade
By Michelle Krebs
You know things are bad when seemingly invincible Toyota is struggling, and it is.
Calling the current economic environment "unprecedented," Toyota reported Thursday its quarterly profit plunged 69 percent, mainly due to slumping vehicle sales in the U.S. and Europe, where Toyota lost money,as well asdepreciation of the yen versus the U.S. dollar.
Toyota's earnings drop was far more dramatic than analysts had anticipated and prompted Toyota executives to severely downgrade its profit forecast for the year. Earlier, Honda and Nissan announced larger-than-expected profit declines. Toyota President Katsauaki Watanabe Thursday predicted the automaker, when it posts its financial report when its fiscal year ends March 31, 2009, will report its smallest annual profit since 1999.
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Millions of Jobs, Billions of Dollars Lost Across the U.S. If Detroit Three Disappear or Even Contract Some, CAR Study Says
By Michelle Krebs
As many as 3 million jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars will be lost from the U.S. economy if General Motors, Ford and Chryslercease operations, a new report shows.
The report by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) details the job losses and economic impact of two scenarios: if all three Detroit automakers cease operations next year; and if Detroit automakers contract by half, likely involving two automakers going out of business.
"Either of these scenarios is possible, and indeed probable, within the next 12 months," the study says.
In both scenarios, the impact is devastating for jobs, income, the nation's tax base and consumer spending that could pull the U.S. economy out of recession.
Other automakers doing business in the U.S., including Toyota and Honda, also would be hit as would Canada and Mexico.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:34 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Horrific October Car Sales Plunge Industry to Post-WW II Low
By AutoObserver Staff
There were almost no words on Monday to describe how abysmal U.S. auto sales were in the woe-begotten month of October.
Bled by battered consumer confidence, by more expensive and harder-to-obtain loans, by financial-market disasters and Election Day anxieties, October sales limped in at only about 852,000 vehicles nationwide, a 32 percent plunge from a year ago.
"This level of sales is not sustainable for anyone in the industry," said Michael DiGiovanni, head of global market analysis for General Motors. "It doesn't matter how deep their pockets are. Everyone is pulling in their reins to one degree or another, but everyone is affected by this."
GM's sales slumped by a horrific 45 percent, the worst showing among the Big Six automakers selling in the United States. Chrysler's declined by 35 percent, Nissan's by 33 percent, Ford's by 29 percent, Honda's by 25 percent and Toyota's by 23 percent.
The industry total comprised its lowest sales volume for any month since 1992. And adjusting for population growth -- that is, on a per capita basis -- October auto sales were the industry's worst since World War II.
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Industry Headaches Starting To Affect Product Plans
By Bill Visnic
The belt-tightening in the global auto industry is beginning to make itself shown in new-product plans in practically every region. Replacement models are being delayed, proposed new models are being canceled or reconsidered, and new-product investment, in general, begins to suffer the results of sagging sales and ever-tightening access to credit.
It seems to be getting more difficult for General Motors Corp., for one, to disguise the fact minimum comfortable levels of operating income have been reached. The company is enacting its first white-collar layoffs in decades and is seems increasingly desperate to find a ready cash stream.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:43 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Reliability Gains on Honda, Toyota; Chrysler Down; GM a Mixed Bag, Consumer Reports Says
DETROIT - Consumer Reports magazine delivered more bad news to Chrysler Thursday, noting the automaker's vehicle reliability has dropped since Cerberus Capital Management took over the company just over a year ago.
In contrast, Ford's reliability is now approaching that of Toyota and Honda with almost all of its vehicles achieving above-average reliability in the magazine's annual survey. General Motors' results were mixed.
"There has been a systematic, structural change within Ford,'' said David Champion, director of the magazine's auto test center, said. Champion revealed the magazine's survey results Thursday at the Automotive Press Association meeting in Detroit.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:37 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
October Auto Sales to Be the Lowest Since January 1992, Edmunds.com Forecasts
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - October auto sales are turning out to be every bit as bad as
forecasters predicted early in the month.
Edmunds.com forecasts October new vehicle sales, including fleet and retail, will again fall below the 1-million mark to 872,000 vehicles sold - about 30 percent below October 2007. October 2008 will mark the U.S. auto industry's lowest sales level since January 1992.
And the industry should brace itself for a terrible November, typically one of the lowest sales months of the year.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:31 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
2008 Paris Auto Show: Similar Shapes of Things To Come
By Bill Visnic
PARIS -- There's a lot of talk these days about how auto styling is converging -- or being ripped off.
At the 2008 Paris Auto Show earlier this month, there wasn't much mistaking the distinctive shapes presented by France's home-market biggies, Citroen and Peugeot; French styling remains unique (and largely uncopied, perhaps for a reason).
But a number of vehicles on display at the show looked strikingly similar to other vehicles on the show floor -- or ones we've seen elsewhere.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:43 AM under Commentary , Companies , Featured , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
October Sales Remain in Freefall; Zero Interest Financing Provides Little Lift
By Michelle Krebs
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- October automotive sales continue to be in freefall from September with zero percent financing offered by auto manufacturers providing little, if any, incentive for people to buy cars, according to the latest data from Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com.
"The automotive market slowdown has entered a new phase," said Edmunds.com Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Anwyl. "Barraged by bad economic news, consumers, instead of hoping for the best, now are preparing for the worst, and that includes postponing even the thought of buying a car."
For automakers, the old tricks don't work. Even attractive promotions like the numerous zero percent financing programs, including the unprecedented Toyota deal of 11 models for zero percent, are ignored by consumers, who are not in car-buying mode.
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Toyota Offers No-Interest Financing
Toyota is offering incentives on 11 models during October after its sales plunged in September, its worst decline since the 1980s. Toyota will offer free financing across its line for between 36 and 60 months depending on the vehicle. Included are the volume-leading Corolla and Camry.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:50 AM under News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Japan's Domestic Car Sales: Lowest in 34 Years
Japan's auto sales for the last six-month period dropped to their lowest level in 34 years due
to rising unemployment, decade-high inflation caused by soaring gas and food prices and an aging population.
Japan's sales of cars, truck and buses (but not minicars) in the six months through September 30 fell 2.9 percent to 1.54 million vehicles, the lowest since 1974, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement Wednesday quoted by Bloomberg News. In September alone, sales of those vehicles dropped 5.3 percent from a year earlier.
(Read more...)
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Incentives Up from a Year Ago, Edmunds.com Reports
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,801 per vehicle sold in September 2008, down $1, or 0.04 percent, from August 2008, and up $444, or 18.8 percent, from September 2007, Edmunds.com estimates.
"Although up overall from last year, incentive levels remained flat from August to September despite worsening economic conditions and weak auto sales," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds' executive director of Industry Analysis. "The high incentive costs of heavily discounted 2008 models are being offset by the low incentive costs of the 2009 models entering the marketplace."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:18 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Credit Crisis Plunges September Auto Sales to Uncharted Depths
By Dale Buss and Michelle Krebs
Wheezing U.S. auto sales in September fell by 26 percent, coming in below one million units for the first time for any month in more than 15 years and prompting epochal comparisons to the dismal fall of 2001, when American consumers were frozen by the shock of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Overall sales for the month were only about 965,671 vehicles, compared with some 1.3 million vehicles sold in September 2007. In September, the seasonally adjusted selling rate -- the industry's most important interpreter of the sales picture -- fell to an abysmal 12.8 million units compared with a rate of 16.5 million last year.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:33 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
The Failed Federal Bailout and the Automakers
By Michelle Krebs
No one is happy about the U.S. House of Representatives' rejection of the $700-billion federal bailout of the financial services sector and subsequent stock market crash - least of all automakers.
In the short term, auto stock prices for almost every global automaker and their suppliers tumbled on the news Monday - some plummeted to record lows. No bailout means no end to the credit crunch that is keeping belt-tightening customers from even bothering to go to a showroom as September sales to be reported Wednesday will show.
Longer term - and maybe not all that long term - even more belt-cinching by automakers will likely result in deepening production cuts and job losses.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:28 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Congress Tunes-in To Plug-Ins
By Bill Visnic
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed an expansive tax bill that had many automakers on full alert because it included provision of a tax credit for hybrid or fully electric vehicles with batteries that can be recharged from the electric grid - so-called "plug-in" vehicles.
If passed by the House, which is expected, the bill provides for as much as a $7,500 tax credit for purchasers of a plug-in vehicle. The credit, starting at $2,500, would increase in proportion to the vehicle's installed battery capacity up to the $7,500 maximum.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:51 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Leasing Fades With Credit Crunch, but It Won't Disappear
By Dale Buss
The bloody purge of the U.S. financial industry and its millions of shaky real-estate loans already have forced most automakers to cut way back on lease deals for their customers, an unavoidable blow given the importance of credit to the new-vehicle market.
But auto-company executives aren't giving up on the practice for the long term, believing that today's shakeout will help set the stage for a healthier leasing market in the future. Some of them actually are moving preemptively to ramp up leasing even in the short term instead of cut back.
Meantime, enormous pain is being inflicted on the many automakers that have grown dependent on leasing, the other part of a whopping double whammy that also includes the overall sales slide in the U.S. market.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:46 AM under Analysis , Companies , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Luxury Brands Gut Out Downturn, Along With Their Customers
By Dale Buss
Sales of automotive luxury brands are struggling just like the overall U.S. market is.
Collectively, so far this year, upscale marques have only managed to hold on to their 11 percent share of the market from 2007. And some of the loftiest brands in the American auto business have been demonstrating some of the least resiliency.
Lexus, for example, is off 15 percent in 2008 sales through the end of August, and BMW brand has suffered a decline of 7 percent. Among domestic luxury makes, Cadillac has plunged 13 percent for the year, while Lincoln has eased by 19 percent.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:59 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Six Other Ways Auto Marketers are Taking it to the Internet
By Dale Buss
Automakers are moving forcefully into the online-marketing arena using a number of innovations in which their industry, arguably, has become the leader.
In Wednesday's part two of this three-part series on Internet marketing,Edmunds.com's
AutoObserver
featured six ways that automakers are succeeding online. Here are the remaining six:
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:00 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Auto Sales Still Dismal in August - But At Least It Wasn't July
By Dale Buss and Bill Visnic
U.S. auto sales fell by about 15 percent in August compared with a year ago, to approximately 1.25 million units from around 1.5 million units -remaining in their summer-long trough. And a chorus of OEM executives agreed on Wednesday that their forecast for the rest of 2008 looks just about as dismal.
But something else also appeared amid Wednesday's sales reports: reasons to hope that the U.S. market already has flattened out.
"It appears we may have hit the bottom in terms of consumer demand in July," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com. "Because of factors like lower gas prices and generous incentive spending, we started seeing some improvement in August."
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 4:08 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Estimates August Incentives Scarcely Down From 2008 High Point
By Bill Visnic
The U.S. automotive market has yet to reverse 2008's serious downward lurch, and automakers continue to pile on incentives to induce customers to purchase a new vehicle. Edmunds.com estimates August incentives were down a scant $3 from the 2008 high point set in July - and increased substantially when compared to the same period last year.
Edmunds.com estimates the average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,642 per vehicle sold in August 2008, down $3, or 0.1 percent, from July, but up $173, or 7 percent, from August 2007.
Once again, domestic automakers shelled out the most. Combined incentives spending for domestic manufacturers averaged $3,832 per vehicle sold in August 2008, up from $3,762 in July 2008. In aggregate, the domestics spent $387 more per vehicle in August compared with July, which had set the year's record.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 9:26 PM under Analysis , Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Auto Marketing on the Internet: Six Ways It's Getting Done
By Dale Buss
Over the last year or so, automakers have moved closer to the forefront of big-brand marketing online as they dramatically increase their expenditures on Internet advertising.
In doing so, OEMs are drawing on a dozen methods. Here are six of them. Look for the other six on Thursday in part three of this series on Edmunds.com's
AutoObserver
:
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:46 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
August Sales: No Light At the End of the Tunnel
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Despite a slight improvement in sales from July to August, no significant upturn is on the horizon for this year, according to Edmunds.com's latest forecast.
New vehicle sales for August, to be reported by manufacturers on Wednesday, are expected to total 1.26 million units, a 14.4-percent decrease from August 2007 but an 11.4-percent increase from July 2008. "We saw a slight improvement in July, but don't expect to see a major recovery for the remainder of the year," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of Industry Analysis.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:48 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
An Escalating Uphill Battle for Big Trucks, Especially Those from Japanese Makers
Full-size pickup trucks from Japan's largest 
manufacturers - Toyota and Nissan -set new records in July for incentives as well as the time it takes to sell them, according to analysis by Edmunds.com
.
Nissan paid its highest amount ever for incentives in July. The Total Cost of Incentives (TCI) on the Nissan Titan hit a record $5,286 for every one sold. Toyota also set a new record for incentives on the Tundra, surpassing the $5,000 mark for the first time, at $5,213 TCI.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:20 PM under Analysis , Companies , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Ready for Challenge of U.S Market Swing
By Bill Visnic
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan - Admitting that even famously "flexible" Toyota Motor Corp. was caught by surprise by the speed and intensity of rising fuel prices in the U.S., one of the company's top manufacturing executives says the company nonetheless reacted quickly to rapidly altered consumer demand and is rapidly making adjustments in its massive manufacturing structure.
Steve St. Angelo, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc. and senior vice president-Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., also told AutoObserver the company's major strategic moves to address shifting consumer desires in the U.S. - pulling the trigger on U.S. production of the Prius hybrid-electric vehicle for 2010 and drastically ramping down production of the Tundra full-size pickup, which started this month - demonstrate Toyota's confidence in its renowned manufacturing flexibility.
And the willingness of the company's Japan-based senior management to react appropriately to rapidly changing market conditions.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:28 AM under Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Profit Battered by U.S. Shift, Exchange Rate
As expected, Toyota Motor Corp. reported a sharp reduction in profit for its first quarter, absorbing a 28.1-percent plunge in net income, the company reported today.
Toyota said appreciation of the yen vs. the U.S. dollar accounted for most of the decrease of ¥262.9 billion in operating income, but added that price increases for raw materials also contributed.
The losses come despite the fact Toyota sold 2.19 million vehicles in first-quarter 2008, a slight increase of 24,000 vehicles compared with last year.
Toyota's North American sales were down by 33,000 units in the first quarter, but said it nonetheless recorded a record-high 17.4-percent market share. The highest-ever market share figure did not translate to higher profits, however.
"Decrease in sales volume, the shift of product mix to compact cars, increase in sales expenses such as incentives and increase in reserves for bad debts, resulted in declining profits," the company said in a release, adding, "Toyota will take swift actions in accordance with market changes by increasing the supply of models in high demand and launching new models."
In the U.S., the company also said it is bracing for a sharp decline in the residual value of pickups and SUVs being returned by lease customers.
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:43 AM under Business , Companies , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
July Car Sales: Worst Since the Early 1990s Recession
By Michelle Krebs and Bill Visnic
DETROIT -- One would have to dig into the history books back to 1992 to find a worse month for car and truck sales in the U.S. than July.
The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) fell under 13 million vehicles -- 12.55 million to be exact -- the lowest rate since the recession of the early 1990's. Of the Big Six automakers, only Nissan reported an increase in sales. Even Honda, which analysts had predicted would see an uptick, reported lower July sales. Detroit's Three slumped to their lowest combined market share -- 43.4 percent -- in history.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:51 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
July Incentives Set 2008 Records, Edmunds.com Estimates
By Michelle Krebs
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- With automakers expected to report Friday that car and truck sales plunged to near-historic lows in July, it's no surprise that manufacturer incentives have reached all-time highs for the year.
Edmunds.com's estimates put July at the industry's highest level of incentive spending for the year so far and the highest level this year for not only for the domestic automakers but also the Japanese and European manufacturers.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:06 PM under Analysis , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Volkswagen Surpasses Ford for No. 3 Global Spot
The new world order of global auto giants is being shuffled. If first-half sales trends continue through the rest of the year, the new order of automakers, based on vehicle sales, will be: 1) Toyota, 2) General Motors, 3) Volkswagen and 4) Ford.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:49 AM under Analysis , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
July Forecast: Another Dismal Month for Vehicle Sales - Except for Honda and Compact Vehicles
By Michelle Krebs
One doesn't need to be a fortuneteller gazing into a crystal ball to figure out that July vehicle sales, to be reported by automakers on Friday, continue to be in the tank. All one has to do is read recent headlines of downgraded 2008 sales forecasts, more production cuts and boosted incentives.
Edmunds.com released its July forecast Tuesday, predicting monthly sales will drop 10.7 percent from last July, adjusted for the difference in the number of selling days. The decrease is estimated at 3.3 percent on an unadjusted basis. Despite some last-ditch incentive efforts to save the month, all of the Big Six auto manufacturers, with the exception of Honda, are expected to report sales declines from a year ago. Similarly, sales of small compact vehicles continued to boom.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:06 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Lowers Global Sales Outlook; Still Could Beat GM
Toyota, as expected, lowered its global vehicle sales target due to the weak U.S. economy, and slow sales in Western Europe and Japan.
Toyota now plans to sell 9.5 million vehicles worldwide in 2008, down from its previous target of 9.85 million. In 2007, Toyota sold 9.37 million vehicles.
Still, Toyota plans to sell more vehicles globally in 2008 than it did in 2007. This could be the year that Toyota ends General Motors' 77-year-reign as the world's global sales king.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:40 AM under Business , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Halftime Score: Toyota Leads GM in Global Sales
By Michelle Krebs
Toyota widened its lead over General Motors in global sales during the second quarter, increasing the odds that 2008 will mark the end of GM's 77-year-reign as global sales king.
GM reported Wednesday it had sold 2.28 million vehicles in the second quarter that ended June 30 for a decline of 5 percent from the year-ago quarter. Toyota, meantime, reported its sales rose 1.8 percent in the three-month period to about 2.41 million vehicles.
That put the halftime sales score at Toyota's 4.8 million vehicles to GM's 4.5 million.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:20 AM under Analysis , Companies , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Chopping Big Tundra's Role in U.S. Picture
By Bill Visnic
Following the lead of its Detroit-based rivals, Toyota Motor Corp. is resigning itself to the fact high-priced gasoline has driven a stake into the heart of pickup-truck sales, announcing yesterday it is suspending production of its Tundra fullsize pickup and essentially removing an entire plant's worth of Tundra production from its future manufacturing mix.
What's replacing Tundra? Manufacturing - for the first time on American soil - of the high-efficiency Prius hybrid-electric vehicle.
A Toyota spokesman says capacity for Prius at the company's under-construction plant in Blue Springs, MS, will be around 120,000, "but that number has not yet been finalized. Toyota is studying the matter further."
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 8:03 AM under Business , Companies , Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Big Financing Spiff Makes an Impact
By Bill Visnic
Zero-percent financing deals aren't anything new to the industry, but General Motors Corp.'s latest riff on that old tune appears so far to have generated some success, even in these most desperate of times for auto sales.
According to exclusive data from Edmunds.com, sales of select GM vehicles -- mostly trucks -- may have enjoyed a shot in the arm from the zero-percent-for-up-to-72-months spiff, which originally was supposed to run only for the final week of June, but GM not unexpectedly extended through the July 4 holiday weekend.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 10:17 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
June Car Sales: U.S. Buyers Almost Veer Off the Road
By Dale Buss and Michelle Krebs
American car buyers became very discouraged in June. Beaten down by high gas prices and other contributors to growing household financial stress, they bought 8 percent fewer vehicles than a year earlier.
And supply constraints actually depressed sales even further, because those who were in the market wanted more small cars than could be built by the industry as it tries to catch up with consumers' desire to downsize.
June sales for the U.S. auto industry were 1.19 million units compared with 1.46 million vehicles during June 2007. (The 8-percent decline is stated on a daily-sales-rate basis because this June, with three fewer selling days, provided significantly less sales opportunity than a year earlier.) On an unadjusted basis, industry sales came in 18 percent lower than a year ago.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:03 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hybrid Vehicles Not Best Value Over Time, Edmunds.com Finds
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- High gas prices, the housing crisis and general economic
uncertainty are motivating consumers to look for the least expensive cars to own and operate. But a new study by Edmunds.com
shows that many compact and subcompact vehicles are actually better choices than hybrids for consumers looking to save money.
The Chevrolet Aveo topped the list of best values based on Edmunds' True Cost to Own data, which accounts for total vehicle costs over a five-year period. No hybrids made the top 10 list.
"When consumers think about cars that will save them money, hybrids are typically top of mind because of their fuel efficiency," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com executive director of Industry Analysis. "But when you take a look at the real-world costs of car ownership, you realize that many subcompact and compact cars are actually a much better value proposition."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:20 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota: May Miss U.S. Sales Goal; Sticks with Global Target for Now
TOKYO -- Toyota may not meet its goal of selling more vehicles in the U.S. this year than last because of the weak economy. However, Toyota is sticking with its target of selling more vehicles globally for the year on the strength of emerging markets, the company said at its annual meeting in Tokyo Tuesday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:32 AM under Business , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Dead on Arrival: New Models That Don't Have a Chance
By Bill Visnic
One bizarre fallout from the wild-ride shift in consumer tastes is a spate of new or soon-to-be-released models that were designed and developed under assumptions about the U.S. market that now are absolutely invalid.
The result: a slew of white elephants designed when gasoline was $2 per gallon (or less) and Americans were still buying 800,000 F-Series pickups and everything else that looked big, sucked gas and telegraphed that you had arrived at that special entitlement heaven espoused by Rush Limbaugh and everyone else who insisted cheap energy and cheap mortgages are an American birthright.
It might be almost laughable if the U.S. domestic auto industry weren't in such disastrous shape -- and had the luxury of time to once again make amends for decades of single-minded product-development choices.
Here's a short list of our favorite vehicles that, thanks mostly to the new rules governing the auto industry, suddenly look titanically dumb:
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:14 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (15) | digg this | del.icio.us
When Sales Sag -- Raise the Price?
By Bill Visnic
With fuel prices rising, the dollar falling, the economy flagging and fuel prices zooming, industry sales volumes are drooping. One seemingly counterintuitive answer: raise prices.
Despite an Economics 101 guidance that would dictate the opposite, many automakers are responding to currently lousy market conditions by actually hiking sticker prices and -- taking a cue from many other sectors -- bumping fees, most notably, the ubiquitous "destination and delivery" charge.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:24 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Hybrid May Be Called Insight; Set To Out Prius the Prius
By Peter Nunn
TOKYO -- Surging gas prices, global warming and the need to go green make this absolutely the most perfect time for Honda to roll out an all-new, cutting-edge gas-electric hybrid. Honda's eagerly awaited, long overdue rival for the Toyota Prius is set to land in American driveways in the first half of 2009.
Smaller than a Civic and with a unique five-door hatchback style, Honda's "New Dedicated Hybrid Vehicle" may well revive the Insight name when it goes on sale. Strong rumors in Tokyo also suggest that this "new Insight" will adapt and repackage the Civic Hybrid's IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) front-drive powertrain and first appear in public in concept form at this October's Paris Auto Salon, ahead of its full official launch at the Detroit auto show in January.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:17 AM under Analysis , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Said to be Studying Crash-Dive Retooling Program
By Bill Visnic
In a move that was not entirely unexpected, Ford Motor Co. reportedly is studying a plan to implement a hasty and wide-ranging retooling of many of its North American assembly plants, shifting them from production of large pickup trucks and SUVs to smaller, lighter and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
The Detroit News
reports manufacturing executives and local labor leaders will meet in Dearborn on Friday to discuss the plan, which reportedly centers on retooling several plants from production of traditional body-on-frame pickups and SUVs to models and vehicle architectures currently being used in Europe.
It is a strategy many industry analysts have said must be undertaken by all the truck-reliant Detroit automakers. The only surprise, perhaps, is the haste with which Ford is reacting -- a lightning stroke relative to past Detroit responses to major macroeconomic and consumer-preference shifts.
(Read more...)
Posted by Bill Visnic at 12:20 PM under Analysis , Business , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Wagoner Defends SUV Reliance
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner defended Detroit automakers' dependence on sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks, dismissing criticism that the companies were to blame as demand for those vehicles has collapsed.
"Is it the U.S. manufacturers who are stupid? I don't think so," Wagoner said in an interview with London's Financial Times. The criticism was "not fair," said Wagoner. "It's not just the 'Big Three.'"
Earlier in the week, Wagoner announced at the company's annual shareholder meeting that GM would close truck and SUV production at four North American plants. Those plants make such vehicles as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks. Wagoner also announced this week that Hummer was under "strategic review" with all options, including its sale, being considered.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:38 AM under Business , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Big Three, Big Vehicles Taken to the Watershed in May
By Dale Buss and Michelle Krebs
Only a few months into the Slump of 2008, at least two things are painfully clear in what has become a topsy-turvy U.S. auto market.
The bigger the carmaker, the harder the ride these days -- even Toyota. General Motors' sales declined the most in May compared with a year ago, by 30 percent; Chrysler's fell by 25 percent; Ford, by 16 percent; and Toyota, by 8 percent. The Detroit Three's domestic market share in May, 45.5 percent, was a record low for any month.
And the larger the vehicle, the faster its sales are teetering into the abyss. Sales of pickup trucks and traditional SUVs plunged across the board in May. So, GM said it is permanently shuttering some truck and SUV plants, adding some car-making capacity, and considering ditching Hummer.
But newly popular small cars are popping up like life preservers on the industry's troubled ocean. Honda's Civic was the top seller for the month, at more than 53,000 units.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:31 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Ford Hatches Employee-Pricing Incentive for F-Series
By Dale Buss
Ford Tuesday launched what could be seen as a desperate attempt to jump start sales of its F-Series pickup line by offering "employee pricing" to consumers for the rest of June. This is believed to be the first time since 2005 that any OEM has allowed consumers to pay only as much as its employees pay for a vehicle.
"This is a big deal for us," said Jim Farley, Ford's executive vice president for marketing and communications. "F-Series has spent 31 years running as the leading vehicle in the segment ... We think it's a really important merchandising tool that customers can buy an F-Series for the same price as a Ford employee."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:26 PM under Analysis , Ford , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM: Less than 20% Market Share for May, Some Analysts say
Some analysts predict General Motors may see its share of the U.S. vehicle market slipl below 20 percent on Tuesday when the auto industry reports May vehicle sales.
However, a forecast by Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver, predicts GM will stay above the 20-percent mark, coming in at 20.9 percent market share for the month. GM's market share slumped to 20.8 percent in April, according to Edmunds.com's calculations.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:50 AM under Analysis , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota May Downgrade U.S. Sales Forecast
On the eve of reporting May sales, Toyota is considering downgrading its 2008 U.S. sales forecast even further to account for deteriorating sales of pickup trucks and other large vehicles.
Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe to London's Financial Times, in an interview published in Monday's edition, that while the automaker hoped to make up for the lost sales of its full-size Tundra pickup and sport utilities like its Toyota Sequoia by selling more smaller cars such as its Yaris, Corolla and Prius, he was "not sure" this would be enough to offset the drop in large vehicle sales.
"As of now we haven't changed our original annual plan yet, but we may have to scale back," Watanabe told the Financial Times. He said Toyota would revisit its U.S. forecast at a mid-year business review later this month.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:56 AM under News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Detroit Automakers: The Heat Is On
By Bill Visnic
At General Motors Corp.'s annual meeting Tuesday, the stickiest questions may not be about the actual dollars and cents of GM's business. Instead, the major issue may be whether - and how - GM can deal with the shocking plunge in demand for full-size pickups and SUVs, the profit machines that have kept the wandering giant afloat for the better part of two decades.
Punishing fuel prices and increasing environmental awareness have all but crushed the "supersize me" mentality of the American auto customer, and now GM and its Detroit-based rivals Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, with their manufacturing empires witheringly overweighted to address full-size segments, have little to offer the new age of economy-minded consumers.
Equally troubling, the domestics have scant prospect of reversing the situation any time soon - and the heat may be on Detroit executives to begin explaining yet another instance of their collective inability to identify and adjust to emerging auto-market and macroeconomic trends.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:25 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Considering California Production of Prius, Report Says
Toyota reportedly is talking with General Motors about producing the hybrid Prius at their
joint production plant in California, Japan's Tokyo Shimbun
reported Friday.
Toyota did not confirm the report. A company spokesman told AutoObserver: "We are always considering what should be the optimum structure of our production efforts. But nothing has been decided about building the Prius
at NUMMI."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:21 AM under Rumors , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
May Car Sales: Worse than Last May But Better Than April, Edmunds.com Forecast Says
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- April 2008 was a terrible month for vehicle sales in the U.S., but it looks like May, though worse than the year-ago May, might be a tad brighter than April and especially for some vehicles and some makes, Edmunds.com forecasts.
Toyota looks to be a winner with a projected record market share. Honda likely had a good month as well. The Big Three, however, are predicted to show a near-record low combined market share.
And the trend of buyers selected smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles instead of larger ones likely accelerated in May, according to Edmunds.com's forecast.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:48 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Fuel Economy Emergency: Six-Speed Transmissions to the Rescue
By Bill Visnic
Automakers scrambling for quick fixes to polish up vehicle economy numbers in the eyes of fuel-price-fatigued U.S. customers are reaping real results from their -- and the supplier community's -- investments in the new generation of six-speed automatic transmissions.
The powertrain sector's shift to six-speed automatics has been coming since as early as 2001, but $4-per-gallon gasoline and $5 diesel fuel has turned up the heat on vehicle engineers to deliver more or less immediate efficiency enhancements for existing vehicles.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:39 AM under Analysis , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Seismic Shift to Smaller Segments Rocks U.S. Market, Edmunds' Analysis Shows
By Dale Buss
American car buyers have been flocking to small cars, crossovers and hybrids so massively -- and so quickly -- that they're threatening to tip the auto industry on its axis.
They're leaving behind trucks, large SUVs and, to a lesser extent, luxury vehicles of all kinds in favor of more fuel-efficient and less-expensive segments. An Edmunds.com analysis shows that this shift has precipitated dramatically over the last two months, both in terms of actual transactions as well as in shopping trends measured on the Edmunds.com site. Until March, this pattern of segment migration had been accelerating markedly but rather gradually.
But a 10 percent increase in U.S. gasoline prices in March and April alone, to the realm of nearly $4 a gallon, appears to have provided the catalyst for a shift that is bigger and faster than any ever tracked by Edmunds.com.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:20 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Honda Goal: Offer More Hybrids; Sell More Hybrids
By Michelle Krebs
Despite its mixed results with hybrids in the past, Honda sees the future being hybrids, and ultimately fuel-cell vehicles.
To that end, Honda plans to introduce four new hybrid models by 2015 to meet its eventual goal of selling 500,000 hybrid vehicles a year, a nearly tenfold increase from its current hybrid volume.
Speaking in Tokyo at the company's mid-term business meeting, Honda President Takeo Fukui confirmed what has long been known -- that Honda is working on its own take on the Toyota Prius, an affordable hybrid-only car, which Fukui said will be launched in the U.S., Japan and Europe in early 2009. He also announced Honda will introduce a hybrid version of the sporty CR-Z (pictured) and add a hybrid version of the tiny, already fuel-stingy Fit.
"It is important to move hybrid vehicles, from the current image-oriented stage to the new stage toward full-scale penetration," Fukui said in his speech.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:12 AM under Companies , Featured , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Prius: 1 Million Sales and Counting
By Michelle Krebs
The Model T of hybrids.
That's how a former Toyota executive described the Toyota Prius.
And, today, as the Prius hit a hugely significant milestone -- 1 million plus sales since going on sale in 1997 -- that title seems all the more appropriate.
Toyota said Thursday it had sold 1,028,000 Prius cars worldwide -- it is sold in 40 countries -- as of the end of April.
Like the Model T, the Prius has become a brand on its own. Yet, Toyota is looking for even bigger things from the little car -- 1 million sales annually and the introduction of the next-generation model next year reportedly arriving in a number of variations.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:00 AM under Analysis , Technology , Toyota | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Hybrids "Paying Off" More Quickly, New Edmunds Data Shows
By Bill Visnic
As gasoline prices go higher, many hybrid-electric vehicles currently on sale are proving to be even wiser investments, says new data from Edmunds.com.
Considerable past discussion about hybrids has focused on "payback" time, or the period required for savings from a hybrid's enhanced fuel economy to recoup the initial higher purchase price a hybrid commands. Detractors often claimed that, from a strictly fiscal view of hybrids, most vehicle purchasers would never save enough in gasoline costs to recover their investment in expensive hybrid technology.
But with every increase in gas prices, the hybrid payback time becomes consequently shorter - to the point where some popularly priced hybrid models can pay back their owners' investment in as little as 18 months, according to the new Edmunds.com study.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:40 AM under Analysis , Featured , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:33 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (13) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:44 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:36 PM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Camry Hybrid Outselling V6 Models
By Bill Visnic
Yet another sign consumer interest is turning from horsepower to fuel economy: the hybrid-electric version of the Toyota Camry, one of the nation’s best-selling cars, is outselling V6-powered Camrys by a solid margin.
For March, Edmunds.com data indicate sales of the Camry Hybrid set a new record: 6,930 units, or a considerable 22 percent of Camry’s 31,310 sales last month. Camry Hybrid monthly sales eclipsed 6,000 units only once since the car’s launch, in May 2007, when the 6,853 sold represented slightly more than 17 percent of total Camry sales.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:15 AM under Analysis , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.â€
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:52 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Prius: Next Chapter Opens in January
By Peter Nunn
Imagine a Toyota Prius, but faster, cleaner and greener. Such a car is coming soon and will launch at the Detroit auto show in January 2009.
America has fallen for the Prius in a big way, no doubt about that. Five years on, through an extraordinary combination of style, engineering and marketing, Toyota's fuel sipping hybrid remains the absolute gold standard for eco cars in the industry.
The next generation, however, has all the makings of an even bigger hit. That's because it will be a touch bigger so offering more space. It will come with stronger 1.8-liter hybrid performance yet at the same time boast even better economy and class leading emissions, if early word is correct.
In other words, everything Americans like now about the Prius, including its unique design and crusading eco image, but in a 'smarter,' more high-grade package.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:08 AM under Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (32) | digg this | del.icio.us
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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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:01 AM under Analysis , Ford , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM 1Q Global Sales Flat Thanks to North American Drop
By Bill Visnic
General Motors Corp. says its first-quarter 2008 global sales reached 2.25 million vehicles, a drop of less than one percent despite the drag of lagging North American sales.
GM sales of 947,000 units in North America was a roughly 10 percent drop compared with 2007’s first quarter. GM executive director of global market and industry analysis Mike DiGiovanni said the number “exceeded our internal forecasts,†but also says, counter to some industry analysts, GM does not expect U.S. sales to shore up in the second quarter. DiGiovanni said the company does not anticipate a firming U.S. market until at least the second half of the year.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:56 AM under Analysis , Business , Companies , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
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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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:46 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:31 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
UAW Strikes GM, Dana Gets Ex-Toyota Exec
By Bill Visnic
The massive gears of the auto industry’s manufacturing sector continued to grind out a changing tune this week, reacting to larger, macroeconomic forces in the U.S. economy that are mandating interesting, if not wrenching, change, particularly for the domestic Big Three automakers.
On Thursday, union leaders for United Auto Workers Local 602, representing workers at General Motors Corp.’s Delta Township assembly plant near Lansing, MI, called a strike because the local has yet to sign a plant-level contract with GM, despite what it claims have been months of negotiation. The plant assembles GM’s new generation of crossover utility vehicles, the GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook and Buick Enclave. The Enclave and Acadia have been selling briskly.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:45 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota-Subaru Coziness Could Yield Retro-Corolla, Celica
By Bill Visnic and Peter Nunn
Normally stolid Toyota Motor Corp. hasn’t been shy in doubling of its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. and openly admitting the two will jointly develop new vehicles – including an all-new rear-wheel drive sport coupe on a dedicated platform.
Whew. Quite un-Toyotalike. This is the company that rarely “buys†anything or anybody, preferring joint ventures, particularly when it comes to vehicle development and vital components. When it decided to build cars with General Motors, Toyota bought nothing; it established New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) in California, which jointly makes vehicles for Toyota and GM.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:22 AM under Commentary , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota, Isuzu Lead Japan Auto Shares Lower on U.S.
Shares of Toyota and Isuzu led Japanese car stocks lower in Tokyo Monday on concerns that a sales slump in the U.S. may cut into their profits, Bloomberg News reported.
Shares of Nissan, Yamaha and Fuji Heavy Industries, an affiliate of Toyota and the parent company of Subaru, also fell after it was revealed Friday that consumer confidence in the U.S. sank to a 26-year low in April, as gasoline prices rose and the labor market weakened.
Isuzu, Japan's largest truck maker, announced recently it would stop selling its sport-utility vehicles in the U.S. Last Friday, Toyota announced it was upping its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries and the two were developing a sports car together.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:08 AM under Business , Companies , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota, Daihatsu and Subaru Join Forces on Product Development, Vehicle Sharing
By Michelle Krebs
Japanese automakers Toyota, Daihatsu and Subaru parent, Fuji Heavy Industries,
announced they have joined forces to develop new vehicles, including a small rear-drive sports car, and supply each other with cars. As expected, Toyota also doubled its stake in Fuji, a stake that could go even higher.
The agreement unveiled at a press briefing in Tokyo Thursday calls for the following product actions:
· Toyota and Fuji will jointly develop a compact rear-drive sports car to be marketed by both companies;
· Toyota will provide Fuji with a compact car;
· Daihatsu will supply Fuji with minivehicles and a version of the Daihatsu Coo compact car.
The trio's joining forces represents a sign of the times -- further consolidation of the global auto industry and increased cooperation among automakers to cut costs. The arrangement allows the companies to beef up their product portfolios, especially with slim-profit small cars, run assembly plants at full capacity and share development costs so no one company has to go solo on all such costs.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:46 AM under Companies , Featured , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota, Subaru Are Becoming Increasingly Entwined
By Peter Nunn
TOKYO — Japan is buzzing with news that Toyota plans to raise its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru's parent company, from 8.7 percent up to around 17 percent.
The story was broken by the Nikkei, Japan's well-connected business newspaper, has since been picked up by other media, not denied
by either Toyota or Subaru.
Indeed, a spokesman from one of the companies admitted privately "the Nikkei got a scoop." All of which seems to back up the Nikkei's claim that Toyota will pick up 64.25 million shares in FHI for around ¥30 billion (some $306 million).
Ever since Toyota became the leading shareholder in Fuji Heavy Industries in October 2005 in the wake of the company’s hasty divorce from General Motors, many in Japan believed it was simply a matter of time before Toyota upped its stake.
So why now? Because up to a point, both companies need each other.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:16 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Denies Japanese Government Helped with the Prius
Toyota Motor Corp. denied Wednesday it had received any funding from the Japanese
government to develop its Prius hybrid, The Associated Press reported.
Former Toyota executive and board member Jim Press, now vice chairman and president of Chrysler, had been quoted in the March 24 issue of Business Week magazine as saying, “The Japanese government paid for 100 percent of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius."
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:44 AM under Personalities , Rumors , Technology , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.”
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:19 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (8) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Plans Research Institute Near Detroit
Toyota announced Tuesday it is establishing a North American research institute at its Detroit-area facility and plans to spend $100 million during the next four years on advanced research.
The Toyota Research Institute of North America initially will employ 35 researchers and staff in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Toyota already has a technical center, and plans to add 10 researchers this year and 20 more by 2010. Toyota hinted the institute will be used for its environmental efforts.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:06 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.”
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:22 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Time, Competition Rub Sheen from Accord, Corolla
By Dale Buss
Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord are icons of the Japanese automakers’ rise to U.S. market dominance over the last generation — reliable performers on the road, steady draws in the showroom, dependably lauded by public and press alike. And the OEMs have just produced a new generation of each venerable model.
But the long, long run of success could be nearing an end for both Accord and Corolla. Year-to-date sales are off for each nameplate more than for each OEM overall. Proliferating competition — some from sibling models — is squeezing them. Consumer consideration of Corolla or Accord doesn’t translate as predictably as before into purchase. High gasoline prices and a shaky economy have roiled the picture still further.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:05 AM under Business , Companies , Toyota | Comments (14) | digg this | del.icio.us
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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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:09 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
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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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:32 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Japanese Automakers’ Growth Slows Due to Yen and U.S. Slump
TOKYO — The Japanese auto industry’s seemingly unstoppable ability to grow profit
is grinding to a halt, Reuters
newswire reported Tuesday.
The sector, led by Toyota, Nissan and Honda, has grown profits for seven straight years by expanding sales in overseas markets and cutting costs. But a slide in profits looks increasingly likely in the next business year that stars in April due to a slowing U.S. economy, rising costs for steel and other commodities and the U.S. dollar's tumble to a 13-year low against the Japanese yen.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:21 AM under Business , Companies , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
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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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:02 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
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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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:19 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (10) | digg this | del.icio.us
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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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:59 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Trims Tundra, Sequoia Production
By Joseph Szczesny
Toyota Motor Corp. has confirmed it is planning to cut production at truck-assembly plants in Texas and Indiana because of the economic and vehicle-sales slowdown.
Toyota is trimming production at its San Antonio plant that builds the full-size Tundra pickup truck, introduced a year ago, and at its Princeton, Ind., plant, which builds a mix of trucks and full-size sport-utility vehicles, including the newly redesigned Sequoia.
Toyota will not say how much it is cutting production at those plants.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:46 AM under News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Yen's Appreciation Tipping Japanese Carmakers' Balance Sheets
By Peter Nunn
In Tokyo, it's like déjà vu all over again.
Exactly a year ago, in March 2007, the media and airwaves were full of stories about the fast-rising value of the yen. The Japanese currency had soared from ¥120 to the dollar up to ¥115, and to some it was like the yenshock era of the '80s returning.
How Japan's auto industry, which gets hurt with every appreciation of the yen, would love to see ¥115 again.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:58 AM under Business , Companies , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:42 AM under Business , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:00 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | 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.”
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:24 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota to Seed More U.S. Research
By Bill Visnic
News from the U.S. financial media cites a report from Japan as saying Toyota Motor Corp. plans to fund several new advanced-research groups in the U.S.
Media in Japan are reporting Toyota will establish new U.S.-based research teams for alternative energy, safety and advanced materials. The company typically has engaged such long-term research only in Japan.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:36 PM under Business , Companies , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | 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.â€
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.â€
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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs 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.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:22 AM under Analysis , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota’s 7-Year Loans Offer Reward, Risk
Toyota has begun offering customers 84-month loans on new cars to help dealers sell cars during the current economic downturn, an initiative that has some upside potential but also some risk for Toyota, said Joe Spina, Edmunds.com’s senior manager of remarketing.
“If Toyota Financial Services indeed offers these loans to customers with high credit scores and doesn’t do many 84-month loans as a percentage of its loan portfolio, then the risk of credit loss is low,” said Spina.
But, he added, “The risk with an 84-month loan is that customers may be purchasing a vehicle they really cannot afford. That could put them upside-down in the loan for longer. Then the loans become a tool that perpetuates negative equity financing.”
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:09 PM under Commentary , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Crossovers: Many Models – But One Take?
By Dale Buss
The boom in crossovers is the biggest product story in the U.S. auto market these days. Sales increased to more than 2.8 million last year, extending a seven-year surge, and now more than 50 separate models of utility vehicles are offered on car-based platforms.
A couple more joined the fray at the Chicago Auto Show this week when General Motors unveiled the Chevrolet Traverse and Ford showcased a spiffed-up Ford Edge Sport.
Funny thing is, the more new crossovers that emerge, the more they look and feel essentially the same. One after another they’re being launched by automakers up and down the price scale, but more often than not they pretty much end up looking like some model year of the Lexus RX.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:15 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (10) | digg this | del.icio.us
Small Trucks: Efforts to Resuscitate a Nearly Dead Segment
By Kate McLeod
The small-truck market is disappearing, but it appears some automakers are at least giving some thought to trying to resuscitate it by reinventing it.
“It’s pretty bleak,†said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com’s manager of pricing and industry analysis, of small truck sales of late. “They may be even worse than minivan sales.â€
Still, with small cars making a comeback due to high gas prices, automakers such as General Motors, Toyota and Ford think the small-truck segment could be brought back to life as well.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:58 AM under Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (12) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota’s Record Quarter Buoyed by Emerging Markets
Toyota posted a profit that set a new record for a third quarter, thanks to strong sales in emerging markets, but the quarter demonstrated Toyota’s growth is slowing.
Toyota reported a profit of $4.29 billion, up 7.5 percent from the year ago for the October-December fiscal quarter. Revenues rose 9.2 percent to $62.79 billion. Toyota sold 2.281 million vehicles in the period, up 5.8 percent from a year ago.
Despite setting a quarterly profit record, the 7.5 percent increase in income represents the smallest gain since December 2006, and the 9.2 percent sales increase was the smallest gain in 2½ years, according to Bloomberg News’ records.
(Read more...)
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Super Bowl Car Ads: Making the Grade, Failing Marks and No Shows
By Dale Buss
The New York Giants certainly achieved their Super Bowl objectives Sunday. Did car companies?
It’s too early to tell. But automakers led the way in a field of Super Bowl ads that largely disappointed on their creative merits and failed to generate the kind of instant excitement that could help them meet their marketplace goals. In some cases, it didn’t seem as if their advertising approach was actually consistent with the strategic challenges faced by the company.
And when you’re paying $2.7 million for 30 seconds of rapt attention by the biggest TV audience of the year, you really should take advantage of the opportunity.
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Toyota May Report Smallest Profit Growth in a Year
Toyota Motor Corp. may report the smallest profit growth in four quarters because of the rising yen and slowing U.S. demand, Bloomberg News reported Monday. Toyota announces its quarterly earnings Tuesday.
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January Incentives More Generous Than Year Ago, Edmunds.com Estimates
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The average auto manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,401 per vehicle sold in January, up $167, or 7.5 percent from January 2007, and down $56, 2.3 percent, from December 2007, Edmunds.com estimated Friday.
“In January, automakers decided to be more generous in their incentives spending in hopes of counteracting the slowdown in demand,” said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com.
“We do not foresee a dramatic turnaround in market conditions for at least the next several months, and yet the race for increased market share is in full force,” added Toprak. “This will provide a test of the automakers’ discipline about incentives, especially that the of the domestics who have been employing a ‘value pricing’ strategy quite successfully recently."
(Read more...)
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Gas Prices Rise; Hybrids Win Big, Says Edmunds Study
By Bill Visnic
If you’re one of those cynical types who think people are buying hybrid-electric vehicles mainly to demonstrate their environmental hipness, results of a new fuel-price study by Edmunds.com indicate hybrid buyers may not be nearly so superficial:
They’re buying hybrids to save gas.
Edmunds analyzes the number of visits for every vehicle in the market to that model’s Vehicle Details page at Edmunds.com. It correlated those visits to extrapolate what would happen if the price of gasoline rose from its $3.01 price in December to a theoretical $4 per gallon.
Bottom line: Online vehicle shoppers flock to hybrids. And flee traditional midsize SUVs.
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Toyota Shares Plummet; So Do Honda, Nissan Shares
As the global stock market plunged on worries that the U.S. is in recession, shares of Toyota fell the most they had in seven years in Tokyo trading, Bloomberg News reported.
Toyota stock plunged 7.2% to 4,880 yen at the 3 p.m. close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday. Honda shares slipped 6% to 2,915 yen. Nissan’s stock declined 6.4% to 922 yen.
While Bloomberg noted the threat of a recession in the U.S. spurred the decline in the global stock market, the stocks of Japan carmakers were also hurt by the Japanese yen’s strengthening against the U.S. dollar to its highest level in almost three years.
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Automakers Hope Sparks Don’t Fly After Latest Laptop-Battery Flareup
By Bill Visnic
In a story posted on Edmunds’ Green Car Advisor, automakers voice their concern that recent laptop computer battery fires don’t lead to safety concerns for batteries in hybrid cars.
The latest such incident, reported earlier this week, was with a computer outfitted with a lithium-ion battery manufactured by Korea’s LG Chem – one of two battery makers General Motors Corp. has charged with developing the lithium-ion battery pack for a production version of its tirelessly-touted Chevrolet Volt hybrid-electric vehicle.
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Auto Manufacturing Tango Begins in North America
By Bill Visnic
Withering vehicle demand and a dollar battered on world currency markets means 2008 will see many automakers beginning a high-stakes dance to make more efficient use of production capacity in North America.
The efforts are most critical for Detroit’s Big Three automakers – General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. Each is struggling to rationalize fading market share with a 2008 vehicle-sales forecast projected to be the U.S.’s lowest in a decade or more.
Underutilized plant capacity is an immense black eye for the bottom line in the best of economic environments, much less a 2008 expected to flirt with full-blown recession and what some believe is a dangerously weak currency.
Each of the Big Three recently won momentous labor-cost concessions from the United Auto Workers union, but that won’t change the fact each still must markedly downsize their manufacturing footprints.
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Toyota vs. Chevy for Brand Leadership: Chevy Wins
Toyota and General Motors are in a you-know-what match about who owns brand leadership for 2007: Toyota or Chevrolet.
We’ll settle the argument: Chevrolet.
Toyota’s argument to count Scion in Toyota Division sales doesn’t wash.
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2007: A Historic Year for U.S. Vehicle Sales
The year 2007 was historic for motor vehicle sales in the U.S. on a number of fronts.
Overall, the U.S. auto industry, which reported December and full-year 2007 sales on Thursday, saw sales drop to their lowest level in a decade.
For the first time since 1931, Ford Motor Co. was not the No. 2 automaker in the U.S.; Toyota was, even though Toyota suffered sales declines in some months for the first time in years.
Depending on what you count in the numbers, Toyota Division could be considered the best-selling brand in the U.S. Chevrolet objects, claiming Toyota shouldn't add into its totals Scion-branded vehicles in order to steal Chevrolet’s long-held sales crown.
And in 2007, for the first time in history, domestic automaker’s share of their home market fell below 50% in July, though for the year, they stayed above the 50% mark. Consider it was only in the mid-1980s that they owned 75% of the U.S. market.
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Toyota Is No. 2 Over Ford; Toyota-Chevy Battle for Brand Leadership
Toyota Motor Corp. overtook Ford Motor Co. to become the No. 2 automaker based on U.S. sales for 2007. Ford held the No. 2 spot behind General Motors for 75 years.
The battle for brand leadership between Toyota and Chevrolet is muddied -- but close and intense.
If sales from Scion, sold through Toyota Division showrooms, are included in 2007 sales totals, Toyota wins over Chevrolet for the first time as the top-selling brand in the U.S.
Take out Scion, however, and Chevy holds onto the top spot, but by a narrow margin -- one that has been narrowing in recent years.
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Automakers Hiked Incentives in Attempt to End Year on a High Note
The average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. is estimated to have been $2,472 per vehicle sold in December 2007, up $197, or 8.7 percent, from November 2007, and up $157, or 6.8 percent, from December 2006, according to calculations by Edmunds.com.
Domestic automakers as well as European, Japanese and Korean ones raised incentives in December in an attempt to end the year on a high note.
However, sales reports, being released on Thursday, indicate that note was not so high. Industry sales for the year are expected to come in at 16.1 million, the lowest level since 1998.
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2007-2008 Vehicle Sales: Slowest Years in a Decade
Often a particularly challenging year is sent passing into the history books with a collective “good riddance” and sigh of relief. And while automakers selling vehicles in the U.S. surely are glad the tough 2007 is over, they are bracing for rather than embracing the arrival of 2008.
On Thursday, automakers report December and full-year 2007 vehicle sales. 2007 is likely to see the lowest sales since 1998.
Forecasters predict 2008 sales will be even lower. But 2009 could be a turnaround year.
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Automakers Blog to Make Their Point, Connect With Customers
By Dale Buss
When Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli didn’t like the negative stories being written about the automaker in the
business press over the past couple of weeks, he didn’t write nasty letters to the editor that may or may not have been published. He didn’t call a press conference to discredit the reports.
He blogged.
He used Chrysler’s The Firehouse blog to set the record straight that the automaker was not in the dire financial straits that had been reported. He insisted Chrysler was making progress in its turnaround and had the full backing of new owner Cerberus Capital Management.
The day after Chrysler posted Nardelli's blog, newspapers covered it as a story, demonstrating one of the many ways automakers are using blogs to get their viewpoints across as well as to communicate with customers and potential buyers.
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Incentives: They Aren’t What They Used To Be
By Dale Buss
TV advertising is spiced with year-end incentives for auto buyers. Mercedes-Benz shows Santa’s elves tinkering in his workshop on E- and C-class sedans for its Winter Event program. It’s Happy Honda Days! General Motors is revisiting its now-annual Red Tag clearance sale for 2007 models.
Lexus has renewed its iconic incentive program that tries to lure consumers into putting big red Christmas bows on new vehicles and parking them in the driveway for their loved ones. And Lincoln is running a copycat campaign.
But don’t be fooled by airwaves full of incentive advertisements: as enticing as they seem, these offers only amount to a holiday treat. That’s because money-back and cut-rate-interest programs aren’t what they used to be in the auto industry.
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Edmunds.com Readers Compare Chevy Malibu, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry in Professional Road Tests
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Edmunds.com recently selected six applicants from the “Editor for a Dayâ€
submissions to experience and write about a professional comparison test of three midsize family sedans: 2008 Chevrolet Malibu, 2008 Honda Accord and 2007 Toyota Camry.
The winners were flown to Los Angeles, given appropriate accommodations and training, then encouraged to put the comparison test vehicles through a series of driving exercises at Willow Springs International Raceway on November 29. The winners carefully evaluated the vehicles and their commentary was published on Edmunds.com.
“This is the first time we invited real consumers from around the country to work with us on an actual road test,†said Kevin Smith, editorial director for Edmunds.com.
In the end, three of the demographically and geographically diverse group were split: three (including the two women in the group) chose the Malibu as their favorite; three chose the Accord.
Here is a summary of the “Editor for a Day†winner profiles and their comparison test experiences:
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GM Has Four of Six NACTOY Finalists; Mazda, Honda Round Out the Roster
General Motors captured four of the six spots for finalists for the North American Car and Truck of the
Year awards; a Honda and a Mazda rounded out the roster.
Finalists for the 2008 North American Car of the year are: Cadillac CTS, Chevrolet Malibu and Honda Accord.
Finalists for the 2008 North American Truck of the Year are: Buick Enclave, Mazda CX-9 and Chevrolet
Tahoe Hybrid.
The finalists for the prestigious awards were announced Wednesday at a luncheon sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club to promote the Detroit auto show. Winners will be announced at the first press conference of the show on January 13, 2008.
GM swept the 2007 awards, with the Saturn Aura winning car of the year and the Chevrolet Silverado
winning truck of the year in January. An encore sweep could be in the offing. If that happens, it would mark the first time a manufacturer won both awards two years in a row since the awards were created in 1994.
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2007 Biggest Losers, Winners, Movers and Shakers Predicted by Edmunds.com
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- With 11 months of vehicle sales reported, the biggest losers and winners –- and those brands that are on the move to new sales rankings –- are being predicted by Edmunds.com’s analysts.
The biggest losers for 2007 look to be: Ford division; Isuzu; Buick; Hummer; Toyota’s Scion; and Jaguar.
The biggest winners for 2007 likely will be Mazda, Lincoln and Mitsubishi, all of which have surpassed total 2006 sales in just the first 11 months of the year.
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November Vehicle Sales: Could Have Been Worse
November car and truck sales weren't great, but, in light of current circumstances, they could have been worse, concluded Edmunds.com's analysis of November sales figures reported by automakers Monday.
Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com, noted the retail market, despite the weakening economy, the fallout from the housing market and higher energy prices, remained relatively stable this November compared with the last one.
“We’re seeing modest gains though not robust ones,” he said. “We’re still doing fairly well considering the market and macroeconomic issues.
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Toyota Prius: Outselling Entire Brands
The Toyota Prius has become a brand unto itself; the single hybrid car is outselling entire brands with
their full lines of models.
The Prius more than doubled sales in November compared with November 2006. Prius outsold the entire Acura, Saturn, Buick, Subaru and Mercury brands. It came close to outselling the Cadillac and Volkswagen brands.
That's to name only a few. (See chart below)
And November wasn't even Prius' best month. In November, Toyota sold 16,737 Prius hybrids; in May, Toyota sold more than 24,000.
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Japan Car of the Year: Honda Fit Wins – As Expected
By Peter Nunn
TOKYO -- Like many Car of the Year contests, Japan’s COTY can throw up the occasional unexpected
result.
But not this year.
Going into this year’s showdown, many wise souls predicted that the new Honda Fit would win at a canter. And that in the end is exactly what happened.
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Incentive Spending Roughly Flat, Says Edmunds.com Report
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Incentive spending by automakers remain roughly flat in November, as manufactured tried to stick their plans for less incentive spending to boost profit margins. Yet, the plan may prove to contribute to softer vehicle sales, being reported by manufacturers throughout Monday.
"Even with the year-end sell-down upon us, the domestic automakers have stayed committed to the value pricing strategy that limits their investment in incentives,” said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com.
(Read more...)
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November Auto Sales: Compact Sales Climb in Otherwise Slow Market
SANTA MONICA -- This month's new vehicle sales (fleet and retail) are expected to be 1.2 million units, virtually unchanged from November 2006 and 2.5 percent below October 2007, according to Edmunds.com.
"Given the industry trends, we have adjusted our year-end forecast," stated Jesse Toprak, Edmunds’ executive director of Industry Analysis. “We now expect 2007 sales to total 16.13 million units, and predict that no more than 16 million cars and light trucks will be sold in 2008."
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Big Three-UAW Contracts Even the Playing Field -- Eventually
By Joseph Szczesny
After nearly four months of earnest talk, surprise strikes at General Motors and Chrysler LLC and some creative wheeling and dealing, American carmakers finally have new labor agreements -- ones that almost wipe out the cost advantage enjoyed by Asian rivals operating in the U.S. without union contracts.
Sean McAlinden, vice president of research at the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor, Mich., said it will take U.S. carmakers two to four years to reap the benefits of all the changes embedded in their new contracts with the United Auto Workers.
But the cost savings are genuine and substantial, he said.
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Toyota: Growing Sales and Presence in Downtrodden Japan Market
By Peter Nunn
TOKYO -- Last week Toyota posted record half-year earnings, including a blockbuster $7.9 billion in group net income. Japan’s most successful automaker also has a couple of other things to celebrate.
Toyota has long dominated its home market, but even by its standards the sales results for October were pretty remarkable. Last month, Japanese vehicle sales dipped again, down 1.3 percent, according to Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) figures. Yet Toyota beat the market with an aggressive sales surge of 7.9 percent.
What’s more, somewhat freakishly, eight out of the Top 10 bestsellers were Toyotas.
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Auto Companies Pass on Super Bowl
By Dale Buss
Now that the “regular-season super bowl†is over -- with the New England Patriots’ defeat of the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday -- football advertisers as well as fans are turning more attention to the official Super Bowl XLII on February 3.
And despite the fact that Fox already has sold out more than 90 percent of its commercial spots for the game broadcast, automakers aren’t among the major advertisers clamoring to get in.
In fact, General Motors and its divisions have decided to cut the company’s total number of in-game TV advertisements down to just one, compared with three during the 2007 Super Bowl, AutoObserver has learned. Honda has decided for the first time in four years to bow out of running spots during the Super Bowl telecast itself. And Chrysler seems likely, just as last year, to stay away from the game telecast itself.
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Toyota: Near-Record Quarterly Profit
TOKYO -- In contrast to General Motors record loss, Toyota Motor Corp. posted its second-largest
quarterly profit ever, prompting the Japanese automaker to increase its full-year profit forecast.
For the quarter ending September 30, Toyota reported a net profit equivalent to $3.96 billion, up 11 percent form the same period a year ago. As a result of the strong quarter, Toyota said it was increasing its full-year profit forecast by 3 percent to 1.7 trillion yen. That would surpass last year’s record and mark the seventh consecutive year of record profits.
Toyota also raised its estimates for the number of vehicles it expects to sell globally –- 8.93 million, up from the earlier forecast of 8.89 million.
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Toyota Promotes Jim Lentz to President
Toyota announced Tuesday that Jim Lentz, currently executive vice president of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A, Inc., the marketing arm of the Japanese automaker, has been promoted to president.
"Jim Lentz is especially well qualified to lead TMS into the future as it marks 50 years in America," said TMS Chairman Yuki Funo in a statement. "His experience spans all major operational areas and he has an outstanding sense of what our customers, dealers and associates expect from Toyota."
Lentz, 52, has spent 29 years in the auto industry and joined Toyota in 1982.
(Read more...)
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October Car Sales: The Highs, The Lows
October car sales represented more of the same weakness seen in recent months.
Sales on a seasonally adjusted basis came in at 16.05 million vehicles, down from 16.35 million in October a year ago.
“There was nothing new this month, as we saw General Motors and foreign automakers continue to succeed,” said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com. “Ford did better than expected because of its new products, mainly crossovers, and Ford has been able to hold on to its truck buyers, even with an aging product.
“We’re expecting that sales will continue to be sluggish for the rest of the year, and November has typically been a slow month for automakers,” he added.
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Importers Agreeable to 35 mpg Standard
The trade group representing automotive importers has said it will not fight a combined 35 mile per gallon fuel economy standard being considered by the U.S. Congress, but its members want more time to meet the stiffer standard.
The Association of International Automobile Manufacturers wants the deadline for meeting the tougher standards pushed significantly back from the proposed 2020 timeline. The lobbyist group represents more than a dozen import nameplates, including Toyota, which had sided with Detroit automakers in seeking lesser standards that separate car and truck ratings. The only AIAM members that sell large trucks are Toyota and Nissan.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:49 AM under Companies , News , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Forecast: Housing Market Woes Continue to Affect October Car Sales
October’s new vehicle sales are expected to be 1.24 million units, a 2.4 percent increase from October 2006 on an unadjusted basis, according to a forecast by Edmunds.com. Automakers will report October sales results on Thursday.
This October had 26 selling days, one more than October 2006. When adjusted for this difference, sales decreased 1.6 percent from October 2006. (The chart below sets forth other adjusted and unadjusted comparisons.)
"Sales are strong for vehicles at the far ends of the price spectrum, as consumers affected by the housing market bust seek bargains while luxury buyers are largely untouched," observed Jesse Toprak, Edmunds’ executive director of industry analysis. “Meanwhile, sales of midrange vehicles like large cars and minivans are suffering."
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SEMA: Big Business for Automakers
By Dale Buss
Every year when the vehicle-customization industry gathers at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, one group of attendees is always more engaged than the year before: auto company executives.
Tapping into the customization and specialization craze is boosting their top lines and beefing up their bottom lines more than ever before, producing juicy double-digit growth that normally isn’t part of the landscape in the highly mature U.S. automotive market.
At least 14 automakers were expected to exhibit at the SEMA show that began in the Las Vegas Convention Center on Tuesday. Understandably, each automaker is getting more and more serious about pursuing slices of what has become a $36.7-billion industry, according to figures compiled by Diamond Bar, California-based SEMA.
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Toyota’s Watanabe: Moving Forward on Plans
By John O’Dell
Editor, Edmunds’ Green Car Advisor
TOKYO -- Toyota's vaunted quality is slipping, its once-unassailable environmental credentials are being criticized, and several key members of its U.S. management have been wooed away in recent weeks by restructuring rivals. Sales are slipping in its home base as the Japanese population ages, and the U.S. market -- its biggest -- has stalled.
But Toyota Motor Corp.'s top executive says that plans already in place are sufficient to stop the erosion and bolster its position as the globe's leading automaker. The company doesn't see a need to revamp its business structure, President Katsuaki Watanabe said in an interview in Tokyo last week.
Instead, it needs to move ahead with a set of initiatives aimed at restoring top quality and making Toyota a leader on issues of energy, environment and safety, he said.
Key among them are continuation of the automaker's $1-million-an hour research and development effort; expansion of its hybrid car technology; and development of a low-cost, low-emissions "world car" that could sell in developing nations for as little as $4,000.
(Read more...)
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Dueling Fuel-Cell Cars: GM Vs. Honda
TOKYO –— Honda announced at the Tokyo Motor Show that at the upcoming Los Angeles show it will
introduce a new hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle based on the FCX concept, displayed here and at past shows. Honda will begin deliveries of the car to customers in the U.S. and Japan next year.
Honda executives on the sidelines were quick to point out that it will allow customers — both retail and fleet — to actually lease the fuel-cell vehicles on their own in contrast to General Motors’ recent program.
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GM Outsells Toyota -- for Now
General Motors regained its title as world’s largest automaker when Toyota reported Monday it had sold fewer vehicles than GM in the July-September quarter.
The score with three quarters of the year over stands at Toyota selling 7.05 million vehicles and GM at 7.06 million sales. The race is tight, however. Toyota sold 2.34 million vehicles in the July-September quarter; GM sold 2.38 million.
At the half-year point, Toyota looked like it would take the No. 1 title GM has owned for 76 years. Analysts expect it to happen eventually. Toyota has an aggressive target to sell 10.4 million vehicles for 2009; GM’s best year was in 1978 when it sold 9.55 million vehicles. Where Toyota still has a firm hold on a No. 1 spot is in profitability.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:07 AM under GM , News , Toyota | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
Tokyo Motor Show: Technology, Environment, Performance and Showmanship
By Peter Nunn
Over the coming days, many of the industry’s leading lights will be boarding flights to Japan for the 40th Tokyo Motor Show, which opens its doors to the world on Wednesday, October 24.
What will be big in Japan this year?
First, technology and plenty of it, much of it geared inevitably toward the environment through a fresh array of plug-in hybrids, electrics, clean diesels and more.
Next, speed and excitement, courtesy of a new wave of Japanese high-performance cars, led by the Nissan GT-R and new Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
Third, plenty of show concepts, (28 at the last count), some serious, some less so, and as ever it’s the latter than helps give the Tokyo Show its unique fun and fantasy feel.
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Consumer Reports: Toyota Quality Sees "Cracks in its Armor"
DETROIT -- After years of sterling reliability, Toyota is showing cracks in its armor, according to data
from Consumer Reports’
2007 Annual Car Reliability Survey revealed Tuesday before the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.
By contrast, Ford’s domestic brands have made considerable improvements. Consumer Reports said 93 percent of Ford, Lincoln, Mercury models in the survey scored average or better.
“Ford continues to improve,†said David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center. “The reliability of their cars has steadily improved over the years, and is showing consistency.â€
He added, “We believe Toyota is aware of its issues and is trying to fix problems quickly.â€
Despite the problems, Toyota (including Lexus and Scion) still ranks 3rd in reliability among all automakers, behind only Honda and Subaru.
(Read more...)
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Ford Robs Toyota To Fill Top Marketing Job
Toyota has been robbed again!
Ford announced Thursday that it has hired Jim Farley away from Toyota. Farley, 45, currently group vice president of Lexus, will be Ford's first global chief marketing and communications officer.
"I wanted to bring to our team world-class marketing talent," Ford CEO Alan Mulally told AutoObserver in a phone interview just after the Ford board of directors agreed to hiring Farley.
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Et Tu, Tom Friedman!
In his October 3 column entitled “Et Tu, Toyota?” New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman expresses his shock and utter dismay that his beloved Toyota is siding with Detroit automakers in what he calls a Michigan-style “assisted suicide” –- opposing stringent fuel-economy standards proposed by the Senate.
In previous columns, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Friedman advocated Toyota take over General Motors and rule the automotive universe on the basis of its pioneering leadership in fuel-efficiency as expressed through a single model, the Toyota Prius hybrid.
Now, Friedman is disappointed and stunned: Toyota, along with GM, Ford and Chrysler, is opposing the tough mileage standards in the U.S. Senate’s draft version of the energy bill, and are lobbying for another bill that is more stringent and separates cars and trucks.
Toyota wasted no time in responding to Friedman's column. General Motors has as well. And so have other industry watchers, including columnists from Motor Trend and Fortune magazines
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:13 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Featured , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (5) | digg this | del.icio.us
September Sales: Weaker But New Models Showed Strength
Automakers reported weak September vehicle sales against a backdrop of continued
economic headwinds. Still, some automakers -- especially those with new models -- fared better than those without new wares.
General Motors, Nissan and Honda reported gains; Ford, Toyota and Chrysler saw declines. Total industry sales in September ran at a seasonally adjusted rate of 16.23 million units compared with 16.6 million in September last year.
"This month was pretty much in line with what we expected," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Edmunds.com's industry analysis. "Auto manufacturers that saw the most gains had new or freshened models -- GM with the Cadillac CTS and new crossovers, Honda with the Accord, Nissan with the Altima."
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:19 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
September Incentives Low as Automakers Stick to Value Pricing
The average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,293 per vehicle sold in September 2007, down $176, or 7.1 percent, from August 2007, and down $267, or 10.4 percent, from September 2006, according to Edmunds.com's monthly True Cost of Incentives (TCI) report.
"Some may have thought that this soft market would inspire the automakers to increase their incentives to boost sales, but that isn’t happening," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com. Edmunds’ report on incentives was released just before automakers began reporting September sales, expected to be soft compared with a year ago.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:14 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
September Car Sales Soft, But Some Automakers Weather It
New vehicle sales in September are expected to be 1.29 million units (retail and fleet), a 4.5 percent decrease from September 2006, according to Edmunds.com’s forecast.
"This month, the automakers with the most momentum are faring well even given the constraints of the marketplace," observed Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com. "Especially in a soft market like this, compelling new products and effective marketing campaigns are the keys to success."
Honda, which just launched the Accord accompanied by a significant advertising campaign, is the only one of the six major automakers predicted to show a sales increase, on both an unadjusted and adjusted basis. This September had 25 selling days, one less than September 2006. When adjusted for this difference, sales decreased 0.7 percent from September 2006.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:24 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chrysler's Jim Press Speaks Publicly for the First Time Since Leaving Toyota
Former Toyota executive Jim Press, now vice chairman and president of Chrysler, told a Detroit radio show host that Chrysler and Detroit automakers in general will regain market share, lost to companies like Toyota.
“I think every 37 or 38 years you ought to try a new career,†Press, who was at Toyota for 37 years, told Paul W. Smith on his WJR-AM radio show in his first interview since joining Chrysler.
"It's great to be back on the home team. It’s great to be on this team," Press said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:33 PM under Chrysler , Commentary , In the Media , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota’s Watanabe: Possible Japan Plant
Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe confirmed Tuesday what had
been reported -– the automaker is considering building a new automobile plant in Japan, its first domestic plant in 17 years.
Watanabe didn't provide details on location or investment. However, last week the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun said Toyota would invest about Y100 billion to build a plant in northern Japan to start operations as early as 2009.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:31 AM under News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota: Full-Size Truck Buyers "Need" Incentives
By Bill Visnic
Toyota Motor Corp. has endured some scoffing over the sometimes unseemly incentives of several thousand dollars consistently laid on the hood of its all-new Tundra full-size pickup. In July, Edmunds.com
estimated Tundra incentives reached a height of $4,625; Toyota execs say they now are at about $3,000.
But at a meeting last week for financial institutions and media, one Toyota executive says so many customers are upside-down, that without big cash incentives, the full-size truck segment is a “No Sale.â€
Jim Lentz, executive vice president, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., rattles off some interesting statistics about Tundra transactions:
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:23 AM under Analysis , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
UAW-Big Three Talks: The Clock Is Ticking
The United Auto Workers' contracts with General Motors (which the union selected Thursday as its strike target), Ford and Chrysler officially expires at 11:59 p.m. Friday.
What will happen as the clock strikes midnight?
Exactly nothing. At least as far as the outside world is concerned.
Ford and Chrysler have signed temporary extensions. And even with GM as the lead target and UAW’s local preparing strike posters, the talks likely will continue on past the witching hour and possibly days, if not weeks, thereafter.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:25 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Downplays U.S. Headwinds, Highlights New Quality, Manufacturing Onslaughts
By Bill Visnic
NEW YORK –- During a presentation for the U.S. financial community and journalists this week, not one of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Japanese and U.S. executives uttered the phrase, “Global domination.â€
They didn’t have to. They mostly let the numbers –- and the promise of a host of proposed new processes -– do the talking.
Like the Golem-like robot in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,†it’s beginning to look like Toyota can simply raise its helmet visor and ray-beam any obstacle out of existence.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:16 AM under Analysis , Featured , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Lutz Optimistic About Advanced Batteries
Though Toyota insists lithium-ion batteries preferred for plug-in hybrids are far from ready, General Motors is confident it could have more than one kind of lithium-ion battery ready for its Chevrolet Volt by its year-end 2010 target.
GM has development contracts with suppliers for advanced lithium-ion batteries. It may use batteries from more than one of them for its upcoming Chevrolet Volt and various other models using the Volt’s E-Flex system, including the Opel Flextreme, unveiled Tuesday at the Frankfurt auto show
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told AutoObserver at the show both A123Systems and LG Chem -- battery makers with development contracts with GM but that use different chemistries in their batteries -- are “absolutely confident†they can meet GM’s requirements for the Volt’s battery. GM insists the battery provides 40 miles of pure electric power, charge and recharge 4,000 times, have a 10-year life and is ready for GM’s plan to have the Volt on the road by year-end 2010.
“Everybody feels good about meeting the specifications,†Lutz said. “There’s none of this ‘we hope we can make it.’â€
(Read more...)
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BREAKING NEWS: Toyota's Press Goes to Chrysler
The New Chrysler announced this morning that Toyota’s Jim Press is joining
Chrysler as vice chairman and president.
Press, a 37-veteran of Toyota, was the first and only non-Japanese to be elected to Toyota's board of directors in Japan. He also was the first American to be named president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motors in North America, making him Toyota's highest-ranking exec in North America.
At Chrysler, Press will be responsible for North American Sales, International Sales, Global Marketing, Product Strategy, and Service and Parts. Marketing is an area of serious weakness for the Detroit automaker.
The stunning news demonstrates that the traditional automotive playbook is out the window when a private equity firm buys an automaker, as Cerberus Capital Management did with Chrysler, a deal consummated only in early August.
It also demonstrates how fast-moving -- and anxious -- private equity firms are in turning around ailing properties in order to earn a return on their investment. Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli, formerly Home Depot CEO, is leading the charge -- moving quickly and decisively and bringing in fresh blood from outside -- at whatever the cost.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:17 AM under Chrysler , Featured , News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (8) | digg this | del.icio.us
August Sales: Highlights, Lowlights
The biggest surprise to jump out of the August vehicle sales reports, issued Tuesday, was that General Motors sales were up, when they had been predicted to be down.
And, not as surprising, Toyota sales slipped for the second month.
Another surprise was the sales strength of crossovers and large trucks, especially crossovers like GM's Buick Enclave, as well as the surge of the Honda Accord.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:32 AM under Analysis , Companies , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Automakers Spend More Carefully, Less Generously on August Incentives
The average automotive manufacturer incentive in the U.S. was $2,362 per vehicle sold in August 2007, down $159, or 6.3 percent, from July 2007, and up $51, or 2.2 percent, from August 2006, according to estimates issued by Edmunds.com Tuesday.
"It is unusual for incentives spending to fall from month to month this time of year, as manufacturers typically offer generous deals in order to clear old inventory," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com.
"This year the domestic automakers are staying true to their value pricing strategy and carefully picking and choosing where to offer marketing support, rather than blanketing the whole lineup with incentives," he added.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:11 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Auto Sales Decline and Production Cuts Follow, Edmunds.com Forecast Says
Not surprisingly, based on the latest dreary economic news, August vehicle sales will be down, according to Edmunds.com’s forecast. Automakers report sales Tuesday.
Industry vehicle sales, including retail and fleet, are expected to be 1.42 million units, a 4.5 percent decrease from August 2006 and an 8.7 percent increase from July 2007. Big Three share is predicted to be below 50 percent for the second consecutive month.
"Early in August, sales were dismal," observed Jesse Toprak, Edmunds' executive directory of Industry Analysis.
"To generate showroom traffic, most automakers introduced incentives programs midway through the month," added Toprak. “That effort was relatively successful."
Still, noted Toprak, the uncertainty in the housing market is likely to continue suppressing consumer demand for new vehicles for some time.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:17 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota: Not Everything Is Rosy
A group of Kentucky community activists, including labor and church leaders, are gathering outside Toyota's biggest U.S. assembly plant today to deliver recommendations to management, including limits on the use of lower-paid temporary workers, to improve working conditions at the factory, according to the Detroit News.
The appearance by the group, Kentucky Workers’ Rights Board, will be followed by a news conference. The United Auto Workers union is trying to organize foreign-owned plants in the United States to offset the drop in its membership rolls at Big Three plants. Toyota is its prime target, the newspaper reports. However, the UAW has not succeeded in past efforts to organize Japanese-owned plants.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:46 AM under News , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Isuzu, Toyota Cooperate on Green Diesels
Toyota and Isuzu announced Monday they will work together to develop a system to make diesel engine exhaust cleaner. Isuzu, an expert in diesel technology, will work with Toyota’s truck partner, Hino Motors on the green diesels.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:14 AM under Companies , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevrolet Volt: 60,000 Copies a Year, Sources Tell Bloomberg
General Motors may build as many as 60,000 of its Volt electric cars for their
inaugural year on the market, four times the sales of Toyota's Prius hybrid on its U.S. debut, people with knowledge of GM's plans told Bloomberg News
.
Production at that level may allow GM to sell the plug-in Volt for less than $30,000 (the Prius starts at $22,175 with 60,000 a year sold in the U.S.), the sources said.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:36 AM under Commentary , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Three Bucks a Gallon and What’s a Car Company To Do?
By Bill Visnic
As the U.S. auto-buying public resigns itself to handing over $3 for a gallon of gasoline or more, automakers are hitting high gear to firm up alternative-power strategies that certainly seemed much fuzzier at this time last year.
It’s come time to decide how to best save fuel, and for the next several years, the battle will be between hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) and sophisticated new diesel engines.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 10:08 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Ford , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | del.icio.us
Lexus Marketing Exec Headed to Chrysler
Lexus marketing vice president Deborah Wahl Meyer is headed for the top Chrysler marketing post.
Chrysler confirmed today that Meyer is the new vice president and chief marketing officer of Chrysler, effective Aug. 28.
Meyer, 44, is considered a marketing whiz kid; Chrysler needs some marketing magicand some first aid for its damaged dealer relations; new Chrysler owners are bound to sweep some current folks and bring in new troops to achieve its ambitious plan to turn the company around in three years.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:04 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevrolet Volt Generates Buzz From Gun Owners
Forget about granola-nibbling Californians as the mainstay of electric cars. Gun-toting pickup drivers want ’em, too.
AutoObserver’s entry on General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt electric car generated quite the buzz when it was picked up on a forum of a gun-owners’ Web site, billed as the “Home of the Black Rifle.â€
The general consensus of those on the gun-owners' Web site was in favor of electric vehicles -- as long as they have the performance, range, price, etc. of their current vehicles. They want them not for highfalutin reasons like energy independence and energy security or environmental cleanliness but for gas and money savings.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:14 AM under Commentary , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds Revises Toyota Incentives Estimate
Edmunds.com has revised its True Cost of Incentives (TCI) for the Toyota and specifically the Toyota Tundra.
The Tundra’s TCI was reported to be $6,861 per vehicle sold in July. The correct number is $4,625. The original data suggested that the Tundra had the highest TCI of the large truck segment during July 2007; the corrected data puts the Tundra third in TCI.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:18 AM under Analysis , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Chevy Volt: The Machine That Changes the World?
After announcing Thursday that it had signed a contract with a little-known
Massachusetts company to develop lithium-ion batteries, General Motors hosted a dinner to introduce the growing team of engineers working on the electric-powered Chevrolet Volt and the newly signed-on battery makers.
David Cole, Ph.D., chairman for the Center of Automotive Research, which hosted the conference at which GM made its announcement, sat next to me. As the discussions with the engineers and, in particular, the battery developers grew deeper throughout the evening, Cole, a retired professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, could not stop saying: “Wow.â€
By evening’s end, Cole, who’s privy to lots of inside information at all the auto companies and has served on boards of technical companies, said he was now very optimistic about the future prospects for the Volt and subsequent GM electrified vehicles. “This is the game changer†unlike anything he’d seen in his long automotive career, he said.
Indeed, if GM succeeds with electrified vehicles like the Volt, the automaker may well turn the auto industry and nearly every business model within it on its ear –- from the kinds of cars we drive (electric versus gasoline) to the way consumers buy cars.
Cole sees the biggest risk to GM’s venture as something seemingly simple: cheap gas.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:01 AM under Analysis , Commentary , Featured , GM , Technology , Toyota | Comments (10) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM's Lutz Announces Battery Contract
On the day that the Wall Street Journal ran a story on Toyota delaying its
advanced hybrids due to potential safety problems with its lithium-ion batteries, General Motors announced it will co-develop lithium-ion batteries with A123Systems Inc., of Watertown, Mass.
The agreement is expected to help speed up GM's electric plug-in vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles using GM's E-Flex architecture, introduced in January on the Chevrolet Volt, possibly ahead of Toyota.
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, speaking at the Center for Automotive Research's annual management conference in Traverse City., Michigan, Thursday, said A123Systems uses nanophosphate battery chemistry that is not only powerful but also safe.
Lutz said the various batteries being developed through contracts GM has signed with suppliers would be ready for testing in October, installed in mule vehicles by year-end and be in demonstration vehicles by next spring. The next phase -- the most challenging phase -- will be to have them in showrooms by the end of 2010.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:44 AM under GM , News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
One-on-One With Toyota’s Jim Lentz
Jim Lentz, executive vice president for Toyota Motor Sales, discussed the opportunities and challenges of the auto industry during his speech to the Center for Automotive Research’s annual management meeting in Traverse City, Michigan, Wednesday. After his speech, he elaborated on those topics and others in an exclusive one-on-one interview with AutoObserver.
Are you spending more on incentives than you had anticipated on the Tundra?
Probably a little bit. But I think that’s a result of softness in the market. When we planned this launch, we had expected growth of the total market to be 200,000; instead, the market is 200,000 shy of last year. We also thought there would be growth in full-size trucks. We thought Chevy and Toyota bringing out new models and Ford introducing the Super Duty would stimulate the market. Instead, the segment is down.
What lessons did you learn from Tundra? Was it a tougher sell than you anticipated?
It hasn’t been tougher, but our biggest surprise was in dealing with conquest buyers. We didn’t realize they are really locked into a certain spec level and an exact vehicle.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:15 PM under Featured , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota’s Lentz Forecast Tough But Promising Industry Future
Jim Lentz, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Sales, predicted a promising long-term future for the U.S. auto industry, with sales reaching 18 million vehicles a year. But along the way, he sees formidable challenges.
Speaking at the Center for Automotive Research’s annual
management seminars in Traverse City, Mich., Lentz said sales this year likely will be 16.3 million vehicles, down about 2 percent from 2006. However, he forecasted a rebound in 2008 with steady growth into the next decade.
The major challenges facing the industry in the meantime, he categorized as politics and powertrains, pleasing new youth buyers and improving the industry’s retail reputation.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:18 AM under News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Japan: Land of the Shrinking Car Market
By Peter Nunn
Just recently I was up in Hokkaido, Japan’s scenic northern isle, driving the new Nissan Skyline Coupe -- Japan’s version of the highly rated new Infiniti G37 Coupe. Through the twists and turns of Nissan’s Hokkaido proving grounds, in bright summer sunshine, the V6 Skyline coupe was a total blast, and looked that way, too.
Then, at dinner, came the wake-up call. "Please write great things about car," urged one of the Nissan marketing execs, "and about cars in general, if the Japanese car market is going to survive into the future." Or words to that effect.
Que? This wasn’t the usual rosy, end-of-drive send-off for the press but something very different. Clearly some kind of warning and a pretty serious one at that.
Alarm bells, in fact, are now ringing throughout the Japanese car industry, because car sales at home continue to decline and the long-term future of the domestic industry is suddenly looking not a little uncertain. Yes, really.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:54 PM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Tundra Customization: Beyond Gembutsu
Gembutsu. Translated from Japanese it means “go and see.” For Toyota, it is
the part of the product development process during which Toyota designers and engineers go to their customers to see how they use their Toyotas.
With the new full-size Tundra pickup truck, Toyota product developers went
beyond gembutsu, adding “do” to “go and see,” Michael O’Brien, Toyota corporate manager of product planning told attendees of a seminar on designing vehicles for customization at the Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars being held this week in Traverse City, Michigan.
Two-week, 1,000-mile long trips took Toyota engineers and designers from Japan and the U.S. to ranches, farms, mines, construction sites, recreational vehicle areas and snowplow factories to experience the kinds of equipment they add to their Toyotas when or after they buy them.
“We were often served coffee by big-haired waitresses who called us ‘hon,’†O’Brien quipped.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:32 AM under Business , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
American Big 3, Japanese Big 3 Profit Gap Widens to $3,814
The profit-per-vehicle gap between the American Big Three and the Japanese Big Three automakers soared 32 percent between 2005 and 2006 to $3,814, according to a new report.
The results of the report, done by financial firm Stout Risius Ross and its managing director, Laurie Harbour-Felax, were revealed at the Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars being held this week in Traverse City, Michigan.
Reasons for the widening cap are a lack of commonizing parts and platforms as well as lower sales and market share of the domestic brands. Of the Big Three, GM made the most improvement.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:35 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Profits Soar Beyond Analysts’ Forecasts
Toyota reported first-quarter profits significantly higher than what analysts forecasted, thanks as a weaker yen that increased revenue from sales of the Corolla and Camry outside of Japan.
And here’s an interesting tidbit from Bloomberg News: Toyota is valued at $214 billion (U.S.), more than 11 times more than General Motors. Toyota is poised to surpass GM as the world’s largest automaker this year.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:23 AM under Business , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM’s Volt: More Stretch Than Toyota’s Plug-In Hybrid, Bloomberg Reports
Kudos to Bloomberg News for reporting what many of us covering the auto
industry noticed but hadn’t written -– and shame on us for not doing so: Toyota's recently announced plug-in hybrid
has far less range than does General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt
concept -– as little as half the range, in fact.
GM intends for the Volt to travel at least 40 miles after being charged; Toyota’s model may go no more than 20 miles on a single charge and possibly as little as 10 miles, Bloomberg reports, quoting sources familiar with the vehicles.
Interestingly, Bloomberg also quotes an unlikely source of praise for GM: Chris Paine, whose 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car? criticized GM’s decision to drop and destroy the EV-1.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:41 AM under Commentary , Featured , GM , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
July Vehicle Sales: Detroit Makers Fall Below 50%
July wasn’t kind to any automaker with Toyota registering its first sales decline in almost three years. But Detroit automakers made history: their combined market share of the U.S. vehicle market fell below 50 percent for the first time ever.
The combined market share for Chrysler, Ford and General Motors stood at 49.7 percent in July, according to Edmunds.com’s calculations. It was only the mid-1980s that their combined share was nearly 75 percent.
"It's probably a turning point for people who look at the record books. Domestics on their home turf are being beaten by the foreign automakers in terms of their market share," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of Industry Analysis.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:11 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com Forecast: July Sales Down
Summer 2007 is turning out to be rather unusual compared to summers of the recent past, and it is showing up in sales.
This summer, no big blowout, model-year-end incentives are being offered -- yet -- to consumers to clean up leftover inventories. In recent years, General Motors has led the parade with big campaigns that have forced others to follow, But throughout this year, GM has tempered its incentives.
As a result, in part, July new vehicle sales, to be announced next week, are expected to be down for the industry, according to Edmunds.com's forecast.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:04 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Commentary , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota To Test Plug-In Hybrids in Japan, Europe and U.S.
The plug-in hybrid race is on.
Toyota announced in Japan today that it has developed a plug-in hybrid that it will test on public roads in Japan, Europe and the U.S.
Like other Toyota hybrids, the Toyota Plug-in HV uses a gasoline internal combustion engine, an electric motor and a nickel-metal hydride battery –- not the advanced lithium-ion batteries currently under development.
The five-passenger Toyota Plug-in HV, like the Chevrolet Volt concept unveiled by General Motors at this year’s Detroit auto show, uses increased battery capacity to allow longer electric-motor-only cruising mode and a battery-charging device that replenishes the batteries using household electricity. That enables the car to run more often in gasoline-free, electric-only mode, such as on short trips in city driving.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:50 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid Price: Less for Less
Toyota announced it has dropped the price of its 2008 Camry Hybrid by $1,000
to $25,860, apparently to boost sales in an intensifying midsize car market with a growing number of hybrids in the category.
Toyota’s move on the Camry Hybrid echoes a similar one on the Prius in April. But there's a big difference between the two.
Toyota achieved the Camry Hybrid markdown through removing standard equipment from the base model to lower the base MSRP; it accomplished the Prius’ price reduction by lowering option prices, not dropping equipment, noted Alex Rosten, Edmunds.com’s manager of pricing and market analysis.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:06 PM under Analysis , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Earthquake Damage Stops Japan Car Production
Japan’s major car companies have halted vehicle production because of earthquake damage to a key supplier’s plant.
Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota stopped production due to damage to Riken, a piston ring and seal manufacturer. The automakers use just-in-time delivery so assembly plants maintain very few parts in stock.
Experts say the temporary production halt will have little impact overall for the year since the automakers can make up the production in the usually slow month of August.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:38 AM under Companies , News , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
GM, Toyota Jostle for Global Sales Leadership
General Motors moved in front of Toyota in global sales in the second quarter, but Toyota, which beat out GM in the first quarter, retained the lead for the first half of the year.
This could be the year Toyota overtakes GM in global sales and production for the year. GM has been No. 1 in both for 76 years.
Toyota said second-quarter global sales totaled 2.37 million vehicles; GM’s global sales hit 2.41 million, lifted by strong sales in Latin America, Asia and emerging markets. In the first quarter, Toyota sold 2.35 million vehicles to GM’s 2.27 million.
That put six-month sales totals at 4.72 million for Toyota and 4.67 million for GM.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 8:29 AM under GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Prius: Chapter Three
By Peter Nunn
It’s still the best part of two years away. Nevertheless, the world is already
watching and waiting on the next Toyota Prius
.
Behind firmly closed doors in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota engineers and designers are now working on exactly this vehicle. What will it look like? How will it be engineered? How will it move the sector to enable Toyota to reach its goal of selling 1 million hybrids per year by the early 2010s?
Toyota’s reported vision is for:
· a new, third-generation Prius, slightly bigger than today’s model for debut in 2009;
· a trio of versions, including one smaller than the Corolla and one larger than the current Prius that resembles the Hybrid X concept shown at March’s Geneva Auto Salon;
· traditional nickel-metal hydride batteries, not lithium-ion ones;
· further progress in the Prius becoming leaner, meaner, greener and cheaper.
One thing is for sure: The current Prius is a standard setter and global superstar. Its successor in will have a lot to live up to.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:39 PM under Analysis , Featured , Technology , Toyota | Comments (7) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Prius: The Model T of Hybrids
Toyota’s top North American official reaffirmed the Japanese automaker’s
commitment to hybrids and predicted hybrids will eventually dominate U.S. roads as fuel prices continue to rise.
"Eventually, everything will be a hybrid," said Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor North America, told Bloomberg News in an interview Tuesday.
(Read more...)
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:18 AM under Technology , Toyota | Comments (4) | digg this | del.icio.us
Edmunds.com: June Puts Industry on Track for 16.4 Million Annual Sales
New vehicles sales for June (retail and fleet) are expected to be 1.55 million units, a 3.4 percent increase from June 2006, according to Edmunds.com. Automakers will announce sales on Tuesday.
“In order to understand the year-over-year comparisons of sales for each automaker this month, one must remember that last June was one of the best sales months of the year for some automakers, and was particularly disappointing for others,” observed Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com’s executive director of Industry Analysis.
“This month, automakers seem to have achieved sales at more typical and sustainable levels rather than the dramatic highs and lows of last June,” he added.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 2:32 PM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Shareholders Approve First Non-Japanese Board Member
Perfunctory yet historic, Toyota Motor Corp. appointed American Jim Press, the first non-Japanese person, to its board of directors.
Toyota had announced the appointment months ago but shareholders made it official yesterday at the company’s annual meeting in Japan.
The appointment comes as Toyota overtakes General Motors in global sales, its Toyota Division surpasses Ford as the No. 2-selling nameplate in the U.S. last month, and sales and market share are growing at the expense of U.S. makers.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:37 AM under News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Study: Union Work Rules Cost Big Three
Union work rules and job classifications at Detroit automakers have resulted in 8,200 assembly jobs that wouldn't be needed if the automakers had the flexibility of Toyota’s U.S. factories, according to study by Detroit turnaround expert, AlixPartners.
"Our analysis of the cost differential between the domestic automakers and Toyota just due to work rules and job classifications further points up just how important this year's labor negotiations are to the Detroit Three," John Hoffecker, managing director of AlixPartners, said in a statement, published in today's Detroit Free Press.
The study also confirms why private equity firms are so interested in auto companies and parts-making companies: they are getting bargains.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:51 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Launches New Incentives on the Tundra
Still trying to gain some traction with its new pickup truck, Toyota is offering customers nationwide a
cash rebate of up to $3,000 or zero-interest financing for 60 months on the 2007 Tundra
.
Buyers of the regular cab model receive a $3,000 rebate; buyers of the CrewMax and Double Cab get $2,000. The zero interest financing is available on all models. The incentives expire July 9. In the Los Angeles, where Tundra sales lag those of northern California, the cash rebates are $3,000 for all models through July 31. Special lease rates are also available. A bonus to salespeople in L.A. on Tundras is also in effect through July 2.
Introduced in February, the Tundra has had a tougher go of it than some, including perhaps Toyota, anticipated. The loyalty rates among domestic truck buyers have remained strong, and the full-size pickup truck, in general, has been soft and is expected to continue to be cold throughout the summer, according to Edmunds.com's analysis of consumer purchase intent.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:19 PM under Featured , News , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Makes Diesel Deal with Isuzu, Report Says
Toyota said Friday it is in talks with Japanese partner truckmaker Isuzu on developing diesel engines, Japan’s business daily Nikkei reports.
Toyota would outsource diesel engine production to Isuzu, famous for its diesel technology. The 200,000-a-year diesel engines would go into Toyota small cars in Europe, the newspaper says.
Toyota owns 5.9 percent of Isuzu. Isuzu formed a capital alliance with Toyota in November after dissolving its tie-up with General Motors in April 2006. Isuzu still supplies diesel engines to GM for its large trucks.
The Toyota-Isuzu deal is yet another indication of increasing interest by Japanese automakers in diesels. Earlier this week, Nikkei reported Honda plans to sell diesel vehicles in the U.S. and Japan by 2009.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:45 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | del.icio.us
Japan: A Change of Heart on Diesels
Honda plans to sell diesel vehicles in Japan by 2009, the Nikkei business daily reports today. Honda earlier said it could introduce a diesel in the U.S. the same year.
Last year, Honda said it had developed a new and simple diesel as clean as gasoline cars. The engine could be on a car in the U.S. by 2009, Honda said at the time. Nikkei reports the new diesels, development of which Honda has been speeding up, would first go on the compact CR-V sport-utility and Accord sedan.
Honda’s potential sale of diesels in Japan and the U.S. suggests a shift in strategy by some Japanese automakers.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:15 AM under News , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
What's Hot, What's Not This Summer
Small cars are hot and getting hotter this summer. Big trucks as well as large, midsize and luxury 
SUVs are not. And the Buick Enclave looks like another winner for General Motors, according to Edmunds.com's analysis of consumer intent.
Consumer intent is determined by what vehicles consumers are shopping for right now on Edmunds.com and what they likely will buy in the next 30 to 90 days. That demand -– or lack thereof -– has a direct correlation to prices and incentives.
For consumers in the market for small cars, buy now because the prices won’t be better and might even go higher. For large truck and SUV shoppers, hold off; bigger incentives are on the way, says Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl yesterday in a presentation to the Society of Automotive Analysts.
Here’s a rundown by category and individual models of what’s hot and unlikely to see higher incentives or increased discounting so now is as good time to buy as any. Also following is a listing of what categories and individuals aren't so hot, indicating buyers should hold off their purchases for richer incentives and deeper discounting:
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:35 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , News , Toyota | Comments (6) | digg this | del.icio.us
J.D Power: Ford Is a Winner
By Joe Szczesny
Ford Motor Co. managed something of an upset Wednesday as J.D. Power & Associates released the results of its closely watched Initial Quality Study (IQS) of 2007 models. Neal Oddes, J.D. Power’s director of product research and analysis, said the results of the quality survey contained very good news for Ford.
“Fourteen Ford Motor Company models placed in the top three of their respective segments — an achievement unmatched by any other corporation this year — which is a testament to the improvement in quality for Ford Motor Company vehicle models and plants. In addition, their Lincoln nameplate, which receives two segment awards, improves considerably to rank 3rd in 2007, from 12th in 2006,” Oddes said.
“Ford had some great launches,” he added.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:22 AM under Analysis , Companies , Featured , Ford , GM , News , Toyota | Comments (2) | digg this | del.icio.us
Study: Suppliers Like Toyota, Honda Best
As has been the case for years, automotive suppliers like doing business with Toyota and Honda but their relationships with General Motors are improving, according to a new report.
Toyota ranked first, followed by Honda, Nissan, Chrysler, GM and Ford, respectively, in their relationships with suppliers, according to the study by Planning Perspectives Inc., a consulting firm in Birmingham, Michigan, released today.
GM wins for most improved. It had the most dramatic year-over-year increase in the 15 years of the study, said company President and Chief Executive John W. Henke, Jr. GM has held last place for the past 15 years; now it ranks second to last above Ford. Henke credits the improvement with a program instituted by GM in 2005 to enhance supplier relations.
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Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:12 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Toyota Surpassed Ford in May Sales
For only the fifth time in history, Toyota surpassed Ford in monthly sales last month. In May, Toyota outsold Ford 10,870 vehicles, according to Edmunds.com's analysis.
Toyota outsold Ford for the first time in July 2006, beat Ford again in November 2006 (by the widest margin of any month), December 2006 and January 2007.
Month/year Toyota's Margin of Vehicle Sales over Ford
July 2006 5,473
November 2006 20,544
December 2006 3,552
January 2007 14,605
May 2007 10,870
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:16 AM under Analysis , Ford , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | del.icio.us
Marketing to Women: Soccer Moms, Yoga Moms, Twinkie Moms
My son and I were piling into the Volkswagen Rabbit test car in
