Category Archives: news analysis

Top Ten Auto Stories of 2012

Posted on 31 December 2012 by Ken Zino

While it’s the job of historians to accurately weigh and assess events years after the fact when more documents, memoirs, special pleadings and perspective are available, journalists staring down a deadline have no such option. Here is AutoInformed on the significant automotive related stories of the 2012 year, with our wry awareness, as always, that columnists conduct their education in public. Continue reading →

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Toyota Settles Lawsuits for $1.1 Billion and Will Modify Millions of Vehicles with Electronically Controlled Gas Pedals to Stop Runaways

Posted on 27 December 2012 by Ken Zino

In an engineering lapse of monumental consequences that included several deaths, the computer programming on affected vehicles when confronted with both brake and accelerator inputs did not favor the brake input for its electronic engine controls. Such over-ride software is in widespread use at other automakers. Continue reading →

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Bosch follows Automakers into Russia as Market Booms

Posted on 26 December 2012 by Ken Zino

The irony here is that Bosch opened it first sales office in Russia during 1904 under the Kaiser and the Czar. Certain political disputes resulted in devastating wars and revolutions during the next decade that changed the ruling orders in both Germany and Russia, among other places with future dire consequences. That is history. We are now talking about the wealth creation of that the automobile industry makes possible. Continue reading →

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GM and PSA Peugeot Citroën to Develop New Gas Engines

Posted on 24 December 2012 by Ken Zino

PSA Peugeot Citroën and General Motors are expanding the scope of their alliance announced earlier this year to include a new line of small gasoline engines developed from PSA’s small gasoline engine program known as the EB engine. Continue reading →

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Jeep Liberty to evolve as a Front-Wheel-Drive Alfa Romeo Derivative

Posted on 21 December 2012 by Ken Zino

Chrysler Group is preparing an all-new Jeep Liberty replacement that will debut within 18 months, eventually going into production in the U.S., Italy and China. As with the just released Dodge Dart, the new Jeep – thus far unnamed – will be based on a corporate platform from owner Fiat. Continue reading →

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Ally Financial Pays Off Last $4.5 Billion of Debt Issued Under TLGP

Posted on 19 December 2012 by Ken Zino

The U.S. Treasury, via taxpayers, currently holds about 74% of Ally common equity, and $5.9 billion in mandatory convertible preferred securities, which have a dividend rate of 9%, after a more than $17 billion bailout. Ally at the end of Q3 2012 had about $182 billion in assets, so it increasingly looks like taxpayers have a good chance at getting their money paid back, perhaps turning a profit. Continue reading →

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U.S. Treasury to Sell GM Stock at a Loss During the Next 15 Months

Posted on 19 December 2012 by Ken Zino

It appears that Treasury is making a very bad decision here based on ideology, not good old American pragmatism. It was ideologues who opposed the successful TARP bailouts, and now Treasury – the government agency that is supposed to understand money and stock markets – is also taking an impractical position based also on ideology. Since the end of September taxpayers earned more than $1.5 billion from the increase in value of GM stock. Why dump and run now? No surprise here at AutoInformed that most Americans are disgusted with the way government handles their money. Continue reading →

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GM to Face F-Series, Ram with New 2014 Silverado, Sierra Pickups

Posted on 17 December 2012 by Ken Zino

An initial analysis by AutoInformed indicates that the trucks are good, but the question lingers will they be good enough against Ford’s F-Series and Dodge’s Ram line, both with considerable marketplace momentum, and both with their own unique selling points from recent revisions. Continue reading →

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Fiat to Expand Jeep Sales to India by Late 2013

Posted on 11 December 2012 by Ken Zino

Fiat will sell Jeep brand vehicles in India by late 2013 as part of a larger business plan to launch nine new or refreshed models under the Fiat and Jeep in the next few years. The first step will be the importation of the existing Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Grand Cherokee models, which will be arrive toward the end of 2013. Continue reading →

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Consumer Reports Claims 47 MPG Ford Hybrid Claims are Bogus in Real World Driving. Another EPA Mileage Scam Exposed?

Posted on 7 December 2012 by Ken Zino

Consumer Reports say that it can’t duplicate Ford Motor’s 47 city/47 highway/47 comb­­­ined mpg claim for the new Fusion and C-Max hybrids. In CR tests, the Fusion Hybrid provided 39 mpg overall, 35 city and 41 during highway conditions. For the C-Max Hybrid, CR got 37 mpg overall, with 35 and 38 for city and highway. “These two vehicles have the largest discrepancy between our overall-mpg results and the estimates published by the EPA that we’ve seen among any current models,” said CR. Continue reading →

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Japanese Makers Up U.S. Share in November as East Coast Recovers

Posted on 4 December 2012 by Ken Zino

Japanese automakers with Asian tsunami and flooding production disruptions behind them and helped, ironically, by post Hurricane Sandy demand on the East Coast picked up marketshare in the U.S. November. Continue reading →

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Mazda Drops Ford Motor in New Changan Mazda JV in China

Posted on 4 December 2012 by Ken Zino

Continuing its separation and divorce from Ford Motor Company, Mazda Motor Corporation has announced a new Chinese joint-venture, Changan Mazda, based in Nanjing. The 50:50 corporation with all regulatory approvals is now responsible for all of CFMA’s Mazda-related business, including development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of Mazda-branded vehicles in China. Continue reading →

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Chrysler Group U.S. November Sales up 14%

Posted on 3 December 2012 by Ken Zino

Chrysler Group today reported U.S. sales of 122,565 units, a 14% increase compared with sales in November 2011 (107,172 units), and the group’s best November sales since 2007 before the Great Recession put it into bankruptcy. Continue reading →

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Volkswagen Group to Invest €50 Billion During Next Three Years

Posted on 1 December 2012 by Ken Zino

Volkswagen Group will invest €50.2 billion in its Automotive Division in the coming three years after approval by its Supervisory Board last week. It’s the latest step in VW’s attempt to become the world’s largest Automotive Group by 2018. The ambitious target that will require overtaking GM and holding off a resurgent Toyota, neither of which will concede sales lightly. Continue reading →

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GM China Expands Advanced Technical Center in Shanghai

Posted on 30 November 2012 by Ken Zino

Increasingly, sophisticated engineering and development work once done in the U.S. is being shifted to China. Last August, GM began fabricating and testing prototype battery cells and complete systems at the ATC. At the same time, SAIC and Shanghai GM and the Automotive Technical Center opened China’s largest proving grounds. Continue reading →

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