Auto Industry Archive

Customers still want trucks, it’s just that now more than ever, they refuse to pay retail. Given big enough discounts, slightly cheaper gas prices, and in some cases brand-new, redesigned models, some truck customers came back in August, based on sales results announced last week. August results included a 9.4 percent increase in sales of the Chevrolet Avalanche, of all things, to...

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China is experiencing what passes for a downturn in its booming domestic auto market, which is to say a slowdown in the rate of growth. “The China market right now is slowing,” said Tim Dunne, director of Asia-Pacific Market Intelligence at J.D. Power and Associates. “It’s not a downturn like here, just a slowing of growth,” he said. In August, auto sales in China fell...

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Before anybody gets too euphoric about the current success of small cars from the Detroit 3, like the Ford Focus and the Chevrolet Cobalt, don’t forget the elephant in the room that nobody much is talking about right now: future imports from China. High gas prices and the Detroit 3’s other troubles have largely knocked Chinese imports out of the headlines in recent months, but...

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Falling home values mean fewer people are taking out home equity loans to buy a new vehicle. The automakers have tended to soft-pedal the links between the housing crisis and the drop in auto sales, saying that for most prime-risk customers, the drop in home values is more of a psychological effect than a direct relationship. But in markets where home values were booming before the present...

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As expected, GM’s Employee Discount for Everyone program failed to jump-start monthly auto sales, like it did back in 2005. GM’s actual August sales outperformed a forecast from Edmunds.com, which predicted on Aug. 28 that GM sales would fall about 27.5 percent in August from the year-ago month. In fact, GM sales were down 20.3 percent from August 2007, according to AutoData....

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General Motors launched a “Facts and Fiction” web site on Sept. 5, to clear up “many misconceptions people may have about GM.” The style is like this: MYTH: GM still doesn’t make cars that people want to buy. FACT:  “GM cars and trucks have improved significantly over the past decade, and critics and customers are taking note.” This is followed by a bunch...

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Even with today’s expensive gas, I remain skeptical about the Smart car’s staying power in the United States, beyond the first few years, once the initial “early adopters” all have one. Smart made its U.S. debut in January 2008. Here are my main reasons: One, the lack of utility. Stating the obvious, it’s just too darn small. The Smart fortwo is great for one...

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Here’s a cute little item, for a cute little car, the Smart fortwo: the Smart car people have persuaded some New York City parking garages to offer half-price parking for Smart cars, since, after all, they only take up half a parking place. That’s a nice idea, and for me, living in the New Jersey suburbs, it would certainly add to the appeal of the Smart car, provided that idea...

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Chasing better fuel economy, U.S. consumers are downsizing engines, as well as vehicles. I recalled here the other day that “Mr. Turbo” at Sweden’s Saab Automobiles was pushing smaller, fuel-efficient, four-cylinder turbocharged engines back in the late 1970s, long before anybody imagined U.S. prices hitting $4 a gallon. Back then, $1 per gallon was shocking enough. Today,...

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Here’s a new definition of stop-and-go traffic: automakers are developing engines that shut off temporarily to save gas while a car stands still, then re-start when the driver steps on the gas. Drivers with a gasoline-electric hybrid like the Toyota Prius will already be familiar with this feature. The conventional motor turns off as soon as the car stands still for more than a few...

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