Bloomberg [via Automotive News [sub]] reports that all 130 planned Fiat USA showrooms will not be opened until September. Initial rollout plans had called for “around 165” dealers, but that number has been dialed back, possibly due to overlap. It’s not clear if the delay will affect Chrysler’s goal of selling 50k Cinquecentos this year, but it probably will considering
About a dozen Fiat franchises have started up and a total of 20 may be open by the end of February, said Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand for Chrysler.
About 30 to 40 will be open by the middle of March, she said. Chrysler said in September that it wanted Fiat showrooms running by the end of February, adding that it would allow some dealers to open later.
“It’s a tiny bit behind,” Soave said today.
Pre-ordered special editions of the 500 will be delivered to consumers starting in the second week of March, and dealers will begin receiving inventory just weeks thereafter. That means the Fiat dealer net will have to average around 5,555 sales per month to hit the corporate target, and if 100 or so dealers won’t be open until after March, the per-dealer sales target will be tough to hit. But then, with a car like the 500, the question isn’t really how well it sells initially, but whether it has staying power. But that’s another challenge for another year.
Keeping a nervous eye on oil prices? Curious how each increase in the price per barrel translates into price at the pump, and what impact that actually has on consumers? Zerohedge comes through with this handy primer on the real-world consequences of each increase in the price of oil. And what, pray tell, does the “Nomura” note scrawled over the $220/barrel price refer to? Why, the prediction by Nomura Investment Bank analyst Michael Lo, that if Libya and Algeria stop oil production due to unrest, the price of crude will hit $220/barrel. Are you ready to start spending an extra ten percent of your household income on gas?
In an extended interview with Reuters, Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn talks about the balancing act of leading two global automakers while maintaining their unique identities, a balance Ghosn says he wants to try to preserve even as the alliance looks to restructure its capital. Renault’s 44.3% stake in Nissan has caused some trouble with financial analysts because, as Ghosn puts it,
we are challenged (by financial markets) over how much capital we have imprisoned into the structure of the alliance. It’s a fair challenge. We are going to be studying and analyzing this with outsiders also, what are the ways to respond to these expectations from the financial markets without challenging the operating model which consists of keeping the two companies vibrant, motivated, engaged and keeping their identities
Does that mean a full merger? A new corporate structure? Where is Ghosn looking for answers as he attempts to give the markets what they want while maintaining the delicate balance between the needs of his two firms?
Auto Motor und Sport calls the new Opel Zafira Touring Concept an “Oasis,” but could it be the “Baby Enclave” that’s been rumored for some time? The short answer is “no,” as the next Buick MPV will be a full class smaller than this Opel Astra-based compact 7-seater, based on the next Aveo platform and boasting suicide doors. But with gas prices rising, and CAFE standards possibly headed towards 60+ MPG, there’s certainly a chance that the next-gen Zafira could eventually end up in the US with Buick badges.
In 1900, Ferdinand Porsche, founding father of the present-day Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, entered unchartered territory. With the first functional, full hybrid car in the world, the Semper Vivus (‘always alive’). the principle of the serial hybrid drive had been born.
In a stunning four year project the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart has had the Semper Vivus recreated. Next week, 111 years after this ground breaking innovation by Ferdinand Porsche, the Semper Vivus will again drive into the limelight at the Geneva Motor Show 2011 followed by future appearances as part of the Porsche Museum collection in Stuttgart.
The Detroit News reports that top White House economic adviser Austan Goolsby indicated today that the government would be exiting its equity position in GM in the short term. The DetN’s David Shepardson quotes Goolsby as saying
The writing is clearly on the wall that the government is getting out of the GM position. The government never wanted to be in the business of being majority shareholder of GM. It was only to prevent a wider spillover, negative event on the economy. So we’re trying to get out of that. We’re not trying to be Warren Buffet and figure out what the market is doing
And he’s not kidding: GM’s stock just closed at its lowest level since the IPO, after GM’s Q4 results came in below analyst expectations and the overall market experienced turmoil due to Middle East unrest.
For most Americans, the appeal of electric vehicles is somewhat blunted by the fact that they tend to be small, European-style hatchbacks rather than large, red-blooded “American-style” sedans. But what if large, rear-drive electric sedans were developed, using battery-swap technology that could allow battery-leasing business models and instant range-extension? Might Americans rethink a few of their long-held stereotypes about EVs?
Well, the United States isn’t the only nation facing this dilemma, and unlike the US, Australia is actually doing something about it. Australian automotive suppliers, Air International, Bosch, Continental and Futuris, have teamed up with Project Better Place to develop seven “proof of concept” Holden Commodore-based rear-drive electric sedans that could be the first of their kind [press release here in PDF] in a joint venture called EV Engineering. The project is part of Australia’s effort to revamp its automotive industry by 2020.
Sales of Hyundai’s Sonata Hybrid may have begun already, but deliveries are delayed as new regulations were ordered just as Hyundai’s first hybrid was going to market. In January, President Obama followed up on a months-long effort by the National Federation of the Blind to require full-time audible warnings for electric-drive vehicles, and signed legislation directing the DOT to
study and report to Congress on the minimum level of sound that is necessary to be emitted from a motor vehicle, or some other method, to alert blind and other pedestrians of the presence of operating motor vehicles while traveling.
According to GreenCarReports.com, the possibility of these changes required a last-minute modifications to the Sonata Hybrid, in order to remove the option of disabling the Hybrid’s “virtual engine noise” in case that feature fell foul of the new regulations. The Sonata Hybrid had been developed to have the sound-disabling function, so the last-minute modification
required changes to the wiring harness, the user-interface software, and even the Owner’s Manual, which had already been finalized.
Think using your cell phone or other in-car distractions don’t affect your driving? Don’t try to prove it on the road (jackass), put your reaction-time skills to the test at the NYT’s multitasking reaction-time game. While using your keyboard to navigate gates, a cell phone will distract you with New Yorkian requests which you will have to answer while continuing to navigate through randomly-opening gates. The Times team that came up with the game explains
We weren’t trying to be an exact simulation of driving down the highway or the road — it’s not realistic to have all those gates and people often text in shortened words. It is a game to give you a sense of how a distraction can decrease your ability to react quickly
When you finish, the game will tell you how much multitasking impaired your ability to navigate. Let us know how you did, and if the game changed your opinion about distracted driving.
One of the strongest criticisms issued in the Congressional TARP Oversight Panel’s most recent report on the auto bailout concerned GM’s lack of effort to bring its former captive lender GMAC (now called Ally Financial) back to the fold, an omission the Panel termed “disconcerting.” After all, Ally’s business is still closely intertwined with GM’s, as the financial firm provides 82% of GM’s dealer floorplanning and 38.2% of GM’s consumer loans. And, as bailed-out businesses (Ally is now 73.8% owned by the US Treasury), any competition between GM and Ally will result in a lose-lose scenario for taxpayers. In recent months it seemed that the two firms were moving towards a deal at the initiative of GM CEO Dan Akerson (and likely motivated to some extent by the COP’s criticisms), but now Bloomberg reports that there are no negotiations between GM and Treasury about a reconciliation of the two firms… in fact, with an Ally IPO planned for this year, it seems the two firms are going to war.
Having been exonerated of any mysterious electronic causes of unintended acceleration, Toyota puts the issue behind it with a final recall of over 2m vehicles for issues related to gas pedal entrapment. At the same time, the NHTSA closes its investigation. According to an official release, Toyota
will conduct a voluntary safety recall of approximately 20,000 2006 and early 2007 Model Year GS 300 and GS 350 All-Wheel Drive vehicles to modify the shape of the plastic pad embedded in the driver’s side floor carpet. In the event that the floor carpet around the accelerator pedal is not properly replaced in the correct position after a service operation, there is a possibility that the plastic pad embedded into the floor carpet may interfere with the operation of the accelerator pedal. If this occurs, the accelerator pedal may become temporarily stuck in a partially depressed position rather than returning to the idle position.
Bloomberg reports that Spyker Cars NV has sold its sportscar business to former chairman Vladimir Antonov for €15m, with the promise of up to €17m more over the next six years if profits allow it. They probably wont, however, as Spyker’s sportscars sell at a rate of about 30 per year, and have never turned a profit in the seven years the business has been public. The move is necessary, however, as Antonov was forced out of his ownership stake at Spyker (at GM’s request) when the firm bought Saab. CEO Victor Muller bought Antonov’s stake through his holding company Tenaci, and by selling Antonov the sportscar business, Spyker can pay back some of its €74m debt to Tenaci (another €17m will be converted into Spyker shares). Plus, explains Muller
Spyker’s (luxury car business) is a small fish in a large pond. Spyker would need additional funds, but to issue shares and dilute shareholders seemed like a very bad plan so we decided to divest these activities
With Spyker no longer part of Spyker Cars NV (the firm that owns Saab), the firm will be renamed this May (probably to some variation of “Saab”) when it lists on the Stockholm stock exchange. Still, though Saab and Spyker sportscars are no longer combining their crazy plans into a pie-in-the-sky juggernaut, and this may help get the ship right-side-up again, there’s no knowing where it’s all headed. Antonov could still buy back into Saab, and it sounds like the two will continue to share distribution channels. Whether either side of the business can actually make money is still the real question.
GM has announced its full-year results for 2010 [Highlights here, Chart set here, in PDF], and has achieved its first full-year profit since 2004 by pulling in $4.7b. Perhaps more significant than the numbers alone, however, is GM’s claim that it has whipped its “material weakness” in terms of financial reporting and internal controls, an issue that had haunted The General since being disclosed in the runup to its IPO. Still, GM’s earnings were well below the $5b+ full-year profit expected by analysts, and its half-billion Q4 profit was considerably more “pinched” than the $1b that Wall Street expected. More importantly, GM burned $1.7b in automotive operating cash (including a $4b pension contribution) and another $1.1b in CapEx in the fourth quarter, resulting in a $2.8b automotive free cash burn for the quarter. Over the course of 2010, GM’s cash pile has gone from $36.2b to $27.6b, although GM has access to over $5b in new credit facilities while cutting debt from $15.8b to $4.6b. Still, a weakly-profitable Q4 is better than last year’s $3.4b Q4 loss.
One of the first rumors to come out of the Fiat/Chrysler tie-up was that Alfa-Romeo would replace its expired 166 flagship with a large, RWD sedan based on Chrysler’s updated LX platform. But with Lancia getting its own rebadge of the new Chrysler 300, and a possibly LX/LC-based entry-level Maserati in development, it seems that Alfa’s opportunity for a flagship rear-drive sedan has passed. Auto Motor und Sport reports that, rather than developing a large Alfa flagship, the brand will top out (in sedan terms) with its forthcoming, 159-replacing Giulia front-drive D-segment effort. That might not come as terribly shocking news to the brand faithful, as Alfa’s have been almost exclusively front-drivers for some time… but the fact that no fizzy, crackling Alfa-typical V6 is planned for the brand’s midsized flagship might come as a letdown (instead, look for turbocharged four-bangers making between 120 and 235 HP). All of which is very interesting in light of CEO Sergio Marchionne’s recent diagnosis of Alfa’s woes, in which he argued
I mean it’s got this incredible appeal which goes back, you know, to the time they used to be on the racetrack, and it’s the embodiment of a lot of things which are typically Italian; sportiness, lightweight, and everything else. And what happened is that when Fiat bought them back in the end of ’86 we Fiatized Alfa. Fiat was front-wheel drive; Alfa was rear wheel drive. So now all the Alfas are front-wheel drive. And we put Fiat engines inside the Alfas, and Alfa started losing more and more of its DNA as a car company.
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