Filed under: Car Buying, Plants/Manufacturing, Crossover, Audi
There are good problems and there are bad problems. Audi dealers across the U.S. are having trouble selling vehicles, but not because of uncompetitive product or industry-wide sales woes. Automotive News reports the reason for Audi’s sales troubles have everything to do with a supply shortage that stems from strong first quarter sales. Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen reportedly told AN that U.S. dealers are “short of everything,” with Q5 and Q7 supplies running especially low.
Last year, Audi cut U.S. deliveries by 6,000 units due to weak sales here in the States, but the German luxury automaker saw brisk sales in December followed by a first quarter that bested the first three months of 2009 by 35 percent. Audi now has a 29 day supply of product for U.S. dealers; about half the typical 60 day reserve and a third of the 88 day supply of March, 2009. De Nysschen says Audi has allotted an additional 3,000 vehicles to the U.S. for 2010, which should help dealers a bit. That said, we’re thinking Audi isn’t looking to beef up inventories too much considering the fact that the Four-Ringed automaker managed to keep incentives in check at a time when other automakers are dumping truckloads of cash on the hood to boost their sales.
Gallery: Review: 2009 Audi Q5
Photos by Dan Roth / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req.]
Report: Audi U.S. sales suffering due to supply shortage originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Car Buying, China, Ferrari, Beijing Motor Show
What do you get when you start with a 599 GTB Fiorano, lose 430 pounds, add 49 horsepower and import street-legal tech from the track-only 599XX? The sum of those many marvelous parts is the 599 GTO, the fastest road-going Ferrari in the automaker’s legendary history.
The folks in Maranello unleashed it’s king Horse to the public earlier this week before its official unveiling next month at the Beijing Motor Show, with the promise to build precisely 599 examples carrying the venerable GTO designation. The good news is Ferrari created a vehicle configurator that lets you customize your 599 GTO to your heart’s content. The bad news: at an estimated $460,000, most of us couldn’t afford it.
But still, it’s fun to dream, and with the hundreds of available combinations you’ll have plenty of time to play. Hues for the 50s and 60s are available, along with metallic finishes, and you can choose your own seat type (racing buckets come in small, medium and large), steering wheel type, a host of available carbon fiber accents, over a dozen different interior stitching options and plenty more. Check it out and start saving your pennies for the launch later this year.
Gallery: Ferrari 599 GTO
[Source: Ferrari]
Build your own Ferrari 599 GTO originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Minivan/Van, Plants/Manufacturing, Work, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Renault
Renault-Nissan’s partnership with Daimler is only a couple of days old, but the three companies have already divulged plenty of information on possible synergies. For example, the three automakers will work together on a small car platform that will one day underpin the Renault Twingo and future Smart cars. The companies will also collaborate on engine projects and share U.S. factory space.
Automotive News reports that another area where the three companies can find synergies is with commercial vans. Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche intimated as much during the press conference, adding “we have no concrete plans yet, but these are certainly areas of investigation which might lead to results.” Nissan is just getting its feet wet in the segment with the spanking new NV2500, while Daimler has a much more established van, the extremely capable (if pricey) Sprinter. Since commercial vans is one of the few areas where the companies will compete, the best way to combine efforts is through the manufacturing process.
The NV2500 begins production in Canton, Miss this fall, while the Sprinter is assembled from imported kit components at Daimler’s Charleston, S.C. plant. Since Daimler doesn’t have an engine plant in the U.S., the German automaker can benefit financially from Nissan engines built in Decherd, Tennessee. The move would improve Nissan’s economies of scale at its engine plant, while Daimler stands to save metric tons of money, since European labor costs are high and the company loses cash by the bucket due to the high value of the euro compared to the dollar. Sounds like a cargo-hauling match made in heaven to us.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req.]
Report: New Renault-Nissan tieup with Daimler could result in commercial van linkages originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Porsche, Volkswagen
It seems the merger between Volkswagen and Porsche has been complicated since the very beginning, and a report from Reuters shows that the dynamic may not change any time soon.
First Porsche was buying the much larger VW, then Porsche got stuck in a cash crunch and needed money from Volkswagen to stave off bankruptcy. Now VW owns 49.9 percent of Porsche, and The People’s Automaker expects to own the luxury sports car maker outright by 2011. Straightforward enough, right? Well, a prospectus filed by VW in late March reportedly shows that the merger between the two German automakers may be delayed until 2011 and beyond. The reason for the delay could stem from Porsche’s tax liabilities and hedge fund lawsuits alleging that former executives at the German sports car maker manipulated the market in an attempt to takeover Volkswagen.
A Volkswagen spokesperson reportedly told Reuters that the companies are still moving towards a 2011 merger as planned, while a Porsche spokesperson said the warnings in VW’s perspective list every possible risk and that the chances of a major problem is limited. Still, some analysts sound skeptical. The report goes on to state that Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton said the risks associated with purchasing Porsche could force VW to pay cash for a remaining 50.1 percent stake. That would mean VW would have to raise capital and assume unwanted debt – a lot of capital and a mountain of debt.
[Source: Reuters]
Volkswagen-Porsche merger in jeopardy over hedge fund suits and tax issues? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We love crash test videos because there’s nothing quite like a 35 mph collision between a two-ton automobile and a cement barrier done in the name of science and safety. When we watch the slow-motion footage we marvel at the twisting metal and the busted glass, but unless the crash test dummy’s head falls off, we rarely give the anthropomorphic stiff the time of day.
That may change after watching the two-minute video after the jump that explains the work that goes into making a General Motors‘ test dummies. The video tells us that each unit can have 50 to 100 information channels and a data collection box that is about as big as a Blackberry. The video also details why the dummies wear clothes and why those duds are pink. Hint: it has nothing to do with fashion.
[Source: Voltage]
Continue reading Video: GM shows off how to make a crash test dummy
Video: GM shows off how to make a crash test dummy originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety, Toyota
Documents that were submitted by Toyota to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in March and obtained by Automotive News reportedly show that Toyota knew of dangerous safety defects on its vehicles as early as February, 2006. The first documented issue was of a 2005 Toyota Prius that experienced floor mat interference with the accelerator. The company-supplied timeline reportedly shows that it received its first evidence of sticky gas pedals five months later, but Toyota claims that the defect was unrepeatable and couldn’t be duplicated, and the automaker reportedly opted to “monitor the situation in the field.”
Since automakers are required to issue recalls within five days of finding a safety defect, the timeline documentation seems to validate NHTSA’s recent $16.4 million fine levied against the Japanese automaker. Other documentation obtained by NHTSA and published in the Detroit Free Press includes an email from former Toyota executive Irv Miller to his superiors that shows that Toyota may have known about recall issues far earlier than the recalls were ordered. Toyota has two weeks to decide whether to fight the fine or pay up. NHTSA has been investigating the timeliness with which Toyota recalled the 8 million vehicles for floor mat and pedal sticking issues for several months.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req.]
Report: Toyota documents show knowledge of defects in 2006 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Etc.
If you’re moving out of state, one of the most popular ways to get your stuff to your new home is a U-Haul truck or trailer. This gives the rental company a unique perspective on where people are migrating to, and the company shares this information with the rest of us with its annual U-Haul National Migration Trend Report. The report for 2009 reflects 1 million one-way truck transactions across the country to show which states are gaining the most residences.
According to U-Haul, the state with at least 20,000 families moving that saw the most growth was, somewhat surprisingly, Kentucky. The Blue Grass State managed to bring in 5.76 percent more families than it lost in 2009. Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Illinois round out the top five.
Among the states with 5,000 to 20,000 moves, Vermont had the highest percentage of growth with 16.67 percent more families coming than going. Vermont took the top spot among states with fewer than 20,000 moves after two straight years of Maine at the top. Hit the jump to read over the U-Haul press release, which includes the top 10 move destinations among states with at least 20,000 relocations and the top eight among states with fewer than 20,000 interstate moves.
[Source: U-Haul]
U-Haul tracking data suggests more families migrating to Kentucky, Vermont than other states originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Toyota
On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it was fining Toyota $16.4 million for failing to recall vehicles due to faulty accelerator pedals in a timely fashion. Toyota has two weeks to either contest or pay the fine, but an e-mail obtained by the Detroit Free Press shows that it may be best for the Japanese automaker to quickly pay the fine and move on.
The document in question is an e-mail from Irv Miller, a now-retired public relations executive for the automaker’s U.S. operations, and it shows that Toyota may have been aware of sticking gas pedals well before the company recalled 2.3 million vehicles to correct the potentially dangerous defect. Under federal law, automakers have five days after finding a safety defect before issuing an official recall.
Miller cautioned in his email that the automaker is not “protecting our customers by keeping this quiet. The time to hide on this one is over.” Miller then went on to make absolutely clear that he was talking about unintended acceleration issues by adding “WE HAVE A tendency for MECHANICAL failure in accelerator pedals.” The odd cadence of CAPS was apparently used by Miller for emphasis. Miller was apparently so concerned with top U.S. executive Yoshi Inaba and U.S. sales boss Jim Lentz’s January meeting with NHTSA that he also wrote Toyota “better just hope that they can get NHTSA to work with us in coming to a workable solution that does not put us out of business.”
The Freep also reports that among the 70,000 documents gathered by NHTSA during its investigation was evidence that Toyota warned 31 European governments and Canada of the pedal problems as early as September, 2009. It reportedly even went as far as providing a service bulletin with instructions for repairing the pedals, but didn’t issue a recall for sticking accelerator pedals in the U.S. until January 21, 2010.
Miller’s e-mail could well make fighting that $16.4 million fine a really bad idea, but the larger looming issue may be that his words appear to show that Toyota wasn’t acting in the best interest of its extremely loyal customers. It’s a good thing Miller is (suddenly) retired, because he probably wasn’t going to be the most popular guy in the office this week.
[Source: Detroit Free Press | Source Image: Bryan Mitchell/Getty]
Report: Toyota exec in U.S. urged company to “come clean” on defects originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Toyota, Australia
Toyota has seen more than its fair share of negative headlines recently, so it’s only fair to point out when good news arises. Toyota of Australia has announced that last month it sold its five-millionth vehicle in the Land Down Under. Toyota doesn’t know the exact vehicle that put the automaker over the top, but the it does know it has sold 2.9 million passenger cars and 2.1 million commercial vehicles since it entered the country in the early 1960s. Toyota’s sales have predictably risen sharply over the years as well. The first year Toyota managed 100,000 sales in a year was 1983, while the last five years brought over 200,000 sales.
Of the five million sales, Toyota tells us that the most popular model has been the Corolla, with 1.1 million units sold. The Camry and Land Cruiser are neck and neck for second place with about 740,000 sales apiece, while the HiLux pickup has tallied 650,000 takers. Hit the jump to read over Toyota’s press release.
[Source: Toyota]
Continue reading Toyota clears five millionth sale in Australia
Toyota clears five millionth sale in Australia originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Car Buying, Budget, Hatchback, Ford, Mazda
The 2011 Ford Fiesta and Mazda2 come to market this summer with attractive looks and plenty of available features. The two models also have a lot in common, as both vehicles are based off the same B-Segment platform and engage in a good bit of parts-sharing. But which vehicle is the better value?
The folks over at TrueDelta attempted to solve that equation, and according to the research firm’s blog, the answer isn’t as simple as “which vehicle is cheaper.” Sticker price is, however, a good place to start. A base Fiesta hatch stickers at $15,795, while the Mazda2 totals $14,730 (both prices include destination charge). That’s a $1,065 win for Mazda, no doubt, but TrueDelta claims that figuring in the value of standard equipment in the Fiesta that doesn’t exist in the Mazda brings the price gap down to about $300. A loaded Mazda2 Touring is $1,880 cheaper than a loaded Fiesta, but again, with equipment differences figured in the chasm, the gap reportedly shrinks to a mere $200.
After figuring in all the variables, TrueDelta feels the Fiesta wins out in spite of the fact that the Mazda2 is still cheaper – even when factoring in available equipment. Why? The answer is fuel economy. The most efficient Mazda2 promises 28 miles per gallon in the city and 34 mpg on the highway. The thriftiest Fiesta comes in at a far more impressive 30/40 city/highway mix; more than enough fuel savings to offset a few hundred bucks.
But that doesn’t make the Fiesta a superior deal in our estimation; at least not yet. If the Mazda2’s engineers deliver plenty of added “Zoom-Zoom,” we may be able to forgive and forget about the Fiesta’s on-paper fuel economy advantage.
Gallery: 2011 Mazda2
Gallery: 2011 Ford Fiesta
[Source: TrueDelta]
Sibling Rivalry: What’s the better value play, Ford Fiesta or Mazda2? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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