The Toyota Camry and Honda Accord were once bitter rivals for the title of “America’s Best-Selling Car”. The Camry is still top dog year-to-date, but the number two spot has changed. Meanwhile, Honda’s two core products rank third and fourth.
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GM CEO Dan Akerson might be in another one of his battles with the truth.
In a softballed interview with Fortune, GM’s CEO Dan Akerson said that he was suddenly and surprisingly drafted to lead GM as if it was time to go to war. “This was a call to service for me,” said Akerson, as he wrapped himself in a red, white, and blue flag and regaled interviewer Geoff Colvin with stories from the U.S. Naval Academy. Akerson makes the CEO job sound like a hardship post: Read More >
GM has just gotten back to us about the Oshawa Consolidated plant closing down next year, and despite the carefully worded, PR-approved statements, there are some good nuggets of information, and perhaps a couple conclusions to draw from here.
GM up 11 percent. Ford up 13 percent. Chrysler up 30 percent. Nissan up 21 percent. Volkswagen up 28 percent. Toyota up a whopping 87 percent. A few months ago, these numbers would have set champagne corks and fireworks flying. Today, these numbers were greeted by a communal meh and by stocks of automakers going south. Read More >
“You know what? The average person who lives in the South could probably own two new cars for their entire lifetime.”
“Steve! What are ya? Nuts?!”
“No. Think about it Tim. The average person in the future will probably drive about 10k miles a year. Let’s say they get a new car when they’re 22.”
“A new car? Really? Are we talking about a newly minted college grad? Or someone who actually works?”
“Someone who works… look. You can buy the new car in your 20’s. Maintain it well. Wax it once a year or so. Don’t drive too aggressively. Here in Georgia you have smooth roads, no rust…”
“And shiny happy people holding hands! Look Steve. You’re a frugal fellow. Maybe even cheap. Maybe a tightwad. Maybe one of the cheapest bastards I’ve ever met…”
“Well Tim, spare me your usual compliments. My theory still holds. I think the average car of recent times can hit 300k or 30 years if it’s driven conservatively and maintained well…”
With news of Volkswagen apparently considering the Amarok pickup for sale in Canada comes the strange sense of deja vu that us socialist Northerners get whenever an enticing, not-sold-in-America product is discussed.
Italy has some of Europe’s highest gasoline prices, with the liter going for approximately €1.83. This translates, hold on to your wallet, to $8.54 for the gallon. Italy is also the country of steep sales drops. The Italian new car market contracted by 18 percent last April. Fiat is Italy’s biggest carmaker and sustains even bigger losses.
Where others see a disaster, Fiat sees an opportunity. It wants to ignite flagging sales with cheap gas. Read More >
In the late 70’s, Volkswagen had plans to take over truck maker MAN and to sell a whole range of commercial vehicles, from light vans to heavy trucks under the MAN brand. MAN was never taken over, much to the relief of Volkswagen’s commercial vehicle division in Hannover that feared for its independence. Some 35 years later, the plan is close to become reality. Read More >
After four years in the reds, Mazda is trimming its workforce. Mazda will cut a quarter of its sales management staff in Europe and the U.S., in the current fiscal, The Nikkei [sub] heard while checking up on a press release outlining organizational and personnel changes at the Hiroshima carmaker. Read More >
Domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses in Japan rose 66.4% from a year earlier in May, data provided by Japanese industry groups show. Read More >
General Motors will announce tomorrow that their consolidated line at Oshawa, currently building both the Chevrolet Equinox and Chevrolet Impala, will close. 2,000 of the 4,000 jobs at the Oshawa plant are located at the consolidated factory, and GM apparently won’t be re-investing in the facility.
It’s the end of an era, as perhaps the best of the remaining American color car rags moves from Newport Beach to Ann Arbor. As the slightly snobby California counterpart to Motor Trend‘s unhappy mediocrity and Car and Driver’s wild swings between brilliance and boorishness, Road & Track has always provided pleasant, well-illustrated automotive content with a motorsports focus. No doubt part of that was due to the magazine’s distance from the Detroit manufacturers and its proximity to West Coast racetracks and the car-club culture.
No longer. Hearst Corporation is choosing to geographically merge R&T with C/D, and just in case there’s someone out there who isn’t getting the memo about what’s expected, they’re changing leadership as well.
Two weeks ago, I covered the arrival of the 11th generation Corolla in Japan. In Japan, the sedan is called Corolla Axio, the station wagon variant is called the Corolla Fielder. My report caused consternation amongst some readers who do not expect the arrival of the new Corolla before 2014. Instead of simply accepting that TTAC is ahead of its times, some readers ordered me to do better research. Your wish being my command (this time,) I went back to the scene of the alleged research crime to sit down with the car’s creator, Toyota Chief Engineer Hiroya Fujita. I asked him to explain to the Best and Brightest the birds and the bees of the new Corolla.
I also drove the car around the block a few times. Read More >
While on the Infiniti JX launch event, I met a gentleman who now works with Nissan. He had a number of interesting stories about his tenure at GM, and what it was like to work on the EV1 program, as well as the technology that he swears was the forerunner to the Chevrolet Volt.
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