We’ve already asked the cui bono question about Japan’s post-tsunami parts paralysis, and though opinions vary about precisely cui will be doing the bonoing, it’s clear that some are already doing better than others. For more clarity on the developing picture, hit the jump for TTAC’s roundup of the latest parts paralysis news. Read More >

Automotive News Europe [sub] reports that, having lost “Mr Opel” to Volkswagen, GM’s European division is losing another veteran to the competition. The company announced:

We regret that Frank Weber has quit. We thank him for what he has done and wish him the best for the future

Despite the media’s on-again-off-again love affair with the “OMG SMALL CARS ARE TAKING OVER!” storyline, the US-market B-segment isn’t exhibiting many signs of serious competition (at least in comparison to the C- and D-segments). The Versa has ruled the segment largely unchallenged for years, with only the Soul posing anything resembling a serious threat. Former rivals like the Fit, Accent, Yaris and Aveo are getting old and losing momentum, although most have replacements waiting in the wings. A new Versa is about to debut as well, but because it’s based on the smaller, cheaper Micra platform, it may give up the Versa’s value-size advantage. We’re still waiting for American consumers to flock to subcompacts, but maybe they’re just waiting for some serious competition in the segment…

Escape and CR-V swapped spots last month, although Honda’s long-running compact CUV retained the top position in Year-To-Date sales. Toyota’s RAV4 dropped significantly last month compared to March 2010’s incentive-fueled volume binge, and though sales were up compared to the month before, it wasn’t enough to retake third place in the YTD standings from Equinox. The only other model failing to top its year-ago numbers was the Forester, a fact that may indicate a slowdown in Subaru’s strong recession-era sales growth. And though Nissan’s Juke is based on a B-segment platform and offers considerably less utility than the rest of the C-CUVs, it outsold Mazda’s CX-7, earning itself a spot on our chart.

Last month it seemed like Camry could stay away from the burgeoning knife fight in the midsize segment, but thanks to some aggressive incentives, Nissan was able to record a rare monthly win in the meaty D-Segment. Malibu took a tumble, falling below the Prius’s monthly sales although hybrid sales may have spiked due to quake-related shortage fears and may yet recede depending on how supply interruptions play out. Meanwhile, this segment also has some bearing on the mounting Ford-GM rivalry: while Ford’s Fusion battles with the best-sellers, enjoying a legitimate shot at the annual sales crown, Malibu is falling out of the front pack and into the second tier of competition. Still, with the volatility we’re seeing in this segment, it’s too early to draw any hard-and-fast conclusions.

Beto writes:

Sajeev,

I been reading TTAC for about a year and really enjoy your column, it’s very informative and fun. I live in Houston and I really enjoy cars. I am still young, not rich, I don’t know much about repairing vehicles, but I would like to learn and make it a hobby.

I am would like to purchase an “older cool vehicle” that I can ride around on the weekends and I would be able to work on it myself, something not expensive and easy to keep up with. I am not looking a long project car that would be sitting on jacks in my garage for years, but something that it’s already running, or just needs a few parts to make it run and more importantly that I can learn to work on it. I would like to spend less than $5K on the car itself, and I am very open to all kinds of vehicles. I really would like an old roaster or small sport car, but I like older trucks too. Whatever the vehicle it is, I think it’s time to start getting my hands greasy.

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Not very unexpectedly, ratings agency Moody’s is looking into taking it’s view of Toyota’s long-term debt down a notch. Usually reliable Reuters says that Moody’s “put its credit rating on Toyota Motor Corp on review for a possible downgrade.” For the obvious reasons, namely disruptions to Toyota’s supply chain from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and subsequent power cuts. Even if bond ratings put you to sleep, you might be interested in Moody’s views on the resumption on normal car production. Read More >

Just two short months after Hyundai CEO John Krafcik warned that a brewing incentive and price war was “a step backward for the industry” and “short-term thinking in a long-term process that hurts manufacturers and consumers,” it seems that any signs of a price war are over. But before you rush to give a certain earthquake/tsunami combo credit for the entire situation, consider for a moment that Ford has now joined Toyota in raising prices while insisting it has nothing to do with supply interruptions. A Ford spokesman tells the Detroit News that

This is the second price increase this year [Ed: Ford bumped prices by $130 in January] but has been in the works for months as the industry faces higher commodity costs

Meanwhile, Ford is also the only Detroit-based manufacturer to bring incentives below nine percent of its average transaction price, as its March incentives were down nearly 10 percent compared to March of 2010. Between Ford and Toyota bringing up prices and Hyundai keeping sales growth strong despite low-low incentives, the pressure is mounting on GM, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda. Will they continue to trade margins for volume, or will they take the opportunity to bump prices as Japanese parts shortages continue to play out?

Shawn writes:

In Nov-2010 my 2000 Camry v6 XE with 70k miles started to have some problems, mainly an oil leak and a power steering leak. Additionally it was going to need a new timing belt soon, and the front driver side wheel makes some squeaking noises. While I could live with a small oil leak, I needed to fix the power steering pump. I don’t have the time or place (and possibly ability) to replace the power steering pump myself so this was going to have to be done at the mechanic.

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When you have a problem, there usually is no shortage of well-meant advice. When it emerged that power shortage is the biggest problem of the quake- and tsunami-stricken Japanese auto industry, or the Japanese industry as whole, good advice came pouring in. It ranged from “why don’t they just park an aircraft carrier by the dock” to “what’s wrong with using generators?” What’s wrong with them? Read More >

Looking at the supply chain and transit times, it was easy to predict that the big American knock-on effect of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami would start to happen around – right now. To nobody’s surprise, The Nikkei [sub] writes this Tuesday morning in Tokyo that Toyota “is highly likely to halt all manufacturing operations at its factories in North America later this month due to parts supply disruptions.” It goes on to say that “the scale and the duration of the expected shutdown have yet to be decided, but all of Toyota’s 14 factories in North America could be affected.”

I could write that and finally go to bed, but my mother had told me to believe nobody. Not even a respected newswire that gave its name to the main Japanese stock index? Not even that. An early call to Toyota HQ reaches spokesman Dion Corbett, who has a completely different story. Read More >

It may well be wishful thinking on my part, but in the three years that I’ve been covering the world of cars, I do feel like I’ve seen a subtle but perceptible improvement in the general quality of the automotive media. Obviously the progress hasn’t been evenly distributed, but more outlets seem to be tip-toeing towards more in-depth stories, better analysis and more independence from the forces of OEM PR. Why? Possibly because the industry’s many challenges are providing more and better stories about cars, or possibly because the recent downturn made OEMs more open to less obviously-friendly writers, outlets and story pitches. One thing is certain: the growth of online automotive media has certainly played a role, putting more pressure on the established outlets, branching out into media criticism and reconnecting auto writers to the readers they serve.

For a while now, blogs have benefited from a lack of faith in the entrenched world of automotive print journalism. But, as print outlets have started to respond to the online threat and online outlets become increasingly sucked into the “PR Friendly” maelstrom that engulfed the buff books’ credibility, a new phenomenon seems to be on the rise which threatens the blogs from the very point of attack that helped them vault into the ranks of the auto media establishment: the “enthusiast reporter.”
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The Japanese tsunami impacts everything, from cars to toilet paper. Most Japanese car makers were closed since after the catastrophe and will remain closed at least until mid April. Many paper mills are in the affected area, and all paper, from glossy stock to the softer kind, is in short supply. Publishers of Japanese illustrated pulp fiction have canceled the printed version and direct their readers to the Internet instead. Tokyo corporations battle a wave of toilet rolls vanishing from their restrooms, from where they find a way to the toire at home. While these may be temporary outages, the lack of stable electrical power emerges more and more as the biggest impediment to the recovery of the Japanese industry. It will affect you and your car, in one way or the other. Read More >

After Yemen last weekend, it is now Official Sales Data Week, where we explore a country that has the great idea to give us access to actual sales data, and therefore saves me from looking on YouTube for hours on end in the hope of figuring out a rough sales ranking…

This week we are going to freezing Russia to find out whether Lada models still have the stranglehold over the market they enjoyed in the time of the USSR.

Now if Russian cars scare you (yes, they do that to some people, especially those who saw the Moscow car chase in The Bourne Supremacy) but you are keen to find out which cars are the best sellers in 153 other countries around the planet, simply go here. It’s my blog and comrade, I swear you will love it. Read More >

All told, it takes about 3 weeks for a shipborne container from Japan to reach its destination at the West Coast. To the East Coast, it’s about 5 weeks. With the Japanese earthquake and tsunami three weeks old, we should see the first real stateside disruptions by now. And we do. But not all originate in Japan. Read More >