Auto Industry Archive

Bill Reinert, Toyota’s grizzled national alternative-fuel vehicles manager, isn’t afraid to describe himself both as “an old hippie” and as an ardent environmentalist. And yet he’s inherently cautious when asked at the North American International Auto Show about the company’s volume plans for a production battery car similar to the FT-EV, a very green, small...

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If he can pull it off, Henrik Fisker of Fisker Automotive could be the first guy to put his own name on a start-up car company and make it into production since the late John DeLorean did it in the late 1970s. You can’t do that if you’re a shrinking violet or a doubter, and Fisker, a former BMW designer, isn’t either. There are plenty of skeptics, but Fisker is serenely...

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DETROIT — Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk announced on Jan. 13 that his company will provide batteries and chargers for a battery-powered version of the tiny Smart fortwo built by Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz, with an eye toward U.S. sales in a couple of years. Based on its size and egg-shaped appearance, people often assume that the Smart car is an electric vehicle, but it’s...

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Subaru was the biggest-selling brand to manage a year-over-year sales gain in the U.S. market in 2008. U.S. sales were 187,699, up 0.3 percent, or about 600 units. Subaru Executive Vice President Tom Doll said Subaru managed this feat without having to resort to extraordinary discounts. That’s partly because Subaru cut prices and added standard features a few years ago. That combination...

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In a disastrous automobile market, U.S. sales of the fuel-efficient Mini brand gained 29 percent in 2008 to a U.S. record 54,077 units. The U.S. overtook the U.K. as the brand’s biggest-selling single market in the world.That’s a development few people would have foreseen when parent company BMW first revived the Mini brand in the U.S. market in 2002, with a below-the-radar marketing...

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The demands of Gen Y, the generation that is now 17 to 28 years old, pose a major challenge for the auto industry in general, and for the Detroit Big 3 brands in particular. In about 10 years, Gen Y will account for 40 percent of the car market, from less than 25 percent today, according to a study cited by research and consulting firm Deloitte LLP. Deloitte sponsored teams of MBA students...

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Late last month, Ford Americas President Mark Fields said that problems with nickel-metal-hydride battery supplies could hinder the number of 2010 Fusion Hybrid cars the company will be able to produce. “We are constrained by the amount of components, including batteries, that the supply base can provide us,” he said. (Later, the company clarified that it would double its battery...

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Auto loan approvals have improved two months in a row after bottoming out in October, according to CNW Marketing Research. CNW noted the opposite trend last September, as the credit crunch began to bite. Auto lenders cut back in part because they themselves were having trouble borrowing money with which to make loans. The recent improvement is a “glimmer” of positive news for the...

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If satellite radio’s wealth were measured in paying customers, it would be a rich company. Sirius XM Radio has almost 20 million subscribers in 2009, compared to less than a million that Sirius alone had in 2004 when it signed on Howard Stern (for an incredible $500 million over five years). In a very difficult media economy, the newly merged company is projecting 13 percent revenue...

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Hyundai could have a tough job ahead of it, educating the public and promoting its new, recession-driven “Hyundai Assurance” offer on finance contracts. It’s an appealing offer, but requires some explaining. Essentially, the deal is that if the loan or lease customer loses their job within one year, Hyundai takes the car back, and the customer owes nothing. The program comes...

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