Auto Insider Daily

2009 New York International Auto Show

2009-04-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

Toyota to Post First Loss

2008-12-22T18:19:00.000-08:00

Highlighting the credit crunch and economic down turn that is affecting all auto makers, Toyota is expected to report its first loss ever. Speculation is Toyota will have a loss of $1.7 billion for the year ending March 31. Toyota has idled factories and delayed opening a new plant in Mississippi. Honda had similar news last week. So the woes of the Detroit 3 are not caused by stupid business decisions, but the collapse of the auto market which is hurting every auto manufacturer.

Source AutoWeek

GOP Blocks Auto Loan Bill in Senate

2008-12-11T23:39:00.000-08:00

Republican Senators prevented a vote on the $14 billion in loans for the Detroit Automakers. These Conservative Southern Republicans all with foreign auto plants in their states are looking to weaken the UAW. They greatly fear the UAW trying to unionize the auto plants in the south. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes Benz, and Hyundai all have non-union plants in the south. It is now up to the White House to find the loan money to allow General Motors and Chrysler to continue into 2009.

Source CNN Money

Chevy Volt Development $750 Million

2008-12-10T23:54:00.000-08:00

General Motors is spending over $750 Million developing the Chevy Volt. The electric range extended car will reach production by 2010. The fact that GM has not delayed Volt development shows they are still planning for the future despite the current economic troubles. Much of the development costs are going to battery research. The Volt will sell for a loss for six or more years but will make GM one of the world’s greenest automakers. Many of the technologies developed for the Volt will trickle down to more mainstream products.

Source CNN Money

UAW Will Alter Contract to Help Big 3

2008-12-03T23:41:00.000-08:00

The United Auto Workers will modify the 2007 contracts to help General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. They will suspend the Jobs Bank program and delay the automakers payments to the retiree health care trust. The Jobs Bank program allows laid-off factory workers to receive 95 percent of their pay. In 2007, the automakers transferred retiree health care responsibilities to a union run fund. Over the next few years, the automakers will fund that fund.

Source AutoWeek

Big 3 Give Business Plans to Congress

2008-12-02T23:24:00.000-08:00

General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler gave their future plans to Congress to justify the bailout loans.

GM:
GM will focus on only four brands (Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac). Saab will be sold off and Saturn will be sold or closed. Pontiac will become a niche brand. Hummer is already up for sale. Dealers will be cut from 6,450 to 4,700. One third of the nameplates will be cut form the model lineup. CEO Rick Wagoner will work for $1 next year.

Ford:
Ford will focus on bring small cars from Europe to be built and sold here. Development will be focused on hybrids, plug in hybrids, and electric vehicles. They will have a full electric van for fleet sales in 2010 and an electric sedan in 2011.

Chrysler:
Chrysler’s plan was lighter on details. They focus on electric vehicles and plan to have one on sale in 2010 and others by 2013. In the next four years, they will launch 24 major new products. Chrysler will also continue to seek alliances.

Source AutoWeek

GM Dismisses Tiger Woods

2008-11-25T23:17:00.000-08:00

Things are so bad at General Motors that they are ending Tiger Woods spokesperson contract a year early. GM says there budget issues that brought about this change and Tiger stated he would like to spend more time with his family. Months earlier, GM pulled out of being a major sponsor of the 2009 Academy Awards and also backed out of advertising during the Emmy Awards.

Source AutoWeek

Big Three Squander Congressional Hearing

2008-11-20T23:02:00.000-08:00

Instead of the Detroit Three pleading their case that they are vital to the economy they spent all their time in Congress explaining why they each of the CEOs took separate private jets. They are looking for $25 billion in loans but they had the audacity to fly on private jets to ask for it. This made the bailout vote politically unviable. The Big Three where told to return with business plans after Thanksgiving to explain what they will do with the loans.

Source MSNBC

Chrysler Executives Receive Millions While Asking for Bailout

2008-11-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

Chrysler is paying out $30 million in retention bonuses to top executives while cutting thousands of jobs. It is also currently seeking a bailout to the tune of billions of dollars from the government. The bonus plan was setup by DaimlerChrysler to retain executives while Chrysler was being sold off. Fifty executives are in the bonus plan and six will receive over $1 million this year. The CEOs of Chrysler, GM, and Ford will testify before a House committee on the proposed $25 billion bailout loans. Executive pay and bonuses are expected to be limited as part of a bailout deal.

Source Detroit Free Press

October Auto Sales Stink

2008-11-03T23:59:00.000-08:00

All automakers saw steep drop in their U.S. sales. General Motors sales for October fell 45 percent. This was the worst month for sales since January 1991. Chrysler’s sales dropped 35 percent and Ford’s fell 30 percent. Toyota is offering zero percent financing but sales still sank 23 percent. Nissan dropped 33 percent and Honda fell 25 percent. One bright spot is that GM maintained its lead over Toyota for the highest sales in the U.S. market.

Source MSNBC

Nissan Walks Away from Chrysler Talks

2008-11-02T23:39:00.000-08:00

Nissan and Renault have ended acquisitions talks with Chrysler. Cerberus Capital which owns 80.1% of Chrysler will now focus on a deal with General Motors. The Nissan and Renault talks have been widely reported, but CEO Carlos Gohsn maintains that news of the takeover have been speculation.

Source CNN Money

Fusion Hybrid to Get 38 MPG

2008-10-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

The upcoming 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid will get at least 38 MPG in the city. Mercury will also get a hybrid version of its Milan. Ford has not released the official fuel economy numbers but they are targeting to beat the Toyota Camay Hybrid by at least 5 MPG. This hybrid system is the next generation of the system in the Ford Escape. The Fusion will be able to reach 47 MPH using only the electric motor. The nickel metal hydride battery pack is 30 percent smaller and 20 percent lighter. The instrument cluster has LCD screens on each side that grows leaves to encourage your fuel efficient driving.

Source Inside Line

End of the Road for Dodge Durango and Hybrid

2008-10-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

Chrysler is moving up the closure of its Newark Delaware plant to the end of the year. This will be the end of the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen. The production of the hybrid versions will also end. The sales of the large SUVs are terrible due to high gas prices and the poor economy. Chrysler’s sales have dropped more than any other automaker. Durango sales are down 54 percent from last year and Aspen sales are down 21 percent. Chrysler said it is not killing off the SUVs but they have not announced a plant that production will move to.

Source MSNBC

Photos of 2010 Toyota Prius Leaked

2008-10-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

Toyota planned to show off the next generation Prius at the Detroit Auto Show in January, but photos of it have been leaked onto the internet. Follow the link for more photos.

Source Inside Line

Cerberus Looking to Offload Chrysler

2008-10-15T23:50:00.000-07:00

Reports surfaced last week that Chrysler was looking to merge with General Motors. The news this week is that Chrysler has talked to several international automakers. The credit crisis, economic woes, and gasoline prices are wreaking havoc on the automakers. Chrysler is the weakest of the Detroit Three. It is looking for a merger just to survive. Cerberus would want a meaningful stake in the company that merges with Chrysler. A merger with GM would not make any sense since their business overlap so much. Chrysler would be better off with a foreign automaker that does not have a large presence in the U.S. Nissan would be a good fit and talks are ongoing. Chrysler has also met with Fiat of Italy and Tata Motors of India.

Source CNN Money

Lower Gas, Incentives Increase Truck Sales

2008-10-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

How quickly people forget $4 gas. Vehicle sales tanked in September but truck and SUV sales rose. Light truck sales also increased in August. The key to the sales increases are high incentives and dropping gasoline prices. There are also predictions that gas could hit $2 a gallon next year. This trend could destroy the Detroit Automakers. They are spending billions right now to retool factories to build small cars. All that money will be a total waste if consumers return to trucks as soon as gas starts to drop. We need consistency in gas prices so automakers know what vehicles consumers will want. We need to add a fluctuating tax to gasoline so that the price remains near $4 a gallon. This will move drivers into smaller cars and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.

Source MSNBC

Global Auto Sales to Shrink in 2009

2008-10-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

J.D. Power and Associates predict that global auto sales may collapse in 2009. Shortage of credit and the economic slowdown with put downward pressure on global auto sales. U.S. auto sales will drop to 13.2 million in 2009 from the 13.6 million that is predicted in 2008. Mature auto markets will be affected more than emerging markets, but every country will be affected.

Source MSNBC

September Auto Sales Drop to 1993 Levels

2008-10-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

September was the first month since February 1993 to have auto sales below a million units. A slow economy and constant bad financial news brought down sales 26.6% compared with last September. Every auto maker was affected. Toyota saw sales drop 32.3%. GM had sales drop 15.6%. They were help by Employee Pricing Sale. The credit crisis is affecting dealerships and consumers. The dealers use credit to finance their inventories and many consumers are being denied loans or have to put up bigger down payments.

Source USA Today

Chrysler to Sell Electric Cars in 2010

2008-09-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

Chrysler revealed three electric vehicles today. They say one of them will go on sale in 2010. All use advanced lithium ion batteries. The Dodge EV is an all electric two seat sports car. It is being co-developed with Lotus and is based on a Lotus model. The range on a full charge should be 150 to 200 miles and it should hit 60 MPH in under 5 seconds. The Chrysler EV is a Town & Country. The Jeep EV is a four door Wrangler. They are both electric vehicles with a gasoline engine to expand their range.

Chrysler ENVI site

Source Edmunds Inside Line

Chevy Volt Shown at GM 100 Anniversary

2008-09-16T23:01:00.000-07:00

General Motors brought out the production version of the Chevy Volt. The production version is more sleek and aerodynamic than the concept version. After several hours of charging at home electrical outlet, it will be able to drive for 40 miles on electricity only. The electrical motor will produce about 150 horsepower. GM expects the car will use less electricity than a refrigerator over a year of use. It will cost about 2 cents a mile to drive the Volt using electricity. When the engine turns on to recharge the batteries, it will cost 12 cents a mile to drive. The Chevy Volt will go on sale in 2010.

Source CNN Money

Hummer Dealer Closes to Sell Smart Cars

2008-09-10T23:40:00.000-07:00

The only Las Vegas Hummer dealer is closing. It is also one of the largest Hummer dealers in the country. This is the eight Hummer dealer to close this year. The owner, Dan Towbin, will be opening a Smart dealership soon. Hummer’s sales are down 47% this year due to high gas prices.

Source The Wall Street Journal

Production Chevy Volt Photos Leaked

2008-09-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the production version of the Chevy Volt where accidentally leaked by GM. The production car is much smoother and contoured than the concept to allow better aerodynamics. The electric car with a range extending engine will be officially unveiled for GM’s 100th anniversary on September 16th. The Chevy Volt can be recharged by a wall outlet and can go 40 miles on a full charge. When the batteries are low a gasoline engine starts up to recharge the batteries. The Chevy Volt will go on sale in late 2010.

Source MSNBC

Honda Insight Concept Hybrid

2008-09-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

The Honda Insight Concept will debut at the 2008 Paris International Auto Show. It shares many styling cues with the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle. The 2009 Insight will be a direct competitor to the Toyota Prius. Honda’s latest hybrid will go on sale in the spring of 2009 and will be the lowest priced hybrid on the market. It will be a five door, five passenger hatchback. Honda is planning production of 200,000 units a year with 100,000 going to North America.

Source CNN Money

Small Car Prices Rise with Demand

2008-09-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Increased demand in small cars will drive up prices over the next few years. Automakers are adding new features to small cars to increase prices and to regain profits that they once earned on trucks. Many people will not want to sacrifice their navigation systems and leather seats as they move to smaller cars. In the next four years, small car prices will go from the high teens to the mid $20,000. Honda’s redesigned Fit has a high end trim that costs $19,430. Ford also added a premium Focus model that is priced from $18,665 to $23,214. Average selling prices are already rising. The Focus’s average selling price is up 4.4% from a year ago and the Toyota Yaris is up 3.6%.

Source USA Today

Ford Truck Plant Converting to Build Cars

2008-08-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

Ford is spending $75 million to convert a truck plant to build small cars. The Wayne Michigan plan currently makes the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. Sales of the Expedition are down 39% this year and the Navigator is down 28%. Car production will begin in the plant in 2010. The plant will build the Ford Focus or another small car. When the conversion at the plant is completed, it will be a flexible production facility able to produce various vehicles on the same production line.

Source USA Today