GM announces it will build the Chevrolet Beat mini car

General Motors has announced that it will build a vehicle based on the Chevrolet Beat concept for global production. The announcement was made at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The Beat was one of three concept vehicles that were entered into an online poll that attracted more than 1.8 million voters. The votes helped influence the decision to take the concept to production. The A-Class car will be initially targeted to markets outside of the U.S. and Canada starting in mid-2009. "The people have spoken," said Ed Peper, Chevrolet general manager. "The vote count tripled all previous GM online consumer surveys, telling us the Beat resonated with customers all around the world. Chevrolet was overwhelmed by the positive reaction to each of the 'triplets', but the Beat was the clear winner." The Beat and the other concepts on the survey were developed primarily at GM's Design Studio in Bupyeong, South Korea, with input from GM's global network of designers and GM Daewoo, GM's Korean partner. Production will begin in South Korea.

Honda UK produces one-millionth car

Honda of the UK Manufacturing Limited (HUM) has announced it has produced its one millionth Civic at its plant in Swindon, England. The plant began production of the Civic on September 19, 1994, producing 6,652 vehicles that year. This year, HUM will produce 138,792 Civic cars. The plant also builds the CR-V and over the last twelve months has increased its production from 190,000 to 250,000 vehicles. Honda has invested £1.38 billion in Swindon, which employs 5,000 people. The millionth Civic is a red Type-R destined for the British market.

GM is building better cars, but now can it win back customers

Auto reviewers are almost unanimous – GM is making some great cars and trucks, but winning back the public’s trust may take a little longer- maybe another generation. Since Bob Lutz joined GM six years ago, the company has been on a steady path to better quality, better styling. But over those same years, GM has not seen its market share grow. Some have said that all the Big 3 have to do is build better cars. Apparently that is not enough. The industry press, as well as the media that cater to the car enthusiasts, all herald the improvement in GM’s vehicles. But as Bob Lutz was quoted in a New York Times article, the consumer’s opinion of GM “has been so ingrained, and so hard to change.” In the same article Lutz acknowledges that it took GM 25 years to get into that condition and that changing the public’s perception of GM and its vehicles will not happen in a year or 18 months. He also indicated that it make another generation of car buyers coming into the market to produce any real improvement in the public’s perception of their vehicles. Evidence that GM is gearing up for the next generation of car buyers is everywhere. In a recent CarConnection article, Gary White, a GM V.P. and line executive for GM’s full-sized trucks told journalists that it was time for GM to change its image. When pressed on how GM will change the perceptions of the large segment of the market that simply does not trust GM vehicles, White admits that changing their minds may not only be difficult, but could be impossible. So GM is concentrating on creating perceptions in the minds of the newest and even soon-to-be customers. Notice the word is “creating” and not “changing” these perceptions. The next generation of car buyers does not have first hand experience with GM’s failures of the past – to GM they represent a clean slate and they aim to win their hearts and minds. This effort can be seen in a variety of ways. Recent announcements of new small cars, plug-in electric models on the horizon and a new push to make Chevrolet the choice of environmentally concerned “green” buyers, all can be seen a positioning GM and particularly Chevrolet in the perceptions of present-day college students and their peers. Turning GM around has been likened to doing a tight U-turn in the Queen Mary II – it is a slow job and takes a lot of ocean. It could be said that changing the direction of GM-UAW relations could be described the same way. And observers of this past year’s labor negotiations have noted that GM in particular was successful on that front. So GM dealerships need to remain patient. They have got some great new cars and trucks and if they remain patient, GM just may be successful in changing the negative perceptions in the market place that have so far kept them from regaining market share. For GM to be successful in the future, they have to capture the minds and hearts of many who are not yet old enough for driver’s licenses.

A career-ending auto accident in 1997 now the subject of a suit brought by NHL hockey player against Findlay Ford Linc Merc

The last of many law suits resulting from the crash has the dealership defending itself in what looks like a product liability issue. Vladimir Konstantinov and Red Wing team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov claim that problems with the design of a Lincoln Town Car limousine they were riding in after a night of celebration after winning the 1997 Stanley Cup caused long-lasting injuries. Based on the information published in an article appearing in the Toledo Blade, it is hard to imagine why the dealership is a defendant in this case. It is true that the dealership sold the limousine in question, but was not involved in either the manufacture of the base vehicle, nor the conversion to a limousine. But so far the judge has not dismissed the suit and has scheduled a March 2008 trial date. Konstantinov and Mnatsakanov claim that design flaws made it difficult for them to find and wear their seat belts and that design flaws in the construction of the passenger/driver barrier caused some of their injuries- apparently some of which caused Konstantinov to retire from hockey- so they claim in the pending legal action. While the dealership is named as a defendant, Ford Motor Company is defending the dealership and has agreed to pay any damage award that might result, as required by the franchise agreement between the dealership and Ford. Ford had previously entered into a settlement agreement with the two in 2001 over the vehicle.

Mustang, Jetta Track Ready

Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen of America Inc. are ready to fulfill the dreams of those who aspire to push a car hard into a corner or feel the adrenalin rush of sustained full-throttle acceleration, without fear of a costly traffic citation. At the recent Specialty Equipment Market Assn. show here, Ford and VW announced plans to create separate race series and to supply the necessary vehicles straight from the factory. Ford’s stockcar of choice is the Mustang Shelby GT, while VW is preparing the ’09 Jetta 2.0L 4-cyl. turbodiesel for the upcoming Jetta TDI Cup.Ford has assembled 77 ’08 FR500S Mustangs and the auto maker plans to sell them for $75,000 apiece in the coming months. The first event in the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup will be held in March in Houston. The Grand American Road Racing Assn. is the sanctioning body. The FR500S represents Ford’s first production-line race car. It has a stock Shelby GT powerplant – a 3-valve 4.6L V-8 rated at 319 hp (and a 3-time Ward’s 10 Best Engines winner) – a race suspension and a 6-speed manual gearbox lifted from the Shelby GT500. “This is basically a road-racing car, normally aspirated, and we’ve kept the weight down. It’s about handling, performance and balance,” says Jamie Allison, manager-Ford Racing Performance Group. Without a backseat or many of the safety devices found in production Mustangs, the FR500S is not street legal. Cars leave the Flat Rock plant as decontented production Mustangs, with no interior content and no trim, and are shipped to Watson Engineering Inc. in nearby Taylor, where the roll cage is installed. The vehicles then are transported to Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, UT, where the race suspension is installed and decals are applied before the cars are ready for delivery.“There are a lot of enthusiasts out there who want to get in and go racing,” Allison says. Many people enter motorsports through amateur club racing, “or you go pro and spend $1 million. This bridges the gap. It makes racing affordable, and it’s a fun, rear-wheel-drive, V-8. It’s going to be a blast to drive.”Less expensive than the FR500S – and targeted for younger buyers – will be VW’s Jetta TDI Cup cars, which are expected to be available for about $30,000, says Clark Campbell, manager-motorsports for VWA. Long a proponent of new-generation, clean-burning diesel engines, VW is preparing 30 identical Jetta sedans powered by the all-new 2.0L 4-cyl. TDI, rated at 170 hp and nearly 300 lb.-ft. (406 Nm) of torque for the racing applications. The engine will be mated to the swift-shifting dual-clutch DSG 6-speed transmission, with paddle shifters. VW’s Jetta TDI Cup amateur race series is aimed at young, aspiring racers on a budget. At $30,000, the race cars will be priced well above production versions, which likely will be around $23,000, Campbell says. Racers will pay for the cars, but VWA will own and maintain them and transport all 30 of them to the track on race day.“You just show up at the track with your helmet, and we’ll give you the racing suit, your gloves, shoes and the HANS device (for head and neck support). The car will be there,” Campbell says. “You don’t have to bring a pit crew or tires. It’s all included in the one price of the car.”But there is an extra fee if the driver crashes a car. The first crash will cost up to $7,500, the second $12,500 and the third $15,000. “After that, you’d better learn how to drive,” Campbell says.“The idea is to learn how to race cleanly and keep it on the track, learning how the car handles,” he says.”The Jetta TDI Cup cars will come equipped with full roll cages and racing seats, as well as standard safety features such as airbags, seatbelts, headlights, taillights and antilock brakes, but the cars will be dedicated for track use only. Campbell considers $30,000 a bargain for aspiring racers. For do-it-yourselfers, the cost of the car, with the new suspension and the addition of a roll cage, would be at least $40,000.