As much as it pains me to admit it, Ford is a company to be admired. When bailouts were handed around like doobies in the Summer of Love, they didn’t partake (argue that point amongst yourselves, but you know what I mean). Their cars are interesting (to say the least) and their reliability is now being thought of in the same vein as Toyota, Honda and Hyundai. All of this is down to one man, Mr Alan “I bet you wish to made me CEO now! Eh, Boeing?!” Mulally. He put forward a vision of Ford divisions and subsidiaries working together to create a global product. He pared down the extraneous brands. He put the axe to Mercury and he didn’t need a bankruptcy to do it. In short, Mr Mulally has done well at Ford. The question is how well? (Read More…)
Mack had always admired Richard Milhous Nixon, starting with the Checkers speech, but especially after the disgraced ex-president had begun to emerge as an elder statesman. “The man won’t give up,” says Mack, noting that even President Clinton, whose wife, Hillary Rodham, had worked on the Watergate investigation for the House Judiciary Committee, had invited the former President to the White House for consultations. When Mack heard they were making the Frost/Nixon movie, he drove himself across the country and banged on doors in LA until they said he could try out for the lead role. He claims he almost got it, and that even Ron Howard admits that he–Mack–looks a lot more like Nixon than does Frank Langella. Now, back at the gas station in Maynard, Mass, if you tell Mack he looks like Nixon, you could almost swear the ol’ cuss is smiling.
TTAC readers, the Best and the Brightest, seemed to have liked the first Magazine Memories so I started to sort and organize the boxes of old buff books in the basement, with an eye towards another column for you guys. The first piece was about a Sports Car Graphic from 1969, a golden age for both performance cars and auto racing. I thought it would be interesting, by way of contrast, to look at an era of less worthy automobiles, the “malaise era”, so named because of a speech given by Jimmy Carter during his presidency that attempted to address a sense of national lethargy. Though Carter never actually used the word malaise, the tag stuck. Looking at magazines from the middle of the Carter years, the winter of 1980-81, though, the cars were so boring and mediocre that I thought it’d be too much of a challenge to even joke about how boring and mediocre they were. (Read More…)
Every day, German auto managers go on their knees and pray that the financial troubles in Greece, Spain and elsewhere continue. Why? The troubles keep the Euro low, and a low Euro is high octane fuel for German car exports. In May, German car exports rose 46 percent. For the first five months, German car exports are up 50 percent. Despite a lackluster home market, the German car industry is hitting on all cylinders: For the first five months, German production is up 26 percent to 2.3m units, driven mostly be strong demand from China and the U.S. However, red flags are going up. Literally. (Read More…)
American Audiphiles can rest assured that their future four-ringed purchases will be Made in Germany and not somewhere in what is sometimes euphemistically called “North America.” Plans to build an Audi plant over here have been put on ice for an indefinite period. Worries about a tainted Aryan Audi race (in the motorsports connotation, of course) can be put aside. “We don’t need an American plant to reach our goal of 1.5m Audis a year by 2015,” said Audi Boss Rupert Stadler to Automobilwoche [sub]. “We could build a car in the U.S. in six months,” said Stadler, referring to the VW plant in Chattanooga. “Building a plant somewhere in the boonies would take three years.” And what’s the real reason? (Read More…)
Cars are rarely built for very long. This is, after all, the industry that invented the concept of planned obsolescence, and ever since GM surpassed Ford in the first half of the 20th Century cars have come and cars have gone. Of course there are a few exceptions. South Africa’s Citi Golf was a 25-year run of slowly-evolved Mk1 VW Golfs. And here’s news of another Volkswagen Methuselah: ChinaCarTimes reports that FAW will build the same Mk2 Jetta it’s been pumping out since 1991 until… 2015. If you could (given the hypothetical resources and market necessary for such a foolhardy venture) start with one car and slowly evolve it for 25 years, what would you start with and why? Are there any modern cars you could see being built for a 25 year run? Me, I’d do for the Lotus Elise what several small British companies did for that other great Lotus, the 7. Not because it would necessarily be easy, cheap or popular, but because it’s a vehicle that will likely never be replicated again, especially with Lotus now aiming for the Ferraris of the world. In 25 years, I’d be shocked if it had any real competition. Or if I ever got bored with it. What about you?
If you’re hoping the US market is in the midst of an upswing, it’s time to start adjusting expectations. Ford’s Mark Fields says the market has “flat-lined” since Q3 of last year, telling BusinessWeek
The consumer is feeling a bit better, but not enough to go out and go back to the old ways of spending. It gives us pause because of the tight labor market and the overall situation in the credit markets
Edmunds has released its forecast for June, and though it shows sales up consistently from May 2009’s miserable numbers, there seems no question but that June’s sales will be lower than May’s. Edmunds sees an 11.2m unit SAAR for June, down from 11.6m last month. We’ll wait to see the actual June numbers before we officially end all hope of a strong recovery, but it’s starting to look more and more like 2009 was closer to “the new normal” than anyone wants to think.
One Ford? Not in the all-important D-Segment. While America’s poncy Taurus languishes in sales, Europe’s Mondeo has been facelifted and is ready for another round of competition. And with a full compliment of Ecoboost four-cylinders and diesels, it’s likely to continue selling well there. Meanwhile, the Fiesta, Focus and more models from Ford’s European stables are headed stateside, but there’s still no word of a global unification of Ford’s D-segment offerings. Given that the Taurus has sold 60k units in the last 12 months, it might be time to consider bringing the Mondeo to America.
Holy shit! That’s Mike!” I was flipping through the channels… and there he was. A friend of mine. University of Michigan MBA. Extroverted personality par excellence. Former middle manager at Ford, trying to sell used cars on a public access station. ‘Welcome to the P.T. Barnum world of no shame!” I thought to myself… and God knows I’ve already been there. First there was a Mini (nice car!). Then a PT Cruiser (at least they shined it up). Then the 2078th Impala that was for sale in South Carolina. Then…
The city council in Mukilteo, Washington voted on Monday to reverse itself on the issue of photo enforcement. After over 1909 voters signed a petition to call for an election to ban red light cameras and speed cameras, council members began to have second thoughts about their contract with American Traffic Solutions (ATS) to operate automated ticketing machines. ATS also operates in the neighboring town of Lynnwood.
Germany’s Handelsblatt received rare access to the usually secretive Porsche patriarch Piech. The Chairman of the Volkswagen Supervisory Board has big plans for his family’s company once Porsche has been assimilated. Here is an excerpt from his list of Porsche Plans: (Read More…)
What are Geely’s plans for Volvo? Which cars will be built? Where and when? How many? Who will run the show? Where is the money coming from? These are just some of the questions government regulators want to know before they put their stamp of approval under the deal. We are not just talking Chinese regulators. European regulators need to give their nod also. For that, they need Geely’s plans. Some of them were leaked. Some of the leakage is quite explosive. (Read More…)
Toyota will supply small Subarus to Fuji Heavy, so that Fuji Heavy and Subaru can focus on midsize cars. According to information developed by The Nikkei [sub], “Toyota and Fuji Heavy intend to release a jointly developed sports car under their respective brands as early as the end of 2011.” If the Nikkei has its stuff together, then we might finally see the often delayed FT-86 next year. As a Toyota and a Subaru. (Read More…)
If checking whether your car has been recalled is part of your morning routine and civic duty, then you were greeted by the above message this morning. Defects appear to be contagious. The insidious part: The NHTSA recall database appears to be operational. You are left clueless about what is and what isn’t working. Troubles without a fix? Ghost in a machine? Is the database safe for us to use? (Read More…)
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