„But if it’s attention you are after, no conversion beats Hello Kitty,“ says the announcer. And after a long pause: “ … even in Kyoto.”

No kitting.

DesignworksUSA is a design consultancy and subsidiary of  the BMW Group. Together with Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Designworks will create “a new generation of train cars that will enter service by 2017 and deliver a premium ridership experience for its passengers,” says BMW in an emailed statement, and adds that BART “presently operates the oldest fleet of train cars in the USA.” (Read More…)

“Right now, there is no specific joint development project going on with Volkswagen,” Suzuki Executive Vice President Yasuhito Harayama told reporters who came to Suzuki’s headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan, to meet four executive vice presidents of Suzuki. Come to think of it, there had been no progress over the past 18 months in the much feted partnership between Suzuki and Volkswagen, Harayama said.

The man who just cut deep in the fraying strands of the tie-up between Volkswagen and Suzuki would have all reason to say everything is fine.  Harayama is a former bureaucrat at Japan’s economy and trade ministry who was hired by Suzuki two years ago. He is in charge of relations with Volkswagen. It is not in his interest to admit defeat.

According to comments made by Harayama to Ran Kim of Reuters, one of the sharpest reporters on the Japanese auto beat, relations between Wolfsburg and Hamamatsu turned into a deep freeze when Volkswagen tried to “wield influence over Suzuki’s management.”

“It was made very clear when we tied up with Volkswagen that we did not want to become consolidated, and that we would remain independent,” Harayama said.

Before anything will happen between Suzuki and Volkswagen, the deal needs to be renegotiated. (Read More…)

Mexico was one of the last markets to build the old VW Bug. The really old one. Mexico remains the center of Beetle-mania. Volkswagen officially began production of the new Beetle in Puebla, Mexico. (Read More…)

One of the pillars of public relations is „do good and tell the world about it.“

Not in Japan. Here, the rule  goes “do good and keep your mouth shut.” Hard-hit Japanese carmakers have been at the forefront of aid to tsunami-ravaged areas. Toyota for instance sent some 100 tractor-trailer loads of fuel, food and other necessities up north to Tohoku – in utter secrecy.  Honda said they donated 1,000 generators and 5,000 gas canisters, and never talked again about the bulk of the help.

None of the CEOs of large car companies are seen on TV shaking hands of dealers and donating cars to the cause. This leaves a void, and nature abhors a vacuum. Nature does, and Carlos Ghosn. (Read More…)

As we just noticed, the Volkswagen Group gained 5.7 percent in Europe in the first six months of 2011. But that’s only a small part of the story. Globally, the Volkswagen Group delivered more vehicles in the first six months of 2011 than ever. A total of 4.09 million units changed hands, up 14.1 percent from the 3.58 million delivered in the same period of 2010. This according to a communique sent out by Volkswagen today. For you, dear TTAC reader, this is old news however.  A few days ago, we told you that we “expect group sales to come in at somewhere around 14 percent and change for the half year.” (In more than 30 years working for the company, some of the clairvoyance possessed by VW’s upper management  had rubbed off …) (Read More…)

European car sales statistics are a little bit like financial news from The Old Country: Up one day, down the next. This is one of those next days. In June, new passenger car registrations dropped by 8.1 percent in the EU to 1,233,298 units. Over the first six months of 2011, a total of 7,120,499 new cars was registered, or 2.1 percent less than in the first half of last year. This according to data provided by the European Manufacturers organization ACEA. (Read More…)

How does one test drive a car that is only available in India? In my case, easier done than said. I took the train from Yugawara three stations to Mishima. (Read More…)

No good deed goes unpunished. While the leadership of GM refuses to comment on Opel, Volkswagen’s Winterkorn filled the void and dispensed some helpful advice.  He said that only the Chinese would be interested in Opel, and even that remains a very theoretical possibility. GM did not like that advice and fired back.

GM top echelons refused to break cover. Instead, there is a big pronouncement on GM’s website.

“General Motors has a longstanding policy of not commenting on rumors and speculation.  Unfortunately, some of our competitors do not show similar restraint. (Read More…)

In 2003, when I had a different (and much better paying) job, I wrote for the umpteenth time: “This law makes Europe the most liberal car market in the world, more liberal than the freewheeling  U.S. car market.” Of course I was cheating a bit, because as we all know, the U.S. car market is anything but freewheeling. “This law” was the Block Exemption Regulation, BER for short.  It allowed any EU dealer to sell any car, allowed non-branded parts in branded dealerships, and allowed any workshop to perform warranty repairs on your car.  That came with a big IF: IF the new car dealer complied with the standards set by the brand and IF the workshop complied with the service standards of the brand. Even these last vestiges are now going away, turning the supposedly socialist Europe into a land of unbridled car capitalism. (Read More…)

Opel is casting a wary eye at parent GM. GM unleashed Chevrolet in Europe. Nobody took it seriously until Chevrolet announced today that the bowtie brand sold 23 percent more Chevys in Opel’s home market Germany than in the first half of 2010. In the first 6 months of 2011, Chevrolet sold15,077 units in Germany. (Read More…)

Nissan and Mitsubishi are edging even closer. Now, they inked a production deal where Mitsubishi produces the Navara pickup trucks for Nissan at Mitsubishi’s plant in Thailand. Production will start “in fiscal 2012,” which starts on April 1, 2012. (Read More…)

“Producing in Japan will remain extremely difficult as long as the conditions don’t change,” said Akio Toyoda today, and appealed to the Japanese government to “level the playing field.” Toyota did some leveling of its own. In a big board meeting, Toyota leveled swaths of corporate structures. (Read More…)

Can one dramatically increase customer satisfaction ion the course of three weeks? Yes, you can! How? Simple: Just get a different survey.

Three weeks ago, acid reflux, shouting matches and massive finger pointing were rampant at car companies like Volkswagen and Ford. On J.D.Power’s Initial Quality Study (IQS), Ford had landed (with a thud) on rank 23, and Volkswagen crashed to #29, outdone in measured mediocrity only by Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Dodge.

Now, all is fine again. (Read More…)

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars BRAND ( not the Group) reports global sales  of 2.53 million for the first six months of 2011.- Compared to the same period of 2010, this is an increase of 11.8 percent. The brand also reported an increase for the month of June, with 438,500 vehicles sold. For a gain of 9.8 percent compared to June 2010. With Audi having grown 17.7 percent in the half year, the Volkswagen Group will most probably report a nice double digit gain for the first half year. (Read More…)