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Source: MSNBC
The surprisingly vibrant Los Angeles Auto Show may be reflecting signs of life in the auto industry itself as the world's largest car market begins to emerge from a deep recession.
“A year ago everyone said that L.A. would be dead in 2009,” remarked Lindsey Chappell, an editor with the trade journal Automotive News.
In particularly stark contrast to the Tokyo Motor Show last month, this week’s Los Angeles show possessed an unexpected but much-welcomed vitality, with introductions from car makers from a variety of nations showing products across the automotive spectrum.
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Chrysler Has Big Plans For Ram Trucks
Source: The Detroit News
Chrysler Group LLC wants to make its new Ram truck brand as big, bold and profitable as the full-size pickups that are its cornerstone, and plans to do it by expanding into commercial vans and potentially big rigs.
Building on the success of Chrysler's truck division is part of the Auburn Hills automaker's five-year plan to return to profitability by 2011. The plan includes putting more emphasis on individual brands and incorporating products from Italian partner Fiat SpA.
One of Sergio Marchionne's first moves after taking over as Chrysler CEO was splitting Dodge into two brands: Ram for pickups and commercial vehicles and Dodge Car for everything else, including minivans and SUVs.Ram is banking on trucks' high profit margin and the brand's history of innovation, including features such as the box storage unit available on the newest models, to boost sales, market share and profits.
GM To Phase Out Saab Without Deal By Year End
Source: MSNBC
General Motors Co. said it will phase out its storied Swedish Saab brand if no deal is reached by the end of this month.
GM's board met Tuesday to decide Saab's fate after a group led by Sweden's Koenigsegg Automotive AB dropped out of a deal last week to buy the company. About 4,500 jobs at Saab are at stake.
New potential buyers have emerged, GM said, so the board put off a final decision until the end of December. The automaker said in a statement that no "suitable arrangement" for Saab is found by then, it would "will begin an orderly wind down" of the unit.
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Leasing Again Becoming Option For Auto Buyers
Source: MSNBC
Auto leasing, temporarily crippled by the credit and financial crisis, is making a comeback this fall.
Chrysler, Ford and General Motors all curtailed leasing operations last year when credit markets locked up and soaring gasoline prices left them facing losses on the used SUVs and other gas-guzzlers that their financing arms sell when leases expire.
Business isn't nearly back to where it was before the crunch hit, when leases comprised about 20 percent of all car transactions. But it is trending upward after hitting a high for the year of 12.8 percent in October, up from a bottom of 7.2 percent in August, according to automotive information site Edmunds.com.
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Ford Among Safety Leaders
Source: The Detroit News
Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen sit atop the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles, according to a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms.
The Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded its "top safety pick" on Wednesday to 19 passenger cars and eight sport utility vehicles for the 2010 model year. The institute substantially reduced the number of awards compared with 2009, because of tougher requirements for roof strength.
GM Speeds Repayment of Loans To Taxpayers
Source: The Detroit News
General Motors Co. will announce Monday it will begin repaying its $6.7 billion in government loans ahead of schedule -- a sure sign that the Detroit automaker's finances are improving since its exit from bankruptcy in July.
But GM also will admit it continues to face significant challenges -- especially in North America and Europe, where it is still losing money -- when it releases its third quarter earnings this morning in Detroit.
GM's board of directors and the U.S. Treasury approved the repayment plan that will begin with a $1 billion payment Dec. 31, a person with knowledge of the plan said Sunday night. GM will make payments of about $1 billion every quarter, at least until the second half of 2010, the earliest that it plans an initial public stock offering.
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37 Percent of U.S. Saab Dealerships To Close
Source: MSNBC
About 37 percent of U.S. Saab dealers will close as part of General Motors Corp.'s planned sale of the ailing Swedish car brand to Koenigsegg Group AB, a GM spokeswoman said Saturday.
GM spokeswoman Ryndee Carney said the company had sent letters to 81 of the 218 U.S. Saab dealers notifying them they will be expected to terminate their dealerships when the sale closes around the end of November.
The remaining 137 dealers will continue operating under Saab Cars North America, a newly formed company that will run the brand under Koenigsegg's ownership. All the U.S. Saab dealers had signed deferred termination agreements during GM's reorganization under bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
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Automakers Turn To Safety To Sell Cars
Source: MSNBC
“Safety doesn’t sell,” or so went the conventional wisdom of the auto industry. But don’t try telling that to Ford Motor Co.’s Sue Cischke, who thinks it may be a more important marketing tool than just about anything — including fuel economy.
Cischke, the Detroit automaker’s “safety czar,” was on hand last week for the rollout of the automaker’s latest technological wizardry, which combines the advantages of both a seat belt and an airbag. Dubbed the inflatable belt, it will begin appearing on Ford’s next-generation Explorer SUV when it launches in mid-2010 and eventually will roll out “globally,” said Cischke.
GM To Put Electric Cadillac Converj Into Production
Source: The Detroit News
General Motors Co. will expand its electric vehicle lineup by building the Cadillac Converj, a luxury car some feared would never move beyond the concept stage because of GM's financial troubles.
The Converj, an extended-range electric car that uses the same technology as the Chevrolet Volt, was included in a production plan Cadillac officials presented to GM's board of directors last week, according to sources familiar with the plan.
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Toyota Posts Surprise Third-Quarter Profit
Source: MSNBC
Toyota Motor Corp. announced Thursday a surprise profit last quarter and trimmed its projected red ink for the year, underlining the gradual recovery under way for Japan's giant automakers.
The world's largest car company attributed the unexpected profit — its first after three losing quarters — to measures by governments around the world designed to boost sales of environmentally friendly cars and other vehicles.
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GM, Ford Report Sales Gains As Economy Perks Up
Source: The Detroit News
General Motors Co. reported its first monthly sales increase in nearly two years on Tuesday and Ford Motor Co. also racked up gains in October, providing further evidence that the U.S. economy appears to be on the mend.
Overall vehicle sales were level with last October's totals, ending a streak of year-over-year declines as the market continued its slow climb out of the steep downturn that began in 2008.
On an annual basis, last month's selling rate was 10.5 million cars and light trucks, compared with 10.82 million a year ago and 9.22 million in September, according to Autodata Corp.
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Ford Reports Surprise $1 Billion Profit
Source: MSNBC
Ford, the only Detroit automaker to dodge direct government aid and bankruptcy court, surprised investors with net income of nearly $1 billion in the third quarter and forecast a "solidly profitable" 2011.
The automaker said Monday earnings were fueled by U.S. market share gains, cost cuts and the Cash for Clunkers program, which drew flocks of buyers to showrooms this summer. Ford's shares rose 53 cents, or 7.6 percent, to $7.53 in afternoon trading.
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GM Signs Deal To Sell Hummer
Source: Motoring
General Motors has signed a deal to sell its iconic but tarnished Hummer brand to an investment partnership headed by an obscure Chinese machinery maker.
The deal with China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, seen as underscoring the fast rise and global ambition of the Chinese auto industry, has capped a year-long struggle by GM to shed the military-derived SUV brand that had become synonymous with gas-guzzling excess.
Luxury Car Market May Never Look The Same
Source: MSNBC
Timing is everything, or so goes the old saying. And the timing couldn’t have been worse for BMW when it launched an all-new version of its flagship 7-Series, late last year.
Though the big sedan won praise from reviewers, sales fell way short of the luxury automaker’s expectations. It didn’t help that the big Beemer's debut coincided with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and the sharp economic downturn that followed.
“Given we have an all-new 7-Series, it’s clearly not doing as well as we wanted,” said Jim O’Donnell,” CEO of BMW North America. “I think some people can still afford it, but when you’re a CEO of a company and you’re laying people off, do you want to be seen driving a new 7-Series?”
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GM To Hire Back Workers As Auto Output Picks Up
Source: Motoring
General Motors plans to restore about 3000 jobs at US assembly plants and is preparing to raise North American production by up to 45 percent in 2010.
Shifts will be added at three assembly plants as the automaker consolidates production from those that are closing or retooling, a process that would not add immediately to its production schedule for 2009.
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Car Sales Lead Increase in U.S. Retail Sales
Source: The New York Times
Retail sales surged in August as consumers swapped their old cars for new under the government’s "cash for clunkers" program, and spent more on gasoline at convenience stores.
The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that retail sales in August bounded higher by a seasonally adjusted 2.7 percent over the previous month, surpassing economists’ expectations of 1.9 percent. It was the largest monthly increase since January 2006.
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Some Dealers Suffer Post-‘Clunkers’ Hangover
Source: MSNBC
As Gene Butman Ford opened its doors Saturday, salesmen outnumbered the shoppers looking at a depleted stock of cars and trucks, and it didn't appear that many customers were ready to buy.
Like many dealers across the country, the dealership in Ypsilanti Township, Mich., west of Detroit, is suffering from a Cash for Clunkers hangover, and Sales Manager Paul Grahl isn't sure when it will end.
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Auto Market Has Shifted, And It May Be For Good
Source: MSNBC
Big cars and trucks are out. Smaller ones that offer more for your dollar are in. And many drivers will hang onto the new cars they buy longer.
We've seen some of this before — in the 1970s. But there's reason to believe that this time, American car-buying habits have changed forever.
Scarred by the worst financial crisis since the 1930s and still leery of high gas prices, people are walking into showrooms intent on spending less. The trend is strongest among baby boomers, who are 44 to 63 years old and make up a quarter of the population, dealers and industry analysts say.
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