February 7th, 2006 by admin
The Luxury Automaker Is Feeling the Pain of No Search Traffic
BMW was banned from Google’s index for shady search engine optimization work after the Super Bowl on Sunday.
The car manufacturer created a page, stuffed it with keywords, and had it redirect to another page that was significantly different than the page the searcher thought they were getting.
BMW Germany’s offense? It apparently showed one page–a "doorway"–to Google’s search crawler, but another to visitors. The doorway was allegedly loaded with the keywords "used cars," but the company then redirected visitors to a different landing page.
Google blogger Matt Cutts first wrote about the development this weekend, saying that the tactic violated Google’s quality guidelines, which state that Web sites shouldn’t show different pages to search crawlers than to users.
A BMW spokesman told Forbes that the company had not done anything wrong. "We do not understand why Google has decided this," the spokesman was quoted as saying.
February 6th, 2006 by admin
You might think it sounds unrealistic, but cars run on alternative fuel sources are getting better every year
With the surge is gas prices, you might wonder why we aren’t seeing more on alternative fuel options. While cars are being built to test and expand this market, there is a resounding lack of news coverage on energy efficient autos.
Honda hopes to change all that. Their FCX runs on clean and efficient hydrogen. The costs for running a car on hydrogen are greatly reduced, because there’s so much hydrogen just ‘floating around’ for our use.
From a Honda Press Release:Honda Advances the Hydrogen Dream
Several months ago at the Tokyo Motor Show, Honda introduced a wind cheating, earth friendly, fuel cell-powered concept called the FCX. Several weeks ago in Detroit at the NAIAS, Honda quietly announced that they would build a production vehicle based on the FCX concept. With the advancements they’ve made for this latest generation of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles, a production model will be ready within three to four years. It will probably be available only to a small group of alternative fuel loyalists and devotees, and likely only in Japan or possibly California where Honda previously introduced the FCX-V4 of which a portion of 30 examples found their way into government fleets (see new vehicle preview section of this website for January 16, 2003: 2003 Honda FCX-V4 Preview) and at least one famiy (see automotive news section of this website for July 3, 2005: Honda Tests Hydrogen-Powered FCX with Private Family for First Time), but the packaging solutions Honda has developed for hydrogen storage as well as their clever Home Energy Station, alleviating the need for widespread hydrogen refilling stations on the road, point the way around many of the obstacles, or detours, on the road to the hydrogen highway and zero-emission culture of the future.
There is a very good chance that Hydrogen-Powered cars will overtake the current gasoline cars. It might take a good 5-10 years to get rolling at first but when people see the potential this technology has, they will certainly conform to these "new and improved" fuel-efficient automobiles.
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February 2nd, 2006 by admin
Great reviews and plenty of headroom speak highly of Hyundai’s new Azera
It’s never easy to know which car may be the absolute *best* one for you and your family. The new Hyundai Azera is one you should give a second look.
The Azera also comes with Hyundai’s industry-leading warranty coverage that includes a limited powertrain warranty that lasts for 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.
The base Azera SE has a starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price under $25,000. That compares with a starting price of the car it replaces, the 2005 Hyundai XG350 sedan, of $24,899. With destination charge added, the XG350’s total starting price was $25,494.
Hyundai priced the top-of-the-line Azera, the Limited model, to start around $27,000.
The roomy Azera is less than $30K fully loaded and according to the review, it drives beautifully too.
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January 30th, 2006 by admin
Ford releases the newly redesigned Expedition
Ford launched the 2007 Ford Expedition at the Houston Auto Show a week ago.
Notice the larger back end, and minivan-ish look. Ford seems to realize that many of their SUV buyers are really wanting stylish minivans to transport their children.
How many SUV owners do you know that actually take their SUV off road?
The 2007 Ford Expedition should be popular with today’s active families. It will be interesting to see how much the new car price and warranty quotes rise from last year’s more masculine model.
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January 27th, 2006 by admin
Car Maintenance Can Save You Money In Fuel Costs
Taking a trip to the gas station is not som
ething anyone looks forward to, with gas prices at all-time highs. But, with simple auto maintenance on your new OR older car, you can save money at the pumps.
• Worn spark plugs – A vehicle can have either four, six or eight spark plugs, which fire as many as 3 million times every 1,000 miles, resulting in a lot of heat and electrical and chemical erosion. A dirty spark plus causes misfiring, which wastes fuel. Spark plugs need to be replaced regularly.
• Dirty air filters – An air filter that is clogged with dirt, dust and bugs chokes off the air and creates a "rich" mixture – too much gas being burned for the amount of air, which wastes gas and causes the engine to lose power. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent, saving about 15 cents a gallon.
Applying just one of these simple strategies can save you money next time you have to fill up.
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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.
