Category Archives: marketing

Annals of Marketing – 2024 Toyota Tacoma in Blue Beetle

Toyota (NYSE:TM) is marketing the 2024 Tacoma pickup with DC’s newest Superhero in his debut movie, “Blue Beetle,” which made its world premiere in theaters last week. The action movie uses multiple generations of Tacoma as Jaime Reyes is forever changed when an ancient piece of alien technology, the Scarab (no relation to the car) transforms the college grad into the hero – The Blue Beetle. Continue reading

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Mustang GTD – Street Legal 800 Hp Starting at $300,000

“Mustang GTD shatters every preconceived notion of a supercar,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO. “This is a new approach for us. We didn’t engineer a road car for the track, we created a race car for the road. Mustang GTD takes racing technology from our Mustang GT3 race car, wraps it in a carbon fiber Mustang body and unleashes it for the street.”   Continue reading

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Annals of Marketing – Detroit Auto Show and Shinola

The Detroit Auto Show and Shinola have announced a new partnership, bringing together two well-known Detroit brands. Less than one month away from its introduction as a watch, Shinola’s new Canfield Speedway Lap 06  face will countdown the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the start of the Detroit Auto Show on NAIAS.com. Continue reading

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World Debut of the Acura ZDX at Monterey Car Week

The largish – grotesque to some AutoInformed readers – ZDX is being co-developed with GM using the highly flexible global EV platform powered by Ultium batteries. What fun for brand managers – a common platform for Cadillac and Acura SUVs? Acura eventually will launch additional EV models starting in 2026 based on the company’s own global EV Architecture. Continue reading

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First Look – 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser

Toyota (NYSE: TM) has finally officially acknowledged that its longest-running nameplate will return to the North American after a three-year hiatus. Moreover,  the off-road vehicle is less expensive with a MSRP in the mid-$50,000 range. (The Lexus LX 600 version of the platform is on sale now in the US at ~$100,000.) Now built off of the less expensive TNGA-F global truck platform, the new Land Cruiser is available with the range-topping i-FORCE MAX hybrid powertrain producing 326 horsepower and 465 lb.-ft. of torque. Continue reading

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Toyota China Re-Org as EV and Trade Wars Proceed

“The Chinese market is growing at an unprecedented pace,” said Tatsuro Ueda, Chief Executive Officer of the China Region. “Toyota will also work together as a group to reform how we work and think to survive in China.” Continue reading

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Artificial Intelligence – J.D. Power and Palantir Technologies

J.D. Power, a data and analytics company today announced a collaboration with Palantir Technologies Inc., (NYSE: PLTR) to develop generative artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics solutions that it claimed, “will facilitate deeper insights and more strategic decision making by … Continue reading

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Chevrolet Bolt Returning as Affordable EV

“Our customers love today’s Bolt. It has been delivering record sales and some of the highest customer satisfaction and loyalty scores in the industry,” said Barra. “It’s also an important source of conquest sales for the company and for Chevrolet. We will keep the momentum going by delivering a new Bolt…and we will execute it more quickly compared to an all-new program with significantly lower engineering expense and capital investment by updating the vehicle with Ultium and Ultifi technologies and by applying our ‘winning with simplicity’ discipline.” Continue reading

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Tesla – Solid Q2 with Higher Production and Lower Prices but…

During Q2 2023 Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) made  ~480,000 vehicles and delivered more than 466,000, the highest to date. As a result, Q2-2023 looked solid with Tesla setting its production and deliveries among its top five quarters. The result was revenue approaching $25B in a single quarter. Net revenue was $2.7 billion. However, analysts remain skeptical about what many of them say is a greatly overvalued stock that pays no dividends.  During the past year a share of TSLA stock has ranged from ~$102 to $315. It’s currently trading ~$260. (AutoInformed: Ford Cuts F-150 Lightning Prices by $6000 to $10,000) Continue reading

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Ford Cuts F-150 Lightning Prices by $6000 to $10,000

Ford Motor said today that it is lowering the MSRP of F-150 Lightning® electric vehicle for all customers by $6000 to $10,000. The largest cuts are on the least expensive models. The Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan is currently closed completing changes that will triple the plant’s annual capacity to a targeted 150,000 F-150 Lightning trucks beginning this fall. Tesla, of course, surprised the industry with its recent price cuts. The increasing supply of semi-conductors is also adding to downward pricing pressure. Continue reading

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Chevrolet Traverse Adds Off-Road Z71 Model for 2024

The new Chevrolet Traverse in the fiercely competitive mid-size SUV segment is joining the off-road parade in both the US and Canada during the 2024 model year, Chevrolet said this morning. Chevy also said it has more SUV-like proportions, key safety features with families in mind, and more horsepower. It also has the new-age equivalent of a bold, new grille. Continue reading

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Lotus Eletre SUV EV at Goodwood

Lotus has held its first ever UK test drives for its hyper-SUV – the Lotus Eletre – at the Goodwood Motor Circuit last Sunday as part of a new electric vehicle promotional event staged in conjunction with the Festival of Speed or is that now a festival of marketing? The Lotus Eletre claims to be the first of a new breed of pure electric performance SUVs. It is positioned as a “lifestyle vehicle.” The first customer deliveries of the hyper-SUV are expected in the coming months. Continue reading

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Coming This Fall a Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally

“Mustang Mach-E took the freedom and fun of Mustang and made it free from emissions. Now with Mustang Mach-E Rally, we’re providing our customers the freedom to venture off the asphalt and beyond the beaten path,” said Darren Palmer, Vice President, Electric Vehicle Programs, Ford Model e. Continue reading

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First Look – Electric Porsche Vision 357 Speedster

The nod to the 356 is in passing since the all-electric Porsche Vision 357 Speedster is based on the 718 GT4 e-Performance. The electric motors and battery technology come from the Mission R and the chassis from the 718 GT4 Clubsport. Following its world premiere at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the design study will be on display at this year’s Rennsport Reunion in the USA at the end of September. AutoInformed bets the production version will be announced at the Frankfurt Motor Show, now called IAA MOBILITY 2023, in Munich this September. Continue reading

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Mercedes-Benz NA adding Tesla Supercharger Network

Mercedes-Benz  said today that drivers can use Tesla Superchargers in North America starting in 2024, in an attempt to expand electric vehicle sales appeal by providing full access to all major charging networks. The move follows other major automakers already in the process of plugging in to the network – Ford and GM  – since there are more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across North America right now. Mercedes-Benz will be the first German automaker to implement the so-called NACS ports into its new electric vehicles starting in 2025 as part o an attempt to have one universal charging system hookup. Continue reading

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