Honda is thinking about delaying its earnings announcement while the company has all hands full dealing with the fall-out of earthquake, tsunami and radiating power plants. A Honda spokesman told Reuters: “We’re considering it, but nothing has been decided.” Read More >
“Production at a Nissan Motor plant in China dwindled dramatically two weeks after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami disrupted the supply of key auto parts,” reports China’s People’s Daily, citing “sources with the company.”
In a land where alleged spokespeople of a company get a heart attack and hang up when a reporter calls, those sources turned out to be workers at the Dongfeng Nissan joint venture in central China’s Hubei Province. “We used to assemble 304 cars a day, but today our plan is set at 82,” said a worker. Read More >
There are two words guaranteed to cause heavy Maalox and Valium intake in the world of my (former) fellow Mad Men, and to increase billable hours at their shrinks: “Agency review.”
The client calls in the competition to present ideas. A lot of time and huge amounts of money are wasted spent in the beauty contest. Now all ad agencies of BMW U.S.A. are pummeled by anxiety attacks: BMW has called for the dreaded agency review. Read More >
Who will be the world’s largest car company this year? There appears to be at least one car company that is (so far) totally unaffected by any parts malaises, supposed bursting bubbles in China and any other possible impediments to vehicular growth: Volkswagen. Veedub’s sales jefe Christian Klinger remarked at the sidelines of a press conference today that Volkswagen’s sales will hit record levels in March.
The Wall Street Journal could not believe its ears and sought confirmation. A Volkswagen spokesman said they heard right. Klingler didn’t give any further details, says the WSJ, but record levels can’t mean anything else than the best March ever in VW’s storied history. Read More >
A shortage of engine-related micro control units (MCUs) resulting from damage to Japan’s Renesas Electronics plant in Naka will curtail global auto production, says the market intelligence service ICSIS, citing a report by Germany’s Deutsche Bank. Renesas Electronics is the world’s biggest maker of automotive microcontrollers. It more and more emerges as a “key bottleneck in Japan’s parts shortage,” says Automotive News [sub]. One of its two auto-related factories damaged by this month’s earthquake won’t be operational until July.
Renesas supplies 18-20 percent of the world’s automotive MCU market. About 70 percent of the production is sold to Japanese automakers, the remaining 30 percent goes to US and European car companies. “The supply of these MCUs is not easily replaceable,” says ICSIS, “as boosting production at other sites could take as long as six to nine months.” Read More >
Elorac writes:
Sajeev,
Not sure if this is an appropriate Piston Slap question, but here goes. I’m the owner of a 2009 Infiniti G37S coupe, manual trans, approx 30,000 miles. I’m very happy with the car (aside from a touchy clutch that gets tiresome in slow traffic), but ever since I bought it I’ve felt that I won’t really have gotten my money’s worth until I do some real hooning. I recently received a track day package as a gift, consisting of five half-hour sessions, the first with some manner of instructor. I’ll be attending next week, with just about equal parts excitement and trepidation.
Having never done anything of the sort before, and with little experience with truly “enthusiastic” driving, I’d like to ask you (and the B&B) for any advice you might have, in all aspects of the experience but with a particular emphasis on potential damage to my car’s powertrain innards. As laughable as it may seem, given the context, I do actually care about the long term health of this car, and I’d like to avoid doing anything too grievous to it. A fool’s errand?
A Grand Jury in Napa, California last month issued a report calling for reform and refunds in the city’s red light camera program. The jurors uncovered yellow light timing discrepancies and an unusual dependence upon right-turn tickets to generate revenue at the most productive intersection. The Australian vendor Redflex Traffic Systems began issuing tickets in May 2009, and citations at four intersections now cost $475 each. So far, 9278 tickets worth $4 million have been mailed — 3789 of which were sent to vehicle owners that turned right on red.
David E. Davis, Jr. died today during an unspecified “cancer surgery”. Readers wishing to read a historically accurate, solemn, heartfelt tribute to the man from one of his most devoted acolytes should turn to Eddie Alterman’s blog entry at Car and Driver.
The rest of you can come sit here by me.
Read More >
Before you read this article, go back and read the History of the Gol (Partes Um and Dois). Really, go. Now that you’ve read this icon’s history you are better prepared to opine on what lies ahead. In celebration of the model’s 30th anniversary, Volkswagen do Brasil has launched a commemorative version of the Gol. VW is calling it “Vintage”. What is it? Simply the most expensive Gol in history. Read More >
By now, Toyota had wanted to have finished to move all of the production from Sagamihara near Tokyo to the new plant in Ohira in Miyagi Prefecture. Ohira already built the Yaris for export, the production of the Corolla for the domestic market was scheduled to follow, along with 400 employees who wanted to exchange the New Jersey-ish surroundings of Kanagawa for the mountainous beauty (and lower living expenses) of Ohira. Then, the tsunami intervened. Toyota has put a halt on the move. Read More >
As early as a week from now, Honda’s North American production in Ohio, Alabama, Indiana, Canada and Mexico will be affected by the Japanese parts paralysis. Bloomberg talked to Natsuno Asanuma, Honda’s spokeswoman in Tokyo. She said workers will be informed once Honda has decided on a production plan. Read More >
In this second and last installment of the two part series (Parte Um here,) we see the Gol fall from the height of sportiness to the profound depths of strippo hell. Like that Greek hero, it lived on to rise and shine again. However, it now finds itself in the battle of its life.
In 1999, in what VW exaggeratedly called the third generation, the Gol and the Parati were restyled. In a complete flip-flop from the previous door austerity policy, and just as incoherent, they are now available only in 4 doors. However, a basic 1.0 Gol called Special remained with the old design as an entry-level option (and a way to fight Fiat’s Uno). The Saveiro would be redesigned in 2000. Internally, the whole line benefited from a more Audi-esque instrument cluster with VW’s signature blue and red lighting. Read More >
The Japanese parts paralysis claims a new victim. Allegedly. Ford will close its plant in Genk, Belgium, for five days starting April 4. The idea is to conserve auto parts in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami, Ford said in a statement emailed to the media. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Belgium plant was scheduled to be idled for five days in May to keep the production of cars in line with demand. Ford moved up the closure “to ensure we have parts availability going forward given the current situation in Japan,” Ford spokesman John Stoll said. Read More >
After the Mach 11 earthquake and tsunami shut down a large number of power plants in Japan, rolling blackouts were instated in large parts of the country. Lack of power emerges more and more as the biggest impediment to a quick recovery.of the Japanese automotive industry. Most of the industry has been shut down. Power will remain scarce for many months in Japan. Come summer and A/C time, the situation will be worse. Japanese automakers are now considering running their factories in rotation to help cut the industry’s electricity consumption, The Nikkei [sub] writes today. Japan’s automakers could prepare for a production loss of well over a million units for the year. Read More >
My pants still fit me from college. Well, they are sweatpants after all. They were given to me by a friend of mine who is known as a ‘Datsunaholic’. He keeps a few old cars. A few of those models have been written up by Paul Niedermeyer who now keeps a lot of houses along with his new web site. He invariably finds ‘keeper folk’ from all walks of life. But most of the people he finds are not car enthusiasts at all. Why do they ‘keep’ these cars then? Are they perhaps hoarders? Do they suffer the afflictions of the wantless? Or is this just another write-up inspired by Kevin Bacon? Read More >
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