1974 Audi photo
The United States was supposed to be an important part of the Volkswagen Group becoming the world’s biggest automaker by 2018, with sales of 800,000 units in the U.S. by then, but it’s finding the U.S. market a tough nut to crack. “We understand Europe, we understand China and we understand Brazil,” VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech told Bloomberg this month. “But we only understand the United States to a certain degree so far.”
Carlos Ghosn has shuffled Nissan Motor Co.’s top management, elevating Jose Munoz to head the company in North America, while eliminating the Chief Operating Officer position in the home office. COO Toshiyuki Shiga is becoming vice chairman and the responsibilities of his former job will be split between Hiroto Saikawa, Andy Palmer and Trevor Mann.
Spurred by tax breaks, free recharging stations, free parking and other benefits for EV drivers worth up to $8,100 (about 6,000 euros) a year per car, electric cars are doing very well in Norway. Reuters reports that Tesla’s Model S was the best selling car in Norway in September and Nissan’s Leaf was the market leader in October. Last month 716 Leafs were sold, a 6% market share, beating out the Toyota Auris and the VW Golf. For the year, the Leaf is the fourth best selling car in Norway with 3.2% of the total market. (Read More…)
| Manufacturer | Month (A) | Previous year (B) | A / B (%) | This year total | Previous year total | Year-on-year (%) |
| Daihatsu | 194 | 241 | 80.5 | 1939 | 2303 | 84.2 |
| Fuji Heavy Industries | 13121 | 11851 | 110.7 | 99888 | 76721 | 130.2 |
| Hino | 5524 | 4704 | 117.4 | 34737 | 32041 | 108.4 |
| Honda | 39398 | 26186 | 150.5 | 238177 | 365294 | 65.2 |
| Isuzu | 8259 | 6915 | 119.4 | 47349 | 46223 | 102.4 |
| Mazda | 16669 | 15531 | 107.3 | 131909 | 136678 | 96.5 |
| Mitsubishi | 4194 | 3550 | 118.1 | 31980 | 40397 | 79.2 |
| Mitsubishi Fuso | 3803 | 2988 | 127.3 | 26533 | 26569 | 99.9 |
| Nissan | 47534 | 48502 | 98 | 362177 | 371501 | 97.5 |
| Perch | 6908 | 7289 | 94.8 | 61243 | 72230 | 84.8 |
| Toyota | 140228 | 124025 | 113.1 | 1166595 | 1295876 | 90 |
| UD Trucks | 1024 | 856 | 119.6 | 6672 | 6886 | 96.9 |
| Imported car | 37459 | 35841 | 104.5 | 257873 | 233609 | 110.4 |
| Total | 324315 | 288479 | 112.4 | 2467072 | 2706328 | 91.2 |
With a sales tax increase of 3% looming next year and the Japanese economy on an upswing, October retail sales of cars and light trucks in Japan were up over 17% from the same month last year, with both regular and mini “kei” cars doing well. Honda led all companies with a 50% increase from 2012 and Toyota taking first place in overall sales with a little over 140,000 units sold, up 13%. (Read More…)
Texting. Cellphones. Entertainment systems. All of these have been regulated in order to diminish distracted driving as much as possible. Google Glass may now be added to that list, courtesy of the California Highway Patrol via a speeding ticket that became more upon closer inspection.
An Albuquerque Car Wash owner watched in shock as Christopher Chase shot police officer Matthew Hannum in the leg and then stole the officer’s police car. “Seeing an individual like a police officer get shot like we noticed. I mean poor guy got shot and he was hurt. I wanted to do all I can to go there and help him,” said the business owner, who prefers to remain anonymous.
Now that Honda seems to be reviving the Beat kei sports car in the form of the S660, to be shown to the public for the first time next month at the Tokyo Auto Show, Daihatsu has revealed that it will be also showing a small kei roadster with a retractable hardtop as well.
Reports from unnamed sources critical of competitors are not the most reliable, but Pete DeLorenzo says according to his sources within the auto industry a design shortcoming is the reason why the batteries in two Tesla Model S cars have recently started fires following collisions. Presumably DeLorenzo’s source or sources are within General Motors because they compare the way the battery pack is housed in Tesla to the way the Chevy Volt does it. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stressed how his company protects the battery pack with 1/4″ thick armor plating underneath the car, but DeLorenzo’s source says that is essentially a band-aid solution to the fact that the battery pack itself has only a single protective shield, compared to the three layers of wrapping that the Volt’s battery pack has. (Read More…)
Tesla Motors has used exclusively Panasonic lithium ion battery cells since it started selling electric cars. 2010 photo.
Panasonic Corp., which already is the largest supplier of lithium ion batteries for the electric car industry, has announced that it has signed a new contract with Tesla to supply battery cells for the Model S and upcoming Model X electric vehicles. The Japanese company will supply 2 billion 18650 form factor lithium-ion cells worth up to $7 billion over the next four years. Panasonic has been Tesla’s exclusive supplier of battery cells since it started selling its first EV, the Tesla Roadster. (Read More…)
The U.S. EPA has released its latest fuel economy ratings and the 2014 Ford Fiesta SE with the 1 liter 3 cylinder EcoBoost engine and a 5 speed manual transmission had the highest mpg rating of any non-hybrid gasoline powered car, 45 mpg highway, 32 city and 37 mpg combined. Both three and five door models had the same rating. Interestingly, Ford will still offer the Fiesta SFE (Super Fuel Economy), which actually gets poorer gas mileage than the 1 liter EcoBoost SE, 30 city/41 highway. (Read More…)
Toyota remains the number one auto maker by volume, but the gap between it and its main rivals is closing quickly.
The Government Accountability Office issued a report on the U.S. Treasury’s investment in General Motors (and Ally Financial, the former GMAC credit arm of GM) which says that the automaker has improved since 2008 but that there still are concerns about competitiveness and market share as well as pension and labor costs. “Although GM’s financial performance has improved significantly since the company initially received federal assistance, questions remain about competitiveness, market share and costs,” the GAO said. (Read More…)
The all-electric future creeps upon us all steadily, from Tesla’s luxury offerings more appropriate for New York Fashion Week, to Nissan’s electric blue and white jelly beans moving eco-conscious families to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.
Speaking of Nissan, the automaker has decided to unleash the e-Nv200 upon the streets of Europe in 2014, with both fleet and private sales in mind.
With stricter fuel economy standards pushing automakers to reduce vehicle weight, it’s been suggested that the next generation Jeep Wrangler, due in 2016, might come with independent suspension. Solid axles weigh more than independent suspension and the Wrangler has solid axles in both the rear and front of the vehicle. Jeep brand manager Mike Manley hasn’t denied that the next Wrangler may lose the rugged axles that off-roaders love. (Read More…)
With the vast majority of the government’s General Motors shares sold, the U.S. government is reporting a $9.7 billion loss, according to a Congressional report cited by the Detroit News.
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