It seems straightforward enough: federal vouchers for old clunkers. Takes old heaps off the road. Stimulates new car sales. Done. Of course, we are talking about a government program here. And that means that H.R. 1550, the “Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009,” has quickly become a cat fight amongst interested parties (manufacturers, dealers, dismantlers, after-market parts makers, trade protectionists, etc.). If passed, 1550 will surely evoke the law of unintended consequences. At the moment, the bill’s been referred to the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee, so that august body can breathe their magic upon it. Ahead of that joyful event, 1550 contains some HIGHLY contentious sections. How about a stricture for the new car purchase that stipulates different minimum levels of highway fuel economy depending on whether the vehicle was manufactured in the United States or “North America” (i.e. Canada or Mexico)? Yes way.
Dagens Industrihas published a letter from Saab’s union bosses which accuses GM of playing silly buggers with the brand’s accounts. As Saabs United says, “The report tends to support the idea that GM are handy at shuffling results around to suit their reporting needs.” [Thanks for the TTAC translation to commentator Naser Rouholamin]
Recently, the future of SAAB has been the subject of many allegations and much debate. Specifically we are thinking about such claims as “using tax money for playing monopoly”, or “SAAB has always made a loss, hence there is no point in saving it now”.
In order to rebuke the latter claim one must realise that not even GM would have kept Saab afloat the last 20 years from pure goodwill.
I own a 2000 Mazda MPV, 165,000 miles, and it has been a wonderful vehicle up until this winter. Mechanically it is very sound, the motor, tranny and suspension are all very good. While it has been too cold to do anything about it, I have accrued the following list of problems though:
1. Radio went kaput (not a fuse, etc.); needs replacement.
2. Drivers door window gearing broke a tooth: will stick every 4″ when rolling up; needs replacement.
3. Passenger side door lock motor gearing stripped; needs replacement
4. Tires are now 75% gone.
5. Large crinkle in the front left fender (does not interfere with anything).
My wife is insisting that we replace the vehicle, so my options seems to be:
1. Fix everything with bone yard parts and sell (I was a mechanic in a past life, would do these repairs myself).
2. Fix nothing and try to sell.
3. Try to get it traded in for our next vehicle.
4. Donate and try to scarf a tax deduction.
As the Japanese fiscal year draws to a close on March 31, The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) is already looking forward. And there’s a decline ahead. JAMA expects domestic sales of automobiles, including minivehicles, to slide 8 percent from the (not yet announced) level in the current fiscal year to a 32-year low of around 4.29 million units in fiscal 2009, the Nikkei [sub] writes.
If their projection is accurate, domestic auto sales will be just about half of their former 7.8 million glory reached in fiscal 1990. It was downhill from there.
Japan is expected to close out the current fiscal year with al 12 percent minus. 4.66 million units are expected to be sold, a level not seen in 28 years.
One of the dirty little secrets of automotive journalism is that media scribes get perfect cars to drive. You might not think that from the lousy reviews some cars get, but if journalists took their chances with true production cars, the reviews would be a lot worse.
The Chinese government wanted to create demand for an extra million vehicles per year with their “cars to the countryside” program. It goes like this: farmers who replace their three-wheeled vehicles for light commercial vehicles receive a maximum subsidy of 5,000 yuan ($731). Not enough to spur consumption? “For cost-sensitive farmers, a 10-percent subsidy is enough and would be effective to boost demand,” said Tan Jijia, an auto analyst at Pacific Securities Co. He was wrong. There is another problem . . .
According to the About page at PostCardFilms.com, Mariessa Jonasz “can be seen in the television show “I Didn’t know I Was Pregnant,” which aired on Discovery Health.” Folks, we’re talking about women who didn’t know they were pregnant until they gave birth. How creepy is that? Not quite as unsettling as the news that Mariessa is married to this PR film’s narrator, Jedrzej Jonasz. Mr. Jonasz’ credits include a Canadian TV documentary called “Why is it sexy?” The mind boggles. And the question remains: how did this entirely unlikely pair blag their way into a brand new BMW (even for a few days) and (presumably) flights, hotel, meals, museum tickets, gas expenses and (for all we know) a per Diem budget?
Our regular CS FirstBoston mole has sent us an update on their analysis of the U.S. new car market. Bottom line: it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets even worserer. So, he asked rhetorically, is this a good time for the taxpayer to “loan” money to Chrysler and GM? Only if you define “good” as “worst possible.” Sorry, was I talking about ROI? My bad. In terms of bailing out automakers without a hope in hell of turning a profit for years to come, these are the good old days.
• We are slashing our forecast for 2009 light vehicle sales to 10.4 million units, down from 12.0 million units previously. Details of the changes in the factors that plug into our demand model and account for the revision are as follows:
Many a member of TTAC’s Best and Brightest have publicly pined for the day when they can order their new car over the internet, bypassing those son of a bitch bastard dealers [not paraphrasing]. Our contacts within the Chrysler Listens consumer advocate board report that the three-headed marketing mavens are sounding out the possibility of losing all those pesky middle men and women eating into their [theoretical] profit. Not one, not two, but three polls sound out the possibility of online ordering or, to use their phrase, “reservation.”
File this one under, hey, how did we miss that? Time reports that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ruled that cars belch CO2 and CO2 causes global warming and global warming will kill us all later soon. In other words, “On March 20, the EPA sent what is called an “endangerment finding” to the White House, a proposal that means the agency found that there is a scientific case that man-made global warming poses a threat to human welfare.” A threat to welfare! How can government exist without welfare? Anyway . . . “By concluding that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human welfare, the EPA’s finding could lay the groundwork for nationwide regulation of CO2 emissions — just as the EPA is require to regulate pollutants like smog-causing sulfur dioxide.” So, cars?
Truth About Cars, The arrival of Spring means three things: Cars come out of the garages they’ve been hibernating in all winter, new cruising music arrives and women can finally start to show off a little skin again! To celebrate, Zinio has put together a sale that every man should take advantage of: For a limited time, during their ‘Motors, Music and Models’ sale, anyone who picks up a subscription to Maxim or Blender will also receive a free subscription to one of sixteen different automotive magazines, including Car and Driver, Hot Rod, Import Tuner and Lowrider. In addition, subscriptions to Maxim and Blender are lower than they’ve ever been before, so it’s a great time to pick up two magazines for less than the price of one. We’re only publicizing this offer through blogs and other social sites, and if you’d like to let your readers know about this special offer, I’d be happy to set you up with a few subscriptions of your own. Just point your readers to http://maxim.ziniooffers.com/special/ and send over a list of the magazines you’d like to receive and I’ll take care of the rest. I look forward to hearing from you, so please don’t hesitate to send over any questions that you might have. Thanks! – XXXXX
I know, right? I mean, both the Dodge Caliber AND the Jeep Patriot (snap!) made TTAC’s Ten Worst® (just kidding about the ®). A stripper Caliber would be unimaginably dire. And yet there it is: a poll question for the Chrysler Listens customer advisory board (death CAB for cutie). “How interested would you be in purchasing an ultra-base version® [just kidding again] of the Dodge Caliber (estimated MSRP $16,495) or the Jeep(R) [that actually is there] Patriot (suggested MSRP $17,495) if either were offered later this year?” Oh, and don’t forget “Jeep is a registered trademark of Chrysler LLC.” The odd thing is that someone—anyone—responded in the affirmative. What does that tell you?
More than a few members of TTAC’s Best and Brightest have joined the Chrysler Listens customer advisory board. We’re starting to get some of these comms back, and they’re about as revealing as you’d imagine®. Only more so.
This message is a follow-up to our chat with Steven Landry, EVP of North American Sales, Marketing, and Mopar® Parts and Service at Chrysler:
This is a follow-up to the e-mails we sent last week regarding the Fiat® alliance. At Chrysler, we are working tirelessly with the assistance of the U.S. auto task force to continue our progress in meeting the requirements set for us by the government. At this historic time, we need every one of our Customer Advisory Board members who support our ongoing efforts to get the word out to all our local, state and federal representatives that Chrysler is a viable business on a stand-alone basis.
“As the Nano is a city car, Tata has made low-speed acceleration a priority. The sprint from 0-60mph takes an epic 30 seconds and top speed is a mere 65 mph, but the very short first and second gears ensure it covers 0-40 mph in a much more acceptable 10 seconds.”
Recent Comments