Ford, the least financially challenged of the Big Three, is making a big push on hybrid and plug-in vehicles. The company brought a development version of its small Focus-based battery electric car to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and gave journalists (including me) a chance to drive it on city streets. Though it looked like a bare bones Focus economy car, performance...
Auto Industry Archive
January 2009
The proposed deal between Fiat and Chrysler is the best news Chrysler has had since it won an emergency government loan of $4 billion last month, but keep in mind Chrysler came within an ace of going bankrupt in December, and the company is hardly out of the woods yet. “This agreement does not address Chrysler’s short-term (2009) issues,” said research and consulting firm IHS...
The recently announced deal between Chrysler and Fiat reunites two old friends, dating back to the Iacocca era at Chrysler. Chrysler and Fiat on Jan. 20 confirmed that Fiat will take a 35-percent share in Chrysler. Automotive News had the scoop on Jan. 19. Chrysler potentially gets access to small, fuel-efficient cars based on platforms developed by Fiat. And Fiat potentially gets access to the...
When Chrysler Financial got a hard-won loan from the U.S. Treasury Department late last week, it reacted the same way GMAC Financial Services did last month – together with parent Chrysler, Chrysler Financial ran straight out into the market with zero-percent financing offers, to try and stimulate sales. On the one hand that’s understandable, given how desperate the car companies are...
DETROIT – As the long, long list of gasoline-electric hybrid cars and battery-powered electric vehicles grows, so grows the unease in the auto industry, whether enough people will buy them. Nevertheless, the industry is moving full speed ahead on “electrification.” Entries at the Detroit show ranged from luxurious models like the BMW Concept 7 Series ActiveHybrid and the Cadillac...
GM cut its 2009 auto sales forecasts for the U.S. market and the rest of the world, citing “the ongoing uncertainty of global market conditions.” For the United States, that means a forecast of only about 10.2 million cars and trucks in 2009, down from 13.2 million in 2008, or 16.1 million in 2007. In turn, lower sales volumes mean GM has to lower its breakeven point even more, by...
Kia showed the Kia Soul’ster concept car at this week’s Detroit auto show. It’s essentially a Kia Soul, which is a car-based SUV, with part of the roof removed, to create a four-seat pickup. There’s also a removable roof panel over the front seat. With all the panels removed, the roof is more of a roll bar than a roof. Based on a partial photo of the concept car Kia...
There are definitely lithium-ion batteries under the hood of the bright orange Dodge Circuit electric sports car that Chrysler unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. But if the car goes into production they may well have another manufacturer’s name on them. Carmakers are being very cagey about their battery suppliers because they’re in an international...
GM brought its own cheering section to its press conference on Jan. 11, a few dozen GM employees waving signs and cheering loudly, every time Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner paused for breath. Ford wasn’t much better. Ford invited employees, suppliers and dealers to its press conference, and they cheered at every occasion. It was grating, especially when the employees cheered on cue, like...
DETROIT — U.S. auto sales are so low, one or two car companies are “walking dead,” said Finbarr O’Neill, president of J.D. Power and Associates. He avoided naming anyone, but of the Detroit Big 3, Chrysler LLC is obviously the most vulnerable. In the last six months of increasingly pessimistic, doom-and-gloom forecasts, O’Neill delivered one of the gloomiest yet,...
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