Product News

May 16, 2008 – 12:18 pm

Chrysler Shuffles Marketing Staff
In a move to wring more from its media dollars, Chrysler is reshuffling its marketing deck and migrating one of its executives to its media agency, Omnicom Group’s PHD.

Chrysler Spent Nearly $1.4 Million Lobbying
Chrysler LLC spent nearly $1.4 million to lobby on legislation dealing with emissions standards and other issues in the first quarter of the year.

Zetsche: Daimler Learned Lesson From Chrysler Deal
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche today said the German automaker learned a lesson about the limits of globalization during its ill-fated ownership of Chrysler.

Ford Quiet On New Vehicle
Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson said yesterday that he expects Ford Motor Co. to announce soon the new vehicle to be built at the Louisville Assembly Plant — an assertion rebuffed by the automaker.

GM May Launch Chevy Cars In South Korea

General Motors Corp. is considering launching its Chevrolet brand in South Korea in an effort to capture a larger share of the growing imported car market, a senior company executive said at a press briefing Friday.

 

GM Battery Boss Running On Full Charge

General Motors’ Denise Gray talks a little fast, a little earnestly. We don’t think it’s because she’s nervous - more like she’s got a lot to tell you about things you likely don’t understand, and she figures her time is limited.

UAW Local: GM Strike Is About Rights
The UAW local at GM’s Kansas City, Kan., assembly plant remained on strike Thursday even as the local striking GM’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant reached a tentative agreement. The dispute takes on greater significance as dealerships start running low on the Chevrolet Malibu and the Saturn Aura sedans made at the Kansas plant.

GM: Live Green Or Die
In April of 2005, General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive G. Richard Wagoner Jr. convened his management team for a monthly strategy session. Held in the boardroom at GM’s Detroit headquarters, these meetings can last a day as 20 or so executives mull plans for new cars and product strategies.

Ad Campaign For Honda Pilot Goes For Laughs
Humor is the hook in a new national ad campaign for Honda’s Alabama-built Pilot sport utility, with commercial spots that feature over-the-top scenarios illustrating the vehicle’s versatility, along with a tie-in to a reality television show about stand-up comedians competing for laughs.

Demand For GT-R Could Drive Prices North Of $90,000
Expect to pay–a lot–for the new Nissan GT-R. Pricing starts at $69,850 for the base car and reaches $71,900 for the premium model. But a top Nissan product executive is predicting a 10- to 30-percent markup by dealers when the car arrives in the United States in June–which appears to be a conservative estimate.

Renault Demonstrates All-Electric Megane In Isreal
Nissan is planning to launch its first all-electric vehicle in 2010 in the U.S. and Japan, and the first evidence of this goal was displayed earlier this week. Nissan’s parent company — Renault — along with Silicon Valley startup Project Better Place demonstrated an all-electric Renault Megane in Tel Aviv last Sunday.

Toyota Slashes Prius Incentives, Jacks Up Price 
With U.S. gasoline prices climbing to unprecedented levels, consumers are turning to the popular Prius hybrid as well as other small vehicles to help postpone visits to the gas pump.

Prius First Hybrid To Hit One Million In Sales
Toyota’s Prius started out a decade ago as a risky experiment in green technology. Today, it’s the world’s first mass-produced gas-electric hybrid vehicle to hit the 1 million mark in sales.

Toyota Latest To Add Credit Card Offering
Toyota Motor Corp. will launch a Toyota-branded credit card in the United States in October, the latest entry into the crowded automotive affinity card market. Toyota will join more than a dozen auto brands offering U.S. credit cards — including its Lexus unit, which launched a Lexus Pursuits card in June 2005 and now has about 50,000 cardholders.

VW’s U.S. Plant May Make Audis, Porsches
Volkswagen’s planned U.S. factory is likely to also make upscale Audis and Porsches, VW of America CEO Stefan Jacoby said Thursday.

Economy Dropping Convertible Sales
It’s spring, a time when people start thinking about purchasing shiny new convertibles. But maybe not so much this year. R.L. Polk & Co., which tracks vehicle registrations, says the convertible market declined last year for the first time since 2004.

Heated Rivalry In Low Carbon Cars
General Motors has a lot of company. Practically every automaker on the planet is being forced to make cars and trucks that pollute less and go farther on a tank of fuel. Here is what GM and its main rivals have in the pipeline.

Green Warranties
Environemtal concerns are affecting the warranty industry in dozens of ways. Worries about global warming and problems with garbage disposal underpin many of the efforts, but good old-fashioned economics in the form of higher energy costs have also lately begun to add their weight.

Early ’90s Econocars Suddenly Worth Thousands
If you’re holding on to a 1991 Hyundai Excel with 200k miles on the odometer, this might be the time to get rid of it.  It may be worth thousands more than it used to be.

Ethanol: Getting There Is None Of The Fun
Of all the factors that drive our energy economy, supply is the most important. In the early days of the oil industry, a New England snowstorm or a washed-out Texas rail bed could lead to a spike in prices or even shortages for entire regions of the country. The market was so wild and unpredictable that producers routinely lost everything.

Bridgestone Will Buy Stake In Toyo Tire
Bridgestone Corp., the world’s largest tiremaker by sales, and smaller rival, Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd., will buy stakes in each other and cooperate on procurement and production amid surging oil and rubber prices.

Michelin Moving Account
Tire-maker Michelin North America Inc. is cutting ties with Warren-based advertising agency Campbell-Ewald Inc. after seven years.

Michelin Pledges To Increase Prices As Costs Increase
Michelin & Cie., the world’s second- largest tiremaker, will raise prices when “opportune” as it seeks to offset rising raw-material costs, Chief Financial Officer Jean-Dominique Senard said.

CAW All Smiles After Latest Round Of Deals
Buzz Hargrove went out on a high note yesterday, calling the last agreements he will negotiate with the Detroit Three win-win for the unions and the companies. But even as he did so, he expressed strong fears about the future of the auto industry in North America and sketched a grim outlook for his successor.

Facton And Munro Team Up
Facton Inc. of Auburn Hills, a specialist in life cycle software, is teaming up with Munro & Associates Inc. of Troy and its software development organization, Design Profit Inc.

Store Allows Car Enthusiasts To Build Their Own Model
Ridemakerz plans to open to two new stores in Oakland County this weekend at Great Lakes Crossing Mall in Auburn Hills and Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi. A new chain that opened for business only last year, Ridemakerz has already been designated as one of the nation’s hottest new retail chains in America by the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Old Cadillacs Never Die
In a repair shop packed with Cadillacs – the classic kind with fins, whitewall tires, curvy chrome bumpers and V-8 engines that get miles per gallon you can count on your fingers – Elsa Nicodemus showed off a favorite.

Posted in Product News | No Comments »

Product News

May 15, 2008 – 4:48 pm

Interview: Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler, Exec VP Manufacturing
After a 35-year absence, the Dodge Challenger muscle car is once again rolling off the assembly line.

Chrysler Drops CUV Clone
There will be no Chrysler-brand twin of the just-released Dodge Journey crossover; the funds previously allotted for it will be shifted toward a restyling of the small car that Nissan will build for the brand, Chrysler LLC co-president Jim Press announced this week.

Ford Recalls F-150s And Lincoln Mark LTs
Ford Motor Co. is recalling more than 650,000 Ford F-150 and Lincoln Mark LT pickup trucks to fix a brake hose that could weaken brake power.

Don’t Look Now, But Ford’s Selling Some Stuff
To paraphrase Jim Morrison and The Doors, Ford’s been down so long that it looks like up to them.

Announcement Of New Ford Product At Louisville Assembly Plant Imminent
An announcement of a new vehicle line at Ford Motor Co.’s Louisville Assembly Plant might come as soon as next month, Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson said Thursday.

Mustang Bullitt To Keep Limited Edition Cachet
Contrary to some reports, Ford will not increase production of its limited-edition Mustang Bullitt collector’s car.

GM Crossovers Soon Resume Production
It looks like General Motors soon will resume production of its hot-selling Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia crossovers as well as launch its new Chevrolet Traverse now that the union members who build those vehicles have settled their month-long strike with the automaker.

American Axle, General Motors Plant Strikes Might Put Brakes On Sales
David T. Krause ordered a 2008 heavy-duty GMC Sierra pickup in March, just after the UAW strike at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. began. He’s still waiting.

Chevy Sales Top 500,000 In China
General Motors Corp. announced today that sales in April pushed the Chevrolet brand past 500,000 units in China since the brands introduction in 2000.

Spy Photos: 2009 Cadillac XLR
With an updated version of the Cadillac XLR reportedly scheduled for a July launch, it appears as though General Motors’ luxury division is hard at work readying the new model.

Nissan Lowers U.S. Sales Forecast
Nissan Motor Co. has lowered its forecast for total U.S. vehicle sales as the weak economy continues to wreak havoc on the auto industry.

Electric Cars Will Stop ‘World From Exploding’ Says Ghosn
For Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of the Renault Nissan partnership, the stakes could not be higher: “We must have zero-emission vehicles. Nothing else will prevent the world from exploding”.

Porsche Denies U.S. Cayenne Production
Porsche says it does not need to build its Cayenne SUV in North America and has no plans to do so.

Toyota Says Prius Sales Top One Million
Toyota Motor Corp. said on Thursday sales of its Prius, the world’s first mass-produced petrol-electric hybrid vehicle, had topped one million since its launch about a decade ago.

Prius Sailing Off Dealers’ Lots
Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius hybrid, the most fuel-efficient car sold in the U.S., is getting harder to find on dealer lots and commanding higher prices when customers do. U.S. dealer supplies of Priuses have dropped to the lowest level in two years, allowing Toyota, the world’s second-largest automaker, to pare incentives and raise prices, said Mike Michels, a Toyota spokesman in Torrance, Calif.

Working To Grow
Audi is profitable and growing in a tough global automotive world, though sales in Canada and the United States still greatly lag the leaders in the luxury car game: BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus.

Dealers Consolidate As Customers Opt For Gas Thrifty Models
The nation’s car-selling industry – particularly in California, its No. 1 market – is going through what amounts to a natural selection process. Evidence of this evolutionary process can be seen locally.

Nerdy, Fuel Stingy Cars Are Hot Wheels
Some of the nerdiest-looking cars in recent automotive history are making a comeback, at least in resale value, as a growing number of value-driven drivers put gas thriftiness ahead of image.

Is The Smart Car … Well … Smart?
The final set of crash tests are out on the Smart Fortwo.  The little car did surprisingly well in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety testing, though IIHS officials did offer a few cautious words about driving microcars on the highway.  With all the data in, the debate in the press has begun — just how much sense do these little cars make for American drivers?

Eight Fuel Sipping SUV Alternatives
How to get the room and utility you need without paying a gas pump penalty.

Car Dealers Set ‘Green’ Blueprints
The LaFontaine Automotive Group has spent about $15 million in the last two years building a sprawling, multibrand auto dealership in Highland, Mich., investing $2 million in “green” initiatives.

Hybrids Gain Fans As Gas Cost Climbs
Rising fuel prices and competition among a proliferation of gasoline-electric hybrids have sliced the payback period for hybrids to two or three years in some cases, instead of five years or more that made hybrids harder to justify at lower fuel prices.

Sales Of Fuel Friendly Vehicles Rev Up
Gasoline near $4 a gallon has drivers scared straight into dealerships asking for higher fuel-efficient cars and hybrids.  Local dealerships said yesterday that interest in cars with high miles-per-gallon has skyrocketed with every gas hike recently. 

CAW, GM And Chrysler Reach Tentative Deals
The Canadian Auto Workers has reached tentative contract deals with General Motors of Canada and Chrysler that could mean three years of labour peace as the Big Three U.S-based automakers struggle with slumping sales and lean economies.

What Your Car’s Color Says About You
What color is your car?  Do you feel insecure about that? If you drove to work today in a hip, glossy black machine, you’re probably a depressed loser.  Cheerful yellow?  Call your therapist.

Posted in Product News | No Comments »

Product News

May 14, 2008 – 4:35 pm

Chrysler Drops Plans For Dodge Clone
The 2009 Dodge Journey will stand alone. While domestic crossover SUVs are typically spun into multiple versions for different brands, Chrysler has decided to cancel an upcoming clone of its new family hauler in order to devote more resources to moving its lineup toward smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Obama Meets With Chrysler Plant Workers
Sen. Barack Obama arrived at Chrysler Stamping Plant in Sterling Heights at 9:30 a.m. today, where he was briefly greeted by employees and then met privately with Chrysler President and Vice Chairman Jim Press, as well as UAW Local 1264 President Bob Stuglin.

Smashing Success: Smart Passes Crash Tests
Daimler AG’s Smart car won top ratings in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s front and side crash tests, but got lower ratings in rear crashes.

Ford Schedules Overtime To Meet Demand
Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S.-based automaker, said it’s scheduling overtime at a Missouri plant to keep up with increased demand for the Escape small sport-utility vehicle.

Ford Recalls Trucks
Ford Motor Co. is recalling more than 655,000 Ford F-150 and Lincoln Mark LT pickup trucks to fix a hose that could affect the vehicles’ braking power.

Ford’s New Focus Debuts Tonight
A new coupe will be added to the lineup of Ford’s hottest-selling car — the Focus — and will make its debut on America’s hottest TV show tonight , Ford Motor Co. executives said Tuesday.

GM May Look To Raise Additional Cash
General Motors Corp. is open to raising additional financing to weather the auto industry’s current downturn and other challenges facing the company, GM’s chief financial officer said.

Cadillac CTS-V Is A Hot Lap Dancer
Cadillac is claiming a record of sorts for its CTS-V sports sedan, the go-fast version of the standard four-door CTS the carmaker will launch here later this year. Parent General Motors says the CTS-V has lapped the Nurburgring circuit in Germany in under 8 minutes, potentially the fastest documented time for a production sedan.

Chevy Volt: Traveling Public Roads And Hitting Its Mark
General Motors inched closer to making the Chevrolet Volt a reality in November 2010 as the vehicle’s innovative gas-electric powertrain is being test driven for the first time on public roads and is hitting its target of 40 miles on pure electric power.

GM Lobbies For Funds As Job Losses Mount
General Motors of Canada Ltd. is seeking a fresh infusion of government funding for new projects in Ontario, even as it slashes 2,300 jobs at two other operations in the province.

GM To Restore Production At Ohio SUV Plant
General Motors Corp. will restore one production shift at an Ohio sport-utility vehicle plant on May 19 after a shutdown of more than two months because of a strike at supplier American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc.

Fuel Efficiency To Drive GM
Conceding that the U.S. auto industry is in a recession and high gas prices are changing which vehicles people buy, General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it is shifting its marketing to focus more on cars and less on trucks.

Greensburg Firefighters Hired To Help Honda
In a special arrangement, the city of Greensburg will hire six new firefighters to provide service to the new Honda plant.

Ghosn Focuses On Greener Cars
Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn this week declared that he wants to lead the world in producing all-electric, zero-emission cars. But the head of Japan’s No. 3 auto maker by sales volume is hedging his bets in the race to mass market environmentally friendly vehicles.

Investors Unimpressed By New Nissan Plan
With raw material costs rising sharply, demand for cars in the major markets falling, and the yen riding high against the dollar, these are trying times for all of Japan’s big automakers. Indeed, speaking in Tokyo on May 13, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn admitted that except for growth in emerging markets, there were few tailwinds in 2008.

Toyota Considering New Small-Car Factory
Toyota Motor Corp. is considering building a new plant to make low-cost, small cars for emerging markets, a spokeswoman said.

VW Plans July Announcement
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker, said today it will outline plans for a production plant in the U.S. in July.

VW Labor Boss Sees Need For U.S. Plant
Volkswagen’s senior labor leader gave his blessing to management plans for a possible new engine and transmission factory in North America to supply the carmaker’s upcoming U.S. assembly plant.

Slow Sales Not Spreading Outside Auto Industry
Apparently, we’re still shopping.  We’re just not car shopping.

Inside The Tata Nano Factory
At Tata’s Engineering Research Center, near the bucolic surroundings of the Tata Motors factory in Pune, India, there are two cars on display. One is a complete prototype of the Nano, the $2,500 compact car Tata unveiled in January, which has all the essentials and safety features of India’s higher-priced automobiles along with a sticker price that will forever change the economics of low-cost cars.

Read the rest of the articles »

Posted in Product News | No Comments »

Product News

May 13, 2008 – 11:30 am

Chrysler Alters Plan To  Outsource Jeep Seats
Workers at Johnson Controls Inc.’s factory in Northwood learned in February that their jobs building seats for the Jeep Wrangler were being outsourced to India by 2010.

SMS To Offer Two Performance Versions Of 2009 Challenger
The 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T isn’t even on the market yet, but famed tuner Steve Saleen has announced that his newest company — SMS — will be offering two performance variation of Chrysler’s newest pony car.

Chrysler Cuts SUV To Invest In Compact
Chrysler LLC, the automaker owned by private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, canceled plans for a new sport-utility vehicle and is instead investing in a compact car.

Ferrari Shows A New Baby GT
Ferrari has released the first official photos of its all-new “baby” eight-cylinder GT it is calling California.

Mercury May Be Coming To The End Of The Road
Is Mercury headed for the junkyard? Speculation is mounting that Ford Motor Co., preoccupied with reviving its Ford and Lincoln brands, might decide to retire the Mercury nameplate rather than spend scarce resources trying to restore its former luster.

Ford Celebrates Model T’s 100th With Challenge To Schools
Ford Motor Co. is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its Model T with a challenge. The automaker is asking five universities to create a vehicle that shares what Ford says are attributes of the Model T: simple, lightweight, practical and compelling. Ford says the vehicle should be priced below $7,000.

2009 Ford Focus Coupe To Debut On American Idol 
Ford has been throwing millions of dollars in marketing cash at American Idol since the hit show first began seven seasons ago, but this is the first time the automaker will take advantage of the show’s 20 million viewers by unveiling a new model on live television.

GM Resumes Work At Five Plants Disrupted By Supplier’s Strike
General Motors Corp. has resumed production at five plants affected by an 11-week strike at supplier American Axle & Manufacturing Inc.

GM Says It Has Enough 2008 Liquidity
General Motors Corp., the biggest U.S. automaker, said it still has enough liquidity to run plants and develop new models this year and will consider cutting costs or raising more money if the U.S. economy doesn’t improve.

Cadillac Marketing Director Leaving GM
Liz Vanzura, global marketing director of Cadillac, confirmed today through a spokesman she will leave General Motors at the end of the month to move to the Boston area with her family. The relocation was sparked by her husband, who has a new job as an executive at Panera Bread Co. in Needham, Mass.

GM Plans To Close Canadian Transmission Plant
General Motors of Canada interrupted labor contract negotiations on Monday to announce the closing of a plant that makes automatic transmissions and has 1,400 employees.

GM Strike Starting To Hit Customers
Dealers and car buyers are starting to feel the pain of a strike at General Motors Corp’s Lansing Delta Township plant that is nearly a month old. Some customers are dropping plans to buy one of the crossover vehicles made at the plant because the walkout has halted production, leading to longer-than-expected waits for custom–ordered Buick Enclaves or GMC Acadias.

Honda Says New Fuel Cell Is Lighter, More Efficient
Honda’s new hydrogen-powered vehicle, set for leasing within a few months, radically reduced the sizes of its fuel cell and motor for a superclean car with the same interior space as a regular car, engineers said Tuesday.

Hyundai Shelves Plans To Build Pickups
Hyundai Motor Co. has shelved a plan to make pickup trucks in the U.S. as demand for that type of vehicle declines amid high oil prices, a company official said Tuesday.

Nissan Plans Electric Car In U.S. By 2010
The Nissan Motor Company plans to sell an electric car in the United States and Japan by 2010, raising the stakes in the race to develop environmentally friendly vehicles.

Nissan Eyes Emerging Markets As ‘09 Outlook Dims
Nissan Motor Co. is embarking on a five-year business plan that focuses on electric vehicles, cost cutting and emerging markets such as China, Russia and Brazil.

Renault Will Bring EVs To America
Renault — like BMW, Audi, Mitsubishi and Subaru before it — promises to build “a range of electric vehicles” beginning with a sedan it’s betting will electrify Israel’s vehicle fleet and says it will bring an EV to America within two years.

Toyota Delaying New U.S. Plant
A senior Toyota executive said Monday that plans for a new auto assembly plant in Mississippi are being delayed by worries about slumping American auto sales and a broader U.S. economic slowdown.

Prius Loses Bid To Overturn Patent Award
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a $4.3 million award against Toyota Motor Corp. for using another company’s patented technology in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, including the top-selling Prius.

Prius Supply Shrinks, Waiting Lists Grow And Prices Rise
Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius hybrid, the most fuel-efficient car sold in the U.S., is getting harder to find on dealer lots and commanding higher prices when customers do.

VW To Provide Details On U.S. Plant In July
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest carmaker, said Tuesday that it will outline plans for a production facility in the U.S. in July.

Porsche May Build Cars With VW, Audi, In U.S.
Porsche may build cars with Volkswagen and its luxury unit, Audi, at a new U.S. assembly plant that Alabama hopes to land, a German newspaper reports.

Shipping Shortage Wearing On Automakers
If an eroding U.S. economy and commensurately sliding auto sales aren’t enough to worry about, several global automakers can add a new worry for 2008: a vexing lack of ships to carry vehicles from port to port and skyrocketing increases in the cost of shipping vehicles.

Ford’s Success Has GM And Chrysler Ponying Up
No one at Chrysler or General Motors is much interested in saying it on the record, but make no mistake: We would not be getting the 2008 Dodge Challenger or the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro had it not been for the out-of-the-gate success of the retro-styled 2005 Ford Mustang.

Today’s Gas Guzzling Exotic Cars May Get Zapped By New Fuel Rules
A Porsche 911 is a marvel of automotive engineering and an object of desire for people who’ve worked hard enough, and been lucky enough, to have $80,000 or more to drop on an exotic sports car. One thing a Porsche 911 doesn’t do is get 41.3 miles per gallon in city and highway driving.

California Confident On Tough Fuel Rules
The head of California’s air pollution agency said Monday she believes the state will prevail in setting tough curbs on greenhouse gases from vehicles despite stiff opposition from automakers and dealers.

McCain: Boost Funding For Alternative Fuel Vehicles
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain today will call for more funding of advanced technology vehicles — but also promises more accountability over government research spending.

Hybrids Recoup Higher Cost In Less Time
Rising fuel prices and competition among a proliferation of gasoline-electric hybrids have sliced the payback period for hybrids to two or three years in some cases, instead of five years or more that made hybrids harder to justify at lower fuel prices.

Fueling The Debate
It is clear now that the climb in oil prices is not over. We are already close to $125 a barrel, and $150 may not be that far away. First, understand the United States does have an energy policy. The policy may have problems, but it is ambitious and moves the country in the right direction. 

It’s A Small Car World
Most automakers sell more smaller cars overseas than they sell here. Americans like space and plenty of utility in their vehicles, marketers say. Hence, the popularity of crossover SUVs.

The Coming Boom In Boomer Friendly Transport
The oldest baby boomers start turning 65 in less than three years, but car-crazed American society isn’t ready, and neither are the boomers themselves.

Hands Free Phones Are Lifesavers
A California researcher has entered the acrimonious debate over mobile phones by predicting that banning the use of hand-held phones by U.S. drivers could save thousands of lives each year.

Posted in Product News | No Comments »

Product News

May 8, 2008 – 4:47 pm

BMW Wins Engine Competition
BMW’s 3.0-liter twin-turbo engine won the top prize in the 2008 International Engine Of The Year Competition on Wednesday, besting such rivals as the Porsche turbocharged 3.6liter engine that powers the 911 Turbo.

CEO Says Its Strategically Important For BMW To Be In U.S.
BMW’s chief executive told shareholders Thursday that maintaining the automaker’s presence in the United States was not a knee-jerk reaction to the strong euro, but a long-term strategy.

Chrysler Unleashes Dodge Challenger Into An Uncertain Market
The 2008 Dodge Challenger began rolling off the assembly line Thursday into an uncertain market that could embrace the nostalgic muscle car or reject it for its gas-guzzling excess.

A Change In Tone For Ford Shareholders
It would have been difficult a year ago to find many satisfied shareholders of the Ford Motor Company, much less to assemble them in one room.

A New Kind Of Crash Test Dummy Is Born At Ford
Ford Motor has redesigned the midsection of child-size crash-test dummies to help carmakers invent seat belts that could protect children against abdominal injuries.

Treacherous Treads Still Taking Lives
It’s been eight years since more than eight million Firestone AT, ATX and Wilderness tires were recalled but the tires are still claiming victims, an investigation by Miami’s CBS4 News has found.

Ford Boosting Fuel Efficiency
Ford Motor Co. said it plans to double the number of six-speed automatic transmissions in its models by the end of next year, increasing fuel efficiency to the point where it is equal to or better than that achieved by manual gearboxes.

GM May Break Up SUV-Truck Marriage to Cut Fuel Use, Emissions 
General Motors Corp. may be forced to break up a seven-decade marriage of pickups and large sport- utility vehicles as Americans restrict the fossil-fuel diet of their transportation.

Interview: Jim Taylor, General Manager Cadillac
Cadillac’s Back-from the-Dead Campaign continues to show progress. Actually at General Motors, they call it the Cadillac Renaissance, but what do you say about a line of cars that hasn’t had a really good year since Elvis was driving one?

GM To Pay Up To $200 Million To Help End American Axle Strike
General Motors Corp. says it will pay up to $200 million to help bring an end to a crippling labor dispute at parts supplier American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.

No El Camino Revival For The G8 Sport Truck
The Pontiac G8 sport truck has yet to receive its official nameplate, but it looks as though ‘El Camino’ will almost certainly not adorn the truck’s tailgate, a new report finds.

Honda May Lift Output In China
Facing slowing sales in the United States, a stronger yen and rising material costs, Honda may seek a boost by expanding in one of the few countries with consistently strong growth prospects.

Honda Invests In R&D Center In Thailand
Giant Japanese automaker Honda is to build a vehicle research and development centre for Asia and Oceania in Thailand, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Suwit Khunkitti.

Change Of Plan: No Hyundai Or Kia Pickup For U.S.
Neither Hyundai nor Kia will sell a pickup in the United States in the near future.  Hyundai Motor Co. CEO Kim Dong-Jin said the board in “a recent decision” scrapped plans for a unibody pickup in the United States.

Nissan Taking An Unconventional Approach To Transmissions
Nissan is developing a transmission strategy that’s unique among major automakers.

Spy Photos: Porsche Small SUV
Spy photographers have spotted what appears to be a prototype for an upcoming Porsche “baby” Cayenne near Germany’s famed Nurburgring.

Rolls Royce Targets China’s Really Rich

For most of the world’s automakers, China is all about big numbers. The Chinese market is the biggest in Asia and the second-largest in the world, behind only the U.S. Last year the Chinese purchased 8.3 million vehicles, including 5.2 million cars, sport-utility vehicles, and mini vans. With solid growth this year, the number of cars, trucks, and other vehicles sold in China is likely to hit 9.5 million, according to J.D. Power & Associates

Toyota Feels Slowdown In U.S.
Toyota Motor said Thursday that the slowdown in the United States economy would probably cause its first annual profit drop in nine years, accelerating a shift by it and other Asian car manufacturers into emerging markets like China, Latin America and the Middle East.

Toyota’s So-Called Tumble
Flag-waving American loyalists were heartened to see the announcement that Toyota’s January-to-March profit sank 28%. It provided evidence that even mighty Toyota can’t escape the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - the deadly combination of high fuel prices, surging raw material costs, the global credit crunch and a strong yen.

VW Offers College Savings Plan As Routan Incentive
There is definitely no shortage of incentives to buy Chrysler-built minivans these days. If you buy one of Chrysler’s two minivans — the Chrysler Town & Country or Dodge Grand Caravan — you get a credit card that locks in gas prices for three years. If you buy a Volkswagen-badged Chrysler minivan — the VW Routan – you get $1,500 towards a college savings plan, per the German automaker’s newest incentive program.

Thin Times For Lean Car Production
Presenting its annual earnings in Tokyo on Thursday, the world’s most profitable carmaker also briefed investors on some new wrinkles in its much-studied manufacturing process.

Death Of The SUV
As energy prices soar, frustrated owners try to unload their guzzlers.

German Carmakers Compete To Share Profits With Staff
German carmakers are competing with each other in a new field – how much they pay their workers in profit-sharing bonuses.

CAW Confident Ahead Of GM, Chrysler Talks
The Canadian Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. today began negotiating toward a new contract, months ahead of the September expiration date of the current pact.

Hybrids Paying Off More Quickly
As gasoline prices go higher, many hybrid-electric vehicles currently on sale are proving to be even wiser investments, say new data from Edmunds.com.

Start Up Claims To Convert Any Car Into A Hybrid
Would you be interested in converting your existing car into a plug-in hybrid?  A Connecticut start-up claims it is developing a system that will do just that — for a little under $4,000.

Does Fuel Efficiency Drive The Auto Industry
On Monday, the Energy Information Association released its latest gas price data; the U.S. price at the pump (all grades) stood at $3.51 at the end of April, the highest price on record. The conversation surrounding oil prices and the economy has made the price of gas a hot topic across political debates and fuel economy a component of recent automotive campaigns.

Obama’s Rip On Auto Infamy Is A Clunker
Barack Obama’s auto ignorance rolls on. The Democratic senator from Illinois, who is running for president on a platform seemingly based on bashing Michigan’s leading industry, told an Indianapolis radio station recently that the 1970s Ford Granada he drove was perhaps “the worst car that Detroit ever built.

More Static For Sirius-XM Deal
Sirius Satellite Radio Chief Executive Mel Karmazin is willing to play ball with the government on possible conditions placed on his planned merger with XM Satellite Radio. He has said he’ll hold prices steady, for example, to allay concerns the deal would hurt consumers in the pocketbook.

Posted in Product News | No Comments »

Product News

May 7, 2008 – 1:44 pm

Chrysler Tries Luring Buyers With Gas Incentives
As gasoline tops $4 per gallon in some areas and crude oil spikes to new records, no major automaker has been hit harder than Chrysler LLC. The No. 4 U.S. auto seller relies on trucks and sport utility vehicles for 70 percent of its sales, and buyers are shunning more fuel-efficient models it has introduced in the past few years.

Daimler Plans A Baghdad Office
Daimler AG says it plans to open an office in Baghdad after a nearly 20-year absence, marking a small victory for Iraqi and U.S. officials who have pushed hard to attract foreign investment in the war-torn country.

Ford Says Its Doubling Fuel-Efficient Six-Speed Transmissions
Ford Motor Co. said today it plans to greatly increase the use of more fuel-efficient six-speed automatic transmissions, doubling their number by the end of next year and putting them in 98 percent of its North American vehicles by 2012.

Live Chat With Tadge Juechter
Hello Corvette fans. I’m Vince Muniga and I’ll be moderating this chat session today. Today’s chat will be with Tadge Juechter. Tadge is the Vehicle Chief Engineer for the Corvette ZR1 and he is excited to be taking your questions today.

Suzuki Promotes Free Gas, Other Incentives
American Suzuki Motor Corp. on May 1 launched a nationwide sales promotion offering car buyers 0 percent financing and three months of free gasoline on retail purchases of all new 2007 and 2008 vehicles.

Toyota Raising Prices On Some U.S. Models
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s second-biggest automaker by annual vehicle sales, is raising its prices on some U.S. models later this month amid increased worries about its profit growth in the American market.

Toyota Wins Appeals Court Ruling
Toyota Motor Corp. won an appeals court ruling that its hybrid transmissions don’t infringe patents owned by Solomon Technologies Inc.

Audi Considers U.S. Factory With Parent VW
Audi AG is in talks with parent Volkswagen AG on building a U.S. plant to protect profit against the declining dollar, Chief Executive Rupert Stadler said.

Audi R8 Backlog Grows To Several Months
There’s no doubt Audi’s R8 has supercar looks, and now it looks like it might be developing a supercar wait list to match.

Few New Incentive Offers Despite Dismal Sales
Every month so far in 2008, we’ve brought you a report of plummeting auto sales, followed quickly by a report of new incentives trying to lure you back into the dealership.  April’s plummeting auto sales report came five days ago.  Yet, so far, we haven’t told you about any newly discounted cars.  What’s going on?

Automakers Turn To Free Petrol
As the credit crunch intensifies, carmakers are turning to an unusual way of moving vehicles off dealership lots: offering to throw in the petrol. In the UK, Fiat offers a payment-free period of nine months plus £1,000 ($1,971) of fuel to buyers of its Grande Punto supermini. Across the Atlantic, Chrysler will on Wednesday launch a “Let’s Refuel America” campaign, which guarantees a lower-than-market pump price of $2.99 a gallon when customers buy eligible Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles.

Swedish Meatballs: Saab And Volvo
Here’s a story that may ring a bell. A couple of carmakers are having trouble selling their vehicles. Hobbled by high fuel prices and poor rebadge jobs, not to mention prices that are too high to compete with others from Europe and Japan, these brands are scrambling to make smaller, more efficient machines that buyers will actually pay for.

Dodge Ads A Hit But Ford’s Has Mixed Impact
Chrysler’s advertising campaign for its new Dodge Journey crossover has greatly boosted initial online interest in the vehicle, according to an analysis by Edmunds.com. But the new omnibus marketing effort launched by Ford recently, Drive One, isn’t packing nearly the same punch.

CAW Puts Heavy Demands On Chrysler Prior To Talks
The Canadian Auto Workers wants Chrysler LLC to commit to maintaining a third shift of production at a plant in Windsor, Ont., to invest at a factory in Toronto, and to confirm plans to redesign its large cars made at a plant in Brampton, Ont.

UAW Turns Up The Heat
A week ago, the United Auto Workers president disclaimed any role for General Motors Corp. in resolving a protracted strike against Dick Dauch’s American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc

Nissan, Toyota Focus On Graying Drivers
In Japan, about 20% of the population is over 65, compared to 12.5% in the U.S. So it’s unsurprising that the government and companies are doing more to cater to the needs of older customers. Yet when it comes to driving, it’s hard to avoid the mixed signals. Companies are keen to keep seniors behind the wheel. Although few admit to targeting older customers with specific models, many new technologies or design trends are being developed with older drivers in mind.

Obama Blasts Detroit, Ford Again
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama didn’t mince words when he described his first driving experience. “The car I learned to drive on was my grandfather’s Ford Granada. … It may be the worst car that Detroit ever built,” the Illinois senator said in an interview with Indianapolis radio station WFBQ.

Entrepreneur Aiming To Give Midtown An Electric Vehicle Jolt
An electric-car showroom could be opening this year at a midtown corner where gas-guzzling Chevys were sold a half-century ago.

Ethanol’s Benefits Questioned As Food Costs Rise
Just months ago, ethanol was the Holy Grail to energy independence and a “green fuel” that would help nudge the country away from climate-changing fossil energy.

ZF To Build Electric Motors For Mercedes Hybrid
German parts supplier ZF Friedrichshafen will begin building electric motors destined for a hybrid version of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class at a plant in Schweinfurt, Germany, late this year.

Navigation Device Maker To Buy Map Giant
TOMTOM NV, Europe’s biggest maker of car-navigation devices, will get unconditional approval from European Union regulators to buy map maker Tele Atlas NV, according to industry insiders.

ArvinMeritor Plans To Spin Off Segment
Troy-based ArvinMeritor Inc. plans to divide into two companies, but will remain firmly anchored in Oakland County.

Posted in Product News | No Comments »

Product News

May 6, 2008 – 4:41 pm

Chrysler Tries Fuel Subsidy To Woo Buyers
Chrysler, coming off a 24 percent slide in U.S. sales in April, will subsidize gasoline for new- car buyers so they pay only $2.99 a gallon for three years.

Chrysler Opens Online Post For Listening To Customers
As the auto industry headed into this downturn, Chrysler faced severe competitive disadvantages in crucial areas ranging from product breadth to financial wherewithal to management depth. But there is at least one strategic arena where the privately held new Chrysler has demonstrated a determination to take a back seat to no competitor: listening and adjusting to what its customers want.

Extra Gear And Gadgets? Just Say ‘No’
There is a very, very simple reason why Chrysler Canada has increased sales every month for the last 21 months.

Dodge Ram Now Selling At $13,000 Discount
We’ve been watching sales of large trucks and SUVs drop all year, but we were stunned by this one.

Chrysler Honors Workers In Military
Bob Nardelli, Chrysler’s chief executive, held a ceremony Monday at the automaker’s Auburn Hills Technology Center to honor the company’s employees who have been called up to active military service.

Nardelli Says Chrysler Can Meet Job Cutting Goals
Chrysler LLC Chairman and Executive Bob Nardelli said Monday the automaker should be able to meet its job-cutting goals without antagonizing the United Auto Workers.

Two Dealers To Share Franchises
But these are not normal times in the automotive industry, and recently two local Chrysler dealers announced their upcoming expansions with, of all things, telephone on-hold messages.When businesses expand their offerings in normal times, they generally celebrate with big announcements, maybe a party, a little fanfare, some balloons - the works.

Spy Photos: Ferrari 2+2
Spy photographers have captured another round of images of Ferrari’s upcoming 2+2 hardtop convertible.

Orion Malibu Plant Now Alone
A dispute over a local labor contract at a General Motors Corp. plant in Kansas has left GM’s assembly plant in Orion Township as the only source for one of the automaker’s most popular passenger cars.

Strike Hits GM Plant That Makes A Big Seller
General Motors workers who build the Chevrolet Malibu, one of G.M.’s most popular and important new vehicles, went on strike Monday at a plant in Kansas after they were unable to reach an agreement with the company on local work rules.

Microsoft Signs Software Deal With Hyundai And Kia
Microsoft Corp. has signed a worldwide deal with automakers Hyundai and Kia to use its in-car software that allows people to use voice commands to control personal music players and telephones.

Kia Considers Making SUV At U.S. Plant
Kia Motors Corp, South Korea’s No.2 auto maker, is considering producing a sports utility vehicle (SUV) in its first U.S. factory, a company official said on Tuesday.

The Unstoppable Toyota Corolla
Toyota has just launched the 2009 Corolla, the 10th generation of what has become the all-time bestselling car in the world. More than 7 million have been sold in the U.S., and total worldwide sales have surpassed 30 million.

VW Rabbit Tops Affordable Hatchback Tests
The Volkswagen Rabbit emerged as Consumer Reports’ top-rated affordable hatchback following tests of six vehicles for the June issue. The Rabbit outpointed CR’s previously top-rated hatchback, the Mazda3.

GM, Toyota, Ford Won’t Follow Chrysler
Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. have no plans to match Chrysler LLC’s offer to subsidize the cost of gasoline for car and truck buyers, the companies said Tuesday.

Singing The Domestic Vehicle Blues No More
It had been 20 years since I bought a car for myself. Six days ago, that long drought ended. I bought a brand-new Chevrolet Cobalt. I really like the car and the price I paid for it. (More on that in a moment.)

Sync Like Systems To Spread
Ford Motor Co. is about to lose the digital edge it’s had since last year, when it began offering Sync wireless communications and entertainment technology in its cars and trucks.

New Crash-Dodging Technology  Could Save Lives
A high-tech system to help car and commercial truck drivers avoid crashes by warning them of potential road dangers and assessing their options will get some real-world testing starting this summer.

Peters: Cut Reliance On Gas Tax To Fix Roads
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said the government should reduce its reliance on fuel taxes to maintain roads, bridges and other structures but declined to weigh into an election debate over whether those taxes should be suspended for the summer.

Consumers, Politicians And Economists At Odds Over Gas Tax
The trend is clear: demand is down and complaints are up. U.S. sales of cars manufactured in North America actually rose 1.3% in April 2008, compared with the same month the previous year.

Alliance To Make Fuel Economy Appeal
Officials with several U.S. automakers, including Detroit’s three companies and Toyota Motor Co., are to meet Thursday with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who told Detroit last year to “get off your butt” and hit California’s fuel-economy standards.

New Battery Player Creeps In On Heated Race For Chevy Volt Power
As if the threat of $200 a barrel oil with today’s unlimited resources weren’t enough, battery researchers are readying themselves for the final sprint to the finish line as plug-in hybrids finally approach their first real shot at your garage.

Start Ups Race To Produce ‘Green’ Car
Spurred by the belief that the market for fuel-efficient vehicles is about to take off, a slew of tiny car companies is springing up in Europe and the U.S. They are racing to produce the next “green” car, betting that soaring demand will allow them to survive alongside the giants of Detroit, Stuttgart and Tokyo.

Freescale Joins Chinese Carmaker In Research Pact 
Freescale Semiconductor has partnered with Chinese auto maker Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. to build a research facility in China to study ways to make cars more fuel efficient.

McGuinty To Bring Sales Pitch To Fiat HQ
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is making an all-out effort to woo Italian auto giant Fiat SpA to the province by making a personal visit to the firm’s headquarters in Turin.

Vietnam Raises Tax On Luxury Vehicles
The Vietnamese Government has allowed the Ministry of Finance to revise the special consumption tax on automobiles, raising it for some high-end cars models. Currently, automobiles are subject to a uniform special consumption tax of 50 per cent.

Most Expensive Cars To Repair
Benjamin Franklin once said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. Had he been born a couple centuries later, he definitely would have included car repairs in that statement.

Drive Out Of Poverty With A Car
If filling your tank with $3.60 a gallon gas is a serious economic hardship, ask yourself this: What if you didn’t have a tank to fill up?

Classic Cadillacs Turned Into Show Cars
In a repair shop packed with Cadillacs — the classic kind with fins, whitewall tires, curvy chrome bumpers and V-8 engines that get miles per gallon you can count on your fingers — Elsa Nicodemus showed off a favorite.

Posted in Product News | No Comments »

Product News

May 5, 2008 – 12:29 pm

BMW Offers Full On-Board Internet Access
BMW will introduce full on-board Internet access that will allow drivers to copy maps and other information directly to their navigation systems.

Daimler CEO Says Component Sale Deal With Jaguar, Land Rover Possible
Daimler AG. is prepared to strike a deal with British car-makers Jaguar and Land Rover that could see the German car-maker sell components to its peers, chief executive Dieter Zetsche told auto motor und sport magazine.

Ford Adds Fourth Vehicle To Oakville Production
Ford Motor Co. has agreed to build a fourth vehicle at its Oakville, Ont., assembly complex as part of a tentative agreement between the auto maker and the Canadian Auto Workers union. The vehicle is expected to be a version of the Lincoln MKT crossover utility vehicle that Ford executives unveiled in Detroit in January, industry sources said, and could go into production as soon as December.

Fairfax Workers On Strike
Workers at the General Motors Fairfax plant in Kansas City, Kan., went on strike right at 9 a.m. today. In the weeks running up to today’s action, the possibility of a strike at Fairfax has generated significant industry interest because it produces the new Malibu, which was launched last fall and has generated sales momentum as the auto industry has slumped.

Malibu Aims To Rev Sales With Six Speeds
General Motors Corp. is putting a six-speed automatic transmission mated with a four-cylinder engine in the 2008 Chevy Malibu, giving the automaker some fuel-efficiency bragging rights in the hyper competitive mid-size car segment.

Hyundai: Powertrains Will Take Us Halfway To MPG Target
Hyundai’s plan to boost U.S. vehicle fuel economy significantly in the next decade is a 50-50 strategy. About 50 percent of the increase will come from changes to vehicle structure and equipment–efforts such as lighter vehicles and energy-saving technology such as LED lighting.

Spy Photos: 2009 Kia Soul
Kia will build a production version of the Soul crossover concept in 2008 for the 2009 model year, and our spy photographers have captured another round of images of a prototype undergoing testing.

Mazda6 For America Arrives
When it didn’t turn up at the New York auto show back in March, some began to wonder when Mazda would finally get around to unveiling the long awaited, unique-to-the-U.S. 2009 Mazda6 sports sedan.

Suzuki To Offer Standard Navigation In $16,000 Car
Suzuki says it will soon offer the least expensive vehicle on the market with a navigation system that comes as standard equipment.

Toyota Raising Small Car Prices
Toyota has announced that it will raise prices on some vehicles in the United States this month — and, as you might expect in this economic climate, the price increase applies mostly to hot-selling small cars.

Which Auto Brands Should Go? 
Should Ford Motor dump Mercury and Volvo? Jerry York, the longtime adviser to billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda, which recently acquired 5.6% of Ford, seems to think so. York isn’t alone. Robert Lutz, General Motors’  vice-chairman for global development, touched off a storm with Buick and Pontiac dealers in 2005, when he stated the obvious: GM has too many brands, and the company would have to consider phasing out the weaker ones if they didn’t perform.

Russian Car Output May More Than Double
Russian car production will more than double by 2012 as automakers supply Europe’s fastest-growing car market, a government official said.

Ford, GM Defy Assumptions
For most of this decade, it has been institutional knowledge that General Motors Corp. was in the best shape among Detroit’s struggling automakers.

Market Trumps Congress When It Comes To Fuel Economy
News flash: Skyrocketing gas prices are driving historic shifts in the habits of car buyers, pushing them away from thirsty pickups and full-size SUVs and into four-cylinder compacts.

Will CAFE Standards Cause Cars To Get … Bigger?
The recently-proposed CAFE standards will affect vehicles’ required fuel economy based mainly on their footprint, which is defined as the relative area within its four wheels, or basically a product of their track and wheelbase.

Tesla Opens Showroom
The Mecca of American car culture has a slick new green temple. Tesla Motors, the upstart electric-car company that’s become a darling of the eco set, opened its first auto showroom last week in Los Angeles

The Car Of The Future Today
Detroit is partying like it’s 1979. But there are mainstream, name-brand cars you can buy today that can vault you all the way to 2011 or 2012 — at least in terms of the new fuel-efficiency targets the Bush administration is proposing for the next seven years. One such car is Honda Motor Corp.’s Fit.

Obama Hits Big-3 On SUVs
Sen. Barack Obama defended his opposition to a temporary break from the federal gas tax Sunday and put part of the blame for the nation’s dependence on imported oil on the domestic auto industry.

Auto Industry Focuses On States
A state-by-state battle by auto makers and dealers to dissuade lawmakers from following California’s move to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions is beginning to bear fruit.

Drive To Combat Climate Change
Ships in sea lanes off the southern California coast each year dump more exhaust emissions on Los Angeles than the city’s seven million vehicles, according to a BBC World Service report on global warming. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant, it is a climate gas. The German carmaker says man-made CO2 emissions account for 3.5 per cent of annual worldwide output. CO2 generation from natural sources - decomposing organic matter, for example - provides 96.5 per cent.

Slumping OEM Sales Temper Satellite Radio Growth Estimates
The Auto Sales And SDARS Relationships report is updated monthly with new sales data that sector watchers may find useful. Read the rest of the articles »

Posted in Product News | No Comments »

Product News

May 4, 2008 – 5:26 pm

Audi To Offer Electric Cars
Audi, the luxury unit of Volkswagen, sees great opportunities in electric cars and will offer automobiles with no exhaust emissions within ten years, its top executive told a German weekly.

If Chrysler Calls About Your Service, It Could Be The CEO
The Auburn Hills automaker’s top 300 executives and directors are now going to be calling, on average, one customer a day to inquire about their satisfaction under a new Customer First program unveiled this week to senior managers, according to an internal e-mail obtained by the Free Press.

Chrysler Says It Will Stick With Joint Venture
CHRYSLER LLC said it has no plans to quit its Chinese venture with Daimler AG, the Beijing Benz Daimler Chrysler Automotive Co Ltd, as it looks to speed up its development in the world’s second largest car market and catch up with rivals.

Daimler Mulls Jaguar, Land Rover Cooperation
Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche would be interested in a cooperation with carmakers Jaguar and Land Rover, according to a report in a German trade magazine.

Ford: Volvo Not For Sale
Ford Motor Co. isn’t about to sell its Volvo car subsidiary, a senior company official said Friday, brushing off a suggestion by Jerry York, a representative of the Dearborn automaker’s newest major shareholder.

Sync System Puts Focus On Top
Adding the Sync entertainment and communications system to the Ford Focus propelled the car to the top of Kelley Blue Book’s Top 10 Coolest New Cars Under $18,000.

Nissan To Restart Exports
Nissan Motor Co will restart exports of vehicles to the United States and Europe from the Oppama plant, near Tokyo, from the autumn for the first time in five years, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.

Toyota Recalls Highlander
Toyota is recalling 90,189 Highlander and Highland Hybrid equipped with a third row passenger seat because the seat belts in the third row do not properly secure a child restraint system.

Toyota To Raise Prices In North America
Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s biggest automaker, said it will raise prices of some automobiles in North America this month.

Classic British Marque Driven To Globalization
For all the bling of the new DBS – complete with flashing “power”, “beauty” and “soul” lights on the dashboard – Aston Martin is still a quintessentially British sports car, just with a modern twist.

U.S. Lexus, Mercedes Sales Fall
U.S. sales of luxury auto brands including Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus and Daimler AG’s Mercedes- Benz fell in April, adding to evidence that the economic slowdown is causing even wealthy buyers to curb spending.

Best Small Cars For The Buck
Small cars are finally getting some respect, thanks to rising gas prices that now average $3.62 a gallon nationwide. Consumers searching for ways to ease the pain at the pump are no longer snubbing petite cars–some of which come equipped with big-car amenities.

An Inside Look At California Car Culture
Beginning next Sunday the locally produced television program “Autoline Detroit” (WTVS-TV Channel 56 and Speed TV) will air the biggest project in its 11-year history to acquaint Detroiters with the biggest and most perplexing slice of the car market.

Michigan, Automakers Ask Feds For Control Of Car Research Program
Michigan officials and automakers want the federal government to turn over to them the authority to run a major vehicle research program in Ann Arbor to prevent it from fading away when an agreement to operate the program expires later this spring.

Cabbie Saves By Going Green
A Ford Crown Victoria taxicab gets 10 to 15 miles per gallon and can easily fit four passengers. Mark Carroll’s Toyota Prius taxi gets 45 to 60 mpg and can fit five passengers, if one is willing to curl up in the hatch.

Sweet New Fuel
The secret to venture capital is turning a tiny resource into something huge. That’s exactly what Bay Area biofuels startup Amyris is proposing to do: put specially designed microorganisms to work on sugarcane in hopes of generating massive amounts of a new kind of biodiesel fuel.

Gas Engines: Here To Stay
Despite all the hype for electric cars and hydrogen fuel cells, experts say we’d better get used to pumping gas, but we can look forward to much better fuel economy down the road.

Driving Tips Help Reduce Fuel Costs
When David Champion is behind the wheel of a car, he accelerates slowly and brakes gingerly.

Posted in Product News | No Comments »

Product News

May 2, 2008 – 1:59 pm

BMW Shifts Cars From U.S.
While not definitive, here is an interesting way to look at the “decoupling” discussion: BMW is diverting cars from the U.S. market (a market it still expects to increase sales in) to emerging market countries due to the weak dollar and slowing economy.

LaSorda Wary Of Ford Deal As CAW Template
Although the Canadian Auto Workers union says it expects its tentative labor deal with Ford Motor Co. to serve as the pattern for Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp., Chrysler’s top negotiator expressed some concerns about the deal.

New Chrysler Aims For Profits, Quality
Chrysler LLC’s top executives have a vision for the automaker that in some ways defies much of what has defined being one of Detroit’s Big Three. Their Chrysler will be smaller.

Troika’s Truth Is Refreshing
Here in Detroit, so steeped for so long in denial about its decline as an industrial power and as an important city, it is startling — and refreshing — to hear important people speak some unvarnished truth.

Chrysler Is Meeting Goals, Top Execs Say
Chrysler LLC’s top executives said Thursday they’re meeting their internal goals and counseled patience as they re-create the Auburn Hills automaker as a smaller company. They offered no expectation for earning a profit this year and expressed concerns about the economy into 2009.

Jerry York: I Would Sell Volvo, Mercury If I Was Ford Chief
Jerry York, a former auto executive who represents Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp., isn’t shy about sharing his opinion. York said he thinks Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally will hold on to the Lincoln brand but sell Volvo and Mercury — and that Mulally would be right to do so.

GM’s Good News: A $3 Billion Loss
Make sense of this one. On Apr. 30, General Motors reported a $3.25 billion loss…and investors saw a buying opportunity. By day’s end, shares were up 9.4%, based in part on analysts’ assertions that if you subtracted $2.9 billion in one-time charges, GM beat Wall Street estimates. The euphoria seemed a little misplaced.

GM Knows Its Future Must Be Greener
General Motors can’t go green fast enough. With gas prices near $4 a gallon, and sales of GM’s big trucks and SUVs falling, the automaker announced 3,500 layoffs at the factories making those vehicles earlier this week. On Wednesday, it announced a first-quarter net loss of $3.25 billion.

GM Invests In Non-Grain Ethanol
General Motors Corp. said Thursday it has taken an ownership stake in a renewable-energy company that is working to develop ethanol from wood chips, waste paper sludge and switch grass.

Angry Owners Force Honda To Fix Their Cars
Angry Honda and Acura owners have forced the automaker to fix a problem with their cars.

Toyota Recalls 90,000 Highlanders
Toyota Motor Corp. plans to recall about 90,000 Highlander sport utility vehicles in the United States.

Detroit’s Auto Woes Clearer To Outsiders
“Cash is fact,” says Chrysler LLC product guru Jim Press, “and profit is fiction.” Interesting aphorism coming from a guy whose privately held company is obliged to disclose neither to the public.

Pickup Sales Plunge
Everyone knows gas prices and the crisis in homebuilding have interrupted Americans’ love affair with full-size pickups, the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. market by far. But they’ll be back—right? Sure they will, said General Motors, Toyota Motor, and Chrysler, in separate conference calls on May 1, as the U.S. auto industry announced that April sales fell 7.2% from the year-ago month, to 1,242,417 trucks, the worst April since 1999. No, they won’t, said Ford Motor.

Motorists Shifting From Trucks To Cars
Passenger cars outsold light trucks last month for the first time in at least two decades as soaring gasoline prices sent consumers scrambling to more fuel-efficient vehicles. That dealt a major blow to Detroit’s Big Three automakers, which are still heavily dependent on sales of trucks and SUVs.

Being ‘Upside Down’ And Other Car Loan Hazards
Americans who bought cars beyond their means are falling behind on their loans in record numbers. Auto loan delinquency in the United States hit a 17-year high in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the American Bankers Association.

Luxury SUV Owners Feeling The Pinch
As the price of gasoline soars and the economy sours, many SUV owners are driving around upside-down: The balance on their auto loan is much more than the vehicle is worth.

Ghosn Hits The Accelerator
Carlos Ghosn, CEO of both Renault and Nissan Motor, faced some petulant shareholders at the French automaker’s annual meeting on Apr. 29 in Paris. One complained that the stock was down more than 30% this year. What, he wanted to know, had happened to the Ghosn Effect?

Japanese Carmakers Set To Rebound
At first glance, the current crop of earnings forecasts by Japanese car companies make for depressing reading. Blaming the stronger yen, a slowing U.S. economy slowdown, and rising materials costs, Honda, Mazda, and Mitsubishi Motors on Apr. 26 all slashed their earnings forecasts, reducing operating profits targets for the year ending March, 2009, by 32%, 29%, and 45%, respectively.

Toyota, Honda Cars Help Asian Brands Defy U.S. Slump
Sales gains for Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. led Asian automakers to record U.S. market share in April as rising gasoline prices stoked demand for the most fuel-efficient models.

Auto Industry Opposes Holiday For Gas Tax
Automotive industry leaders have begun to speak out firmly against proposals Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton are promoting to suspend the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal excise tax on gasoline.

Give Us A Break
We just can’t get a break when it comes to dealing with the energy problem. We try to do the right thing, economically or environmentally, and it backfires. Two instances of this have to do with diesel and ethanol.

Tesla Opens First Dealership
Definitely one of the hottest energy-efficient green cars around, the fully electric Tesla Roadster can travel over 200 miles on a single battery charge and can go from 0 to 60 mph in a short 3.9 seconds. Lucky for Los Angeles, it gets Tesla Motor’s first location for a dealership.

Utilities, Plug-In Cars: Near Collision
Car makers are preparing to introduce plug-in electric cars in 2010, but their success will depend on players beyond their control: the electric utilities.

U-M To Test Crash-Dodging Cars
A high-tech system to help car and commercial truck drivers avoid crashes by warning them of potential road dangers and assessing their options will get some real-world testing starting this summer. The program, being tested under a federal grant to the University of Michigan, will help motorists choose the path of least danger when both stopping and changing lanes present risks, project director Jim Sayer said Wednesday.

Icelanders’ Love Of Crazy Trucks Hits Deep Freeze
Icelanders’ jeep thrills are endangered by the global financial crisis. What Icelanders call “jeeps” are actually massive, tricked-out pickups, armed with 4-foot-high wheels studded with steel cleats that allow them to climb mountains of snow and volcanic rock with earsplitting power.

Drivers Ed Coming To Nintendo
Raise your hands if you saw this coming: Drivers’ Ed is coming to video gaming consoles.

Posted in Product News | No Comments »