NINETY EIGHT REGENCY

Japanese automakers expect higher earnings Christine Tierney / The Detroit News Japan's leading automakers are expected to report higher earnings for the fiscal first quarter begun on April 1 despite weakness in the United States and Europe, two of their major markets. Analysts say a recovery in Asian markets and rising demand in Japan will underpin their results. Nissan Motor Co. is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on Thursday, followed by Honda Motor Co.'s on Friday and Toyota Motor Corp.'s next Wednesday. "The recovery trend should be firmly in place with marked year-on-year improvement," Deutsche Bank analyst Kurt Sanger wrote in a report. He listed Nissan and Honda as the firm's top picks. Toyota is struggling with sluggish demand in the United States and the effects of big recalls that have dented its reputation for quality. But Japan's biggest automaker still is expected to report a quarterly operating profit. Citi Investment Research estimates it will show a first-quarter operating profit of 200 billion yen, or about $2.2 billion, well above the company's forecast. Toyota has said it expects to show a half-year operating profit of 100 billion yen, or $1.1billion. Citi expects Nissan and Honda to each report a quarterly operating profit of 150 billion yen, or $1.6 billion. It says Honda, which specializes in small, fuel-efficient cars and motorcycles, is a prime beneficiary of a robust recovery in Asian markets. In the United States, however, both Toyota and Honda lost market share in the first half of 2010 after underperforming their rivals. Toyota's sales increased 9.9 percent and Honda's grew by 11.9 percent in a market that expanded 16.7 percent in the first half of the year. Detroit's automakers averaged a combined 18.6 percent sales rise, and Nissan registered a 26.6 percent increase. George Peterson, president of Tustin, Calif.-based AutoPacific Inc., said his firm had expected Honda, Hyundai Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co. to be the biggest beneficiaries of Toyota's woes in the U.S. market. But Honda hasn't benefited like the others. "Honda hasn't reacted as strongly as I'd expected," Peterson said. Instead, Honda seems to have been affected by Toyota's problems. "They're very different companies, but in the minds of their public, they're similar in the way they're perceived," he said. Separately on Tuesday, Japanese automakers reported big increases in global production for the first half of the year, and June in particular. In the first six months this year, Toyota's worldwide production totaled 4.36 million vehicles, a 46.8 percent rise from the same period in 2009, when it faced slumping demand in its major markets. Nissan produced 1.93 million vehicles in the first six months of this year, a 61.9 percent increase, while Honda's output rose 36.7 percent to 1.80 million vehicles. From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100728/AUTO01/7280336/1148/auto01/Japanese-automakers-expect-higher-earnings#ixzz0uyq9cWDA

Japanese automakers report production recovery Associated Press Tokyo -- Japanese automakers reported sharp increases Tuesday in global production for the first half of the year, and for June in particular -- with Toyota seeing a 16.2 percent surge, underlining a recovery in auto demand from a dismal plunge a year earlier. Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest automaker, said it produced 739,683 vehicles in June, as sales grew in Japan and abroad, and exports expanded to North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. For the first half, Toyota's worldwide production totaled 4.36 million vehicles, marking a 46.8 percent rise from the previous year -- underlining the company's recovery from a battering by global car recalls and the financial crisis. Advertisement Nissan Motor Co., which is allied with Renault SA of France, reported June worldwide production of 354,425 vehicles, up 38.8 percent from the previous year, as global sales marked a record for the month of June. For the first six months of the year, Nissan produced 1.93 million vehicles, up 61.9 percent on year. Honda Motor Co. reported a 17.7 percent increase in global production at 303,549 vehicles in June. Honda said Japan sales were up for 12 months straight, and exports also recovered. Honda produced 1.80 million vehicles around the world during the first half, up 36.7 percent from the previous year, and hitting records for the company in regional production in Asia and in China, it said. Mazda Motor Corp.'s global production rose 24.6 percent to 115,146 vehicles in June from the previous year, and added 63.9 percent to 627,856 vehicles for the first half. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. reported a 59.8 percent jump in global production in June to 92,324 vehicles, and first half production at 506,987 vehicles, up 83.2 percent, with exports booming to China. From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100727/AUTO01/7270380/1148/auto01/Japanese-automakers-report-production-recovery#ixzz0utlebNfX

Happy Birthday!

Toyota and Japanese under attack in Europe as Koreans close in Toyota is on the retreat in Europe as well as America, as its reputation for writing the book on quality was trashed by the recall debacle. But the noise surrounding the global recall of 9.4 million Toyotas and upmarket Lexus vehicles has drowned out a deeper and wider malaise which started way before the unintended acceleration crisis hit last year, and which also involves most Japanese companies operating in Europe. Their market share has been declining for some time and the South Koreans are taking it. Hyundai and its sister company Kia of Korea are using the old Japanese play book against the originators of the master plan. First, grab the public's attention with rugged and affordable vehicles. Don't worry that the styling is dull; beggars won't be choosers. Offer scarcely believable guarantees and a level of service which makes customers think they've been mistaken for Lord Snooty. Then after you've established a foothold in the market, top it all off by designing cars which look so good, buyers can't stop themselves from falling in love with them. Actually, the Koreans have added one important ingredient which Toyota, for all its success, never managed. Hyundai and its sister company Kia are producing a series of cars which have that magical quality which induces passion in the heart of the car buyer. The upcoming new Kia Sportage for example is an SUV which will turn heads. The Volkswagen Golf sized Kia Ceed looks great. The similar sized Hyundai i30 won't have the neighbors wondering if this car might be a cheap and cheerful Korean. They might think the handsome Hyundai ix35 SUV is German. Advertisement According to statistics from pan-European newsletter Automotive Industry Data the Koreans have been winning the market share war in Europe now for more than three years. And Toyota was in big trouble way before the hybrid Prius allegedly ran out of control. Drifted down Toyota's market share in Western Europe has drifted down steadily to 4.1 percent in the first six months of 2010 from 5.5 percent in 2007, while Hyundai and Kia's joint share has expanded to 4.1 percent from 3.3 percent over the same period. Honda and Mazda have also moved in the same downward direction as Toyota, from 1.9 percent to 1.4 percent, and 1.5 to 1.4 percent for Mazda. The Japanese as a whole have moved down two full percentage points from 14.3 percent to 12.3 percent, according to AID. In the U.S., Toyota's market share has not shown a similar pattern. It increased steadily from 14.2 percent in 2007 to 14.9 percent in 2009, before sliding to 13.2 percent in the first half of 2010 after the negative news stories, according to AID. Nissan though has not followed this trend, increasing its market share in Europe to 2.8 percent in the first half of 2010 from 2.0 percent in 2007, mainly on the back of the phenomenally successful Qashqai. The Qashqai, a compact crossover, isn't sold in the U.S. "Toyota's European market share peaked in 2006/2007 and has slipped ever since. Exactly the same goes for Honda. Mazda's share has also slipped since 2006 when it hit 1.7 percent," said AID editor Peter Schmidt. According to Schmidt, the reasons behind the fall don't bode well for Toyota in particular or the Japanese in general. Nationalism "In late 2008/2009, particularly in Germany, Toyota and the Japanese were hit particularly hard as the recession gripped because this was really a form of nationalism, as the German public turned against all Japanese brands," Schmidt said. Germany is the biggest market in Western Europe, accounting for about 25 percent of all sales. "The attraction of Japanese cars started to weaken, not only because Germans wanted to buy German, but because European manufacturers had improved their image, and also the quality of their cars had improved too. The biggest gainer was Volkswagen, which had made a really big effort for three to five years to improve product quality," Schmidt said. VW and its mass market brands Skoda and SEAT and the Audi premium subsidiary is Europe's market leader with a share of around 20 percent. "The Japanese are very frightened of what Hyundai and Kia are doing. Compare the quality of the products of a few years ago. They used to be well below the norm. They've made huge positive strides in quality and perceived worth. Kia was the first to offer a seven year warranty when some Europeans were offering just one year. Now you see Toyota giving five years. Not just Toyota, but Honda and Mazda have started to lose market share because of this aggressive attack from Hyundai and Kia," Schmidt said. Toyota has been licking its wounds and preparing a fight back, and it knows that this time, it won't be enough to just offer cars which are simply high quality and reliable. That is not enough to differentiate one car from another. Toyota's new cars must stand out from the pack, in a way that its current European range of worthy but dull cars like the Aygo, Yaris, Auris, and Avensis don't. More passion please "How we get more passion into our cars is the challenge for the next few years," said Didier Leroy, president, Toyota Motor Europe. "We want to attract these types of buyers but without taking away from what our existing customers love about our cars," Leroy said. Leroy was speaking at a luncheon meeting in London. In the past, Toyota has made a stab at producing some nifty little roadsters and sports cars like the MR2, Celica and Supra. "We showed the (Toyota) FT-86 (a sporty coupe) at last year's Tokyo Motor Show which many people see as the new Celica or Supra and we will build that model. While everyone today wants a green car, they would also like a red devil in the garage for the weekends," Leroy said. Leroy is the first European to head Toyota's operations in Europe. He took up his job late last month. Toyota Europe recalled 1.7 million cars as part of the massive, global recall, and has launched a $26.3 million pan-European TV, newspaper and internet media campaign featuring employees talking about their commitment to quality and safety. Toyota is anxious to avoid the kind of fallout which destroyed Audi's sales in the U.S. after its own unintended acceleration debacle in the early 1980s. Toyota needs to radically alter its brand image, according to Leroy, without undermining its long-held reputation for cast-iron reliability. "Toyota and Lexus have well-defined characteristics but they tend to be in the delivery of engineering, quality and safety but nothing that people can actually see. We are looking for something that sets our brand apart -- makes them instantly recognisable as a Toyota or a Lexus without seeing a badge," Leroy said. Lexus has not been a success in Europe, notching up a barely measurable amount of sales, in sharp contrast to its performance in the U.S. Lexus European market share was 0.3 percent in 2007, and slid to 0.1 percent in the first half of 2010, according to AID. Lexus market share in the U.S. has been relatively steady over that period at close to two percent. Fight back Despite his negative data, AID's Schmidt still thinks Toyota will rally, eventually. "This fight back will cost Toyota dearly. Toyota used to be a money printing machine, the most successful mass car manufacturer ever. This fight back to regain pride and image is going to cost them money. Toyota never used to give discounts. Now it's all different. Now it's going to have give longer warranties which will cost money. There will have to be additional checking, and more rigorous standards for components. And Toyota needs to sharpen up its act to make its future cars more attractive. It doesn't cost any more to design a good looking car than a dull one." "Toyota is going to be a much more aggressive and much more effective car manufacturer in two or three years from now. I can see Toyota turning into the most efficient car manufacturer on the globe and because of pride, their ability, their humiliation, at the end of the day who buys a Toyota will probably get the best Toyota ever built in terms of value for money, reliability and customer service," Schmidt said. While Toyota seeks to survive and thrive, the resulting turmoil amongst competing manufacturers looks likely to provide a special time for car buyers. Europeans, Japanese and Koreans will be outbidding each other to offer us the most stylish, safe, and reliable cars at ever keener prices. That's the theory anyway. From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100726/OPINION03/7260375/1148/auto01/Toyota-and-Japanese-under-attack-in-Europe-as-Koreans-close-in#ixzz0unczp8uq

Undeterred by critics, Ram aims to expand its truck, van lineup Bradford Wernle and Luca Ciferri Automotive News -- July 26, 2010 - 12:01 am ET Some critics chastised Chrysler Group for separating the Ram brand from Dodge. American pickup buyers are devoted to their brands -- Chevy, Ford and Dodge -- and anybody who messes with that is asking for trouble, the critics reasoned. Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne responded that the separation gives Dodge room to breathe as a youth- and family-oriented brand. Ram will attack the commercial-van market by rebadging two Fiat vans. Ram will keep the distinctive ram's horns logo that identified Dodges in recent years. Ram also will keep the cross-hair grille. Dakota: The Dakota pickup goes away next year. Last November, Chrysler product planning chief Joseph Veltri said Ram is considering a Fiat-based unibody pickup for 2011 that would be smaller and more fuel-efficient than the Dakota. A 2012 model year designation is expected. Compact van: In 2012, Ram plans to rebadge a version of the fwd Fiat Doblo van to rival the Ford Transit Connect. It will be imported from Turkey, mostly likely as a 2013 model. Full-sized van: The van will either be a version of the body-on-frame Iveco Daily or unibody Fiat Ducato. The truck will be assembled in North America. Sales begin here in 2012. Ram 1500: The 1500 is scheduled for re-engineering in 2012, probably as a 2013 model, when Chrysler will replace the current 3.7-liter V-6 with the new Pentastar V-6. Chrysler continues to study a Cummins diesel engine for its light-duty 1500 pickup. Ram 2500, 3500 Heavy Duty: The redesigned 2500 and 3500 arrived as 2010 models. A reskin is possible in 2012. Chassis Cab 3500, 4500 and 5500: The Ram brand started shipping its redesigned 2011 Chassis Cab trucks to dealerships in late May. Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20100726/OEM04/307269988/1403#ixzz0unJW3K9r

The ones with the V6 were what Drew said. Oldsmobile in the catalog referred to the V6 as zesty... I knew he had the 307, but the 148 hp thing... Interesting..... The 5.0 307 rated at a 140 hp was before 1985. Let me pull out the catalog and books. The V6 he speaks about was standard equipment. A lot of people must have opted for the V8. It was a 4.1 liter V6 rated at 125 hp. Buick used it too. The V8 was optional. There was a diesel offered too. In 1980,the 307 had a 150 hp. In 1981, it had a 140 hp. I am sorry. Yours may have more due to dual exhaust. This was the interesting thing as I was reading. The cars long as they were were not heavy. GM's cars have put on some weight. The heaviest was Custom Cruiser at 4,061 pounds. The rest of them were well below 4,000 pounds. Most GM cars weigh more today than they did back then. I thought it was interesting my Toronado is wider than yours. Yours is 5 inches longer than mine. You have a longer wheelbase.

The 3.8 used back then was 110 hp as you stated. this was the early days of the 3800 before it changed.

He has a 5.0 307 V8 Oldsmobile rated at a 140 hp.

Cheers and Gears got a mention on another website: http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2010/07/2011-dodge-charger-spied-in-detroit.html

Welcome!! I hope you enjoy your stay...

Welcome back. I hope your visits will be more frequent.

Drew, you are doing a lot of the same stuff I had to do. I started in 2007 when I got the Toronado and I just finished this year. The only thing I need to do is get another OEM stereo. The one in the car works fine, I just do not have the top of the line unit.

I wished I would have, but I did document all the work I had done and all the things I had replaced on my Toronado. I wrote it out in a different way.

The work begins on the Toronado. Nice to see you driving it and doing things with it.

Why China's rise is good and bad for Germany July 20, 2010 - 11:00 pm ET Douglas A. Bolduc Douglas A. Bolduc is a special correspondent for Automotive News Europe BMW's, Mercedes-Benz's and Audi's German plants are running at full speed right now. The reason: wealthy car buyers in China currently have an insatiable desire to own German luxury cars. "There are more than 900,000 millionaires in China and many of them are bursting to show off their wealth," Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Commerzbank AG, told Bloomberg last week. To keep up with the demand in the world's largest car market, Daimler has hired 1,800 temporary workers and added Saturday shifts at a number of its German assembly plants. Audi also is adding shifts in Germany while BMW has hired 5,000 temporary workers and will give all employees covered by a wage agreement 1,060 euros on average in one-time payment. The additional assembly plant posts helped reduce Germany's jobless rate to 7.5 percent in June from 7.7 percent in May as the number of people registered as unemployed dropped by 88,000 to 3.153 million, the Federal Labor Agency said. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the good times will last for long for German workers. All three German premium brands will boost their production capacities in China in the coming years. For instance BMW, which will export 10,000 3 series vehicles built in Munich to China this year to satisfy demand, will start manufacturing at its second China plant in 2012. BMW plans to hire about 1,000 new employees in China as part of its expansion there. Once that factory is online there will be less of a need for those temporary workers in Germany. Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20100720/BLOG08/307219994/1131#ixzz0uQEWWVfq

Daimler, BMW Surge on ‘Bottomless’ Appetite for German Luxury July 16, 2010, 6:05 PM EDT July 17 (Bloomberg) -- Daimler AG’s E-Class Mercedes-Benz, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s new 5-Series and Volkswagen AG’s revamped Audi A8 are attracting wealthy buyers in the U.S. and China, prompting the German carmakers to boost deliveries. Daimler raised a full-year forecast yesterday after second- quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates. BMW this week lifted its 2010 sales and earnings projections. Audi’s first-half increase in vehicle sales beat both BMW and Daimler’s. “The Chinese appetite for German nameplates is absolutely bottomless,” said Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Commerzbank AG. “There are more than 900,000 millionaires in China and many of them are bursting to show off their wealth.” The German carmakers are posting gains in China, which passed the U.S. last year as the biggest auto market, as new models attract buyers. BMW has said the new 5-Series is sold out, while Audi is benefitting from the new A8 sedan. Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz aims to add market share with an extended E-Class sedan, its first vehicle for Chinese consumers. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi are adding workers and cutting summer factory breaks to boost production as demand for luxury cars returns quicker than they had planned. Daimler has hired 1,800 temporary workers and added Saturday shifts at German assembly plants making the SLS gull- wing sports car, GLK sport-utility vehicle and E-Class convertible. Audi is putting on extra shifts. BMW has added 5,000 temporary workers and will give all employees covered by a wage agreement 1,060 euros on average in one-time payment. Flared Headlights BMW’s new 5-Series, which abandoned the flared headlights and small kidney-shaped grill of the previous version, is sold out in all markets and customers are waiting three to four months for deliveries, the Munich-based carmaker said June 23. The sedan, which starts at $44,550 in the U.S., went on sale in the country last month and in Europe in late March. “German premium manufacturers have really worked to improve the quality of their cars,” said Robert Heberger, an analyst at Merck Finck & Co. in Munich. “Daimler’s new E-class is of a much better make than its predecessor. BMW benefits from a positive product cycle. The 5-Series is brand new and such state-of-the-art models are always in demand.” BMW, the largest luxury carmaker, this week raised its 2010 forecast, predicting sales will rise about 10 percent to more than 1.4 million cars and sport-utility vehicles, while the operating margin at the automotive unit will exceed 5 percent. BMW increased first-half group deliveries 13 percent while second-ranked Mercedes-Benz posted a 12 percent gain. Six-month deliveries at Ingolstadt, Germany-based Audi, which aims to dethrone BMW by 2015, advanced 19 percent. ‘Death Bells’ “It’s really the other side of the 2009 coin, when everyone was ringing the death bells,” said Sascha Heiden, senior analyst at IHS Global Insight in Frankfurt. “BMW and Mercedes field relatively new models with their 5-Series and E- class, so that may help the German companies attract more buyers.” Daimler yesterday reported second-quarter operating profit of 2.1 billion euros as sales increased 28 percent to 25.1 billion euros. The carmaker was forecast to post Ebit of 1.52 billion euros on revenue of 22.7 billion euros, according to the average estimates of analysts compiled by Bloomberg. Mercedes-Benz second-quarter production output of “well over” 300,000 vehicles will be close to the volumes achieved before the start of the financial and economic crisis, Daimler said May 28. Luxury-car makers are among the best performers this year, with BMW up 33 percent and Daimler gaining 16 percent on the Frankfurt exchange. The 11-member Bloomberg EMEA Auto Manufacturers Index added 2.9 percent. German Exports “German luxury carmakers are benefiting from their product portfolio and their regional positioning especially in the surging North American and Chinese markets,” said Marc-Rene Tonn, an analyst at M.M. Warburg in Hamburg. “Especially in China we’re seeing growth that’s way beyond expectations and that won’t be easily derailed even if economic growth slows.” BMW plans to export 10,000 3-Series vehicles built in Munich to China this year to meet additional demand. Along with the additional temporary workers, the carmaker is in talks with unions to expand regular shifts beyond the average 38 hours, BMW said this week. “German luxury cars are a synonym for status, comfort and safety,” Gommel said. “Those are the traits you want to embody when you’re courting future partners for business. In China, buying a German luxury car is seen like buying a ticket to future wealth.” --With assistance from Cornelius Rahn in Frankfurt. Editors: Kenneth Wong, Jim Silver link: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-16/daimler-bmw-surge-on-bottomless-appetite-for-german-luxury.html

Congrats to you and your family! That was interesting the whole name. I am quite sure you are a proud papa.

Europe baulks at GM-style shakeout that could transform prospects Europe's automotive manufacturers lack the will to rid themselves of unprofitable operations that threaten their future, and experts predict a future of muddling through rather than decisive action to restore health and profits. At a conference in Bilbao, Spain, last month, Ford Europe Chairman and CEO John Fleming said overcapacity had reached 35 percent and was getting worse. In a sane world, this would mean that the least productive producers in Europe would be under pressure to close. After all, the existence of a chronically inefficient manufacturer simply makes it uneconomic for everybody. As the worst offender tries to dump its cars by slashing prices or offering massive incentives, the best ones need to cut prices too, otherwise their production lines will slow and their operations slip into the red. But in Europe any logical pressure to close unviable operations almost always founders on political pressure. Governments cannot bear to preside over the closure of factories and fear the negative reaction from voters if the nightly TV news shows lines of frustrated workers chanting insults as they march away from highly paid and often high tech jobs to years on the dole. No matter that this means problems will fester and worsen. If decisions can be delayed, perhaps the next election can be won, and pension and retirement attained. This pass-the-parcel policy means that hopefully, someone else will take the decision, and receive the brickbats. European leaders marvel at the way the U.S. industry finally came to grips with its chronic overcapacity last year as General Motors shed factories and brands, and re-emerged slimmer and a more effective global player. Chrysler's new life as a subsidiary of Fiat of Italy looks less compelling. Surplus to requirements There is no shortage of brands in Europe that look surplus to requirements. GM Europe finally plucked up the courage to dump its Saab upmarket pretender last year as it also condemned Hummer, Saturn and Pontiac to death. But Saab of Sweden, a marginal-at-best producer, still managed to hang on under new, venture capitalist management. Every time it sells a new 9-5, that's one less sale of a profitable Audi A6, Mercedes E-class or BMW 5-Series. SEAT, Volkswagen's Spanish car-maker of pleasant but unremarkable mainly small cars hangs on grimly while bathing in red ink. GM Europe hopes its Opel Vauxhall subsidiary might make some money in a year or so. Fiat's Lancia brand might be saved if its new products from Chrysler -- the big 300C sedan and Voyager minivan -- ignite public enthusiasm. The worry is that if Europe's car manufacturers cannot bring themselves to bite the bullet and take harsh but long-term necessary decisions, they will simply whither on the vine as new producers in China and India attack their markets in the medium and long term. Most experts agree that reform is unlikely. Whether this will eventually provide a death-sentence for some big manufacturers at the hands of the Indians and Chinese isn't so clear. "Overcapacity is an old problem in Europe and it seems that we have to live with it," said Professor Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisberg-Essen in Germany. Europe peak "Production in Europe has reached its peak. Demand is step by step diminishing in Europe. Exports will become more difficult as Russia, China and others increase their production. Thus, even if we could solve the overcapacity problem today, it will appear tomorrow," Dudenhoeffer said. Dudenhoeffer said it might be possible to cut workforces, but only by natural attrition as they retire. He pointed to the ease with which governments in Spain and Britain were persuaded to bail out Opel-Vauxhall, although that plan foundered when Germany finally and surprisingly decided not to provide funds. "(Fiat CEO Sergio) Marchionne is closing plants in Eastern Europe and moving production to Italian plants which have higher costs. That is the (Italian Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi law. The same applies to VW and Wolfsburg-employees and others. Politicians are prepared to pay money if we don't close capacity," Dudenhoeffer said. France provided its champion producers Renault and Peugeot-Citroen with a total of six billion euro ($7.6 billion) to help tide them over the recession, as long as they didn't transfer any production from high cost France to low cost Eastern Europe. "Overcapacity in Europe will remain for the next 20 years and this will mean fierce price competition and step by step larger incentives. The market is mature and the rebates are high. It's the U.S. phenomena. Overcapacity will remain the name of the European game. Look at SEAT. Nobody really needs the brand. VW is just reluctant to take it away from the market. Or take Lancia, really nobody needs the brand," he said. Dr. Peter Wells, co-director at Cardiff University's Centre for Automotive Industry Research said Europe has learned to live with overcapacity but points out that there have been some closures like MG Rover in Britain, while lots of specialist vehicle making that used to be carried out by contractors has been brought back in house. Shakeout Wells believes that eventually there will be a shakeout of brands in Europe, like in the U.S. "Some brands will be vulnerable," Well said. "Look at any other industrial sector, the car sector has an unbelievable number of brands. In the short term we will have even more brands with new producers from India and China and new products like electric vehicles with small volumes get going. Who's to say what will happen in 10 years. We'll see more fragmentation, but how does it end? GM and some Ford brands lost distinctiveness and lost their reason for being. The erosion of brand differential is the key to understanding which ones will have to go. Death is a slow protracted process some times. Dr. Vinzenz Schwegmann, managing director of consultants AlixPartners, reckoned that current overcapacity in Europe was around 30 percent, which would not decline below 20 percent before 2014. "As a rule of thumb, if European automotive capacity was cut by about two million units or some 10 percent, the overall situation for the industry would improve significantly," Schwegmann said. "So much for theory. The fact is, though, that since many years we have seen a game of 'wait and eye' -- every player hopes the other will move first." Schwegmann said North America has been the only region to close capacity, slashing one million units. "As a result, breakeven rates have gone down, and margins up again," he said. "On the other side, U.S. suppliers have not only cut capacities, but also R&D budgets. European competitors have tried their utmost to keep at least the big programs going, resulting in R&D share of 4.2 percent of sales (compared with 2.6 percent in the U.S). This may extend the lead that -- on average -- European suppliers have versus their U.S. competitors. So the glass is half full on both sides of the Atlantic." Major consolidation AlixPartners published a report last month saying that the European automotive industry needed a major consolidation if it was to achieve a healthy future. But the report fell short of predicting which companies might be involved in the shakeout. John Auldridge, Automotive Industry Leader at Ernst & Young in Frankfurt, Germany doesn't see much scope for GM's example to be repeated in Europe. "You've got to find a way to build and export more efficiently," Auldridge said. "You have to optimize the organization. You can't operate the same as in the last 20 years. You need to be more creative, find a more streamline way to do things. If you can't reduce that fixed overhead (from too much capacity) everything else has to be more efficient." Cardiff University's Wells sees enormous upheavals ahead for Europe, prefaced by the need to raise huge amounts of money. "Can it afford its own future? All the participants have massive financial pressures," Wells said. "They must close old capacity. Embrace new technologies, whether its battery power, hybrids, fuel cell and communications too, plus the cost of expanding in key markets. They need to put money into Asia and Latin America, all at a time when there's not much money around. "The automotive business has never been a great return on investment and it's going to have to promote itself in financial markets for increasingly scarce resources. It will be an enormous challenge they won't all be able to meet." From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100715/OPINION03/7150449/1148/auto01/Europe-baulks-at-GM-style-shakeout-that-could-transform-prospects#ixzz0tnvW4xWk

European car market drops for third straight month July 15, 2010 08:16 CET FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- The European car market fell in June for the third straight month as the artificial boost from scrapping schemes across the continent continued to abate, hurting sales for Fiat S.p.A., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. Registrations of new vehicles in the European Union dropped 6.9 percent to 1.34 million units last month driven mainly by sharp declines in Germany and Italy, according to data published on Thursday by the European industry association ACEA. Hardest hit among major brands was the Fiat marque, heavily dependent on both its domestic Italian market as well as demand for small cars that were so inflated by government-sponsored scrapping schemes in recent months. Its figures revealed a 21 percent plunge while it relinquished just over one full percentage point of market share in the EU. Its Lancia brand performed even worse. Meanwhile, Ford lost a lot of volume from its Fiesta subcompact and Focus hatchback models. New registrations tumbled nearly 20 percent. Toyota also weighed on the market with a 15 percent decline in its sales, possibly a continued after-effect from the safety scandals that rocked the company earlier this year. VW's Spanish brand Seat incurred a 16 percent drop in demand, despite a sharp rebound in its domestic market. Seat relies over-proportionately on sales of its Ibiza subcompact. Among the winners last month were Renault as well as General Motors Co.'s Opel/Vauxhall unit. Opel has recently enjoyed a boost from its new Astra hatchback that first hit markets at the very end of last year. It also had some support from the next-generation Meriva small monocab that debuted in markets in mid-June. On Tuesday, Ford maintained its forecast for a drop in the market of anywhere between 5.6 percent to almost 12 percent this year. "We will not sacrifice profitability for volume or share, as some of our competitors seem to be doing. We believe such unsustainable heavy discounting only damages brand reputation and further weakens the market," Ford of Europe sales chief Ingvar Sviggum had said at the time. Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100715/ANE/307159991/1193#ixzz0tlDzhZCf

I hope all goes well with what you are planning to do. You are taking me back. I did that starting in 2007 and made a project out of it and brought my Toronado to where it is now. It took money and time, but it was fun too.

Congrats and glad you got it home safely! You address those issues, you should be good to go after checking the car out in all other areas. Congrats!!

Mitsubishi has plan to end the skid Hans Greimel Automotive News -- July 12, 2010 - 12:01 am ET TOKYO -- Struggling to revive his dwindling U.S. business, Mitsubishi Motors President Osamu Masuko has outlined a two-pronged plan that hinges on introducing new products and building a new vehicle at an underused Illinois assembly plant. Mitsubishi's sales have fallen off sharply since 2007, when the brand staged a one-year sales revival after four years of precipitous decline. But in an interview with Automotive News, Masuko gave no hint that he's ready to give up on the United States, even as the company focuses more on developing markets. So far this year Mitsubishi has missed out on the overall U.S. industry's 17 percent sales increase. Mitsubishi's sales were flat at 26,490 units through June, and its market share shrank to 0.5 percent, from 0.6 percent. But Masuko said annual sales will end higher because of the launch this fall of the Outlander Sport. "This is an important year," Masuko said. "We have strong expectations for the U.S. market." Meanwhile, the company will decide by year end what model to add to its sole North American manufacturing outpost in Normal, Ill., Masuko said. That factory had annual capacity for 240,000 vehicles when it was operated jointly by Mitsubishi and Chrysler. But Chrysler long ago pulled out, and the Japanese carmaker churned out just 18,501 vehicles there in 2009. It is on pace for 27,000 vehicles so far this year. Masuko said trimming costs, partly through job cuts, brought the plant's breakeven point down to around 70,000 units a year, from 100,000. But it's still not close and needs more volume. "It has been downsized to a certain extent," Masuko said. "By the end of this year we would like to determine what vehicle we should produce that would come close to 100,000 units." Mitsubishi has long struggled with an aging U.S. lineup of mid-sized and large vehicles. The Illinois plant makes the Eclipse coupe, Eclipse Spyder, Galant sedan and Endeavor SUV. But its best-selling models, the Lancer sedan and Outlander SUV, are imported from Japan. The top-selling model, the Lancer, had sales of only 10,387 units through June. Such small volume makes it costly to retool to add another model, Masuko said. Mitsubishi's dealer body has suffered greatly during a disastrous decade in the United States during which sales fell from a peak of 345,111 in 2002 to 53,986 in 2009. The brand had 397 dealerships at the end of June 2010, down from 405 at the end of March 2010 and 420 at the end of March 2009 "Some dealers have left, but others have joined," Masuko said. "The dealer organization has been revitalized." Mitsubishi plans to unveil a global midterm business plan this year. Its last blueprint, dubbed Step-Up 2010, was unveiled in 2008 -- and was derailed by the global financial crisis. Global growth Under the new plan, Mitsubishi aims to boost global sales 54 percent to 1.5 million vehicles in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013. For the fiscal year that ends March 31, 2011, Mitsubishi wants U.S. sales of 68,000 units, up from 54,000 last year. The Outlander Sport small SUV that arrives this fall will help lift sales, Masuko said. Mitsubishi expects to sell 7,000 Outlander Sports in North America between the fall launch and next March 31. After that, it is counting on average annual volume of 17,000 units. Also bound for U.S. showrooms are the i-MiEV electric vehicle, in November or December 2011, and Mitsubishi's new global small car. The latter arrives stateside by the end of 2012. Masuko declined to give a U.S. volume target for the yet-to-be-named global small car. But he wants to sell 400,000 to 500,000 units a year globally, primarily in emerging markets. "Americans like big vehicles," Masuko said. "But it is not always that case that big is good." The global small car will get a three-cylinder, 1.0- to 1.2-liter engine. The target price is around ¥1 million (about $11,300 at current exchange rates). Mitsubishi plans to start building the car at a new factory in Thailand next year. Masuko is considering additional plants in China, India and Brazil. The focus on developing countries underlines changing realities at Mitsubishi. Long oriented toward SUVs and large sedans, the company now wants to shrink with smaller, fuel-efficient cars. Instead of toiling on cars specially designed for developed markets, such as the Eclipse, it is pursuing world cars that have more universal appeal. Sales trends support the new priorities. North America is by far the smallest market for Mitsubishi. The region accounted for just 9 percent of the company's global unit sales in the fiscal year that ended March 31. Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100712/RETAIL03/307129945/1117#ixzz0tUmwq3ll

Nice Toronado. Very nice indeed. I did not know had one. Wow.. You learn something new every day.

Congrats to you! I hope everything goes well. There will now be two Oldsmobile Toronado owners on the site now. I am happy for you because you got what you wanted that you dreamed about. I look forward to when you get your car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2wrUMIVD8

Nice looking Ninety Eight. You could fix the things wrong with it and keep driving the car. Check for rust underneath and other areas. That was one of my favorite Ninety Eight body styles. Just know you will have to invest to make it run better. That car is a regular Regency too. It is not a Regency Brougham. You know I would know. If the interior is in great shape, and the mechanicals are in great shape other than what you said, talk them down in price and invest a little to fix the car.