Just how American is the new Volkswagen Jetta? When a German car company comes out with a new car, they usually release it in Germany first, so the Teutonic car bible Auto Motor und Sport can run a big multi-page review in the front of the magazine. Not only was the 2011 Jetta launched in the US, but the latest issue of AM und S carried only a half-page mini-review. In the final paragraph, the buff book explains that smaller gas engines and a variety of diesels should be available for Germany, and that
Here [in Germany], the comfortable Jetta will get a higher-quality appointments/equipment (hochwertigere Ausstattung) as well as a multi-link rear suspension.
The hochwertigere Ausstattung line is (purposefully?) vague, and could mean that the German-market Jetta will get a better-quality interior (as implied by the caption “US version with hard plastic and simple instruments”) or that it will simply come with a higher equipment level. In any case, don’t expect the German market to be thrilled by the version that we drove. Or that VW’s “Das Auto” tagline means much of anything to our Mexican-built Jetta.
When a police spokesman is quoted in a newspaper or on a radio program regarding photo enforcement, everything he says is carefully scripted by the private company dependent on the survival of the program for its revenue. This became clear after a Maryland activist yesterday released contract documents that outline the role of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) in creating the sales pitch delivered to the public by Montgomery County officials. StopBigBrotherMD.org obtained copies of the contract in which ACS receives a cut of every ticket the company issues, promising in return to control all aspects of communications regarding the program.
So far, auto marketers and market analysts have focused on the more than a billion people in China who do not have a car. This will remain a lucrative target for a long time. China Economic Daily has identified another attractive target group. People who already have a car. Read More >
Tesla cars are still hard to get and hard to find, but it’s not for a lack of international distribution. Soon, it will be easier to buy a Tesla out of the country than in the country. From April to June, Tesla Motors opened showrooms in Copenhagen and two other parts of the world, reports The Nikkei [sub] By the end of the year it plans to open three more showrooms in Tokyo, Paris and Milan.
When Bob King was elected UAW president in June, he did something that was once seen as highly un-American: He swore to give his full attention to the Japanese. At closer look, he just followed the trend: American carmakers had lost more than half of the market to foreign name plates. And the UAW, with a membership of just 350,000 is only a shadow if its former 1.4 million member glory. King wants to get new members where Americans get new cars: from Japanese and other foreign automakers’ plants in the U.S. How does he want to go about it? With good old UAW arm twisting. Read More >
Last month, I asked whether the UK car market had taken a blue pill. The reason I’d asked is because sales were rising despite the local “bangers for cash” scheme had ended months ago. Well, it appears that the effects are finally wearing off (I was going to say “flopping” but we’ve used that metaphor enough). The SMMT reports that UK new car registrations fell 13.2 percent in July 2010. This marks the first month in this year where sales dropped. This is expected to continue through 2010 as the market slows down. This is not surprising as the government cutbacks will start to take effect this year.
“A drop in private registrations compared to the scrappage-fuelled months of 2009 was expected and has brought the first market decline for 12 months,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “Subdued consumer confidence and a still fragile economic recovery make the outlook for the remainder of 2010 challenging, but a stronger than expected first half means full year volumes are still forecast to exceed 2009’s total.”. Another curious finding of the report was how diesel vehicles are now the dominant powertrain of choice, with market share up to 50.6 percent. Anyway, shall we take a closer look at the figures? Read More >
Editor’s Note: The following was originally written by Jim Walker for the National Motorists Association blog, and has been republished with permission from the NMA.
I have worked closely with the Michigan State Police for several years in their pursuit of correcting as many Michigan posted speed limits to the correct 85th percentile speed level as possible. Yes, we have a very enlightened state police administration that wants to see posted limits set for safety, not revenue.
I have testified before Michigan legislative committees in support of the State Police to help explain the science involved, helped to nominate the key officers for a Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Committee Award which they won in 2006, and helped the police find areas of state trunk line routes (numbered highways) which should be re-surveyed because the posted limits were set far below the normal speeds of traffic.
Of the “Big Six” midsize sedans, Malibu is starting to emerge as a consistent number three to the Camry/Accord’s established one-two positioning. Fusion and Altima have swapped spots, and the Sonata is stuck at 17k units due to production capacity constraints. Meanwhile, the Impala is only just holding off… the Prius? Crazier still, the Prius/Impala 14k volume level is about double of the next best-selling mid-to-large sedan nameplates (Buick LaCrosse, Nissan Maxima, Dodge Charger are all in the 6k-7k level). Extended one-month chart after the jump…
I still don’t understand why they are picketing our dealerships when the dealerships have nothing to do with the workers. Our workers make the ultimate decision if they want to unionize or not and for the past 25 years they have said no… Our team members want to make cars for people to buy. They don’t like it when people try to stop you from buying.
Toyota North America’s Steve St. Angelo struggles to understand how the UAW’s tactic of picketing California Toyota dealerships will make Toyota workers anxious to join the union [via WSJ [sub]]. When asked if Toyota would allow the UAW into its US plants, St. Angelo replied in the negative, saying Toyota’s factories have a no-solicitation policy. But, as the photo above proves, this is the UAW we’re talking about, not the Mormons. With the future of the union effectively hanging on the UAW’s ability to make headway organizing the transplant factories, you’d better believe a fight is brewing.
A Chevrolet Spark concept set to debut at the Paris Auto Show shows a typical US-market subcompact in its natural environment… as imagined by a couple of particularly unimaginative Daewoo product planners. Anybody miss the PT Cruiser yet? [via Jalopnik]
[Editor’s Note: The following is the transcript of a speech given by GM Chairman/CEO Ed Whitacre today at the Center For Automotive Research’s Management Briefing Seminar (via GM Media)]
Thanks, Dave [Cole], and good afternoon. It’s a pleasure to be here…and it’s no wonder why you picked this location.
This really is beautiful country up here. And as a Texan, it pains me to say this, but it’s true…your lake really is bigger than any lake in Texas.
This is my first time at this conference, so I hope you will take it easy on me. You were nice enough to invite me last year…but at the time, I was still trying to figure out my way around the RenCen without getting lost.
I am an old VW microbus fan. Not that I had a lot, mind you, compared to some; but I did own two ’71s, a prototype vanagon, and an ’84 vanagon.
I realize they were, oh, not so safe, what with using the driver and front passenger as a sort of buffer to protect the car, and maybe having a handling issue or two. But I did come to love a few things: ease of maintenance/repair (which you had to do more than my civics); simplicity; huge greenhouse; and, finally, the big roomy open from cockpit. No big damn console between the seats, and no feeling of being cocooned in the car. I could, while driving, stretch my legs out to one side.
Several industrycommentators have chided the Obama Administration for its recent “Mission Accomplished” tour of the auto industry, arguing that we’re all still a long ways from knowing the bailout’s true effects, and that declaring victory is grotesquely premature. But by now the logic of bailout has so taken hold that the White House knows it need not even prove that the bailout was a success. The point that is made over and over again is that opposition to bailouts can be motivated only by nihilism. On each stop of his recent tour of auto factories, Obama has emphasized that he “refused to walk away” from the auto industry. He did something when no one else would. What tends to escape notice is how quickly the logic of “doing something” can make otherwise smart people stop questioning the actual impact of government intervention. And as two stories today illustrate, that’s a recipe for the worst kinds of waste.
Hush. Don’t tell American GM customers how GM’s Opel subsidiary plans to prop up seriously flagging sales. Opel can use a serious injection of something. Opel’s German sales were down by 43.5 percent in July. And Opel doesn’t have China to save their necks. Today, Opel announced their version of the Ardennen-Offensive: A last massive strike at the hearts and minds (and pocketbooks) of their customers. A warranty for life. As they say: Read the fine print. Read More >
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