Industry News

Very good news for them here and abroad although there is still much that needs to be done in Europe. This is also a direct result of reducing their dependency on rental sales while increasing their retail sales. http://www.motortrend.com/news/gm-posts-strong-q2-results-net-income-157-percent/

Wall Street Journal Europeans Go to U.S. Dealers To Buy Cars From Home By EDWARD TAYLOR June 12, 2008; Page B1 The weak dollar is drawing a new group of Europeans to shop in the U.S. -- for European cars. More Europeans are turning to the U.S. to buy luxury cars, from Porsche 911s to Volvo 4x4s, and then shipping them back home. The cheap dollar and competitive pricing in the slow U.S. market can yield savings of as much as 30% of the cost of similar models in Europe, even after costs of transporting the cars and complying with different emissions standards. Because cash-strapped Americans are shunning car showrooms, new clients should be good news for U.S. …

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...opinion/columns great article

ROLL OUT: Pre-production Camaros begin rolling off Oshawa assembly line A little good news to offset the bad. GM has released images of per-production Camaros being assembled at the Oshawa plant. Follow the jump to see more 5th Gen goodness. http://www.cheersandgears.com/index.php?showtopic=28046

We have had lots of talk about the various BEVs or battery electric vehicles coming and occasionally a few posts on battery tech. Some have been in depth while others have been a 60,000-foot skim on new battery technology that looked and sounds cool. I thought it was about time we took a closer look on what all is going on in the auto battery world. First let's have a visual understanding on conventional Lithium-ion battery versus solid-state battery. A few key benefits are not only safer batteries, but smaller, slimer batteries that are more energy dense in nature due to a liquid electrolyte being replaced by some form of solid electrolyte. Cu…

_ Consumer Reports releases top American picks Ford's Fusion wins big, taking multiple awards and the crown for better reliability than Honda and Toyota. Discussion: Consumer Reports Releases Top American Picks

Auto cuts slam blacks African-Americans are hit the hardest as good-paying factory jobs fade away. Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News As American auto factory jobs have steadily moved south of Detroit into nonunion plants over the past 25 years, African-Americans have been hit hardest by the loss. Whites and Latinos also are losing ground, but the decline in stable, high-paying union work is far greater among blacks, according to a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington-based think tank. The transition is chipping away at the middle-class lifestyle auto factory work has provided for generations of black families, many who left their native s…

Premium battery manufacture of Germany, AKASOL has announced that they will open a battery system production plant in Detroit Michigan USA. This dedicated operations in North America will ensure that AKASOL's customers comply with the Buy America Act Regulations and is in response to demand for their high energy battery modules from various OEM manufacturer of Trucks, Buses and auto's. This considerable investment will create over 200 jobs within the next 5 years. State of Michigan awarded AKASOL a Michigan Business Development Program Grant for the construction of the production facility. Barry Matherly, President and CEO of Detroit Regional Partnership added: " The…

50 worst cars ever according to time

GM, Chrysler to Receive More Federal Aid General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are expected to receive about $5 billion in additional federal short-term aid respectively as the work towards long term viability in the down market. Follow the jump for more details. http://www.cheersandgears.com/index.php?showtopic=30607

CEO Henderson: Bankruptcy Becoming More Likely GM's CEO indicating that GM is heading closer and closer to chapter 11. Follow the Jump for details. Link to Story

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 21, 2012 Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk recently gave an interview with Automobile Magazine talking about the company and what lies ahead. Musk also took the opportunity to rip into Fisker. “It’s a mediocre product at a high price. The car looks very big, and yet it has no trunk space and is very cramped inside, particularly in the rear seats.” Musk also spoke out against Fisker founder, Henrik Fisker. “The fundamental problem with Henrik Fisker — he is a designer or stylist…he thinks the reason we don’t have electric cars is for lack of styling. This is not the reason. It’s fundamentally a technology problem. At the sa…

BREAKING: Bankruptcy Judge OKs sale of good assets to New GM It's likely the fourth largest bankruptcy in history will be finished in about 6 weeks. Full Story

Saab 9-5 Revealed Autobild has leaked 26 images of the new Saab 9-5 for us all to enjoy. Check it out.

GM hits the brakes on Opel deal; no signing with Magna this week GM negotiators stop the Opel - Magna deal. Story HERE

http://sify.com/news/gm-fund-donating-100k-to-haiti-relief-effort-news-environment-and-nature-kbofO3hhefc.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6032801573.html Some are pretty harsh. http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Stor...google&keyword=

AutoPacific 2006 Vehicle Satisfaction Awards AutoPacific has released its list of recipients for their 2006 Vehicle Satisfaction Awards. Some are suprises; some aren't: BRAND: Lexus PASSENGER CARS: Premium Luxury Car Lexus LS Entry Luxury Car Cadillac CTS Luxury/Large Car Hyundai Azera Premium Mid-Size Car Volkswagen Passat Mid-Size Car Mercury Milan Image Compact Car MINI Cooper Compact Car Honda Civic Sports Car Chevrolet Corvette …

Choose what you can buy in american market... as for brand new vehicles only...

If you have been following auto sales for the past few years, then you know that SUVs and trucks currently dominate the sales charts partly due to the low gas prices. This is especially true when it comes to the luxury segment, where utility models are eating sedans. But a new report from The New York Times reveals that American automakers are eating the lunches of luxury car manufacturers. According to data from Edmunds, the likes of Ford, Chevrolet, and GMC have seen their share of domestic sales of models with an average price of $60,000 steadily climbing, while luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Lexus have been declining. GMC, in particular, has show…

Wall Street Journal - Auto Task Force set to back more Loans, but with Strings. "President Barack Obama last month handed his auto-industry team a seemingly impossible task: to engineer the most complicated industrial restructuring ever attempted by the federal government, and to do it fast. With almost no experience in the car business, the team's dozen core members have undergone a crash course in the myriad woes plaguing the U.S. auto industry. Within days, just over a month after setting to work, they'll begin announcing decisions. Interviews with task-force members indicate that the administration doesn't want to let General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC slip i…

After 25 years, GM ditches NUMMI tie-up with Toyota With no agreement on future product for GM, ties with NUMMI will be part of "Old GM" when bankruptcy is completed. Story Link

Senior Democrat senators said on Wednesday they would change a provision that imposes carbon taxes on imports following warnings that the clause in the House’s cap-and-trade bill could spark a global trade war. The House’s bill contained tough provisions to impose carbon tariffs, aimed at protecting American companies’ competitiveness against imports from countries without equivalent carbon emission controls to those in the US. Senator John Kerry, who is helping to write the senate’s version of the bill, said in a hearing on the issue on Wednesday: “We have already come to the conclusion in working on the Senate bill that we’re going to try and change that provision .…

[source: Detroit News] Big Three take 47 percent of 'Cash for Clunkers' sales; Ford Focus top-seller David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau Washington -- Detroit's automakers accounted for 47 percent of the first 80,000 "Cash for Clunkers" sales, the Obama administration said today, and the Ford Focus is the top-selling vehicle in the program. Through Saturday afternoon, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has processed 80,500 transactions, the White House said. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said buyers should be able to take advantage of the program until Friday, but he warned it would likely have to…

cnn

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/payne200511290819.asp November 29, 2005, 8:19 a.m. Labor Pains Detroit needs to play by market rules. By Henry Payne Detroit, Michigan — Massive job cuts at General Motors, America's largest carmaker — coupled with the bankruptcy of Delphi, America's biggest autoparts maker — have provoked predictable handwringing from liberal pundits who worry that America is "losing its manufacturing base." But the wrenching change now buffeting the auto industry defies the usual press formulas. Just listen to Steve Miller a turnaround specialist who is steering Delphi's restructuring process. He exploded the myth o…

Saab files for bankruptcy protection http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Swedens-Saab-files-for-apf-3685687335.html?x=0

Bill would make cars kid-safe In a bid to keep children safer, automakers could be forced to install rear-view cameras and power windows that automatically reverse under a bill to be introduced today. The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act -- which U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John Sununu, R-N.H., will introduce at a news conference today -- is named after a 2-year-old New York boy who was accidentally run over and killed in 2002 when his father backed his SUV out of his driveway. "Nearly every other day, a child dies in the United States from a completely preventable tragedy -- backed over by a driver who could not see behind (the) vehicle, strangl…

Screw it

FedEx has committed to being Carbon-Neutral by 2040 by going Green Globally with an initial investment of $2 Billion dollars for auto electrification, sustainable energy and carbon sequestration. FedEx has started their corporate march to a greener cleaner planet by pledging $100 million dollars to Yale University in establishing the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture. In the drive to offset current airline emissions which is a big part of FedEx business, they are heling to support the research into various methods of carbon sequestration at scale. This is where they scrub the CO2 emissions from our air and lock it away much the way trees and plants take i…

_ Looking Way Up: Ford posts 33% sales gain in 2009, 15% market share While automotive sales have been almost universally down in 2009 compared to 2008, Ford has a legitimate reason to crow about its December figures, which are up a third over December of '08 and an impressive 50 percent over November. Ford boasts that its market share is up to 15 percent - one full percentage point higher than in 2008 and the first time since 1995 that the Blue Oval has gained on its competitors. Ford, Lincoln and even Mercury sales were improved in December. Looking Way Up: Ford posts 33% sales gain in 2009, 15% market share

http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/2010-j-d-power-vehicle-dependability-study/#2 Top 10 Porsche Lincoln Buick Lexus Mercury Toyota Honda Ford Mercedes-Benz Acura

Well, if you're a Big 3 fan and have a strong stomach, a full breakdown of the numbers. http://www.autoblog.com/photos/fleet-sales-first-half-2007/

http://reviews.cnet.com/4326-10895_7-6606699.html The CTS gets a nice compliment along the way....and the brief reviews reveal alot about their respective manufacturers.

Oshkosh Defense was awarded a 10 year contract by the USPS to create, build and deliver up to 165,000 auto's for postal delivery across the United States of America. These auto's will be made up of traditional internal combustion engine, Hybrid and electrical vehicles. These purpose built, right-hand-drive vehicles will be used for mail and package delivery. A minimum of 50,000 to a maximum of 165,000 auto's over a 10 year time frame was agreed upon contract for a modern AC equipped NGDV or next generation delivery vehicle. Under the initial $482 million up front payment to Oshkosh Defense is the commitment to finalize the production design of the NGDV on a und…

Cadillac Converj May Still Get Green Light With the GM corporate naysayers out of the picture (Troy Clarke, former GMNA President and Mark McNabb, former Cadillac, Hummer, Saab General Manager) Bob Lutz may get his way and get to see the Volt's more luxurious cousin appear at local Cadillac Dealers. Cadillac Converj May Still Get Green Light

Fritz is back! General Motors re-hires Henderson for a $59,000 a month consultant gig. General Motors re-hires Henderson for a $59,000 a month consultant gig.

The EPA’s Electric Vehicle Mileage Fraud Forbes The Nissan Leaf was rated at 99 MPGe. To reach this number, the EPA created a conversion factor between a quantity of electric energy, measured in kilowatt-hours (KwH) and a volume of gasoline, measured in gallons. They did this be dividing the potential energy or heating value of a gallon of gasoline (115,000 BTUs) by the energy in a KwH of electricity (3412 BTUs) to get a conversion factor of 33.7 gallons per KwH. Using this factor, they can convert miles per KwH of electricity in an electric vehicle to an MPGe that is supposedly comparable to more traditional vehicles. The problem is that, using this methodology,…

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com July 17, 2012 The current Suzuki SX4 is going on six years and its beginning to show its age. Suzuki knows this and is working on the next generation SX4. Some new spy shots show how much progress Suzuki has made on the next SX4. The next SX4 appears to be much larger than the current model, thanks to larger greenhouse. Other design changes include a new grille and headlamps. There also appears to be a large intercooler that is hiding behind the lower fascia, meaning the next SX4 could be packing a turbo engine. This is a play for fuel economy and not performance. Source: Autoblog William Maley is a staff writer for C…

12 Top Contenders, Only 1 Winner Our 2016 Best Driver’s Car competition is the most competitive in the award’s nine-year history. This year, 12 automakers sent their best sports cars, supercars, and ponycars our way for a week of incredibly vigorous testing. In fact, if you’ll allow us to brag for a moment, we had so many contenders that we had to institute a one-car-per-manufacturer rule for this competition—more on that in a sec. This year, we had 6,484 horsepower worth of cars competing to earn our Best Driver’s Car title. This $1.8 million field of carbon fiber, aluminum, and steel is particularly special because it represents almost every major auto-…

Low funds may keep Converj from seeing production GM's low reserves of cash could hurt the prospects of the Converj concept being green lighted for production. Bob Lutz explains, "Ready to go? Well, first we have to prove to ourselves that we have the money... and then that it's a high enough priority to displace something else, and that we can actually make money on the vehicle, and that there is potential customer interest and so forth. We haven't done any of that work yet." It only seems logical to build it, as it would help offset cost of the Volt and it could be sold at a profit. Follow the jump to get the full story. http://www.cheersandgears.com/index.ph…

FedEx has 700 planes and over 180,000 vehicles that range from Semi's to delivery vans. Reducing emissions is not easy especially with daily package volume grew by 99.2% from 2009 to 2019. Yet over this same period FedEx reduced CO2 emissions by 40%. This is not an easy feet. FedEx has focused on a simple three-pronged approach to sustainability: Reduce Replace Revolutionize This simple focus has allowed FedEx to reduce their environmental impact in their fleet, facilities and material choices. FedEx has accomplished much through upgrading their fleet of planes to be one of the most modern around to reusable shipping packages. FedEx now…

GM to offer 60 day money back guarantee on all new vehicle purchases With new commercials featuring General Motors Chairmen Edward Whitacre telling America that GM wants to put its money where its mouth is, GM is hoping to drum up showroom traffic and purchases with this new offer. Ed Whitacre rolls out new GM 60 day mony back guarantee

The future dims for spark plug businessProduction will end in 2006 By Randy Conat FLINT - (11/09/05)-- Last week, union leaders at Delphi Flint East were told that spark plug production at the plant would come to an end during the next few months. Spark plugs have been made in Flint for 101 years. Randy Conat takes a look back at the industry that had employed thousands of people through the years. Albert Champion, a native of France, manufactured and sold spark plugs as a sideline business. GM founder Billy Durant invited him to Flint, just as the auto industry was revving up. "1904 would have been the first year that they produced for the Buick Company,&quot…

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com August 31, 2013 The Advance Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program could be making a comeback. First introduced back in 2008 by then President George Bush, the ATVM program set aside $25 billion to fund advancements in green vehicle technology. However the program was suspended three years after due to two companies who took loans weren't able to pay them back. When the program was suspended, the Energy Department only gave out about 40 percent of the funds. “With no sunset date and more than $15 billion in remaining authority, the program plans to conduct an active outreach campaign to educate industry as…

Hmmm a deal with the Devil or not? DETROIT, June 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday offered a double-barreled campaign message for the struggling U.S. auto industry: accept tougher fuel economy standards in exchange for federal help with the costly burden of retiree health care. Speaking at a union hall, Clinton also pledged new U.S. government investment in technologies that promise sharp gains in engine efficiency, such as lithium-ion batteries, an area where Japanese suppliers lead the pack. "I know we have to do more to support the American auto industry and to support the American auto worker," she said. Article Continues: http://yahoo.re…

... and it ain't cheap: the average budget per episode is seven million dollars. Amazon Prime has apparently made the boys their Howard Stern. More at the link: http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/entertainment/news/a26798/clarkson-hammond-and-mays-new-show-starts-filming-soon/

Airbag manufacturer Takata is at the center of one the largest automotive recalls which affect an estimated 100 million vehicles from two dozen automakers around the world. The airbags in question have inflators that can rupture and send shrapnel flying in the event of a crash. They have been linked to at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries. Now, the next chapter begins as Takata filed for bankruptcy. Yesterday, TK Holdings (Takata's U.S. operations) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Sunday with liabilities totaling between $10 billion to $50 billion. The company would file for bankruptcy in Japan today. Takata also announced that it would be selling i…

Detroit’s primacy threatened by Asia; a painful restructuring underway With sinking sales to job cuts by the thousands, it’s no great exaggeration to say that when historians write the history of America’s big automotive manufacturers, 2005 will go down as one of their most dreadful years. That’s not to say the American automotive business is in dire straits — on the contrary, it’s thriving. Automobile sales are still strong, but while times are good for some manufacturers, the nation’s two biggest — General Motors and Ford — are in the midst of a massive and agonizing reorganization, hobbled by a shrinking domestic market share, plunging profits, and the high wages…

Seems a British racing car company has patented a new production process that will allow auto companies to dump weight by using race car or body-in-white production to enhance a cars efficiency. With electric auto's having a weight increase due to batteries, this company believes this is the future. seats are 30% lighter than standard seats and just as comfortable and even safer. Better yet is that they see the average auto having a power to weight ratio of 8.5 lbs per horsepower. The company goes onto say that you could have a modern auto that would weight about 1,874 lbs, use a 220 hp 1.5 L 4-cylinder engine to achieve their power to weight statement. The whol…

A Recipe for a New GM ~September 25, 2008~ Unless you've been under a rock the past 18 months or so, you know that GM is a company that's in a constant state of flux. Amidst the turmoil, rumors are constantly flying about the viability of certain brands and models. Well-respected C&G forefather FUTURE_OF_GM has come up with a comprehensive, well laid out, five-part plan for GM to organize itself to best serve its customers now and in the future. We invite you to spend time reading each section and adding your comments. Section 1: Divisional Goals and Notes Section 2: Platforms and Models Section 3: Divisional Breakdown Section 4: The Sales Channels Section 5: P…

[ Link: http://www.autoextremist.com/ After the smoke clears, it's time for America, Inc. By now it should be obvious to even the most casual observers that the domestic automobile industry is on the verge of total collapse. Already reeling from the gas spike earlier in the year and the subsequent decimation of the light truck and SUV markets, the national financial and credit crisis has conspired to cut the amount of survival time for two of the three domestic automobile makers from years to just months, leaving General Motors and the Cerberus-owned Chrysler LLC on the brink of bankruptcy. And it has also finally become obvious to even the most jaded anti-Detroit z…

According to the news story from NIKKEI Asia The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has designated battery cells as a crucial part of Japan's economic security and has secured $330 Billion Yen in supplementary fiscal budget to support the Japanese sector. Beneficiary of this is that $120 Billion Yen or $853 million dollars will go to Toyota Motor Corporation to support their R&D in developing the 900-mile solid-state battery that Toyota talked about in their revolutionization of the auto. Toyota New Technology to Revolutionize the Future of Autos - Toyota - Cheers & Gears (cheersandgears.com) This financial aid comes as China, Korea, Europe and…

. General Motors Names Ed Whitacre CEO GM Press Conference Coverage from January 25th, 2010

The Full Article Some of his excerpts The next Para is

The Environmental Protection Agency is becoming stricter as to how they test for emissions in light of the Volkswagen Diesel scandal. On Friday, the agency's Office of Transportation and Air Quality announced they would be conducting more spot checks of light-duty cars and trucks to make sure that automakers haven’t been cheating on tests. Automakers were notified of the changes via a letter. The EPA wouldn't go into detail about the changes. “They don’t need to know. They need to know that we will be keeping their cars a little bit longer,” said Christopher Grundler, director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality. In the letter, the EPA states may…

Can Detroit pull out of its slump? 1/7/2008 11:31 AM ET Sourced from Business Week Link to original article on MSN After a horrendous year, US automakers say they see light at the end of the tunnel. There are valid reasons for optimism, but any turnaround will take time As expected, Detroit ended 2007 on a miserable note, seeing combined light-vehicle sales for domestic automakers slip 7.1%. And, also just as expected, executives from General Motors (GM, news, msgs), Ford Motor (F, news, msgs) and Chrysler are predicting brighter days ahead for 2008. What makes them think that the new year will be any better than the old? In fact, there is a distinct possib…

While the big story at PSA Group (parent company of Citroen and Peugeot) is about the possible sale of Opel, they are also getting ready to begin to take their first steps into re-entering the U.S. marketplace. In April, car-sharing service TravelCar will launch at airports in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The service has been operating at various airports and train stations in Europe since 2012. The expansion into the U.S. is thanks to a 15 million euro (about $18.5 million) investment by PSA Group and MAIF, a French insurance company. TravelCar is different from other car-sharing services such as ZipCar and GM's Maven as it rents out other people's cars. The se…

Kathy Roberts, a paralegal from Plymouth, Mich., was skeptical of a recent postcard she received from her local car dealer. It offered to put her in a new vehicle for $26,000, the same price she paid for her one-year-old Dodge Journey that she'd already driven 14,000 miles. Despite her doubts, Roberts's husband called the dealer and was told that they would offer her a brand new version of the same model, in the same color, with only 29 miles—all for the same monthly payment. With incentives and rebates, she actually came out $700 ahead. "I was thrilled. A new car without any more money!" Customers like Roberts are finding that their high-quality used cars are a coveted…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090414/ap_on_bi_ge/crash_tests Pretty much knew that this was an obvious thing. Its just another reason Id rather drive my pickup lol

AP source: GM to build small car in Michigan Plant that currently builds the G6 and Malibu will reportedly build the new GM small car instead of plants in Spring Hill Tennessee and Janesville Wisconsin. Story Link

2010 Chevrolet Equinox and 2010 Buick Lacrosse among the Finalists of North American Truck/Car of the Year The Car Finalists Buick Lacrosse Ford Fusion Hybrid Volkswagen Golf The Truck Finalists Chevrolet Equinox Ford Transit Connect Subaru Outback Discussion - Finalists of North American Truck/Car of the Year

_ 2012 Aveo Sneaks Out Official GM renderings leaked out after a presentation by Bob Lutz. 2012 Chevrolet Aveo sneaks out of presentation