Auto Industry Archive

NEW YORK — Automotive marketers have been slow to recognize that Internet shopping has shot the traditional “purchase funnel” full of holes. “Until recently, the auto business and consumer package goods were the two holdouts from the digital revolution. We’ve been stragglers in the digital age,” said Chrysler’s Deborah Meyer, in a Sept. 22 speech here...

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NEW YORK — Online videos, shot to resemble a reality-show “competition,” are a big part of the upcoming marketing launch for the all-new, 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup. A tagline of the macho campaign says the 2009 Dodge Ram “Never Backs Down from a Challenge.” That’s a good thing, because the new Dodge Ram has a big, big challenge on its hands. In the face of...

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NEW YORK — Eight-cylinder engines have made a modest comeback in the last couple of months, fueled by high incentives on big trucks, and a slight moderation in the price of gasoline. In May, eight-cylinders were as low as 13.6 percent of U.S. new-vehicles sales, according to the Power Information Network. That rebounded to 14.6 percent in June, 17.1 percent in July, and 18.5 percent in...

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It hasn’t been officially declared, but the U.S. economy is now entering a recession, said an economist at the Auto Industry Hot Topics Conference here on Sept. 18. “The economy has moved into recession,” said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor’s, which co-sponsored the conference with J.D. Power and Associates. “The recession should be mild...

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NEW YORK — The single worst piece of news from an auto industry conference here on Sept. 18 was, there was no single worst piece of news. It was a smorgasbord of bad news for the U.S. auto industry, a kaleidoscope of bad news, a minefield of bad news. One of the few printable things my U.S. Navy buddies used to say comes to mind: “The defecation has impacted the ventilation.”...

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WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. — The historically important midsize car segment is largely an import show, even though General Motors and Ford have reclaimed some lost share this year, with models like the Chevy Malibu, the Pontiac G6 and the Ford Fusion. Sales of the all-new 2008 Malibu were up a whopping 47 percent to 119,665 in 2008, year to date through August. But at the top, there’s the...

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Mazda is counting on the redesigned Mazda6 model to boost U.S. sales past 300,000 units annually starting next year. Topping that 300,000 milestone is something Mazda used to accomplish routinely until the mid-1990s. The company now concedes that in the past, quality was spotty and some of its cars were poorly suited for the U.S. market. Not to mention, the Mazda6 goes head-to-head versus the...

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Mazda’s U.S. sales are off this year, but not as much as the rest of the industry. These days, that qualifies as a big success, Mazda officials said. “If you look at where some of our competitors are, we are beating the industry as a whole, we are beating Asian brands as a whole,” said Jeremy Barnes, director, product and corporate communications for Mazda North American...

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The U.S. auto industry sometimes calls North American factories for foreign brands “New American Manufacturers,” but some of the pioneers have been around so long, they have some of the same problems as the traditional domestic plants, such as a graying work force and layoffs due to slow truck sales. For instance, the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn., started production just over 25...

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There are going to be fewer Bentleys, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Mercedes-Benzes, Porsches and Rolls-Royces under the Christmas tree this year, with Wall Street bonuses taking a beating in the present financial industry shakeout. New York Governor David Paterson said in July Wall Street bonuses would fall an estimated 20 percent this year, and that was before Lehman Brothers declared...

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