November 18th, 2005 by admin
They use voting sites to increase seatbelt use
Volkswagen will kick off the voting for "Fasten Your Seat Belt … Go Far!," a nation-wide program that challenges teens to create TV ads that try to persuade their peers to buckle up. Choosing from hundreds of student-submitted PSAs, the three selected finalists will see their commercials broadcast tonight at 6pm. Teh voting sites, www.fuse.tv or www.vw.com are open until November 25. The winner will be announced on Fuse-TV on Monday, November 28.
As part of a joint educational effort between Volkswagen and Scholastic, students across the nation were challenged to create and produce 30-second television ads, to raise awareness and increase seat belt use among teens. Tragically, teens are the least likely to use safety belts, even when faced with possible traffic fines. Nearly 5,500 young people die in car crashes every year(1), many needlessly, since they could have been saved by simply buckling up.
November 18th, 2005 by admin
2005-2006 Auto Sales Come With Several Key Bonuses
Because new car sales are slumping, Chrysler is adding some hot add-ons to most new cars it sells.
Popular cars like the Dodge Charger are excluded.
DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler division on Thursday said it was raising its customer incentives and offering buyers more than $2,000 worth of free gasoline in a bid to combat slumping U.S. auto sales.
Chrysler spokesman Kevin McCormick said that starting next Monday the automaker would offer U.S. car buyers a debit card with $2,367 in credit to use for the purchase of gasoline.
The card will be given to customers who purchase most of the company’s 2005 and 2006 model year vehicles. Hot-selling models including the Chrysler 300, the Dodge Charger and Dodge Magnum are not included, however.
McCormick said Chrysler would also begin offering car buyers two years of free scheduled maintenance and an extended five-year, or 60,000-mile warranty.
It remains to be seen if these incentives are enough to push new car sales back into the black.
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November 15th, 2005 by admin
Ailing Mitsubishi Loses Chrysler’s Millions
In a surprising move, Monday saw a complete unloading of Chrysler’s Mitsubishi stake. Despite a small climb in quarter 3, Mitsubishi remains 26% down for the year.
Both companies say their strategic partnerships will continue, but a high-level resignation from the Chrysler board by a Mitsubishi exec may not bode well for the health of the alliance.
"Although capital ties between Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) and DaimlerChrysler AG (DC) will be dissolved as a result of the sale, ongoing individual alliance projects are progressing smoothly. Those projects include joint development and production of engines, the shared use of vehicle architecture, and the joint production of passenger vehicles."
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November 11th, 2005 by admin
Shopping around can lower the cost
Everyone knows SUVs can be expensive. Add to that the cost of gas lately, and driving an SUV can take a large chunk of your income. Even repairs for SUVs can be astronomical.
If you SUV needs repairs, be sure to read "Lowering 4-Wheel Drive/SUV Repair Costs" from About.com. The article has some useful tips on saving money when getting the repairs done.
In most instances, garages "mark-up" the price of parts used for vehicle repairs. Garages purchase parts at a wholesale prices and then mark-up the parts used for repairs. Although it is becoming rarer and rarer today, some garages will allow a customer to purchase the parts that will be used to repair their vehicle. Such garages will quote the customer on just the cost of labor to install the parts.
It can be to a customer’s advantage to get a quote on both the parts and labor prior to having their vehicles repaired. If the customer is so inclined, he or she can check on the cost of parts at retail parts stores such as Auto Zone, or Advanced Auto. In many instances, even better prices on parts can be obtained by getting on the Internet and searching under 4-wheel drive/SUV parts.
Of course, some repairs will be covered by your extended warranty. Check your benefits to see if your repair is covered.
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November 9th, 2005 by admin
Crossover market is attractive to Ford
Ford looks to take advantage of skyrocketing gas prices by introducing several vehicles that target the SUV driver that doesn’t go off-road. One of these, Ford’s Edge, is looking to attract the consumer that looks for style and affordability, rather than luxury with no eye to price.
The crossover segment is expected to grow from 2.5 million vehicles this year to 3.5 million by 2010. Automakers are counting on crossovers to fill the void created by declining SUV sales. Though the definition of a crossover varies, vehicles commonly classified in the segment include the Pontiac Vibe, Chrysler PT Cruiser and Nissan Murano. Luxury crossovers include the Acura MDX and Lexus RX.
The Edge will run on the Mazda6 platform, like the other crossover vehicles, Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Lincoln Aviator, and Lincoln Zephyr.
In a related story, former Ford company, Delphi, reports a $788 Million loss in Q4.
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November 7th, 2005 by admin
Use their list to buy your next car
37 vehicles made it into the Best Buy category in Consumer Digest’s comprehensive review of 268 cars. Among the SUVs, sedans, minivans and trucks are vehicles ranging in size/price from the Honda Civic to the GMC Yukon.
The list was judged on value, or cost in relation to features.
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November 4th, 2005 by admin
Using ITI, Volvo Aims to Reduce Claims
Volvo, an automaker already associated with reliability (and high-cost parts), is teaming with efficiency experts, ITI to scour the data regarding their product failure rates.
Already, ITI has been able to show Volvo some ways to improve the long-term performance of their engines.
ITI worked with Volvo to understand the reliability behavior of its line of current engines. Rather than look at reliability for the12-liter engine family as a whole, information was sorted by industry and application. This enabled historical performance and future requirements for the entire family of engines to be fully quantified and understood. In this way, realistic yet aggressive targets could set for each engine with specific reliability plans developed for each.
As this added reliability filters down to the consumer, lowered costs in warranties and repairs are the expected result.
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November 4th, 2005 by admin
Auto Makers and Tire Manufacturers Weigh In
One of the latest fads in the car industry is ‘siping’ your tires. To sipe a tire costs around $10 per tire, and is done by a tire professional. In fact, some places, like Les Schwab and Discount Tire suggest dramatic improvements in tire traction.
However, Seattle’s Komo 4 News took the time to ask some industry experts as to the safety of siping. Their conclusions?
The automotive experts at Consumer Reports told me they advise motorists to steer clear of siping. The magazine’s Eugene Petersen told me "there’s no question siping gives a tire more edges to grip the road," but he cautioned, "it can alter the tread pattern so the tire wears more quickly." — Komo News 4
The rest of the experts came the same conclusion, if you need better traction, don’t sipe your tire, just buy a tire that is specifically designed for traction.
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November 1st, 2005 by admin
American Cars are only second to Japan in reliability now, bringing warranty costs down.
Because American car companies are building better cars, the general public are submitting fewer warranty claims than in past years. With fewer claims comes lower rates.
Other domestic automakers are scoring the same effects from the quality-obsessed teamwork approach. For General Motors Corp.’s domestic fleet, the number of warranty claims is down 36 percent over the last five years, according to spokeswoman Janine Fruehan. Warranty costs are down 21 percent.
This is great news for anyone with a domestic car. Quality translates to lower warranty costs. It’s a win-win situation.
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September 25th, 2005 by admin
New IBM search technologies help automakers cut warranty expenses
Newly developed IBM search technologies help automakers cut warranty expenses, which cost the industry over $14 billion annually. IBM’s solution goes beyond "keyword" searches to collect and analyze data from a variety of information sources such as repair records and blogs.
Automotive companies across the world today face a very competitive and difficult marketplace. In an effort to stimulate growth, many automakers, particularly in the United States, have resorted to steep discounts to compete. These price cuts, in addition to rising operating costs, have taken their toll on the profit margins in the industry. To counterbalance the downward trend of profit margins, all automakers are looking at creative ways to control costs.
Warranty coverage is one of the fastest growing areas of operating costs in the automobile industry. In 2004, experts estimate warranty costs exceeded $45 billion worldwide. In the United States, auto warranties account for nearly 41 percent of all auto warranties industrywide. And, for the first time, in 2004 the number of recalled vehicles exceeded the total number of manufactured vehicles.
One of the causes behind the rising warranty costs and claims is the increasing complexity of vehicles. Today, nearly 40 percent of the value in an average vehicle is tied up in its software and recalled vehicles A single car may have as many as 70 different processors, controlling everything from anti-lock brakes and automatic transmissions to cruise control and fuel injection. Failures to those embedded systems account for a third of all warranty claims.
Controlling the costs of warranties has big benefits. Currently, warranty costs drag down profits of automobile industry by 3 percent. If automakers could reduce their warranty costs in half, they would see their profits soar as much as 300 percent.
