“Cars mangled by the massive wall of water that destroyed into Japan’s northeast coast are being removed by construction equipment, placed on trucks and laid to rest by the thousands on flood plains once covered with water. The cars, many of which are marked with spray paint to indicate if bodies needed to be removed from inside, are laid in neat rows with license plates easily visible for owners or family members hoping to find lost vehicles.”

Read the complete gripping Reuters article here.

PS: Despite more than 20,000 dead, you won’t find pictures of them in the Japanese media. It is against Japanese custom to show pictures of the dead. Japanese are shocked when foreign media do not respect this custom.

Except for the faithful at Saabsunited.com, there aren’t too many left who are convinced of Saab’s success. Now, there is one less. Dubbed as “the last Swede,” Saab’s CEO Jan Ake Jonsson handed in his resignation after leading the company through what must have been six very stressful years. Read More >

History of the Volkswagen Gol (Parte Um) takes us from the BX project that gave rise to the Gol, to the late-90s when the Gol was almost unstoppable. However, chinks were being taken from both the Gol’s and VW’s armor. Which will become evident in Parte Dois, to follow tomorrow.

Many of you have asked me to do a history of the most sold car in the story of the Brazilian automobile. Be careful what you wish for. We will now (tach and) dwell on Volkswagen’s Gol history. The Gol is a singular car and very interesting. Many parallels can be drawn between its trajectory and VW’s. One thing is for sure: VW marches to the tone of the Gol in Brazil. As the Gol goes (or not), so does Volkswagen.

It all started back in the 70s. The Beetle was falling by the wayside and VW knew it. Trouble was, what car could substitute that old age favorite? Read More >

JAC do Brasil has officially announced the result of their first full week of sales. A surprising 1,139 Chinese cars changed hands! According to Brazilian car mag Quatro-Rodas, the company’s President in Brazil, Sérgio Habib, who had expected sales of 3,000 cars in April, is now saying, “Judging by our first week, we can now project more than 4,500 units.” Mr. Habib is well-known in Brazilian auto biz circles. He was responsible for Citroën’s successful launch in Brazil back in the 90s. So his opinion carries weight. Read More >

When the two extreme ends of the car world collide, there’s bound to be a at least a little tension. So when the first day of LeMons Sears Pointless 2011 overlapped with a track day for Ferrari Challenge customers, the clash of cultures was palpable. Especially when Team Kicking Ass pulled their “250 GTO” into the Prancing Horse’s garage and started snickering about “those cute six figure Ferraris” (i.e. the not-for-public-consumption 458 Challenge). Because real Ferraris have to be bought at auctions… even if they still have “Datsun” on the valve cover.

So far, it had been clear that the March 11 earthquake and tsunami would create big problems for the auto industry in Japan in particular and worldwide in general. When asked when, where, and how much, all we received were shrugging shoulders when taking to a westernized counterpart, or an “eeeh” or the customary sucking of air through the teeth when talking to an old school Japanese.  Now finally, the first facts emerge. Read More >

On March 17, Honda revealed its new low-cost, emerging-market, sales-busting (they hope) Brio. Well, at least in name Honda is looking for a fight as the car’s name, in Italian, means something along the lines of “fighting spirit”. Will it have a fighting chance to make it in Brazil? Read More >

Ed Niedermeyer is AWOL collecting bribes with hermaphrodite LeMons Judge Murilee Martin somewhere in – aha! – San Francisco.  So Sajeev Mehta (bless his heart, why is he not judging?) tracked down our old friend Jehovah Johnson to write some fiction. Or was it the truth?

This is a story related to Steve Lang’s Hammer Time series. The following is an excerpt of something I wrote chronicling my two day tenure at an auction house down in the city. I’ve been in sales, particularly the auto industry, seemingly forever, so it’s not like I didn’t know what I was getting into. Several people thought this was creatively written, so I’m submitting it to you guys; post it, laugh at it, whatever you wish. Your website is great. Thanks and pull up a chair…

So I get there on Day 1, pumped – there’s about 500 cars outside, in various states of disrepair and readiness for sale but nevertheless. Go in, introduce myself, etc etc. I’ve officially arrived and am ready to solve your problems was the general tone. Met everyone, typical car environment segregation – males running the place/in sales with some excellent females on the phones and handling the accounting/secretarial – some serious talent was present in the back office. This is going to be fun, I thought. Read More >

Japan’s largest and second largest automakers are worlds apart. Last year, Nissan made less than half of the cars the world’s number one, Toyota produced. Looking at the February results of both, we see a Goliath that is slowing down and a David that is revving up mightily. What’s more, we see a Goliath that is heavily exposed to the destruction in Japan, and a David that had moved most of his production abroad, well before the Flood. Let’s compare David and Goliath. Read More >

Vehicle output of Japan, the world’s second largest car producing nation, was down across the board in February. The reductions reported today by Japan’s majors pale in comparison to the dramatic losses that will be announced for March, and quite possibly for months to come. Read More >

Our friend, frequent RoundAbout Show guest Mirko Reinhardt, has found an Infiniti dealership that’s kind of like Surf City. In Surf City, as our older readers will remember, there are two girls for every boy, but in Germany, there’s an dealer with two Infinitis in stock for every one sold across the entire country last month. What’s a Japanese wanna-be luxury brand to do?

We’ll let Mirko tell the tale:
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Parts shortages triggered by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan could reduce global automobile production by up to 30 percent, research firm IHS Automotive told Bloomberg. Or at least that’s what Bloomberg heard. Read More >

“Is it a war when only one guy is fighting and the other guy is laughing? Just askin’… because I’m all smiles.”

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Today, the automotive world rocked to the news that ethical hero journalist Scott Burgess had finally deigned to return to his old job, telling his colleagues “the reason for me to come back has everything to do with all of you. The Detroit News is filled with world caliber reporters in every department. And the strength of your character and commitment to journalism has shined—” Oh, who gives a shit. Click the jump and we’ll talk about a time I successfully evaded the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
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J.D. Power sees a strong March in its crystal ball, powered by real-time transaction data of 8,600 retail franchises throughout the United States. However growth is expected to be much more sedate than the 27 percent jump in February.

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