Three Japanese automakers, Honda, Nissan, and Fuji Heavy are officially out of the woods, at least financially. The Nikkei [sub] says they “put the global financial crisis behind them, reporting net profits that surpassed those from two years earlier in the April-June quarter.” Read More >

Running a multi-national car company the size of, say, General Motors, Ford or Toyota means having lean, efficient operations. In the SUV/light trucks segment, turning a profit is easy. Because of the inherent profitability of these products, your operations don’t need to be that efficient to turn a decent profit. Where you really need to concentrate on profits is the other end of the scale. The small car market. This is where raiding the parts bin, nicking a platform from another division and moving production to a low cost country are taken as read when producing a plan for your next small car. But what if you’re trying to break into a market where small cars need to be firmly in the “four figures” price bracket? Well, this is the problem that Volkswagen is having in India. Like China, every car maker wants a piece of this Asian Tiger Elephant, but Volkswagen just simply doesn’t have the presence there to make their cars profitably. Or do they? Read More >

What’s the difference between these two compact crossovers? American readers will recognize the vehicle on the left as the forthcoming facelift of the Nissan Rogue. The crossover on the right is a recently-released update to the European-market Nissan Qashqai. The Rogue is slightly larger in most dimensions than the Qashqai (not counting the extended-wheelbase Qashqai +2), and only offers a 2.5 liter engine while the Qash has a palette of four two-liter and smaller gas and diesel engines. But it’s not the Euro model’s cramped quarters or low-displacement engines that we find ourselves wishing could find their way to the American market… it’s the Qashqai’s updated styling that we want. Sure, these things are subjective, but the updated Rogue just doesn’t seem like much of an improvement on its predecessor’s looks. The Qashqai, meanwhile, has gone from filler to killer.

Nissan may have broken its own incentive record last month, but it was GM that blew the lid off the competition. According to Edmunds’ True Cost Of Incentives Index, The General loaded up nearly $1,000 more in incentive spending compared to its closest competitors, and killed the industry average by $1,340. Combined, Detroit spent $1.7 billion, or 57.3 percent of the total incentive expenditures last month. And according to Edmunds,

Analysis of incentives expenditures as a percentage of average sticker price for each segment shows large cars averaged the highest, 13.5 percent, followed by large trucks at 12.4 percent of sticker price. Premium luxury cars averaged the lowest with 3.5 percent and sport cars followed with 3.9 percent of sticker price.

Is this the turn-around? Dead cat bounce? Unloading of 2010 inventory? July US new car sales are a closely watched indicator. The following table lists July sales reported by Automotive News [sub]. Watch this spot for all numbers as they come in during the day. Read More >

I’m still shaking when I think back to my first ride in the passenger seat of a brandnew Phaeton. It was piloted by a known reckless high executive of Volkswagen. Near Hannover, we barreled down the Autobahn, with the speedo indicating something above 250 km/h. I didn’t dare to inspect it closer, because I was scared to death. We were in the thickest of fogs. Visibility zero. “Aren’t you worried?” I inquired with a shaking voice. “Nope. We have RADAR.” Actually, it was called Abstandswarnung (distance warning). Now, Nissan will make it available to the common Joe. Read More >

OICA, the venerable “Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles,” better known as the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, finally got around to finishing their 2009 World Ranking of Manufacturers by motor vehicle production. This list has very little surprises for the TTAC B&B who pinned our World’s Top Ten Automakers 2009 to the wall. Yet, there are some. Let’s see … Read More >

With Chevy’s Volt priced at an eye-popping $41k before tax breaks, those tax breaks are now more important than ever. The first 200k Volts will qualify for up to $7,500 in federal credits, but Chevrolet had to be hoping for state incentives on top of the federal credit, especially in the key launch state of California. For a number of reasons though, the Volt doesn’t meet California’s requirements for Advanced Technology-Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles, and will lose out on a $5,000 tax credit that’s available to its cheaper competitor, the Nissan Leaf. As a result, the Leaf will cost Californians who qualify for both full credits about $20k, while the Volt will cost about $33,500. Moreover, the Leaf will have full access to California’s High Occupancy Vehicle lanes while the Volt will not, unless a pending bill before California’s state Senate passes. Together, these developments represent a serious advantage for the Leaf over the Volt in what is almost certain to be the world’s largest market for electric cars in the short-to-medium term. So how did GM let this happen?
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This, ladies and gentlemen, is a moment we’ve been waiting for for some time… which might explain why the news isn’t particularly earth-shattering [press release here]. Yes, believe it or not, the Volt will cost $41,000 base including destination charge, just as every bit of speculation has indicated since the Volt was first announced. Perhaps more surprising is GM’s announcement of lease deals starting at $350/month for 36 months with $2,500 down. But just as GM has found with its CTS,  moving high-cost American-branded metal in any kind of volume tends to require heavy dependence on leases. Plus, the fact that the big question mark surrounding EVs in general continues to be long-term battery life makes leasing the obvious option for those who are tempted by the Volt, but don’t want own a lot of expensive, unproven technology. On the other hand, the Feds don’t subsidize EV leases, and with a Federal tax credit, the Volt’s price drops to a mere $33,500… which is less than a thousand dollars more than the Nissan Leaf’s base price (without tax credit, $25,280 with).  Obviously the Volt has certain advantages due to its EREV design, but with the economy still shaky, the Volt’s hefty price premium will work against it, especially as volume builds. Seeing how these two very different EVs do relative to one another will make for some interesting lessons about the future of the electric car.

Nissan wants to invest “the Americas” with three new low-cost subcompacts, made in Mexico by their Aguascalientes factory that can crank out 300,000 units a year. The cars are based on the Nissan’s V-platform. The Nissan March (known outside Asia as the Nissan Micra) is currently being made in Thailand and re-imported to Japan. It sells there for around $10,000. Read More >

Except for Nissan, which outpaced the market, the big Japanese automakers are having a bit of a hard time in China. Toyota and Honda received a lot of bad press in the Middle Kingdom. Toyota for its recalls. Honda for its series of strikes. Whatever the reason, both are losing market share. This doesn’t bode well for the rest of the year, when the red-hot Chinese market is expected to cool down a bit. Read More >

During the 1970’s and 1980’s everyone (mainly, the United States) thought that Japan would rule the world, economically speaking. At its peak, the Nikkei Dow stood at 38,957.44. Brands like “Zenith” and “RCA” made way for new brands like “Sony” and “Panasonic”. General Motors feared Japanese cars so much, they set up “Saturn” to fight them off. The UK government flirted with Toyota, Honda and Nissan to build their factories in the UK. Yep, the Japanese were the original rising dragon. Then came the 1990’s, and it all imploded. Since then, Japan was never quite the same. They were still strong, but manageable. While Japan got cut down to size, their car industry stayed strong. They still carried on taking market share in North America away from the domestics. Despite the Japanese prospering in North America, it wasn’t reciprocal. American car makers, and, indeed, many of our B&B, believe that Japan has a closed car market and has tariffs on imported cars. Our resident German has talked about the subject many times and successfully managed not to have an aneurysm over it (though he may have turned to drink) [ED: He did not.] Well, if Japan does have a closed car market, nobody told Ford. Read More >