January 26th, 2006 by admin
Small Increase In US Auto Sales for Japan for the Month of January
This month US car sales in Japan were higher than this time last year. However the increase was only a slight one according to Edmunds.com:
Edmunds.com says the increase will come entirely from non-U.S. companies: Sales by General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler Group of Germany’s DaimlerChrysler AG will be less than year-earlier levels, Automotive News said Thursday.
Ford sales will fall 8 percent, GM sales by 5 percent and Chrysler sales by 3 percent, Edmunds.com predicts.
Meanwhile, Honda and Toyota sales will be higher, with Honda sales in January up 18 percent to 96,000 vehicles and Toyota sales up 16 percent to 164,000 vehicles.
Auto sales in the US are expected to see high Japanese car numbers this year, with Toyota possibly surpassing GM for the first time.
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January 24th, 2006 by admin
759,310 visitors to the North American International Auto Show
While seeing 2% lower numbers, the organizers were still happy to see excited fans and auto enthusiasts.
Show officials note that attendance isn’t the only measure of success. National and international media attention is another benchmark, and in that regard, the show improved, Genthe said.
"We’ve seen a 31 percent increase in the press mentions from a year ago," Genthe said. "And that doesn’t even include the auto buff magazines. When the final report is done, I think it’s going to be truly incredible."
Organizers also noted that while group sales were a definite loss, they still did well in walk-up sales.
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January 20th, 2006 by admin
Top Automaker, GM, Tries New Marketing Strategy
This year’s Escalade will end up with a base price of exactly the same as last year’s base, $57,280.
Once the new model buzz dies off, Brancheau says production levels for the ’07 Escalades will be very close to that of the outgoing model, which stood at 40,437 units in 2004 and 29,244 in 2005, according to Ward’s data.
Market segmentation will be similar to the previous model, with nearly 70% of sales coming from the standard Escalade, a Cadillac spokesman says. EXT and ESV versions will share the remainder of sales, with about 10% and 20%, respectively.
Trying a different marketing strategy may just work for GM. They’re also trying this to discourage dealers from offering the large incentives and rebates that really cut into profits and cause sales surges instead of steady sales.
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January 18th, 2006 by admin
If you thought buying a new or used vehicle was boring, an auto mall may be the answer
Dreading a visit to the car dealership for warranty repairs? An automall in Arizona aims to make you enjoy your visit.
In fact, they hope you’ll stop in as often as you visit the shopping mall.
Soon you can change your oil, eat lunch, get a pedicure and have your child’s hair cut all in one place in Chandler.
Those are some of the unusual amenities to be offered when Big Two Toyota/Scion of Chandler opens this fall at the Chandler 202 Auto Park, which will encompass 97 acres at Gilbert Road and the Santan Freeway on the Gilbert/Chandler border.
That auto mall will be competing with the Santan Motorplex that is being built about two miles to the east in Gilbert. advertisement
Besides the barber and manicurist, other amenities at the Toyota dealership will include a café, a business center with Internet access, a masseuse and a shoeshine parlor.
"Most people dread going to a car dealer and rank it with going to the dentist," general manager Wally Henkel said.
The new place, Henkel said, will allow people to accomplish more.
"Everybody is always trying to do two things at one time," he said.
About 25 percent of a typical car dealership’s business is regular, non-warranty maintenance work. That’s why there are so many independent tire dealers and oil-change and brake places.
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January 16th, 2006 by admin
Will the hybrid Camry help them overtake GM as the top automaker in the US
Toyota expanded a great deal over the last 12 months in the US. Look to see that expansion continue as they release this year’s hybrid Camry.
The gas-electric Camry will be Toyota’s first hybrid made in North America. Its smaller Prius hybrid, made only in Japan, saw sales jump 101% last year to 107,900 units, four times as many as runner-up Honda’s Civic hybrid.
A retooled version of Toyota’s full-size Tundra pickup truck will also start rolling off the company’s assembly lines in Princeton, Ind. and San Antonio, Texas, later this year. The new $850 million San Antonio facility is slated to open in late 2006.
Toyota now accounts for just over 13% of the U.S. auto market, with sales last year topping 2.26 million vehicles, up 10.1% from 2004. For 2006, Toyota is predicting 5% sales growth in the U.S. market.
Toyota’s hybrid, gas/electric combination, automobile will be out in the last half of 2006. Expect the hybrid Camry to help Toyota overtake GM’s spot as the top producing car maker.
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- Toyota boosts U.S. manufacturing base
Toyota Motor Corp., expanding its footprint in one of its hottest markets, reported Monday its North American plants turned out a record 1.56 million cars and trucks and nearly 1.3 million engines last year.
January 13th, 2006 by admin
More Americans Are Steering Clear of Luxury Vehicles
With gas prices up and deep car discounts on the "Big 3" automaker’s vehicles, luxury car sales are down this month.
It seems most people are having trouble paying the exorbitant prices for luxury vehicles these days, especially during the holiday season.
While these numbers fluctuate greatly from month to month, this appears to be part of a trend that surely disturbs luxury automakers.
Interestingly enough, Lexus had a banner year:
Lexus sold 151,226 cars, up 15,000 units, while its trucks (all SUVs) were close to even at 151,669, one-to-one with cars. Thus Lexus exceeded 300,000 for the first time, well ahead of all other luxury brands.
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January 11th, 2006 by admin
Car Crazy Central is a hit with savvy car enthusiasts
If you love cars check out Car Crazy Central. The site has recently launched as a portal for car lovers. The site boasts e-cards, news, forums, and email newsletters to keep you abreast of auto industry happenings.
The Car Crazy News section provides daily updated video news segments ranging from the latest automotive manufacturing and industry stories to collector and enthusiast updates. I went directly to the humor section to watch short films and cartoons. Visitors can also download screensavers, wallpapers, instant messaging icons, and automotive e-cards. —
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The video news is full-screen and they also offer radio, daily news, and even a community area (that’s where the cartoons reside) with classifieds and event for the auto buff. The community area is actually fairly substantial. I was pleasantly surprised to see such depth here.
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January 10th, 2006 by admin
Cars sales rise at the end of the year.
Finally good news in the American auto industry, as sales rise 10.3% to end 2005.
The auto industry has weathered some tough news over the past year, and auto giants Ford and GM are seeing particularly bleak futures. But, it looks like an upswing is taking place, when compared to the sales figures of 2004 which showed a loss of 4.6% in overall sales.
Unfortunately, the growth was not as healthy as it may appear. 63% of the sales were for commercial vehicles. In addition, due to aggressive discounts and rebates, margins for new car and used car sales were slim.
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January 6th, 2006 by admin
Two rivals will join forces on new minivan
If you thought automotive news was boring, you haven’t been keeping up with all that has been happening lately. It was just announced that VW will design the interior of Chrysler’s next minivan.
The minivan will be based on the next-generation Dodge and Chrysler minivan platform, but VW will design the interior and exterior.
"We’re developing a design that will be uniquely Volkswagen’s because we believe there’s tremendous opportunity in this market for a vehicle of this type," Bernhard said in a statement.
Bernhard predicted sales of around 10,000 minivans annually once the vehicle hits the market, a fairly conservative estimate. VW sold 18,050 Touareg sport-utility vehicles, its largest current vehicle, in the United States in 2005. That was down 35% from the number of Touaregs the company sold in 2004.
The van will be co-branded and will be manufactured in the United States or Canada. I wonder if this will be the start of a beautiful friendship?
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January 6th, 2006 by admin
New sponsorship model showcases their popular models
Trying something a little different, Infiniti will air an original show with no commercial breaks on February 9 on BET, and again one week later. The show will center on design and follow a group of artists as they discuss design fundamentals with no mention of Infiniti or their automobiles.
The show marks the next phase of The True Agency’s year-old "Infiniti in Black" campaign and will be backed by teaser ads, events and public-relations initiatives that begin next week and run through March, said Garlanda Freeze, management supervisor at True in Playa del Rey, Calif. The cost of those efforts and the time on BET amounts to an estimated $7 million to $10 million.
The approach differs from those of General Motors and Ford, which have placed brands in TV shows such as The Apprentice and 24, respectively, as well as in music videos and films.
Original programming is a first for Infiniti, a unit of Nissan that hired True in late 2003 as its first agency dedicated to reaching the black market. The show also breaks new ground for BET, which previously scheduled paid programming only on weekends in the early morning. "If it were a hard sell and something that was clearly commercial … then it would have gotten different placement and different treatment," said Michael Lewellen, svp of corporate communications at BET in Washington, D.C. "At the end of the day, we felt this is something that our viewers will enjoy seeing."
At the beginning and end of the program the conversation will cease and a montage of the vehicles will begin. Other than the start and ending of the program, the cars will not be mentioned.
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