Whether you’re in the market for an F-150 or an F-Type, you may have at some point used Google to learn all you could about your next car purchase. The Mountain View, Calif. company decided to make your quest for knowledge easier by unveiling their New Car Search feature as seen above.
Ally Financial, the bank holding company formerly known as GMAC, is still a major part of the United States federal government investment portfolio in the five years since it was bailed out at the start of the Great Recession. Yet, it may be able to soon divest its ownership in part due to General Motors selling their remaining shares.
Though MINI’s lineup hasn’t (literally) lived up to its name since its reboot by parent BMW, product boss Pat McKenna would like to see the Rocketman — a MINI that truly is mini — appear in showrooms all over the world.
For that scenario to play out, though, the Rocketman needs a flight partner.
For the 12 year in a row, the Toyota Camry is the No. 1 best-selling car in the United States, but how long its reign continues will depend on how well its competitors can do in their attempt to dethrone the king of the showroom.
| Automaker | Nov. 2013 | Nov. 2012 | Pct. chng. | 11 month 2013 |
11 month 2012 |
Pct. chng. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMW division | 31,752 | 31,213 | 2% | 271,891 | 244,061 | 11% |
| Mini | 4,575 | 5,248 | –13% | 59,910 | 59,667 | 0% |
| Rolls-Royce | 84 | 79 | 6% | 924 | 869 | 6% |
| BMW Group | 36,411 | 36,540 | 0% | 332,725 | 304,597 | 9% |
| Chrysler Division | 21,024 | 18,766 | 12% | 282,222 | 282,454 | 0% |
| Dodge | 41,506 | 40,075 | 4% | 548,654 | 472,598 | 16% |
| Dodge/Ram | 72,761 | 65,149 | 12% | 880,469 | 742,641 | 19% |
| Fiat | 3,075 | 3,603 | –15% | 39,491 | 40,065 | –1% |
| Jeep | 45,415 | 35,047 | 30% | 437,179 | 434,260 | 1% |
| Ram | 31,255 | 25,074 | 25% | 331,815 | 270,043 | 23% |
| Chrysler Group | 142,275 | 122,565 | 16% | 1,639,361 | 1,499,420 | 9% |
| Maybach | – | 5 | –100% | – | 45 | –100% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 36,386 | 31,949 | 14% | 298,489 | 264,636 | 13% |
| Smart USA | 959 | 704 | 36% | 8,409 | 9,013 | –7% |
| Daimler AG | 37,345 | 32,658 | 14% | 306,898 | 273,694 | 12% |
| Ford division | 182,978 | 171,360 | 7% | 2,194,934 | 1,955,341 | 12% |
| Lincoln | 6,727 | 5,732 | 17% | 73,710 | 74,766 | –1% |
| Ford Motor Co. | 189,705 | 177,092 | 7% | 2,268,644 | 2,030,107 | 12% |
| Buick | 15,072 | 13,289 | 13% | 190,130 | 163,935 | 16% |
| Cadillac | 16,172 | 14,517 | 11% | 164,378 | 131,534 | 25% |
| Chevrolet | 145,089 | 128,867 | 13% | 1,793,632 | 1,684,555 | 7% |
| GMC | 35,727 | 29,832 | 20% | 407,781 | 369,960 | 10% |
| General Motors | 212,060 | 186,505 | 14% | 2,555,921 | 2,349,984 | 9% |
| Acura | 14,559 | 12,246 | 19% | 149,685 | 140,182 | 7% |
| Honda Division | 101,948 | 104,334 | –2% | 1,240,372 | 1,149,829 | 8% |
| Honda (American) | 116,507 | 116,580 | 0% | 1,390,057 | 1,290,011 | 8% |
| Hyundai division | 56,005 | 53,487 | 5% | 657,778 | 643,572 | 2% |
| Kia | 45,411 | 41,055 | 11% | 501,548 | 518,421 | –3% |
| Hyundai Group | 101,416 | 94,542 | 7% | 1,159,326 | 1,161,993 | 0% |
| Jaguar | 1,446 | 713 | 103% | 15,408 | 10,962 | 41% |
| Land Rover | 4,601 | 3,687 | 25% | 44,246 | 38,490 | 15% |
| Jaguar Land Rover | 6,047 | 4,400 | 37% | 59,654 | 49,452 | 21% |
| Maserati | 887 | 208 | 326% | 3,715 | 2,397 | 55% |
| Mazda | 20,754 | 21,691 | –4% | 260,983 | 249,793 | 5% |
| Mitsubishi | 6,071 | 3,574 | 70% | 55,804 | 53,677 | 4% |
| Infiniti | 13,152 | 11,897 | 11% | 103,223 | 107,250 | –4% |
| Nissan Division | 93,376 | 84,300 | 11% | 1,035,439 | 935,116 | 11% |
| Nissan | 106,528 | 96,197 | 11% | 1,138,662 | 1,042,366 | 9% |
| Subaru | 36,621 | 28,206 | 30% | 384,511 | 299,788 | 28% |
| Suzuki* | – | 2,224 | –100% | 5,946 | 23,412 | –75% |
| Lexus | 25,611 | 22,719 | 13% | 239,090 | 213,559 | 12% |
| Scion | 4,968 | 5,606 | –11% | 63,998 | 67,983 | –6% |
| Toyota division | 147,465 | 133,370 | 11% | 1,742,111 | 1,606,819 | 8% |
| Toyota/Scion | 152,433 | 138,976 | 10% | 1,806,109 | 1,674,802 | 8% |
| Toyota | 178,044 | 161,695 | 10% | 2,045,199 | 1,888,361 | 8% |
| Audi | 13,636 | 12,067 | 13% | 141,048 | 124,469 | 13% |
| Bentley | 320 | 212 | 51% | 2,519 | 2,078 | 21% |
| Lamborghini* | 46 | 44 | 5% | 506 | 476 | 6% |
| Porsche | 3,966 | 3,865 | 3% | 39,077 | 32,091 | 22% |
| VW division | 30,727 | 36,728 | –16% | 373,689 | 394,128 | –5% |
| Volkswagen | 48,695 | 52,916 | –8% | 556,839 | 553,242 | 1% |
| Volvo Cars NA | 4,233 | 6,141 | –31% | 56,345 | 61,967 | –9% |
| Other*** | 253 | 246 | 3% | 2,783 | 2,702 | 3% |
| TOTAL | 1,243,852 | 1,143,981 | 9% | 14,223,373 | 13,136,963 | 8% |
Sales of cars and light truck in the United States went up 9% overall to 1.24 million units delivered in November, selling at the fastest clip in almost seven years. The SAAR rose to 16.4 million units, exceeding analyst predictions of about 15.8 million vehicles. That’s the best seasonally adjusted annual rate since Feb. 2007, before the start of the global recession. November sales were the best since 2003 and close to the best November ever.
A Mustang forum has gotten their hands on a leaked edition of Autoweek, complete with pictures of the 2015 Mustang. We’ll have the reveal on Thursday, complete with technical details.
On the heels of “the biggest thing to happen in the commercial world” that is the Ram ProMaster — whose page links back to our review, of course — the Italo-American truck division has announced the introduction of the ProMaster City in late 2014.
The Great Recession has given us so much since it began five years ago with the fall of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual, from underwater mortgages and high unemployment, to bailouts of the financial and automotive manufacturing sectors and credit freezes.
Regarding the last item, a byproduct from said freeze will flood automakers with the potential to retain and steal customers when more and more leases draw to completion in the next year.
In the wake of quality and customer satisfaction with the continuously variable transmissions Nissan has been buying from affiliated supplier Jatco Ltd., the automaker is increasing oversight over the supplier. Nissan has experienced glitches as it launched a number of new models offering the CVT. The automaker is also expanding capacity around the world, putting additional pressure on their suppliers.
Earlier this year, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn singled out Jatco by name, saying that Nissan will require it to explain how it will ensure customer satisfaction on any new transmission that it introduces. He also said that customer service issues with Jatco transmissions have affected Nissan’s profitability. (Read More…)
For the fourth time since 2004 Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is reported to have devised a new plan to revive the Alfa Romeo brand, this one focused on premium vehicles made in Italy for export to the world. Alfa hasn’t made a profit in the nine years since Marchionne took the reigns at Fiat.
Marchionne’s latest plan for Alfa will be based on a new rear wheel drive architecture (with all wheel drive variants) that will be developed by a dedicated group of engineers at Maserati in Modena, headed by Philippe Krieff. Krieff reports directly to Harald Wester, Fiat-Chrysler chief technical officer and CEO of Alfa and Maserati. (Read More…)
Nissan BladeGlider
Delta Wing Project 56, a company backed by racing and pharmaceuticals entrepreneur Don Panoz to develop the DeltaWing racecar, is suing Nissan, claiming that the recently revealed BladeGlider concept, which Nissan revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show, infringes on intellectual property related to the DeltaWing.
Nissan says that their delta shaped car is inspried by “the soaring, silent, panoramic freedom of a glider and the triangular shape of a high-performance ‘swept wing’ aircraft.” One of the members of the BladeGlider project is designer Ben Bowlby, who originated the concept of the DeltaWing and he’s named as a defendant along with Nissan and Darren Cox, director of Nissan’s global motorsports program. (Read More…)
Based upon a survey of 1,084 conducted by Boulder, Colo. firm Navigant Research, it would appear most won’t be in the market for EVs anytime soon due to the price of admission being too rich for their blood… for any EV.
Business Insider wanted to know the buying habits of Americans when it comes to cars. Thus, they asked Kelley Blue Book to present their findings from data gathered between January and August 2013, as well as the lowest price for each top model sold in New York City in November of this year.
Wiesmann, the German maker of BMW powered retro sports cars, looked like it was going to join other European specialist automakers that have declared bankruptcy like Cosworth, Gumpert, Artega, Lola and the London Taxi Company, but the small company has apparently cleaned up its balance sheet and has applied to have its insolvency proceedings dismissed. Wiesmann has been operating since 1993 in Dülmen, Germany. No further explanation was given in the company’s announcement beyond stating that the application to dismiss the bankruptcy was “due to abolition of the insolvency reasons”. A meeting with Wiesmann’s creditors is scheduled for mid-December.
According to Moody’s Investors Service, increased competition for issuing auto loans will result in lenders taking greater risks and lowering underwriting standards. “Auto lenders will continue their return to higher levels of risk-taking, a trend that emerged in 2013 and will gain momentum in the coming year,” Moody’s analysts Jeffrey Hibbs, Mack Caldwell and William Black wrote in a report published Monday. Greater competition between lenders will result in “ever-more generous loan terms,” they said.
As the economy has slowly improved, losses on vehicle debt are down across the board, regardless of creditworthiness, compared to historic norms. That fact and continued low interest rates are attracting lenders into the car loan market. (Read More…)
Recent Comments