Like it or not, extending the concept of luxury into ever smaller classes of cars is the next big challenge for high-end auto brands. According to the latest print edition of Auto Motor und Sport, BMW is already working on their own subcompact FWD three-cylinder hatchback based on the next-generation MINI platform. Though none of these new micro-luxe vehicles are aimed at, let alone approved for the US market, it seems that a strict traditionalist perspective on luxury brand purity is going to be a lot more difficult to maintain as emissions standards continue to rise.
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Posts By: Edward Niedermeyer
As our recent compact-ish CUV sales snapshot shows, Ford’s Edge has been losing its edge with consumers. And not to better looking cars with better ideas and more talent, but to its older brand-mate, the Escape. In order to keep up with its country cousin, the Edge has been updated for 2011, to offer a more contemporary corporate look, new powertrains and more. Where once only a 3.5 liter V6 (285 hp) was available, a more powerful 3.7 (305 hp) and the first US application of the EcoBoost 2.0 turbo four-cylinder (no stats released yet) are now optional. Where once the “Sport” trim was barely distinguishable, it now gets 22-inch rims and a blacked-out grille. And where standard models once sported ridiculously cheesy chrome grilles, the new 2011 Ford Edge now has an updated, yet equally giant and cheesy chrome grille. Because you can’t win them all.
Toyota’s PR efforts have been competent if muted during the ongoing recall scandal. Though it could certainly have done more in the past weeks (specifically by making top leadership more available to the public) Toyota has carefully avoided overreacting to the mushrooming media frenzy. Until now. The NYT’s Wheels Blog reports that the 173 Toyota dealers who make up Toyota Southeast have pulled regional ads from ABC stations because of “excessive stories on the Toyota issues.” Toyota Southeast’s ad agency 22Squared says “We have counseled the client on the pros and cons of this, and ultimately it was their decision to make.” Toyota continues to run corporate ads on ABC, but the petulant backlash from its Southeast dealers can’t help but reflect poorly on the brand. Any PR pro will tell you (and presumably 22Squared counseled its clients of this), that these kinds of strong-arm tactics do nothing to improve public perceptions of a brand. Toyota dealers might feel that the parent company is not doing enough on the PR front, but this approach will only create the need for more PR in the future.
Inventory management woes have played a huge role in the decline of America’s domestic automakers, but according to a lengthy piece in Automotive News [sub], the days of inventory pushing are now officially a thing of the past. Unless they aren’t. At the moment things look good. AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson enthuses:
It’s the most exciting thing we’ve ever seen. I’ve lived for this day to come. The inventories for the industry are the cleanest and in the best shape ever — ever.
AN [sub] says inventory levels are at their most sane levels since they began tracking data in 1992. That gives Detroit executives the opportunity to crow over their discipline and the sustainability of their business models, despite the fact that the Detroit firms still top recent average incentive estimates. And long-term estimates show up to 2m units of overcapacity will be re-accumulated by 2012. “I hope [inventory push] is dead,” says Group 1 CEO Earl Hesterberg. “I doubt it’s completely dead just because of the fixed cost pressure on manufacturers.”
What do you sell if you can’t sell a car? Sophisticated commentary on the state of gender relations, of course. Hit the jump to see just how gendered one marketing campaign can get.
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The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will have to wait two more weeks to gets its claws into Toyota, as heavy weather has postponed hearings scheduled for today until the 24th. But don’t expect the delay take any of the pressure of Toyota: lawmakers are taking the extra time to widen their investigations. Automotive News [sub] reports that House Energy Committee Chair Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA) has solicited documents from a number of auto insurers after it was revealed that State Farm had warned the NHTSA of possible unintended acceleration in Toyotas as early as 2007. The Energy Committee has scheduled hearings for the 25th.
Meanwhile, Reuters has published one of the most comprehensive pieces we’ve seen yet on Toyota’s “epic breakdown.” Don’t miss it.
The gentlemen at Reuters asked me to pen an op-ed on the Toyota situation (as of last weekend) for them, so I did. My conclusion, in a sentence:
If there’s a lesson to Toyota’s tumble, it’s that easy assumptions aren’t enough to keep you safe on the road, or in the showroom.
Reuters reports that Toyota has informed the NHTSA that it will voluntarily recall over 7,000 2010 Camry four-cylinder models. According to a Toyota document sent to dealers:
2010 Camrys equipped with a 4-cylinder engine might have a shorter-than-required power steering pressure hose in the engine compartment. That could deplete the brake fluid, increasing the brake pedal stroke and making it more difficult and requiring more time to stop the vehicle
For the record, Ford would have just called this a “Customer Satisfaction Program.”
Given the growth this segment has enjoyed over the last year, it’s more than a little odd to see the Escape taking top honors. After all, it’s received a single refresh since it went on the market in 2000. On the other hand, fleets dug Ford last month. [Please note that the outgoing body-on-frame Kia Sorento sold 3,621 units in January 2009]
As GM tools up for production of its Volt extended-range electric car, Automotive News [sub] has noticed something interesting: workers at GM’s new battery pack assembly plant are not represented by the United Auto Workers. Located in the heart of UAW territory (Brownstown Township, MI), the Volt battery plant represents the very jobs that local politicians and GM leadership hailed as the green future of the auto industry. When the plant opened, GM Chairman/CEO Ed Whitacre waxed eloquent about the opportunities:
The development of electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt is creating entire new sectors in the auto industry – an “ecosystem” of battery developers and recyclers, builders of home and commercial charging stations, electric motor suppliers and much more. These companies and universities are creating new jobs in Michigan and across the U.S. – green jobs – and they’re doing it by developing new technology, establishing new manufacturing capability, and strengthening America’s long-term competitiveness.
As long as they do so without UAW representation, apparently. Needless to say, if GM can get away with using non-union workers at a crucial plant that’s supposed to represent the firm’s future, things aren’t looking so good for our friends in organized labor.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of Jim Lentz’s appearance on Digg Dialogue was the number of questions that were unrelated to Toyota’s ongoing recalls and quality issues. But even if crowdsourcing had yielded a number of truly tough questions, Lentz had access to them ahead of the interview, giving him time to craft slippery answers. Still, the session provides an interesting of a preview of Toyota’s defense ahead of tomorrow’s congressional hearing. The main thrust: unintended acceleration is mysterious phenomenon, and finding a common cause for multiple incidents could be nearly impossible. Unless investigators find a ghost in Toyota’s electronics code, that may be as good of an answer as we’re ever going to get.
Toyota heads up to Capital Hill tomorrow to face the ire of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in a hearing that’s been subtly named “Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public at Risk?” A memo by committee staff [via the WSJ] sets a paranoid tone for the hearing, as the NHTSA investigation widens beyond gas pedals alone:
Attention is now being focused on the electronic throttle control system (ETC) to determine whether sudden acceleration may be attributable to a software design problem or perhaps to electromagnetic interference. The committee staff found numerous complaints made to NHTSA describing sudden acceleration that was not caused by either floor mats or sticky pedals.
Toyota’s Yoshi Inaba will face the brunt of the questioning, although Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and NHTSA administrator David Strickland will surely face questions about their oversight of Toyota (or lack thereof).
Scion shows off the tC “Release Series Six” edition, which boasts a 70s muscle car-inspired graphics package, complete with a not-in-any-way-indicative-of-engine-displacement “6.0” on the flank. Think of the look as Yee-haw meets Ichiban, but because it’s a Scion tC it’s neither cool nor particularly fast. Poor Scion…
The legal angle to the Toyota recall story has been a source of constant amusement, from an early attempt to prevent Toyota from enacting its gas pedal fix, to news today [via Reuters] that at least 30 class-action suits have been filed since the recall began. “This is going to a little cottage industry all of its own,” says Matt Cairns of DRI, the Voice of the Defense Bar, the largest U.S. civil defense attorney association.
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GM sold a lot of compact cars in January. Gm also had a high percentage of fleet sales in January. Coincidence? We think not. [Please note: VW Rabbit sales do not include GTI]
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