Every day seems to bring new tales of doom and gloom for Europe. Is it time for a Continental Deathwatch?
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Category: Sales
The introduction of the Buick Verano Turbo is right around the corner, and that could spell doom for the Buick Regal, which has seen sales plunge by 37 percent this year.
Tata CEO Ratan Tata has apparently decided to sell the Tata Nano minicar in the United States, even as Tata lacks though proper sales channel.
In an interview with Automotive News, the company namesake said that a redesigned Nano, with features like traction control, a more powerful engine and power steering, could go on sale at a price below $10,000 in three years time.
But a distribution channel is still a giant question mark, with Tata saying “We have to give a lot of thought to how we would distribute the car,” and little else. Tata’s remarks came at the opening of a New Jersey-area Jaguar Land Rover dealership
Brazil detailed their new five-year national auto policy, which is meant to spur investment in new auto factories, locally sourced parts content and reduced vehicle prices.
Strong demand is spurring Chevrolet to import more Chevrolet Spark minicars from Korea – though Chevrolet won’t release their initial projections or how many Sparks will be imported in the next round.
Volkswagen published group totals for September. They are not quite the 6.8 million rumored a few days ago, but close enough. According to Volkswagen data, groupwide sales reached 6.71 million for the first three quarters of 2012, up 9.7 percent. In September, sales were up 6.5 percent to 801,000. In China, Volkswagen pierced the 2 million barrier. Read More >
As part of a cost-cutting measure, workers at the Opel/Vauxhall plant at Ellsemere Port, UK, will switch to a four-day week from the current five-day setup.
Acura may be refreshing the ZDX for 2013, but the company has simultaneously signed the car’s death warrant, killing off one of the most reviled cars on sale today.
What do the Honda CR-V and Ford Explorer have in common? Both recieved lukewarm receptions from the automotive press. The Explorer was doomed from the get-go for abandoning its body-on-frame construction and whatever connotations of rugged off-road capability that came with it. Of course, nobody understood that CAFE and economies of scale, the two driving forces behind every decision in today’s automotive world, were responsible for the switch. The CR-V lacked exciting EcoTurboPowerBoost engines and swoopy styling, and so it was largely forgotten by the press. But now both trucks have the last laugh.
Volvo’s target is the lower end of the Lexus, BMW, Audi and Mercedes lines… Most experts consider the cars made by these companies engineering marvels. And Volvo, a Swedish marque with Chinese ownership, is another manufacturer that does not have the model line, marketing budget or dealer network to hope to compete.
Doesn’t sound like a vote of confidence, does it?
Tesla’s sales model, with factory-run outlets selling directly to customers, is coming under fire while dealer groups such as NADA are citing the apparent illegality of factory-owned sales outlets.
Some have quietly or openly been hoping the GM could cash-in on the misery of Japanese brands in China. It’s not happening. Sales across all of GM’s Chinese joint ventures were up a marginal 1.7 percent in September while sales of German marques received a boost. Read More >
Independent sales analyst Tim Cain has released his Worst Selling Vehicles list for September 2012, with not just one but three measures of poor performance.
Italy once had one of the highest rates of car ownership in the world, with 60 cars for every 100 people. But in 2011, bicycles outsold cars for the first time in decades.
September saw big gains for Volkswagen and Honda, two brands that have been pilloried by the motoring press for apparently sub-par products, while Chrysler led the Big Three in gains, if not volume.
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