To hell with saving gas: As TTAC’s sales analyst Tim Cain wrote a week ago, big trucks are back with a vengeance. It’s not just that sales are up by double digits. Transaction prices are up big.
“In many ways, this may be an even better time than before the recession,” writes Automotive News [sub]. “Although volumes remain well below the previous peaks, average transaction prices for full-sized pickups have increased at more than double the average rate for the industry since 2005.” Read More >
Your Carfax data is going to new hands. IHS, the company that owns businesses from the defense publication Jane’s all the way to the not always reliable Global Insight, told Reuters that “it struck a deal to buy privately held R.L. Polk & Co, the owner of used-car history provider Carfax and a leading provider of auto industry data.” Read More >
“Hybrid and electric cars are sparing the environment. Critics say they’re hurting the roads,” writes Bloomberg. “The popularity of these fuel-efficient vehicles is being blamed for a drop in gasoline taxes that pay for local highway and bridge maintenance, with three states enacting rules to make up the losses with added fees on the cars and at least five others weighing similar legislation.”
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What do People’s Daily, the voice of China’s Communist Party, and Jalopnik have in common? More than you would imagine. Just as a for instance, both are masters of the fine art of pecksniffian outrage. Both are experts when it comes to condemning loose morals, as long as the condemnation can be illustrated with enough graphic, click-generating pictures that show said loose morals in practice. Sanctimonious click-whoring knows no boundaries, and it transcends ideologies: Gawker and CCCP, unite!
A few days ago, Peoples Daily ran an 11 high resolution picture gallery, ostensibly condemning the fact that
“in addition to taking off clothes, some commercial promotions have chosen a more disgusting way to attract public attention. From sexy dress to body painting, public’s moral bottom line has been challenged again and again.”
(Jalopnik, aware of its TL;NR clientele, would have said it with fewer words, and with at least as many pictures.)
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“Struggling to match rivals’ scale and efficiency in smaller cars, as well as their success in China, Stuttgart-based Daimler has fallen further behind German peers BMW and Volkswagen,” reports Reuters. Alone by bringing outsourced SAP systems in-house, Daimler wants to save €150 million (nearly $200 million.) Read More >
With Volvo in Chinese hands, with a new Volvo plant in Chengdu “more or less completed,” and a second assembly plant in Daqing to come online in late 2014, there have been reports in Europe that Volvos may soon come from China instead from Sweden. Not true, Volvo’s production chief Lars Wrebo told Automobilwoche [sub]. However, “other markets” than Europe could get the Made-in-China Volvos. Read More >
Fiat might be looking for another Chinese joint venture partner to manufacture Jeeps, Fiat CEo Sergio Marchionne told Reuters. “In China we have a good partner, and we have the possibility to use a second one to develop Jeep,” Marchionne said. Read More >
I had no idea that today is National Donuts Day, would Jenna of Webershandwick.com (“Our passion, intelligence and commitment are essential ingredients in our clients’ success“) not have sent me a free link to a free donut video. Read More >
An attempt of Germany to water down CO2 targets, about to be imposed by the EU, explains why automakers are eager to build EVs despite a lack of an eager market. Germany proposes that so-called supercredits can be used to off-set the limits. “Unlimited supercredits could allow the manufacture of electric cars for which there is little or no demand, while allowing just as many polluting vehicles as before on to the roads,” campaigners against supercredits told Reuters. Read More >
Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne jumped, so to speak, into the flames erupting around the rebuffed Jeep recall. Says Reuters:
“Marchionne Friday reiterated Chrysler’s resistance to a recall of 2.7 million older-model Jeep vehicles, adding that the automaker is preparing to supply the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with information it had requested.”
Chrysler’s recent decision to snub a recent NHTSA recall request is big news. I need not restate the facts of the story, if you are a “car guy” and haven’t heard the sordid details, or noticed the dramatic photos of burned out Jeep Grand Cherokees and Liberties posted all over the internet in the past few days, you must live under a rock. With 2.7 million vehicles involved the costs of conducting such a recall would be staggering but, ultimately, inaction may cost the company even more money if consumers lose confidence in the brand. Read More >
After enduring what The Motor Report calls “a spiraling and damaging media campaign – run, in the main, by Fairfax media,” Volkswagen spoke up. According to Reuters, “Australian Managing Director John White told Australia’s Fairfax newspaper on Friday that VW “have issues” after car owners complained of transmission and engine failures causing loss of power, but did not order a general recall.” Read More >
MAN is now officially part of the Volkswagen empire. MAN stockholders approved a profit and loss transfer agreement that “ends MAN’s autonomy,” as Automobilwoche [sub] reports.
A bit kinkily, that agreement is called a “domination” agreement in Germany. It defines a corporate power exchange.
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When there was labor unrest in South Africa, the UAW was quick to spend union dues for a long trip to the scenic South African locale, ostensibly to show their solidarity with South African union brothers who, coincidentally, fought against Mercedes and Volkswagen. Back home, the UAW pulled a whole packet of race cards. It headlines, a bit strenuously: “South Africans have more rights than workers in Mississippi.”
It would have been more a propos if the UAW would have flown to South Korea to show solidarity with workers who are about to go on strike against GM, the company, ooops, that is partially owned by the UAW. Read More >
Live shots from the Corolla reveal. The white car is the “Eco” model, while the grey car is the LE. The red “S” was featured prominently throughout the reveal. Anybody more interested in Junkyard Finds can click the jump.
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