A hallmark of most growing families is an SUV or minivan in the garage. Hated by most men and those who love to drive, a minivan is seen as an end-of-era vehicle. Priorities change, parents have less free time and cars are chosen, not for their 0-60 times or maximum cornering grip, but for how well a baby seat can fit in the back. Fortunately, there is a solution: enter the Ford C-Max and Grand C-Max.
Until recently, Americans have been left out in the cold in terms of compact, fun family transportation. While the second generation Ford Focus flourished in Europe and Asia, US customers were left with a slightly redesigned, uninspiring heap. With the new global direction Ford has taken recently, most notably with bringing the Fiesta Stateside, Americans will soon be able to buy a car that they can take the kids to school in and then head out to their favorite back road for some spirited driving.
The Ford C-Max family of vehicles is the evolution for Ford Europe’s family cars. Smaller than the Galaxy and S-Max, the C-Max is small enough to be driven in the city easily, but is also comfortable on the highway. Some may balk at its petite frame; in reality, families rarely (if ever) use every last cubic inch of cargo space in their SUVs and minivans. Fitting a husband, wife, 2.5 children, dog and a week’s worth of luggage into the Grand C-Max would be no problem for most families.
Even when the kids and their friends need to be dropped off at baseball practice, there should be sufficient room. The Grand C-Max has maximum seating for seven, but the seating arrangement is where the magic happens. The rear seats can be stowed to give more cargo room, weekend trips fit the need perfectly. If an aisle is needed in the middle row, the usual configuration is three-across, the center seat can be folded and stowed between one of the outboard seats. Truly unique, this allows for easy install of two children’s safety seats or extra room to make two more adults comfortable.
The introduction of the C-Max line to the US would usher in a new era of family transport. Vehicles like these have been around Europe for quite some time. One of the best selling and most comfortable is the Renault Espace. A long-time standard for families, it was a decent driver with a massive amount of space, by European standards. Paired with peppy diesel and gasoline engines and a decent manual transmission, it allowed for some fun on the school run.
At the end of the day, the Ford C-Max will offer something that Americans have never had before: fuel efficiency, decent cargo space, lots of passenger room and a fun to drive, all-in-one, package. What US drivers need to embrace is the relatively small packaging; even though the Grand C-Max is nowhere near the size of a Chrysler Town & Country. However, bigger isn’t always better and there is a ton of fun to be had in the Ford C-Max!
Availability: The Ford C-Max was first revealed at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. The C-Max will go on sale in the United States sometime in 2011.
The average price of gas in America rose by about 10 cents and now stands at $2.71 per gallon, according to Gasbuddy.com. Before this week, America had experienced a lull in the steady rise of gas prices. This marks the first spike in gas prices since January 11th.
The average price for gasoline has a variance of 13 cents depending on what region you live in: East Coast prices are $2.88, Midwest $2.79, Gulf Coast $2.79, Rocky Mountains $2.83 and the West Coast at $2.92.
The most expensive gas in the contiguous United States is in San Francisco, California, where the average is $2.98 per gallon. The cheapest gas is in Tulsa, Oklahoma at $2.409 per gallon.
Interestingly, Oklahoma has had the cheapest gas since the Pump Price series started and that’s not a coincidence. After all, Tulsa wasn’t known as the “Oil Capital of the World” for nothing.
Oklahoma is the fifth-largest producer of oil and has the fifth-largest reserves with large oil pipelines traversing the state and refineries dotting the landscape. Despite a relatively high state gas tax, gasoline remains cheap in Oklahoma overall, at $2.52 a gallon.
Gas prices should continue to rise over the course of 2010. The Department of Energy forecasts that the annual average for gas will rise to $2.84 in 2010 and $2.97 in 2011. This is due to a tightening of global oil supply as the economy begins to pick up again
Since gas prices are cyclical, peaking in the summer and bottoming out in the winter, get used to the idea of an average of $3 per gallon this spring and summer.
Sources: Gasbuddy.com and the Department of Energy
While Toyota stole most of the headlines yesterday, there was also significant news out of GM, particularly for the Chevrolet brand.
First, President of GM North America, Mark Russ announced the introduction of a third shift to the Lordstown Complex, in anticipation for demand of the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze.
Lordstown is currently home to the Chevrolet Cobalt and has a bit of history producing GM’s compact econoboxes, like the Caviler and Vega.
This announcement marks a rapid change in prospects for the Ohio-complex – it was only nine months ago that the plant was down to one shift, producing only 87,897 Cobalts and Pontiac rebadges (for export).
The new shift will add 1,200 jobs to Lordstown, making it GM’s largest assembly plant in terms of employment, with 4,500 workers. The plant is already the largest of GM’s assemblies in the United States.
According to insiders who work at the plant, Chevy Cobalt production ends tentatively on July 1st with Cruze production starting on August 9th. The Cruze will be available for sale sometime in the early fall of this year.
The second tidbit is courtesy of KickingTires. The blog got their hands on the first official images of the 2012 Chevrolet Aveo (above). These photos show that there isn’t much of a radical departure from the concept Aveo to the production vehicle.
The photos of the interior reveal a sophisticated design. The Aveo interior pics show the Ebony/Brink coloration motif that is now commonly implemented on upper levels of the Malibu, Equinox, Corvette and soon-to-be Cruze. The circular side air vents, center console radio controls, radial HVAC knobs and new corporate steering wheel tie in the Aveo perfectly with its bigger cousin the Cruze.
We know that the next-generation Aveo will be available in both sedan and five-door hatch body styles, with the hatch probably having some sort of “RS” sport trim. I speculated on the powertrain and pricing of this vehicle in an earlier post.
The new Aveo will be built in Lake Orion, Mich. in 2011 and sold/ marketed as a 2012 model year.
On this week’s podcast, Joel and I are joined by Nick Saporito, Managing Editor of GMInsideNews.com. Our theme this week will address the fate of Mercury, the future of GM’s rear-wheel drive developments and what automaker really is number one in America.
Joel’s Garage: Joel takes a trip down to Texas and drives a Corvette ZR1!
This Week in Cars:
Honda is now the top selling retail brand in America: [link]
Woman wins $23,400,000 from Ford for Explorer accident: [link]
Former CEO Fritz Henderson back on GM’s payroll: [link]
GM’s rear-wheel drive future: Nick Saporitoguides us through the future of GM’s RWD platforms; which, incidentally, is also a quick lesson in the Greek alphabet. We go through Zeta, Kappa, Sigma II and the Alpha programs. Particular models include the future of the Holden Commodore, Cadillac ATS and Chevrolet Caprice. We also discuss the profitability, fuel efficiency and “safety” of RWD and what GM’s competitors are doing in this automotive category. Additionally, we briefly discuss the front-wheel drive Epsilon Premium platform, in relation to the Cadillac XTS.
What is Mercury? In this segment we talk about the latest news surrounding Mercury’s new C-segment vehicle, teasingly called the “Tracer.” We debate Ford’s reasoning for keeping the marquee and what, if anything, the brand stands for today.
Toyota is not the first manufacturer to recall their products due to safety concerns. In fact, they aren’t even the first automaker to be asked to a congressional hearing. Unfortunately, the public’s perceptions on the recalls are one of the most difficult things to control and Toyota’s response in the past six months has been far from ideal.
So far, Toyota’s response has been appallingly slow. It took the gruesome deaths of four people for the company to finally issue a recall. Initially it centered on misplaced floor mats over only a few models. As the number of models affected increased, the public concern rose. However, when owners continued to report and prove to dealers that the throttles were sticking open without any floormats in the vehicle, Toyota altered their recall to focus on sticking accelerator pedals.
As The Economist pointed out, customer’s confidence in Toyota also fell as the automaker was unable to give a definitive cause for unintended acceleration. Additionally, upper management did not make any public appearances during the crisis. The missteps can be partially explained by the corporate culture in Japan. In general, Japanese companies are extremely respectful towards their leaders and very defensive concerning other businesses. These traits combined with the propensity to promote internally create a culture wherein the company is perceived to be perfect.
Fixing the situation will take time, especially to prevent such problems from occurring in the future. The recall needs to be handled in a fast, efficient and courteous way. They need to make sure that upset and concerned customers are taken care of to help rebuild Toyota’s reputation for quality, reliability and safety. In the long term, the corporate culture will need to change. More executives need to be brought in from the outside to prevent complacency. Additionally, bad news travels upwards slowly due to the rigid structure of seniority. Management needs to take a proactive role in any safety or quality issues that may arise. One of the largest and most apparent issues with Toyota is the lack of diversity of the board. All 29 members are former Toyota employees and all are Japanese. In order to make informed decisions on an international scale, the makeup of the board needs to be changed.
Recalls that are managed well can actually benefit the company which is issuing the recall. The most prominent example of this situation is Johnson & Johnson and their Tylenol recall in 1982 when the pills were found to be laced with cyanide. The Economist makes the point that due to the swift action taken by the manufacturer as well as introducing tamper-proof packaging quickly after the recall, Johnson & Johnson was seen as a victim.
Toyota built itself up to a sales juggernaut and international business poster child by preaching safety, reliability and quality over the offerings from Detroit. Bolstered by the problems that the American manufactures have had by attempting extreme cost cutting, Toyota grew. The tables seem to have turned and Ford looks to be the competitor that will gain the most from Toyota’s fall from greatness. Only time will tell if Toyota can implement the recall and change their business to avoid another spate of devastating problems.
Since Toyota’s epic fall from grace, we here at AutoBird have been speculating as to what automaker would gain most from its debacle. Many journalistic outfits assumed that General Motors, Ford and Hyundai would be the big winners. After all, they were the most aggressive in trying to turn Toyota’s suffering into their glory.
It has now been a month since the January 21st recall, and about two weeks since Toyota suspended sales of its most important models, and we have preliminary data that shows Honda being the greatest beneficiary of Toyota’s suffering (graph above).
According to Truecar.com, Toyota lost an astounding 5.4% of retail market share from January 21st toFebruary 15th. Toyota typically commands a 17.5% retail market share, nearly twice as much as its nearest competitor, Honda. According to the study, about 25% of Toyota’s new car shoppers went to Honda and another 25% went to Ford. Hyundai-Kia also picked up another 25%, with Nissan grabbing a solid 10%.
Besides Ford, domestic automakers haven’t gained tremendously from Toyota. In fact, according to this study Chevrolet actually lost market share after Toyota’s recalls. This could be due to vehicle shortages of GM’s best-selling vehicles; the Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Suburban and Cadillac Escalade currently have 11-12 days worth of inventory on lots (60 days worth is considered the norm).
Honda’s success comes as an initial shock for a couple reasons. First, Honda offered no incentives to take advantage of the unraveling of the house of Toyoda. In deference to its Japanese cousin, Honda sent letters to its Acura and Honda dealership’s stating the following: “we will not react in a predatory way toward either Toyota or Toyota customers.” Honda also asked its dealers not to comment on Toyota either.
Second, Honda’s sales have been flagging for more than 12 months now. While Honda has surpassed Chrysler in becoming the fourth largest automaker, there were only 4,907 vehicles separating it and Nissan for the number four spot in January. Aside for the new Honda Crosstour and Acura ZDX, Honda doesn’t have a lot of new product to offer, and that has hurt its sales growth.
Ultimately, the reason for Honda’s recent triumph, now the largest retail brand in America, is that Toyota shoppers often cross shopped Honda , though KBB says that correlation is declining.
With another grueling North American International Auto Show behind us, Justin and Joel round up Adam Barrera, from Highmileage.org, and Zane Merva, from autoinsane.com, to discuss their winners and losers.
The Grand C-Max has maximum seating for seven, but the seating arrangement is where the magic happens. The rear seats can be stowed to give more cargo room, weekend trips fit the need perfectly. If an aisle is needed in the middle row, the usual configuration is three-across, the center seat can be folded and stowed between one of the outboard seats. Truly unique, this allows for easy install of two children’s safety seats or extra room to make two more adults comfortable.
