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GM won’t give up #1 spot without a fight
- Wagoner
Rick Wagoner won't concede sales crown to Toyota without
a fight. Rick Wagoner seems ready to accept that General
Motors may lose its ranking as the world's largest automaker,
says the Detroit News. With Toyota expecting to sell 9.3
million vehicles this year, GM is in danger of falling
from the No. 1 position for the first time in 75 years.
Mr. Wagoner said that GM sold 9.1 million vehicles worldwide
last year, but the automaker will not chase unprofitable
sales volumes just to stay in first place. "If as
a result of that we get passed, well, it won't be a happy
day for me," Mr. Wagoner told reporters in Detroit. "But
I've lost basketball games before in my life. You've got
to get ready and you learn and you go back to play the
next day." After a tumultuous year that included a
further drop in its U.S. market share, Mr. Wagoner said
GM is more committed to building shareholder value than
staying ahead of Toyota, which sold an estimated 8.8 million
vehicles in 2006. "It's not something where we would
sit back and let somebody pass us by," he said. "But
the other side of it is we're going to fight for every
sale and do it in a way that's consistently building the
value of the enterprise from a shareholder perspective." If
that means GM falls behind Toyota, Wagoner promised that
the competition between the two would remain spirited. "We're
going to fight to keep the (No. 1) position. If one day
we lose it, we'll fight to get it back." GM saw its
U.S. sales fall 9 percent in 2006 after cutting back on
expensive consumer incentives and low-profit sales to rental-car
fleets. Overall, GM's U.S. market share slipped to a historic
low of 24 percent. The drop in sales in its home market,
however, was offset by a 7 percent increase in sales outside
the United States. Mr. Wagoner said GM expects to increase
revenues this year with new-model introductions. While
he would not rule out more cost cutting, he said there
wouldn’t be any "big bites" from employee
rolls.
St. Louis area dealership hobbled for two months
over labor dispute
Strikers at dealership hope for mediation. Technicians and
service advisors have been off the job for two months. Dealer
keeps store open using non-union workers. A strike that started
in November at Boemler Chevrolet near St. Louis is dragging
on into the new year, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Eighteen striking mechanics and service representatives at
the car dealership have been walking picket lines there since
Nov. 11 in a dispute about health insurance for the employees
and their families. "We're trying to get something together
and get back to bargaining with a federal mediator," Scott
Stackle, business representative for District 9 of the International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said. The
last federally mediated talks in the walkout broke off Dec.
7 with no progress reported toward a settlement. The 18 striking
employees say the company has unfairly insisted that they
pay substantial amounts of their health care costs, which
were paid in full by the dealership in their contract that
expired in November. Dale Boemler, president of Boemler Chevrolet,
has said that his company's contract offer is fair. Union
employees throughout the U.S. are paying more of health care
costs because of increasing insurance costs, he said. The
dealership has remained open during the strike, with limited
service being provided by non-striking employees.
Civic tops Canadian sales for ninth consecutive year
Toronto, Ontario - The Honda Civic was Canada's top-selling
passenger car for calendar year 2006, holding the spot for
the ninth consecutive year. The company sold 70,028 units
in 2006, a 2 per cent increase over 2005. "We are pleased
to see the Civic continue its strong popularity with Canadians," says
Jim Miller, executive vice-president of Honda Canada Inc. "The
Civic's sales increase is encouraging, since the 'compact
segment' in which Civic competes was down overall by about
two per cent for this past year." The all-new 2006 version
was the eighth generation of the Civic, available as a coupe,
sedan, hybrid or Coupe Si. More than 1.2 million Civics have
been sold in Canada since 1973. All Civic coupe and Si models
sold in North America are produced solely at Honda of Canada's
plant in Alliston, Ontario, as are all sedans for distribution
in Canada. The hybrid models are produced in Suzuka, Japan.
Chrysler bucks trend by embracing minivans
Can swivel seats and other amenities help stem sales losses?
Just as Ford and GM announced that they are stepping back
from their lines of minivans, Chrysler said it hopes the
latest generation of its minivans will help it stanch a new
wave of red ink, reports the Wall Street Journal. Tom LaSorda
unveiled the new minivans at the North American International
Auto Show in Detroit -- a redesign of the No. 1-selling Dodge
Caravan and a new Chrysler Town & Country, available
this fall. Among the features Chrysler highlighted: second-row
seats that swivel to face the third row, a table that can
be placed between the two back rows of seat, and 13 cup-
or bottle-holders. Competition from Honda and Toyota minivans
is strong enough that GM and Ford actually decided to abandon
the segment, declaring that demand for minivans was waning
in favor of sport-utility vehicles and crossover wagons. "Some
of our competitors are withdrawing because [they say] it's
dead," says Dieter Zetsche. "This is surrender." Minivan
sales reached about 1.4 million vehicles in 2000, according
to Autodata, but sales fell last year to about 971,000. Although
Chrysler has been known for its innovation in the minivan
segment, Asian automakers have intensified the competition
for making roomier, more-powerful vehicles. Executives at
South Korea's Hyundai boast that its Entourage minivan has
more power and interior room than Toyota's Sienna or Honda's
Odyssey. The Chrysler Group also needs to overcome the antipathy
many of the minivan's target customers -- young mothers --
feel for the vehicles given the appeal of sportier-looking
SUVs and crossovers. Nissan tried to counter that opinion
by introducing a Quest in 2003 that featured an unusual design,
but that turned off buyers. For the 2007 Quest, Nissan returned
to a more traditional-looking minivan. Chrysler, whose popular
Stow N Go seats can be folded to increase storage space,
said it has come up with new treats in its redesigned minivans.
The spinning second-row seats will be called Swivel N Go.
The new vans also offer an integrated child booster seat
and power-folding seats in the third row. Entertainment will
also be key, with a new dual DVD entertainment system that
allows different media to be played at the same time. For
example, one child could watch a movie while the other plays
a videogame. Chrysler is aiming the Town & Country for
older families in which kids have grown out of car seats.
The vehicle also will have more luxury amenities. The Dodge
Caravan will be a sportier minivan aimed at younger families.
Kentucky car dealer to issue refunds to more than 2,500 vehicle
buyers
J.D. Byrider franchise owner has to fork over big bucks.
More than 2,500 used-car buyers will receive refund checks
of as much as $500 as part of a consumer-protection settlement
with the former J.D. Byrider automobile franchise in Louisville,
according to a report in the Frankfort, KY, Herald-Leader.
Individual refund checks are currently being mailed to customers.
In all, more than 7,350 consumers have received restitution
totaling nearly $3.7 million. The Kentucky Attorney General
sued the J.D. Byrider Louisville franchise and corporate
franchisor J.D. Byrider Systems Inc. in December 2004. The
lawsuit alleged numerous violations of the Kentucky Consumer
Protection Act and sought relief for customers. A settlement
was reached in February 2005, requiring $500 in restitution
for each consumer who bought a vehicle at the Louisville
J.D. Byrider from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2004. Restitution
is through account credits issued by the Louisville J.D.
Byrider for loans with outstanding balances or refunds of
$500 a consumer for each vehicle for loans that were paid
in full.
Top ten auto trends identified at Detroit auto show
Detroit, Michigan - Every year the world's leading automakers
make dozens of vehicle debuts at the North American International
Auto Show, making it arguably the world's most important
auto show. The forecasting team at CSM Worldwide have compiled
their top 10 trends coming from this year's edition of NAIAS,
and which new vehicles to watch to see examples of these
trends. "Future success in the vehicle market will be
strongly correlated with those manufacturers that efficiently
integrate leading-edge technologies that consumers value," said
Michael Robinet, vice president, Global Vehicle Forecasts. "Better
solutions involving safety, powertrain efficiency and the
driving experience will be tomorrow's differentiators."
CSM Worldwide's Top 10 NAIAS Trends and example vehicles
to see at NAIAS:
•
Styling: Taller shoulders, slimmer greenhouses, wider stance,
lower hood and taller rear end -- Ford
Interceptor and Lincoln
MKR concepts.
•
Stability: AWD integration combined with stability-control
improvements -- Volvo XC60 and Cadillac
CTS.
•
Bodystyle and Glass: 4-door cabriolets, folding roofs and
glass-noise abatement -- Mercedes-Benz
Ocean Drive concept
and Toyota FT-HS concept.
•
Cockpit Integration / Interior Material Choice: Pop-up navigation
systems, central
entertainment/navigation controls, and instrument/door
panel material upgrades -- Chrysler Group
minivans and Cadillac
CTS.
•
Seating: Flexibility and enhanced ingress/egress are keys;
lighter, more functional seats can be found
across various
segments -- Chrysler Group minivans and the Ford Airstream
concept.
•
Exterior Lighting: Headlamp capability/styling as a differentiator,
rear lighting advances and other
exterior lighting improvements
with mirrors, running boards and CHMSLs -- Lincoln MKR concept
and
the Jeep Trailhawk concept.
•
Interior Lighting: Interior ambient lighting (below the belt
line) and instrument panel illumination --
Chrysler Nassau
concept and Jaguar C-XF concept.
•
Passive Safety Improvements: Lane departure systems, rear
detection/cameras, airbag integration,
and tire-pressure
sensing -- Lexus LS 460 and Chrysler Group minivans.
•
Engines: More with less through greater use of turbochargers,
superchargers and diesels, as well as
internal combustion
engine technology integration such as direct injection, variable
valve and multi-
displacement systems -- Chevrolet Volt concept
and Toyota FT-HS concept.
•
Transmissions: An increase in the number of forward speeds,
particularly 6-speed automatics, as well
as the use of DCTs/CVTs
-- Mitsubishi Lancer and Nissan Rogue. |
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