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As a man thinks, so he is. Some people are never. Recent Posts
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CarSpace Alternate RouteTurn off the nav system, crumple up that MapQuest printout, and let's find out where the next random turn may take us! Jan 28, 2008 - And They're Off!
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- January new vehicle sales are expected to be down a bit from January a year ago and significantly lower than December 2007 sales, according to Edmunds.com's forecast. Auto sales (retail and fleet), to be reported by manufacturers on Friday, likely will come in at 1.05 million units. That's a 2.9-percent decrease from January 2007 and a 23.8-percent decrease from December 2007. It would put the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) at 16.1 million units. "Car sales were remarkably slow in January, probably in part because of dramatic stock market fluctuations that flustered consumers at a time when the housing market and other economic uncertainties were also making headlines and causing stress,” observed Jesse Toprak, Edmunds’ Executive Director of Industry Analysis. Read the entire story at AutoObserver
Dec 18, 2007 - Changing Channels
And since newspapers are dead or dying, and a picture (or video) is worth a thousand words, you can bet that more and more car advertising will be headed to the internet for online consumption. Will a shift in advertising revenues lead to major changes in the television landscape? Will online advertising someday become the first choice for reaching the masses?? Will I be able to stop the cliffhanger soap opera questions by the end of this blog??? Tune in next time! Read more at AutoObserver
Nov 16, 2007 - Good Laydown
And there will come a time that you have a lay down a very good hand because of the way things have played out. The UAW's ratification of their contract with Ford was sort of like that. I'm not sure that the UAW had all that strong a hand, but they could have pushed and "won the pot" to try and get more concessions from Ford, but that might have taken Ford down as well. As reported on AutoObserver, Ford Motor Co. officials say their U.S. market-share target for the foreseeable future is in the 14-15 percent range, reflecting the new realities of a company that is working feverishly to pare itself to a profitable size. It's a fine balance when it comes to not overplaying your hand. Neither Ford or the UAW can afford to push too hard because they want the game to continue. Read more at AutoObserver
Oct 21, 2007 - Destination Moon
While von Braun had nothing to do with introducing the Braun drip coffee maker in 1963, he did mastermind the U.S. space program and in less than 10 years we had landed on the moon. Goes to show you that the executives providing leadership at the top are just as important to the success of a venture as the worker bees at the bottom are. As noted in Micheel Krebs' AutoObserver, Ford recently announced that it had hired Jim Farley, group vice president of Lexus, away from Toyota to be Ford's first global chief marketing and communications officer. Farley's departure is yet another blow to Toyota. In recent months, Chrysler has hired Jim Press, Toyota's top-ranking exec, and Deborah Meyer, head of Lexus marketing. Ford and Chrysler raiding the ranks of Toyota and Toyota suddenly dropping in the Consumer Reports rankings are likely mere coincidence. But the domestic manufacturers recognizing that Toyota must have been doing something right and trying to get the right people in the right spots at the top doesn't seem to be a fluke. It sounds more like a plan.
Keep up on the latest happenings in the auto industry at AutoObserver
Oct 4, 2007 - North & South
GM sold 337,640 vehicles in September, up 4 percent compared with a year ago. Retail deliveries totaled 255,274 vehicles up more than 7 percent; fleet sales were down 6 percent. Ford had sales of 189,863, down 21 percent from a year ago. Daily rental sales, which Ford is intentionally trying to decrease, were down 62 percent; retail sales were down 15 percent. Chrysler saw sales drop 5 percent in September, selling 159,799 vehicles. Chrysler attributed some of its fall to its intentional lowering of fleet sales in the second half of this year. Toyota reported September sales of 213,043 vehicles, down 0.6 percent compared with the automaker’s best ever September in 2006. Honda and Acura sales in total were up 13.8 percent in September (a record September for Honda), pushing Honda sales in total 2.8 percent higher for the year. Nissan reported sales of 94,269 units in September, up 11 percent from the prior September. For those of you following the standings, here's how market share broke down for September: GM 25.6% North of the border, Canadian sales were down 2.9% where declines at General Motors and Honda have pulled down overall monthly auto sales in Canada for the first time since March. General Motors of Canada Ltd. dropped 6.4 percent Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. also slid 9.5 percent Honda Canada, including the luxury Acura brand, posted a 14 percent drop. Toyota Canada, including the Lexus brand, experienced a 1.8 per cent decline. Nissan, including the Infiniti brand, watched volumes slide 9 percent. Carlos Gomes, senior economist at Scotiabank Group, said the decrease reflects consumer concern over the fallout from troubles in the subprime mortgage sector in the U.S. and volatility in global financial markets in recent months. It will be interesting to see if the settlement between the UAW and GM, and the pending negotiations at Ford and Chrysler will have any long term affect on market share for the one-time Big Three because it seems more appropriate to refer to the situation as the Big Six now. Automotive sales More details at AutoObserver and TheStar.com
Sep 7, 2007 - Virginia is for Bug-ers
I'm not sure that this will solve some of VW's percieved problems like reliability or lack of concern for the customer. And if the recent series of postings in the Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible discussion is any indication, VW has a fairly steep hill to climb. Un-pimp my auto?
Sep 4, 2007 - 2007: A GM Odyssey
While some GM enthusiasts may be hoping for a return to past glory and being a colossus astride the automotive world, I think the days of GM being the all encompassing, everything to everyone monolith are over. It's a brave new world, and smaller, more nimble and responsive is the name of the game. Consumers are looking for something unique in their vehicles, and are going to gravitate towards those manufacturers that can provide that for them. GM has seemed slow to respond in the past, but I think that has simply been a result of "corporate inertia" that happens when a company gets that large. Changing their ways is going to be a slow process, but it's an absolute necessity in the changing automotive market. Evolution demands change. Adapt or face extinction. Can you make the switch?
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