Recent Comments:
GM, Ford doing well in China, despite slow sales at home {Autoblog}
Jul 8th 2008 4:06PM Duh, lots of pentup demand. With 1.3 billion people who are getting wealthier, car buying is exploding. However as the market matures, we will see smaller growth rates and if everyone competing for a slice of the pie/rice bowl, expect to see casualties and shake-outs.
Volvo's suitor of the week: China's Chery {Autoblog}
Jul 8th 2008 12:24PM Maybe SAIC can buy Volvo. They came up with the Roewe brand after getting shut-off from acquiring the Rover brand. The Roewe is not bad looking, but as a brand has not credibility.
British Motor Show Preview: Opel Insignia to debut in hatch and sedan forms {Autoblog}
Jul 3rd 2008 2:32PM Eveyone keeps clamoring to bring those Opels and Ford Europe cars to the States. But check the Saturn Astra....It barely sold 1,000 units. Sure it is quite expensive and not so frugal since it does not have the option for smaller displacement vehicles.....but I think that what makes people desire these Euro-cars has more to do with seeing those cars in an European setting, with yellow or white European license-plates, and imagine ourselves driving over there.....but once we see the same cars here with a Saturn logo, with a domestic license plate stuck in traffic in I-##, then the dream gets popped and we are back in reality and decide to go ahead and buy the Honda Civic or Toyota Camry.
Sale of locking gas caps triples in 2008 {Autoblog}
Jul 2nd 2008 6:11PM Many off the domestic models still have it unlocked and with a small "lip| for you to open the cover with the finger. The Cadillac actually looks like it is lockable with a release button but actually you push in and out. Never understood why the domestic could not emulate the Japanese and have a lockable cover with a release from the inside.
By the Numbers June 2008: Not That Bad Edition {Autoblog}
Jul 2nd 2008 2:32PM I am amazed that Mitsubishi dropped so much. I expected the new Lancer to increase sales sufficiently to make-up for lower sales of their SUVs/CUVs. If their numbers keep this low or drop further, they will have to drop out of the US market, or perhaps Cerberus could merge Chrysler with Mitsubishi. They have old history together, and it could save on platform sharing. I mean can Chrysler and Mitsu afford a new mid-size car platform for their current sales level? Wouldn't be better to share and spread the development costs? Same thing with engines and trannies. I would also love for Mitsu to bring their JDM micro cars...they should get good mileage.
Ford discusses selling Volvo with Renault, again {Autoblog}
Jul 1st 2008 11:35AM Carlos Ghosn probably wants another CEO title, how about CEO of Volvo Cars to add to his Renault and Nissan's titles.
Joke aside, how would this fit with Renault? Living in the States I am not so acquainted as to how Renault's car are positioned vis-a-vis Volvo's offerings. Would they complement or compete in the line-up? Would Volvo end up competing with Infiniti, which Nissan wants to expand in Europe? What is Volvo anyway? It used to be a maker of family cars in Sweden, who was forced to go upmarket as its cars became more expensive due to higher Swedish wages and overall more upmarket Scandinanvian market.
Chrysler plans to idle minivan plant in St. Louis {Autoblog}
Jul 1st 2008 11:28AM In my opinion, the problem for the Chrysler's minivans is that Toyota and Honda finally, through their persistent continuos innovation system, caught up to Chrysler's minivans and surpassed them in some categories such as fit, finish, reliability and space and cargo size. GM and Ford products were a joke (although I kind of liked GM "dusbuster" minivans). Thus Chrysler had the market all for themselves. Well, the competition caught up and now Chrysler has a perfect storm: High gas prices, a slowing economy, Japanese competition from the high end and Korean competition from the low end.
Me personally, I would rather get a sport station wagon such as Volvo V70, or even Audi A4 Avant then a minivan.
More rumors of a Chrysler sale, bankruptcy {Autoblog}
Jul 1st 2008 11:18AM How hard is for Chrysler (or the other shrinking Big 2), to quickly come up with a product for the times:
A small pick-up, bare-bones, with a 2.5L 4 cylinder efficient engine, that would come in 2 and 4 door versions. Something like an old Ranger or S-10 or the old Toyota Pick-up. A pick-up that would MSRP for $15K including a 5-sp stick, A/C, auto windows and locks plus a radio/CD changer/iPod input. With good fuel consumption.
Whrn push came to shove, Chrysler was able to bring their cars to the market in record time.
GMC cutting next-gen Acadia and Lambda-based SUT? {Autoblog}
Jun 30th 2008 1:45PM How can GM marketers be so stupid? The Acadia is selling much better than the supposedly hip Saturn Outlook. The demographics that would buy a loaded Lamda CUV (where the profits are higher) will most likely pay-up for a GMC rather than Chevrolet. Unfortunately Chevrolet does not have the brand power to demand premium pricing (Corvette is an exception) especially when these vehicles tend to price from the low-30s to almost 40K. People will pay 38K for a GMC Acadia, but I am not sure if they will pay the same for a Chevy.
Even with the Equinox, the GMC Terrain is much better looking. Between the two, I would choose the GMC Terrain; better looking and more upscale brand.
REPORT: Ford looking to offload Volvo on Chinese, cutting 2,000 jobs {Autoblog}
Jun 25th 2008 4:11PM Honda would be a logical buyer. They both love small displacement engines and FWD. Volvo is fanatic about safety while Honda is strong in engineering and quality control.
Get them together and Honda can use its platforms for Volvos: Civics for S40, Acural RL for the S80, combine the Pilot and XC90 platform. Get Honda to cut costs on the C30 without affecting quality. Volvo could use excellent Honda engines, while Volvo could help Acura (and Honda given the new Pilot) in the design department.
Leverage Honda's massive global sales channel to expand Volvo's sales. Let's face it, Acura cannot compete worldwide as a luxury brand. Honda's best bet would be to use the Volvo brand.
