So far, if you wanted to save gas and if you didn’t want to suffer a coronary from range anxiety, you bought yourself a hybrid. The problem: They are expensive. You choose to pay Big Car instead of Big Oil. Don’t despair: Ye olde ICE still has a lot of fight in it. (Read More…)

The on-again, off-again, and forget about it romances between BMW and Daimler are legend. So much legend, that they fill pages on Google. Short version: The tops want some kind of a wedding, the bottoms torpedo any collaboration wherever they can. So if BMW and Daimler won’t be able to tie the knots(s), who can? Wait until you hear who dares. (Read More…)

Deep in their hearts, the folks at Volkswagen think the ICE has a long ways to go. Privately,  and after a few drinks, they often say that EVs are lunacy on  wheels. I don’t blame them.  Publicly, they put on a good show when needed. Here is another act: Volkswagen introduces an all-electric Golf. (Read More…)

It used to be that you paid for your car keys.  If BMW gets its w ay, you will pay with your car keys. Automobilwoche [sub] reports  that BMW ist developing the “car key of the future.” Oddly enough, it won’t unlock revolutionary new features of the car. It will replace the credit card, a train ticket and a room key at the hotel. Say what? (Read More…)

Mitsubishi started production of the European-spec model of its i-MiEV electric vehicle Wednesday to maintain its lead over rivals in a non-existing market segment expected to grow rapidly. At the same time, Mitsu started production of the iOn, which is an i-MiEV, rebadged for PSA Peugeot Citroen.

According to The Nikkei [sub], the iOn needed “changes from the Japanese version to meet European safety standards.” Let’s hope that the Euro-spec i-MiEV received the same changes, otherwise it will be DOA. (Read More…)

Here is another myth that won’t die, as hard as we might be trying to debunk it: “Japan is a closed market for cars. They do everything to keep foreign cars out. Those Nips are unfair, and it’s time to do something about it.”

It’s baloney. Paul Niedermeyer debunked the propaganda, and said: “Want to import cars to Japan? It’s one of the easiest countries to do so.“ I did another  story and showed, for those with reading comprehension problems, a picture of Japanese im- and exports. But the story won’t die. Ok, let’s try again to put it to rest. (Read More…)

Speaking of India, it’s about time that GM gets its act together on the subcontinent. If you aren’t somebody in India you are missing the boat. If the augurs augur right, the subcontinent will be the fastest-growing car market in the world. (Read More…)

Popular wisdom was that foreign companies have to tread carefully in China, lest they’ll be robbed blind of their vaunted intellectual property and thrown by the wayside. Now it has come to the total opposite: GM has made a mess out of India. And they turn to their old Chinese buddies at SAIC to help them out. Not just financially. Technologically. “GM hopes to take advantage of Shanghai Automotive Industry’s expertise in making small, low-cost cars to raise its share” in India, reports The Nikkei [sub]. (Read More…)

With the aftereffects of the Abwrackprämie, that German cash for clunkers on steroids, slowly abating, Germany is slowly coming back to normal. In September, car sales were 17.8 percent below September 2009 (red line), but only 0.6 percent below September 2008  (blue line). For the first nine months, sales are 27.5 percent below prior year, but only 8.6 percent below the same period in 2008. (Read More…)

About a year ago, a mutual friend introduced me to Uwe Gemballa. He looked a bit like a pimp from central casting: bleached blond hair, a flashy watch,  gold chain. He tuned Porsches. He wanted to import Gemballas to China, and could I help him? Like many China deals, that deal never got off the ground. And as I read the news today, I think to myself: I’m glad it fizzled. Dodged that bullet. Literally. (Read More…)

New car registrations in Italy fell 18.9 percent in September to 154,429 vehicles. Of course that means major pain for Fiat, which holds about 30 percent of the market. Actually, more than major pain: Fiat’s sales in their home market cratered by 26.3 percent to just 44,161 vehicles in September. That according to Transport Ministry data, published by Reuters. And what did Sergio Marchionne have to say to that disaster? (Read More…)

U.S. auto sales climbed 29 percent last month, the biggest gain of the year. (Nearly) everybody was a winner: All but two booked increases in September. Suzuki lost 12 percent (itai!), and the “others” brand lost 4 percent.  Ford shot up 40 percent. Chrysler rocketed up by 61 percent. GM looked downright lame  in comparison by growing only 11 percent. From Porsche (+ 25 percent) to Hyundai (+44 percent), from Daimler (+ 18 percent ) to Toyota (+17 percent), everybody reported huge gains. But why is nobody partying? (Read More…)

TTAC (and just about everybody who comments on the Japanese market) saw it coming: After 14 months of government subsidies-induced growth, the Japanese car market took a corner. And now its nowhere but down.  Japanese sales dropped 4.1 percent  on the year to 308,663 units in September, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association told The Nikkei [sub]. This number does not include Kei cars, which will be published separately. (Read More…)

When I started as a budding (and driver’s license less) copywriter on the Volkswagen account in fall of 1973, they were just introducing a (for Volkswagen) highly unusual car. They called it the Passat. After that followed in rapid-fire fashion the Golf, the Scirocco, the Polo. They turned the company around. And kept me employed for more than 30 years. With the Golf being the volume Weltmeisterr, it is often forgotten that it was the Passat that started a new era at Volkswagen. And now, the car enters its 7^th generation. (Read More…)

Japanese automakers keep saying the ever appreciating yen will be their undoing. So their government intervened, sending the yen back to 85 to the dollar. Once the intervention stopped, the yen continued its march upwards. Today, the Japanese currency stood at 83.31 to the dollar. Which is losing strength across the world. The Europeans received $1.36 for their Euro today. A higher yen making Japanese cars more expensive should hurt Japanese car exports, don’t you think? Let’s see. (Read More…)