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Industry News
August 19, 2010 by William Maley
  Suzuki hopes of making it big in the U.S. market seem to be fading quickly. With sales in 2007 of 101,884 vehicles, Suzuki was looking like they were on the right track. Since then, sales have been in free-fall, totaling 38,68 sales9 for 2009. The downward trend looks like it will continue with 13,501 vehicles sold through July this year thus far. 150 dealers with poor sales were sent buyout notices from Suzuki; 50 dealers took Suzuki up on the offer. Gene Brown, Suzuki’s marketing vice president says,
“The dealers who have taken the offer were selling on average about two cars per month. The changes have left us in a better position. Dealer profitability is better, and the profitability of the company is better than last year.”
Brown also said that Suzuki will not be cutting any more dealers. But dealers are still worried about Suzuki. Dave Arbogast, former owner of Dave Arbogast Suzuki in Troy, OH., says the vehicles aren’t the problem,
“It’s just a lack of awareness.”
Others, like John Voss, former owner of Voss Suzuki, feel like Suzuki is packing up and making a run out the US,
“My impression was they were setting up to leave the country,” Voss says.
Brown however says this viewpoint is completely wrong,
“It’s part of our plan to get stronger, not weaker. It was a voluntary program on purpose. If we wanted to exit, we would be much more aggressive”
Source: Automotive News
Filed under: Industry News
August 16, 2010 by William Maley
 
Since the 2011 Hyundai Sonata went on sale it has been speculated that the automaker is thinking about releasing more body styles of the popular model. Now it looks like Hyundai is turning those thoughts into reality, if these  recent spy shots of a Sonata wagon are to be believed. The wagon will carry the same design language as the sedan with a coupe like shape and a rakish roof. The front of the wagon will have LED daytime running lights and a toned down front grille. Not much is known about how the back will look since it was heavily camouflaged. The Sonata wagon makes it debut as the i40 estate in the UK in May 2011. No word yet if the U.S. will be getting a Sonata wagon.
Check out more photos at Auto Express.
Source: Auto Express
Filed under: Industry News
August 12, 2010 by Justin Loyear
Fleet Sales as a Percentage of Total Sales 2010
| Chrysler Group |
39% |
| Ford Motor |
35% |
| General Motors |
31% |
| Hyundai |
16% |
| Nissan North America |
15%* |
| Toyota Motor Sales |
9% |
| American Honda |
2%* |
*estimated values
For me, I wonder if the final straw in declaring the market distaste for fleet sales was when General Motors in 2008 with Chevrolet was in a tight battle with Toyota to regain the number one selling brand title in the United States. Chevrolet tried their hardest to win the crown, but an educated guess tells us that they were not selling those final cars to consumers. These days, although there is slightly more transparency in the fleet market, the battle cry for all of the “movers and shakers” in the U.S. is “stay in business, fleet cars” as all are fleeting in surprising numbers.
By far the most dependent is the Chrysler Group. Chrysler has doubled their fleet volume to over 240,000 vehicles this year compared with 2009. With undesirable cars like the Sebring, Avenger, Charger, Caravan, practically everything except Jeep and Ram. The only way they are really selling these cars – the operative word should really be car – is by sending them off to the barcode prison known as the daily rental fleets. Save the Charger, which is quite the popular police cruiser, almost every non-SUV and truck model in the Pentastar’s lineup is low hanging fruit for your favorite rental agency.
At first glance, Ford’s fleet percentage may be startling as well, but the reality is, they have strong connections and outstanding track records with government agencies, Ford sells more of their fleet vehicles to Uncle Sam and commercial venues, which is far less damaging to resale value. Also, brightening these numbers is the added profit of non daily rental sales and the 19% increase in retail sales Ford has achieved so far this year.
When you think General Motors and fleet, what comes to mind are some tired models like the Impala, Cobalt, and Aveo stocking your nearest Enterprise. GM has sold around 400,000 vehicles to fleets so far this year, but since shedding Pontiac, Saturn, and Saab, GM says their retail sales for the remaining brands has increased 18%. At the same time however, fleeting on those same four brands has increased 50% since last year.
The Asian automakers fair slightly better in their fleeting percentages. With Hyundai in the lead and Nissan not far behind, it is apparent that some of their long-in-the-tooth models may be attractive to daily rental agencies as well.
Overall, all automakers feel that their fleet numbers are going to be decreasing for the second half of 2010, especially with the new models going on sale here soon. Â Other indications of a reduction in fleet sales are with the lack of purchasing in 2009 by daily rental fleets, maybe the massive purchasing here in 2010 is over with. Ford expects a final 2010 number to be close to 30% and GM expects their final 2010 number to be 25%, which is close to their 2009 level.
One thing is for certain; don’t expect this data to slowly fade away when times get better. Both Ford and GM have now started to detail basic fleet information in their monthly sales reports. Also, AutoNation, the nation’s largest dealership group is also detailing their sales reports every month.
Source: Automotive News
Filed under: Industry News
August 10, 2010 by William Maley
Steve St. Angelo, Toyota’s North American chief quality officer speaking, at the Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, MI. said the UAW is welcome to try and organize plants in the US. St. Angelo said the decision is up to workers at each of the plants.
Earlier at the seminars, UAW’s new president Bob King called on all automakers to follow a set of principals to give workers a choice to join a union. King said that his goal is to have the union and automakers to work as partners. King also said that if automakers deny workers’ rights; the union will use all resources available to stop them. The union’s first target is Toyota. UAW workers and retirees have been striking Toyota dealers in California and New York already. St. Angelo doesn’t understand why the UAW is picketing dealerships. After all, aren’t unions supposed to strike at the means of production? Striking at dealership’s isn’t going to make a lot of headwind with plant unionization .
This isn’t the first attempt of the UAW trying to unionize foreign automakers. In fact, at all the foreign automaker plants, the union has lost. The only plants that have been unionized are joint ventures between the Detroit 3 and foreign automakers.
Source: The Detroit Bureau
Image Source: The Modesto Bee
Filed under: Industry News
Saab is riding a wave of good news since being bought out by Spyker Cars N.V. back in February. The automaker has a brand new car, the Saab 9-5, which is receiving good reviews. Now with a new owner, what does the future hold for the Swedish company? In an interview done this week by Wards Auto, CEO Victor Muller says the plan is to downsize the brand and sell 120,000 vehicles per year. The plant right now can handle 190,000 vehicles, but is only utilizing 60,000 of that capacity for its current 9-3s and new 9-5. Another part of the plan is to buy and sell technology. According to Muller,
“This is the age of shared technology. Everything is for sale, meaning you can have your core competency, but you don’t have to develop everything from scratch. You won’t see a lot of automotive mergers, but you will see a lot of technology sharing.”
Saab will probably sell their technology dealing with the environment and safety. One thing Muller said Saab would do is buy engines,
“We will probably never develop our own engines. We’ll buy those. But we’ll tune them as Saab engines.”
Future products coming out will include the 9-4X crossover, a refreshed 9-3, a hybrid, an electric vehicle, and a competitor to the Mini, named the 9-2.
And what about dealers that had to survive the trials and tribulations during the sale Saab? Spyker will select 15 to 20 Saab dealers out of 202 to also have Spyker vehicles in their lot.
Source: Wards Auto
Filed under: Industry News
August 5, 2010 by Justin Loyear
The closest thing you will find to the Chevrolet Captiva in GM’s North American stable was the 2010 Saturn Vue. See, in North America, GM uses a special Theta platform for the current generation Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, and premium Theta-Epsilon hybrid platform for the Cadillac SRX. However, in China, Europe and Australia, where they sell the Captiva, the Chevy brand needs a smaller CUV like the Captiva. What makes this story interesting is that China is the Captiva’s biggest market and the yet to be released refresh is just cruising around without any form of camoflauge.
Reports have the Chinese Captiva moving from GM’s South Korea manufacturing facility, where the Captiva is then distributed to multiple countries, to China. It is not yet clear if GM is going to begin manufacturing the current Captiva for Chinese consumption, or if they will wit until the new Captiva is ready to start Chinese production.
The Captiva follows Chevrolet’s global styling cues first seen on the North American Malibu, which is now fully realized on the new Aveo. Eventually, expect a smaller global Theta or Gamma platform CUV to reach the North American market especially with stricter fuel economy standards on the horizon.
Source: China Car Times
Filed under: Industry News
August 4, 2010 by Bill Prosperi
 
The last two weeks of Formula One have produced some so so action on the track but it did garner up some great talking points off the track. Last week in Germany was the scene of Ferrari’s attempt to skirt the team order rules. This week was the flexible front wings of Red Bull and Ferrari and Michael Schumacher’s attempt to drive Rubens Barrichello into the wall on the front stretch. Plus we can’t forget the Safety Car this week and how it caused mass chaos in the pits and then mass hysteria on the track.
The Horse:
Last week, the German Grand Prix was really nothing to write about. Ferrari jumped to the front at the start and showed the world that they were back on form. The race overall had some decent battles in the mid pack and back of the pack areas didn’t really have a lot of action. Felipe Massa led his teammate, Fernando Alonso, for most of the race. Until around lap 50, when Massa’s race engineer (similar to a crew chief in NASCAR) came on the radio to inform poor Massa that ‘Fernando is faster than you’. For most drivers this would mean that it is time to get the lead out and start making hay around the track, especially since, Team Orders have been banned ever since the last time Ferrari blatantly executed it in 2002 with Schumacher passing Barrichello to take a win.
The ban was enacted to force the teams to let the drivers battle it out on the track. Well, that doesn’t always work when the cars are driven more by ego than by heart. We only have to go back a few races to see how this can end badly. Just ask Red Bull and the mishap between their drivers. Vettle, while trying to pass Webber on a not so great piece of track to do so, ended his race and dropped Webber out of the lead and into third. Massa, being the team player that he is, let Alonso by and on to the win. Poor Felipe was second fiddle yet again.
For Ferrari, as a team, this made sense. Alonso had more total points and would have a much greater chance at the Driver’s Championship. To us fans, it was a slap in the face. Team orders are still carried out every weekend and done so with great skill. This was not. Massa looked as if he came to a stop to let Alonso by, then all of a sudden picked up speed and carried on to second place. It was 2002 all over again. Ferrari has denied that the maneuvering by the drivers was any sort of team order and that Felipe made the choice on his own. A five year old would have been able to read Felipe’s body language after the race to see that it wasn’t his choice but that of the team. It would have been one thing if Massa was significantly slower than Alonso but overall he was not. There were times that Alonso got close but Massa would pick up the pace and pull away. It was another case of Alonso showing his true colors on the track. While a good guy off the track, he is an over inflated ego on the track.  For this debacle on the track, Ferrari escaped with a $100,000 fine, which is similar to a $2 fine to us commoners. Though it is still under investigation by the World Motor Sports Council, don’t expect much to happen. The battle between the sides of this rule is just as great as the battle of what came first, the chicken or the egg.
The Bull and the Wing:
This past week was the Hungarian Grand Prix, often referred to as Monaco without the flare. The ability to pass is minimal and everything comes down to pit stop strategy. The talk of the weekend was the flexible front wings used by Red Bull and Ferrari. By rule, the front wings have to maintain a certain gap from the pavement. Teams typically keep the wing stiff to ensure that the gap is kept. Ferrari and Red Bull have seemed to find a way to skirt this rule. Similar to the double diffusers used last year. The wings of Ferrari and Red Bull flex towards the edges, bending towards the pavement, allowing greater downforce, hence greater speed though the turns where it is needed most. This allowed both teams free will of the track.
Things were going great for Vettle, who had pitted during a Safety Car period for debris on the track. Vettle was able to avoid the mass chaos that saw Nico Rosberg’s wheel get airborne and a collision between Renualt driver Robert Kubica and Force India driver Andrian Sutil. During a Safety Car period, drivers are not allowed to leave anymore than ten car lengths between themselves and the car in front of them. Vettle left much more. This would bring a drive thru penalty, ultimately giving the win to teammates Mark Webber, who almost managed to lap the entire field. Vettle was very lucky to not garner further penalties for his behavior in the pit lane. He showed us once again, that there is still plenty of growing up to do. The big surprise on this run was the ability of Webber to go over almost half the race distance on tires meant to be very fast but at the same time be spent within ten to fifteen laps.
To close out the race, Michael Schumacher was back to his old bag of tricks. This time it was blocking. A much faster Williams, piloted by old teammate Rubens Barrichello was attempting to pass when he was almost run into the wall by his old ‘pal’. There is no love loss between these two since they were teammates at Ferrari. It also did’nt help that Barrichello was reminded all week of the incidents of 2002. Schumi was eventually handed a ten grid spot penalty for the next race and has reached out to apologize to Rubens.
Now comes the summer break. Teams are off until the last week of August where the Belgium Grand Prix awaits them at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, or better know as Spa. One of the best tracks on the calendar. To quote: ‘A circuit both spectacular and emotive; La Source hairpin, the downhill plunge to Eau Rouge, the forest setting and the longest lap distance in the World Championship.’Â This is a massive track that can have rain on one edge and sun on the other. Well worth the wait of a three week break, especially now that there are only seven races left and the championship is mathematically open for almost the entire field. Granted it is truly just a five horse race at this point. If McLaren does not pull it together, it will be a three horse race with the Red Bull duo and Ferrari’s Alonso.
Filed under: Editorial, Industry News
August 3, 2010 by William Maley
Ethanol could be nearing an unexpected end due to changes in Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards and the credits ethanol gets for the EPA regulation. In 2016, the credits for ethanol may be phased out entirely without future legislation. Automakers are still able to earn credits until 2015 with their flex-fuel vehicles, but in 2016, automakers will have to demonstrate that their flex-fuel vehicles are being filled with E85 instead of just capable of running on the fuel.
How automakers will be able to do this is another topic entirely. Mike Omotoso, an analyst at J.D. Power and Associates, said at a conference of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute; the number of the flex-fuel vehicles being produced will dwindle. GM’s director of North American Science Labs, Gary Smyth disagrees with Omotoso. Smyth said that biofuels will still play an important role in fleet efficiency. Smyth also said ethanol’s biggest problem is the lack of E85 stations. There are only 2,500 E85 stations and most of them are in the Midwest, meaning that most flex-fuel vehicles are not being powered by ethanol.
Source: Automotive News
Filed under: Industry News
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