From the New York Times to TTAC, the news is racing around the globe that China put an “embargo” on dirt. Well, it’s rare dirt, also known as Rare Earth. Why should we care about that? As the New York Times lectured us a month ago, the stuff is vital to “rangefinders on the Army’s tanks, sonar systems aboard Navy vessels and the control vanes on the Air Force’s smart bombs.” Whoa, we are a car site! Ok, rare earths “are also used in small steering control motors in conventional gasoline-powered cars as well as in motors that help propel hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius,” says the New York Times, bringing us back on topic. And what is the fuss about? (Read More…)
When someone tells you “you’ll save a lot of money,” always ask: “How much will it cost me?” New technology that saves you a lot of money usually comes with a nasty habit: It costs a lot upfront. With a car, you are faced with the dilemma whether to pay Big Car now or Big Oil later. I never forget when I was a young copywriter and I had the task of launching the first diesel powered Golf. I extolled its prudence at the pump and its longevity. Whereupon a grizzled old guy at the advertising department of Volkswagen said: “That thing is expensive. You need to drive 80,000 km to get your money back. By that time, the engine will fall out of the car.” (VW had some corrosion issues back when.) That introspection was triggered by two events: Ed is in Michigan, he has a date with the Volt. His mission: Find out when you will get your money back. Then there’s Mazda, which did something utterly boring, but likewise highly exciting. (Read More…)
A lot of people assume Porsche and Volkswagen have long been united. Well they kind of are. They make cars together. They share management. Winterkorn is also Boss of Porsche SE. Former Volkswagen strategist Matthias Müller is now CEO of Porsche. Go to any tradeshow: Porsche is where Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bugatti etc. are. Porsche and Volkswagen are united in everything but the final signature. And that may wait a little longer. (Read More…)
You’d think that joint ventures with Chinese car makers would be hell-bent on underscoring their foreignness. That’s what sets them apart from Chinese cars. The Chinese customer is no fool and exactly knows whether a 3-series is made by Brilliance in China or by BMW in Bavaria. But push comes to shove, a car with a foreign nameplate has more cachet in China than homegrown produce. Which makes this new trend even more wondrous: More and more joint ventures turn out their own through-and-through Chinese cars. (Read More…)
Nissan will finally unleash its upgraded GT-R. It will be available in Japan next month. NA and EU will be graced by it come February. It’s leitmotif: More power, less filling. (Read More…)
Did we mention that there is a steady drumbeat by Japanese companies that openly think about, or deny (with huge qualifications) moving more and more production outside of Japan? Did we imply that a lot of this noisy thinking might be targeted at the current Japanese administration with which the carmakers are as much at odds as a carmaker can be with an administration that comes with full union backing and is full of former union officials? (Oops, never mind.) Anyway, Japanese carmakers are accusing their government of losing the war of the soft currency (led by the U.S. that lets its dollar slide while accusing others of manipulating their currencies – a good offense beats any defense.) Now the rhetoric is getting less circumspect. (Read More…)
For a while, TTAC has been tracking a strange story: Instead of exporting cars, Japanese carmakers (or should we call them factorymakers?) increasingly resort to exporting car factories. The higher and higher yen makes exports prohibitively expensive. On the other hand, a higher and higher yen buys more and more production capacity abroad. From Nissan to Mitsubishi, there is a chorus that sings the song that suddenly, people in low wage countries can make high quality cars. Now nobody would assume that Japanese carmakers plan a wholesale desertion of the land of Nippon, right? Wrong.
Today, we find an odd statement in The Nikkei [sub]: Toyota denies that they will leave Japan. At least not now … (Read More…)
Ok, so which car gets the most tickets? A red Corvette? Jack Baruth’s Phaeton? Any Porsche? Wrong on all counts.
Quality Planning is a company that provides statistics to insurance companies. They relate cars to the people who drive them and especially how those people drive them. Quality Planning’s findings can cost you or save you money in terms of insurance. Ok, none of the above is on top of the list.
The Mercedes SL-Class roadster is not only a babe magnet, it has a fatal attraction to cops. But wait until you hear what the #2 car is. (Read More…)
How things change. A few months ago, German dealers complained that the sky is falling, and that it’s the end of the car business as we know it – just because German cars sales had crashed from their Abwrackprämien-induced unnatural highs. Now, German car dealers have new reason to be worried: More buyers than cars! Rationing! Come back next year! (Read More…)
The UAW is getting an interesting lecture: Ownership of a car manufacturer entails delicate handling of labor relations. As Ed had reminded us so rightly: “Pre-bankruptcy, GM didn’t have to deal with the fact that the UAW is incapable of building fuel-efficient subcompact cars profitably. But now that the General has promised to build the next-gen Aveo in Michigan’s Orion Township plant in exchange for nearly $800m in local tax credits (not to mention the political benefits of “saving or creating” hundreds of union jobs), it’s up to the UAW to square the circle and make the damn thing profitable.”
And now, the UAW gets a taste of how it is when the working masses protest in front of your building: “About 100 General Motors Co workers and retirees picketed outside the United Auto Workers union’s headquarters on Saturday to protest plans to build a new small car with low-wage workers,” reports Reuters. They didn’t picket RenCen. They didn’t picket the Orion plant. They picketed their own union. (Read More…)
We are being reminded that one of the few things that still are common to the U.S. and the UK are their legal system, conveniently called the “common law.” British barristers are looking to American attorneys for new ideas. And here is one of them: If an obese driver dies in a car accident, it’s not her fault. It’s the fault of the manufacturer, who didn’t crash test with overweight crash test dummies. (Read More…)
Yesterday, we reported that Ford and Mazda will be parting ways completely, after having lived married, but separated for a while. Ford will retain a token “3 percent or less” interest, why is anybody’s guess. Question for Mazda: What now? In January, we said: “What Mazda needs are strong partners in strong markets.” Back when, the Nikkei [sub] thought Mazda could get closer with Toyota, based on the fact that Mazda decided to procure a hybrid system from Toyota. That alone doesn’t make for a marriage. You won’t marry Safeway, just because you shop there. Toyota wants to become the systems house for hybrids, just like BMW will sell its engines to anyone with money. (Read More…)
End of 2008, Ford was in dire need of cash and decided to sell off a 20 percent chunk of their 33.4 percent holdings in Mazda. Both promised that their cozy relationship would not suffer over something mundane like money. Of course, it wasn’t so. Their relationship disintegrated in record time. And now, they will make it official. Ford Motor Co. has decided to reduce its stake in Mazda by selling a large portion of its remaining shareholdings to Sumitomo group firms and other companies with which Mazda enjoys close business ties, The Nikkei [sub] just learned. (Read More…)
The European Car Manufacturers Association ACEA has released its September numbers for Europe. A quick look at the chart will tell the trained eye: Things are getting back to normal. Keep in mind, we are comparing with a totally abnormal 2009, when some countries injected amphetamines into their car sales to drive consumption to all time highs, and where other less fortunate countries saw their markets crash. Usually, it was the markets without indigenous car production that saw little sense in propping-up the economies of Germany, France, Italy and some other minor countries with car production – EU commonness notwithstanding. In September registrations of new cars decreased by 9.6 percent compared to the same month of last year. However, over the three first quarters of 2010, registrations were 4.3 percent lower compared to the same period of 2009. And that’s the not so interesting part of the story. (Read More…)
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