While western companies have their eyes on China as the big market for EVs, and while they worry about their precious know-how being expropriated by the nasty Chicoms, Chinese are already looking elsewhere for low cost production of their cars. Read More >
With car sharing on the rise, my home state of Oregon is moving towards changing insurance rules to allow private “peer to peer” rentals by auto owners. The Oregonian reports that HB 3149 is headed for the Governor’s desk, having been approved by the state House and Senate. Sponsor Rep Ben Cannon explains
Most insurance policies prohibit people from using their cars for commercial purposes. This bill says someone can participate in car sharing without having to worry that their insurance will be canceled.
California is the only other state to have passed such legislation, and already Facebook-based peer-to-peer car rental firms like Getaround have popped up to fill the demand. With average car ownership costs reaching $8,000 per year according to the AAA, Cannon argues that research showing that cars sit parked for 90% of their lives proves the need for more car-sharing flexibility. And established car-sharing firms like Zipcar, which operate their own fleets don’t feel threatened by the bill, as they are not expanding beyond urban cores and as Zipcar’s CEO puts it, peer-to-peer rentals validate the car-sharing model. But would you rent your car to a stranger?
Saab was supposed to reach 100% production speed sometime in the middle of last week after enduring a nearly two-month shutdown. But now it seems that more “material shortages” have brought the Trollhättan plant to its knees again, as Steve Wade of inside.saab.com reports
Yesterday, production at Saab Automobile stopped at lunchtime due to material shortages. We have now stopped again today for the same reasons…
The liquidity situation is still tense, and depends on several different financing solutions falling into place, long-term as well as short-term. Some milestones have been achieved, such as the letter of intent signed with Pang Da and the additional funding that their order of Saab cars means. An example of things that still await a solution is the sale and leaseback of Saab AB Property, which we have addressed in previous communications. Representatives from Spyker and Saab will continue to work with these solutions, while the dialogue between Saab and suppliers progresses.
Red light cameras may disappear from the nation’s second-largest city. The police commission in Los Angeles, California voted 5 to 0 yesterday to deny renewal of the city’s photo enforcement contract with American Traffic Solutions (ATS). The decision is a stunning reversal for a program that has been in place for over a decade. Between 2004 and 2010, a private vendor has issued over 183,000 tickets worth more than $80 million. The problem is that the state’s share of that revenue is so great that the city claims it is losing money from the cameras, even though tickets are $476 each.
And finally in our series of Teutonic luxo-barges: the boys from Stuttgart. For long, Daimler used to look down their noses at the boorish upstarts from BMW, and even more so at – ach du mein Lieber – Audi.
Daimler better get used to looking up. Despite record sales in May, Mercedes-Benz takes the #3 step on the podium, both in May and YTD. The race is close, but Mercedes is getting a bit short-winded. In May, the starred brand delivered a total of 108,766 passenger vehicles to customers worldwide, up 7.3 percent. YTD, the tally stands 490,021 units, up 10.5 percent. Read More >
Audi isn’t the only German premium brand to report stellar numbers in May. The Bavarian competition, 89km down south from Audi’s Ingolstadt, didn’t sit on their thumbs either. The BMW Group increased its May sales by 22.1 percent to 147,563 BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce brand vehicles. That’s an all-time sales high for the month of May. Year-to-date, the number stands at 667,511 units for a growth of 20.7 percent, BMW says in an emailed statement. What they don’t say is even more outstanding … Read More >
Photos by Patrick Rall
When Korean EV maker CT&T decided to crack the US market they took a high profile that left some observers scratching their heads. The plans seemed a bit ambitious. Two years ago, CT&T announced that it would begin importing and then producing electric cars in the US, eventually employing 2,600 people within five years. The small EV maker dangled production sites in front of South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama and California, looking for tax breaks and incentives. Eventually they settled on Hawaii, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, and those states greeted CT&T with huzzahs and open arms. To announce to the world that they were playing in the automotive big leagues, CT&T had a fairly large display at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, showing their tiny EVs and a new electric sportscar, the C2, for Creative Challenge (or at least that’s what the decals on the side said).
I have always been a ‘keeper’. Even though my inventory varies these days from muscle car’s to minivan’s, my own daily driver has always been a long-term affair. It’s an addiction that goes well beyond cars. Quality, stewardship. An opportunity to make your professional work enduring. Keeping and preserving your ride usually goes well beyond the economics of the car itself. That’s why the most fervent of horse traders in any business will eventually find a personal keeper or two. And chances are it’s not always going to be something that is flashy or popular. Read More >
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is taking to the internet ahead of a forthcoming increase in 2017-2025 CAFE standards, with a website called “Consumers and Fuel Economy.” There you can find, among other things, this graph detailing the relationship between hybrid sales and fuel prices over the last three… summers? Did the fall and winter data not support the AAM’s goals? If so, and this graph has been constructed for maximum impact, it’s hardly a wildly convincing slice of data… or is it?
When is a brand not a brand? Or, perhaps the real question here is “when does a brand become a brand?”. In any case, Chrysler introduced its Street and Racing Technology “brand” way back in 2002, and has sold SRT versions of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles ever since. But for 2011, a model-year which saw the launch of the group’s Fiat-fettled lineup, the SRT lineup dwindled to just the Challenger SRT8. Now, Chrysler is announcing the “re-creation” of the brand, while noting that
While we still made SRT vehicles, there wasn’t as concerted effort in development and marketing in recent years.
The Chinese government appears to be dead-set on electrifying its car fleet. And if any government usually gets what it wants, then it’s the Chinese. Generous subsidies beckon: Some cities in China match a central government subsidy of 60,000 yuan with their own 60,000 yuan largesse. That’s 120,000 yuan, or in today’s greenbacks (forget the rumor that the yuan is pegged to the $, no more) that’s $18,515. Even more intriguing: Beijing promises to do away with its license plate lottery for EVs.
Two problems: No EVs to buy, and no charging stations. Read More >
Powered by new models, especially the Q5, Q7, the A1 and the new A6, Audi is on a seemingly unstoppable tear throughout the world. In May, Audi sold 113,400 units, 19.5 percent more than in May 2010. Year-to-date, Volkswagen’s premium brand is up 17.5 percent to 535,400 units. China has eclipsed Germany as Audi’s most important market. In Germany, Audi is up 18.4 percent, in China an amazing 44.6 percent. Sales are also up solidly in the other BRIC markets. Read More >
May shapes up to be an accommodating month for China watchers: There’s something for everybody. You want to see the Chinese bubble burst? May will give that to you. You want cliché-confirmation, you want to hear that Chinese hate Japanese? May gives you automotive anti-Japan pogroms. You want GM up? No problem, May has got that. You want GM down? No problem, May has got that. You want unbridled growth? May can do.
Or as the Chinese say: “May wen ti!” No problem!
First, let’s have a look at our patent-pending TTAC China sales oracle, a.k.a. GM China. Read More >
American Traffic Solutions files federal lawsuit accusing former VP of stealing company clients.
Photo enforcement vendor American Traffic Solutions last month filed a federal lawsuit against one of its own top employees. Michael J. Lenza worked for ATS as senior vice president for financial services from September 30, 2006 to May 13, 2011. Lenza’s job was to solicit business, but ATS now charges the former executive with secretly building a client base of his own on company time. Read More >
Japan’s March 11 tsunami had more destructive effects than just washing pint-sized (ok, ok, 0.6 liter sized) kei cars to the top of Japan’s sales charts. It also resulted in considerable menboku o tsubusu (literally “breaking of face”, dishonor) for Lexus. On its home-turf Japan, Toyota’s lux-brand was outsold by doitsu (German) BMW, even by Mercedes, a brand said to be popular with the yakuza. Speaking of major menboku o tsubusu: BMW did certainly not top Toyota, as Bloomberg insinuates. Read More >
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