Transitions are almost never easy, and leaving TTAC and Curbside Classics is downright painful. But for a number of reasons, that’s what needs to happen right now. Two of them are in the picture above. (Read More…)
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One of the last vestiges of the Daimler-Chrysler union is being swept away, as Daimler has announced that it will delist from the NYSE. Daimler initially listed itself on Wall Street in 1993, as it began its “marriage made in heaven” with Chrysler. Since then, Daimler says advances in electronic trading make it easier for traders to buy and sell its Frankfurt listings, and that the low volume of NYSE trading isn’t worth all the financial regulation that comes with a Wall Street listing. According to the company, less than five percent of its trading volume comes through its US listing. This means no more SEC filings from the German firm, although it insists that the US market remains important to its business and that it wants to maintain open communication with American investors who own 17 percent of Daimler’s shares. And it definitely has nothing to do with the company’s recent settlement of a bribery investigation by the DOJ. Or the fact that Chrysler could find itself back on the exchange within another year.
Who said Brazilians are wary of imports? According to Brazilian car site bestcars.com.br, sales of imported cars rose a whopping 190 percent in April compared to the same month last year. The Brazilian Association of Importing Cars Companies – Abeiva – reports that in the first four moths of the year, a record 26,708 imported cars were registered in Brazil. 17.9 percent of cars sold in April were imported. (Read More…)
Hunting prototypes for spyshots can be a frustrating and (if done in Finland) frosty affair. Carmakers are taking extreme measures to ward off paparazzi. Carmakers camouflage their prototypes (see video.) This doesn’t faze bloggers. Bloggers found a way to catch future cars in the comfort of their own home or office: From a ragtop Panamera in egmcartech to a similarly topless Mercedes AMG SLS in Topspeed, no future car is safe from bloggers anymore, even before the first prototype is built. Understandably, the Chinese are highly interested in the technique. You can learn it in a few minutes. What is the secret? (Read More…)
While bullets fly in Bangkok, Toyota announced today that production at a Toyota plant near Bangkok will cease by the end of May. Toyota says the plant closure has nothing to do with the public unrest, it should be seen on the context of the reorganization of Toyota’s global operations, says The Nikkei [sub]. (Read More…)
With talk of a 2010 profit breaking out at Ford’s annual shareholder’s meeting, the UAW’s criticism of the Blue Oval’s decision to restore merit pay to white-collar workers is gaining some traction. UAW boss-in-waiting Bob King laid into Ford yesterday, arguing that the union’s sacrifices entitled it to a bigger piece of Ford’s success. As a result, Nasdaq reports that Ford is in talks to restore tuition assistance to its 41k hourly, UAW-represented workers. [UPDATE: Automotive News [sub] reports the deal is done]
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After four straight profitable quarters, Alan Mulally’s forecast today of a “solidly profitable” 2010 shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. But, as Executive Chairman Bill Ford put it to Ford shareholders at the company’s annual meeting [via AP],
It is the very early days in our recovery. We still have a lot of debt
And he’s not kidding. As of the end of Q1 2010, Ford was carrying $34b in debt. And though Ford faces a higher cost of borrowing because of its staggering debts, Bill Ford was clear that he wouldn’t trade places with Ford’s Detroit competitors, which cleaned out their balance books, at the expense of government bailouts and accompanying PR problems. After all, while GM and Chrysler were rebuilding, Ford managed to outperform both of them last year by gaining sales and market share. And Ford’s leadership sees that momentum carrying forward into next year.
News that GM is considering a number of options for a return to captive finance, has lit a fire under Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who tells the Detroit News that
One of the things that we do not wish under any circumstance is to have an uncompetitive relationship vis-À-vis GM
That would certainly be the case if GM bought up its recently-bailed-out former captive finance arm, GMAC (now known as Ally Financial). Chrysler relies on GMAC for leasing and loans just as much as GM does at the moment, so an Ally buyout would create major long-term problems. But even if GM created a new finance arm, Chrysler doesn’t seem to think that it will be able to survive without forming its own in-house finance department. Which would then compete with GM and Ally, to say nothing of the industry’s other finance competitors. But is the rush to captive finance going to be good for anyone?
GM’s now-infamous advertisement touting the payback of government loans “may have elasticized the reality of things,” in the words of Steve Rattner, but stretching the truth apparently pays off. Automotive News [sub] reports that a London public perception-tracking firm surveyed some 5,000 consumers, and found that The General’s image has improved since the ad started running. Of course, on YouGov’s brand image scale of 100 to negative 100, GM is up only five points to “17.” Clearly there’s still work to do.
Longtime TTAC Commentator Educatordan writes:
Okay Mr. Mehta and Lang: Currently my fleet consists of a 2004 F150 Heritage and a 2008 Roketa (Chinese) 150cc scooter. My current commute is about 8 miles one way each day and the miles are town and metro area where the speed limit never tops 50mph, I occasionally drive that with my scooter (top speed 60mph) but usually my girlfriend and we commute together in her 2005 Pontiac Vibe. My problem is this, I’m a teacher, soon to be administrator, and I anticipate a big change in my career next year with a new masters degree and new license. I currently work for the largest (geographically speaking) school district in the United States and my new administrative position will likely involve a commute of 40 to 90 miles round trip everyday. As an administrator I’ll be required to report to work as close to 7am as possible, come hell or high snow, teachers/students get canceled days, I will not. I’m in the mountain west (Northwest New Mexico) at an elevation of 6,500ft with parts of the county hitting 8,000ft.
How did this not make it into our Illustrated History Of Checker Motors? Because TTAC commenter whynotaztec didn’t send it in soon enough. Better late than never, though.
Whenever TTAC took GM to task for branding run amok and excessive platform sharing, the example of Volkswagen has always been the key counterfactual. With seven brands available in Europe, the Volkswagen-Audi group is the continental GM, always looking for another way to repackage a pedestrian FWD platform. The only difference is that VW has actually been growing. But Wolfsburg’s brand profligacy is starting to bear some GM-style bitter fruit. Skoda has been surprisingly strong of late, actually making problems for the Volkswagen brand in certain markets. Seat, on the other hand, is not doing so well. With only one factory, at Martorell, near Barcelona, Seat has always been a slightly niche player, offering older VW designs with some Pontiac-style “emotional” styling flair and a sportier image. The problem now, as Seat CEO James Muir tells The WSJ [sub], is that
The brand really is too small for this plant
Running at only 60 percent of its 500,000 unit capacity, Seat is too small for its lone plant. As a result, VW is launching a last-ditch effort to save its dying brand.
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$110 an hour. That’s what certain European dealerships will charge for their $15 an hour technicians. Now granted you’re paying for the nice marble floor and a waiting room filled with old magazines, cable news and pretzels. But still that’s an awful lot of money to part with. In fact, a lot of dealerships make an exceptional living out of highballing the repair cost and lowballing the trade-in value once the customer sees the repair estimate. One outfit in particular with nearly ten dealerships in my neck of the woods clears the two million dollar mark just on this homegrown recipe for consumer disaster. So how do you avoid it?
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After a solid six months of cringe-worthy Jeep ads, Chrysler is replacing ad agency Global Hue for the launch of the forthcoming 2011 Grand Cherokee. The Grand Cherokee’s launch materials will be developed by Wieden + Kennedy, which is currently the lead creative agency for the Dodge brand, and recently created the trippy “Alright, Kittens” spot for the Grand Caravan. According to AgencySpy [via Jalopnik], GlobalHue will continue to be Jeep’s lead agency, despite offering few signs that it actually understands the brand. What do we mean by that? Hit the jump for more.
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Pity the poor Barracuda. It beat the Mustang to market in 1964 by 16 days, but was utterly trounced by that seminal (and genre name-giving) pony car. In their first full year (1965), the Mustang outsold the ‘Cuda by 9 to 1. Well, despite that huge glassy fastback, it was hard to fool anyone that the Barracuda was anything other than a Valiant Signet with a fishbowl grafted on. That hardly made it an inferior car per se, and the fold down rear seat and resulting flat floor made it highly practical for certain uses. But the distinctive long-hood short-deck proportions of the Mustang instantly became iconic and a must-have; a glass-back Valiant just wasn’t going to do the trick, unless of course you found yourself in the right position to fully appreciate the Barracuda’s unique qualities. (Read More…)
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