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Posts By: Edward Niedermeyer
Everyone knows that automobiles are changing. The more curmudgeonly of us might even suspect that the glamor and freedom that once defined cars is fading fast. Heightening this paranoia is a design studio (via Core77) by Google smartphone designers Maaike Eversand and Mike Simonian depicting their vision for the future of cars: the Autonomobile. At this year’s Detroit Auto Show, Mike and Maaike came to the realization that “today’s car industry is brainwashed by its own car culture, with its obsession for speed, styling and fantasy. The car business has become one of repackaging, steering people’s focus towards style and a narrow definition of performance, not on our true needs.” And what, pray tell, are our true needs? “Most cars on the road today can go 120 mph. Why? The reality is that cars are mostly used at moderate speeds and for sitting in traffic. It’s time to look at performance in a new way.”
TTAC’s Best & Brightest strike again! GM’s monthly sales since 2004 only went up today, and already the rich bounty of raw data is yielding fruit. Like this graph of GM’s sales by brand since 2004 by commenter j_slez. Some pictures are worth thousands of words.
“I think it’ll go very quickly, and Congress may have to revisit it in the fall… 250,000 vehicles isn’t enough… We think there’ll be additional phases of this… It’ll probably evolve.”
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers Prez Dave McCurdy on the CARS scheme in Automotive News [sub]. McCurdy acknowledged that greater improvements in fuel efficiency might be required for a future Senate compromise. Apparently McCurdy believes Senate won’t play ball “if it’s just a truck program for people buying F-150s“. What could have given him that impression?
In fairness, the Aveo hatch is easier to watch crashing (Both EuroNCAP). Easier on the eyes in general, in the case of the first-gen hatch. Still, who’s up for tasting some brave manouever Baruth-style in one of these? And no, this isn’t a Euro ringer. This IIHS Aveo test is just as scary. You’re a brave man, Jack.
So much for the bailout leading to a compact/alt-energy über alles approach. The newly reconstituted Chrysler has lost its A/B segment (compact, city car) vehicle line chief and will be cutting nearly half of its Global Electric Motors (GEM) dealers. Of course, Chrysler’s A/B segment vehicle lines are empty at the moment, and aren’t likely to be filled with anything beyond cynical Fiat rebadges. Is that why Andreas Schell, who came to Chrysler with the Daimler merger, is leaving? Chrysler spokesfolks tell Automotive News [sub] only that they knew Schell “has left the company but didn’t know where he is heading.” Meanwhile, Chrysler is culling 64 of its 150 GEM dealers because “many of the rejected GEM dealers failed to sell more than a handful of GEM cars [er, Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, actually] in the past 12 to 24 months or longer… The debtors have determined that the GEM dealership agreements are neither necessary nor valuable to their estates and should be rejected.” Of course, perhaps the problem isn’t so much the dealers as the vehicles… but good luck getting a judge to rule that way. In any case, the one GEM dealer that the Freep spoke to was glad to see the GEMs go, saying they never sold regularly or particularly profitably.
Cars.com tackles the tough question of domestic content in its latest “American Made Index,” and comes away with a surprising result: Toyota’s Camry is the most “American” car on the market. Of course, making these distinctions in a global industry is fraught with difficulty. Though percentage of domestic parts content is tracked by the NHTSA for American Automobile Labeling Act compliance (PDF), those numbers count US and Canadian parts as being “domestic”. So Cars.com has created its own list which requires US assembly, at least 75 percent US-sourced parts content, and factors in sales numbers because “they correlate to the number of U.S. autoworkers employed to build any given model and to build the parts that go into those same cars.” Taking out vehicles that are being canceled with no clear replacement, the following vehicles make up their top ten “most American” automobiles.
For years GM’s inventory levels have been a major cause for concern. Falling market share lead to overproduction which lead to incentive addiction and falling profitability as GM tried to help its dealers clear their lots. But now that GM has cut production to the bone during its bankruptcy, dealers are beginning to complain to Automotive News [sub] that “right-sizing” is leaving them short on crucial truck and CUV models. GM’s summer shutdown ends on the 13th of July, but a rolling restart means some production won’t come back online until August. In the meantime . . .
Why is Chrysler’s new board chock full of former airline men and the governmentally well-connected? Because auto firm experience isn’t necessary for these things. Just ask Chrysler’s former owners Cerberus. Or, for another perspective, ask United Airlines employees about their experience with employee ownership. Meanwhile, the Aveo still sucks and the SL65 Black Series is still bat-shit loco. Plus, we’re working on getting our sales data in a more universal format.
There are a few familiar faces on Chrysler’s newly complete board, which was announced over the weekend (via Chrysler Media). But not many. Chairman C. Robert Kidder, Sergio Marchionne and Fiat Powertrain CEO Alfredo Altavilla are the previously-announced, or otherwise-obvious picks. No surprises there. The other picks? Let’s take a look, shall we?
Hyundai has been a big winner in the European cash-for-clunker sweepstakes, and they’re preparing their US dealers for another boom. Bloomberg reports that Hyundai is advancing cash to dealers to “cover new-vehicle credits for consumers until the federal government completes rules for the program later this month and begins paying dealers.” And despite NHTSA warnings that “If a dealer chooses to structure a transaction before the final rule is issued, they will bear the risks associated with later demonstrating that the transaction meets all of the specifications of the final rule,” deals are already being done. A Virginia dealership has already sold the first vehicle under Hyundai’s offer, replacing a 1995 Ford Explorer with an Elantra Touring. With a $15,000 fine threatened for deals that don’t comply with the program’s final rules, this is being done without the approval of the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Consumers have a hard enough time keeping all the brands and nameplates in the US market straight; trying to keep track of the myriad suppliers that make up the bulk of the industry is nearly impossible. Even here on TTAC, our well-informed commentariat often throws up its hands at the first sign of supplier coverage. But the fortunes of suppliers to US auto firms have been fading for years now, as Detroit’s misery slides downhill through the various tiers of suppliers. And despite repeated calls for a supplier bailout (and their use as OEM bailout bait), aid has been either misappropriated or rejected. And the bankruptcies show no signs of slowing.
There are some seriously mixed messages coming out of the NHTSA today, which perfectly illustrate what I like to call the tyranny of safety. On the one hand, the NHTSA announced today that overall traffic fatalities dropped by nearly ten percent in 2008, hitting the lowest levels per vehicle mile traveled since 1961. Estimates for the first quarter of 2009 show the high-single digit downward trend continuing into this year. In 2008, the NHTSA logged 1.27 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. Which, based on the number of cars and the shoddy quality of driving one encounters in this country (sorry, it’s true), is a remarkable statistic. But, for safety nuts like SecTrans Ray LaHood, it’s not enough. “While the number of highway deaths in America has decreased, we still have a long way to go,” he tells his press release. And how are we going to go about protecting Americans from the lowest fatality rates since JFK was elected and the Beatles were still playing the Cavern? Gizmos, baby, gizmos.
Because it wants to, Buick is headed upmarket. Because it has to, Cadillac is headed downmarket. Who wins? Not GM. An Epsilon II, FWD/AWD Cadillac isn’t going to have the phrase “standard of the world” tripping off anyone’s tongue. And since GM exists at the pleasure of the politicians, it doesn’t seem likely that Cadillac will ever get around to making the huge investments in opulence that it would need to regain its former glory. And besides an aging CTS and a “2005 called and wants its SUV back” Escalade, what is Cadillac again? Some days it’s a good day to die. Some days it’s a good day to record a podcast.
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