Every morning, just after getting coffee, Mark Fields fires up his laptop to pore over a computer model showing real-time U.S. auto sales figures.
On this morning in the middle of May, the man who heads Ford Motor Co.’s Americas operations has seen enough.
The line on a chart showing subcompact car sales for the first two weeks of the month goes almost straight up. The one for pickup trucks, Ford’s biggest profit center, runs almost straight down.
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama asked the head of General Motors Corp. on Thursday what he could do to preserve the U.S. auto industry if elected, saying automakers "may need some bridges" to reach the future.
GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said the industry needed help to shift toward more-efficient vehicles or new technologies.
Continue reading "GM Chief Tells Obama How To Save Auto Industry"
Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, said it's readying new small vehicles for its U.S. lineup as demand for large truck and sport-utility vehicles declines because of record fuel prices.
``We'll have more small cars,'' Chung Eui-Sun, the company's president, told reporters in Irvine, California, yesterday at the opening of the Seoul-based company's new U.S. headquarters. ``We have an advantage in small cars.''
Honda Motor Co., the second-largest Japanese automaker, told analysts that its June U.S. sales in the first 20 days were ahead of last year's pace on a 37 percent gain for cars.
Total U.S. sales for the Tokyo-based automaker rose 16 percent in the period, according to the e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News. Chris Martin, a spokesman for Honda in Torrance, California, said he couldn't confirm the e-mail.
Continue reading "Honda Says June U.S. Auto Sales Rising on Civic, Fit"
A box that sends puffs of new car-scented air into his Chevrolet dealership's service lane is just one of the tricks Tim Colussy is using these days to entice buyers to come to his Pittsburgh-area dealership for servicing.
Colussy Chevrolet in Bridgeville, Pa., also has repainted and sealed
the floors, brightened the lights and added new signs and displays in
its service area. In the customer waiting area, there's a new
flat-screen TV, WiFi access, workstations and a coffee bar.
Continue reading "Auto Dealers Remodel, Use Aromas To Boost Service"
The market for hybrid full-size sport utility vehicles may be small, but Chrysler LLC is determined to get a piece if it, saying Tuesday that its new hybrids will be nearly $8,000 less than competitors from General Motors Corp.
Chrysler said its 2009 Dodge Durango hybrid will have a suggested retail price of $45,340 while its 2009 Chrysler Aspen hybrid will start at $45,570. A comparable four-wheel-drive version of the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid starts at $53,295, while the 2008 GMC Yukon hybrid starts at $52,855.
Continue reading "Chrysler To Undercut GM Hybrid SUV Prices"
General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, is aiming to increase its dealers' vehicle service business by 33 percent as declining auto sales reduce showroom traffic.
Car owners are more than twice as likely to go to chains such as Jiffy Lube instead of dealerships for regular maintenance, said Peter Lord, executive director of service operations at GM. About three of every 10 owners of GM vehicles visit franchised dealers for service, he said.
Continue reading "General Motors Seeks 33% Gain for Dealership Service Business"
General Motors Corp., in the midst of another major downsizing, can't move quickly enough to keep up with demand in one area of the U.S. auto market that's actually growing.
The automaker said Monday it will add an extra shift a month earlier than initially planned at a Lordstown, Ohio, factory that builds the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 compact cars. A third shift of about 1,000 workers will start Aug. 4 rather than Sept. 1.
Demand for small cars is surging as consumers react to the reality of $4-per-gasoline and a sagging U.S. economy.
General Motors, Lexus Division and Chrysler LLC are featuring their dealers’ certified used-vehicle inventories in an eBay Motors online venue. The eBay Motors Certified Pre-Owned Showroom debuted Wednesday, June 11. It features more than 70,000 certified used cars and trucks listed for sale by more than 5,000 dealers, says Rob Chesney, eBay Motors vice president. The listings are free to dealers. “CPO is actually holding up pretty well in this economy; it’s a great alternative to new and is a great value play for consumers,” Chesney told Automotive News. “We thought it was important to aggregate as much of that inventory as we could and bring it to our buyers on eBay Motors.” Cadillac, Saturn, Saab and Hummer have separate certified used-vehicle brands and also are listing their dealers’ inventories on the site.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription required.)
The weak dollar is drawing a new group of Europeans to shop in the U.S. -- for European cars.
More Europeans are turning to the U.S. to buy luxury cars, from Porsche 911s to Volvo 4x4s, and then shipping them back home. The cheap dollar and competitive pricing in the slow U.S. market can yield savings of as much as 30% of the cost of similar models in Europe, even after costs of transporting the cars and complying with different emissions standards.
Continue reading "Europeans Go To U.S. Dealers To Buy Cars From Home"
