“According to the Wolfsburg grapevine, the Volkswagen Group is set to increase its 19.9 percent share in Suzuki by ten percent annually over the next four to five years,” says Automobile Magazine in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And they immediately ask: “What for?” Right. (Read More…)
Which? is kind of the UK version of Consumer Reports. They publish a bunch of magazines. If you want a computer, you get the latest edition of Which? Computing, if you need a vacation, you leaf through Which? Holiday, and for a car, you get – you guessed it – Which? Car. You will receive quite a shock if you do. (Read More…)
Having just seen the new Explorer, but being under some kind of embargo, I’ve decided to write about old Explorers this week – jb
My parents raised me to never inquire about another person’s salary, but they didn’t have the chance to deliver this message to everyone else in America. As a result, I’ve seen this question asked of many people, including myself, during my lifetime. There are two ways this question can be answered. The first one is the way that everyone in the universe except paid-on-commission salespeople answer it. The pseudo-math equation is this:
(Reported annual income) = (actual annual income)
Salespeople answer the question differently. In fact, I’ve never met one who failed to give the following answer, expressed in the same style:
(Reported annual income) = ((Best Month Ever) * 12)
With that in mind, what follows is how I earned $108,000 a year selling Ford Explorers in 1995.
More to the point, is it better to acknowledge that regrets might be common among Chrysler buyers and address the problem with an ad like this one… or does this campaign feed the perception that it’s trying to address?
Shanshan Du and Yu Qin of Troy, MI have been indicted on charges including conspiracy for allegedly stealing GM hybrid technology between 2003 and 2005. According to the Detroit News,
Du, who was hired at GM in 2000 and worked in the company’s Advance Technology Vehicle Group, copied thousands of pages of GM trade secrets onto a portable computer hard drive five days after accepting a buyout offer in 2005. The indictment alleges the theft of secrets dates back to 2003.
GM estimates the value of the stolen documents at $40 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The indictment charges that Du and Qin set up their own company in hopes of transferring technology to the Chinese automaker Chery, but that no technology ever made it to the Wuhu-based automaker. And though this is an obvious opportunity for a laugh at the expense of “Chinese R&D,” the real story here is just how stupid Du and Qin were for targeting The General’s hybrid technology between 2003 and 2005.
(Read More…)
Ron writes:
1991 Honda civic, built 7/90 in Japan: Been a great car. Occasionally, won’t start. You crank it, it almost seems to want to start, then you get the check engine light and you can crank it forever and no good. Wait 2 minutes, or longer, and it starts right up. Sometimes you have to wait an hour though. Then it will just start fine, like it never had a problem.
Does not seem to be:
– computer (but did replace it, shop diag said it was bad, problem went away for over a year … and came back)
– injectors (at least according to shop manual diag procedure)
– filter (replaced)
– fuel pump
– phase of moon (kidding)
After the watching the OPOC engine run and shooting some exclusive video for TTAC, I was introduced to CEO Don Runkle.
(Read More…)
Via Twitter comes this, the first shot yet of the Dodge version of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee. Dodge won’t confirm whether the badly battered Durango name will grace its version of the JGC, but at least it’s clear that the brand is getting away from its truck-alike styling dependence. But with the new Grand Cherokee earning strong reviews, will Dodge’s (likely) decontented version be a letdown? It had better not be, because another big name from the SUV era is going to stake a claim in the mid-full CUV segment starting on Monday: Ford’s 2011 Explorer.
The automotive world largely yawned when Ford announced the 2011 Lincoln MKZ hybrid. After all, Ford already offered the Fusion and Mercury Milan in hybrid flavor, and the standard MKZ is hardly setting the world on fire with only 11,214 models sold in the first half of 2010. In search of a bigger publicity bump for its luxury hybrid, Ford has pulled a fun little gimmick out of its bag of tricks: the 2011 MKZ will offer a hybrid drivetrain for no price premium over the standard V6 version [press release here]. According to the AP [via Yahoo], this is the first time a manufacturer has offered hybrid and non-hybrid versions of the same car for the same price. And really, the move comes as no huge surprise. With Mercury on its way out, Ford doesn’t have to worry about the$35,180 MKZ Hybrid encroaching on the $32k Milan Hybrid, and if it had charged a hybrid premium, the MKZ hybrid could have cost closer to $40k where it would have faced tougher competition from better-established luxury brands. Besides, Lincoln needs to build some momentum somehow… but is value a good place to start rebuilding a worn-down luxury brand?
Predicting the future is a risky business. Lincoln Steffens, muckraking journalist and admirer of the Soviet Union said, regarding the then young USSR, “I have been over into the future, and it works.” Steffens apparently wrote that before he actually visited the workers paradise in the early 1920s. A decade later he regretted that endorsement.
Music writer Jon Landau’s prediction was a bit more accurate. “Last Thursday, at the Harvard Square Theater, I saw my rock and roll past flash before my eyes. And I saw something else: I saw rock and roll future and its name was Bruce Springsteen.” Landau was soon to edge The Boss’ original manager, Mike Appel, out of the picture, took over management of Springsteen’s career and production of his music, and did everything in his power to make his prophecy a self-fulfilling one.
Earlier this week I believe that I saw the future of transportation and stationary power and its name is OPOC. That stands for “opposed piston opposed cylinder”, a new engine architecture being developed for production and licensing by EcoMotors, a Troy, Michigan startup.
With Ford and Honda running away with the compact crossover segment, a tight pack of competitors is gathering around the 100k annual unit mark (graph after the jump). Hyundai has already thrown its redesigned Sorento into this fearsome battle with promising results so far (20k units YTD), but Kia’s Sportage has been battling in this segment since before it was cool. Literally. As far as we can tell, it’s the oldest continuously-sold compact CUV nameplate in the US market… which makes you wonder what a continuously-evolved Chevy Tracker might have become. Anyway, after years of Tracker-like neglect, Sportage is coming back with a fresh set of Peter Schreyer-tailored duds. Not to mention a direct-injection, turbocharged engine option (“270-plus horsepower” according to the press release), Bluetooth, and the UVO hands-free system (think SYNC). As you can imagine, the price has gone up some…
After months of speculation about GM’s re-entry into the subprime lending market, The General has announced a deal in which it will purchase the lender AmeriCredit for $3.5b. Founded in 1992, and managing assets worth $10b, AmeriCredit has been pursued by GM for the last month, according to GM CFO Chris Liddell in the WSJ [sub]. GM paid AmeriCredit stockholders $24.50 per share for a controlling interest in the firm, a 24 percent premium over its $19.70 closing price yesterday. Still, GM insists that acquiring AmeriCredit will have “a minimal impact” on its balance sheet, although no explanation is given as to how. $3.5b is at least ten percent of GM’s cash pile at this point, and it’s not clear if that qualifies it as a “minimal impact” or if GM is using some kind of financial instrument to purchase the firm. AmeriCredit says it will “expand its offerings” to support GM, likely in the area of lease deals, but it will also continue to offer loans to non-GM-brand car deals.
In most parts of the world, electric vehicles are treated as the second coming of Jesus. Meanwhile in Omaha, Warren Buffett is having doubts whether it was such a good idea to pay $230m for 10 percent of China’s cellphonebattery/car/EV/appliance/house builder BYD.
BYD’s share price has fallen by more than 40 percent over the past three months, China’s First Financial Daily remarks (via Gasgoo.) Can you guess the main reason for the serious drubbing? (Read More…)
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is struggling in his latest budget with the desire to spend more money while lacking tax revenue due to the economic recession. Nonetheless, the $28 billion budget for 2011 expends $200 million more than the previous year. Rendell yesterday testified before the state Senate Transportation Committee about how he intended to hit up motorists to make up much of that amount.
“If you did the increase in fees for inflation and the four cents at the pump — again, I think my idea is the best idea — but if you did that, you’ve got almost $100 million more,” Rendell testified. “If you did the InsureNet — that’s the plan with the cameras — the state would generate $75 million more.”
Remember how Toyota was slapped with a $16.4m fine for allegedly withholding information and delaying recalls? Remember how Toyota was served again with a subpoena for information, what many read as the prelude for another $16.4m fine? (If anyone again says that $16,4m is pocket change, please send me the pocket change.) Well, there are some people in Washington who claim that it’s the U.S. government that might be withholding information. (Read More…)
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