Category Archives: results

Chrysler Group U.S. November Sales up 14%

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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Another Ford Fire Recall on New Escape and Now Fusion Models

Ford Motor Company is recalling 2013 Ford Escape SE and SEL models equipped with the 1.6-liter engine and 2013 Ford Fusion SE and SEL models equipped with the 1.6-liter engine because of engine fires. Almost 90,000 of Ford’s latest models – both redesigned for 2013 – are affected. Continue reading

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Volkswagen Group to Invest €50 Billion During Next Three Years

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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Shanghai GM and Audi Lead Latest “Apeal” Study in China

Chinese domestic vehicle brands have narrowed a gap in customer perception, but international brands still lead in a survey based on two to six months of ownership. Models from Shanghai General Motors led in four segments, while Audi rated the highest praise among automakers. Continue reading

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GM China Expands Advanced Technical Center in Shanghai

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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Mazda6 Diesel Coming to U.S. Tracks and Roads in 2013

Mazda North American today announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show that the racing version of the 2014 Mazda6 diesel would make its motorsports debut at the Rolex 24 endurance race in January 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Japanese automaker also confirmed accurate commentary by AutoInformed earlier this year that the racing program would help promote a new Mazda6 diesel sedan, which will join gasoline engine versions next year on U.S. roads.. Continue reading

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Chevrolet Volt Leads New Owner Satisfaction Report. Again

For the second straight year, virtually all owners of the Chevrolet Volt hybrid said they would buy one again. Fully 92% of respondents who own GM’s Volt – much decried by anti-government extremists – said they would definitely buy it again. This earned the $40,000 four-seat car the distinction of being the top-scoring model in the latest Consumer Reports Owner Satisfaction Survey. Continue reading

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Lexus and Mini Lead in New U.S. Sales Satisfaction Survey

Whether it is possible to draw meaningful conclusions from closely ranked sales satisfaction numbers remains an open question among industry marketing executives and observers. Power maintains, not without considerable economic self-interest, that its study is a “comprehensive analysis” of the new-vehicle purchase experience. Continue reading

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Bankrupt Saab Automobile Car Auction Now Underway

The receivers of bankrupt Saab Automobile AB are conducting an action of 68 cars, some of them rare models, in order to raise funds. These include cars where only a few examples were ever made, as well as a number of the models Saab began to produce, but were never sold. Continue reading

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SAIC-GM-Wuling to Build Third China Complex in Ford’s Chongqing

Chongqing of course is the original home of Ford China and now contains a sprawling manufacturing center. Changan Ford Mazda Automobile (CFMA) last August broke ground for a third assembly plant, Chongqing 3, in China. CFMA has also signed a letter of intent with the Municipality of Chongqing to explore expanding its research and engineering capability in Chongqing. Continue reading

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Global Light Vehicle Sales Flat in October at 80.6 Million SAAR

Global sales of light vehicles were flat in October as declines in the EU offset modest gains elsewhere. Nonetheless, on a seasonally adjusted annual basis or SAAR, 2012 is tracking at a rate of 80.6 million units a year, with 68 million vehicles sold year-to-date. This means that the trend line of ever increasing global sales is now restored to a pre-2008 slope, before the global collapse of the financial and real estate markets created a Grand Canyon-sized dip from more than 70 million units in 2007 to a trough of ~55 million in 2008 and 2009. Continue reading

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Toyota Recalls 150,000 Tacoma Pickups for Rust and Corrosion

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. is recalling 150,000 Tacoma pickup trucks from the 2011 to 2004 model years because corrosion can suddenly jettison the spare tire from under the bed. While U.S. Tacoma sales for those years are much higher, only vehicles originally sold or currently registered in 20 cold climate states and the District of Columbia will be inspected and have the spare tire carrier assembly replaced if need be. Critics of such limited actions maintain they do not fix all the potentially unsafe vehicles. Automakers use them to cut down on the costs of a full recall. Continue reading

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U.S. Auto Sales to Continue Upward in Latest November Forecast

November U.S. auto sales for new retail vehicles are now predicted at 931,900 cars and light trucks, a 14% bump up year-over-year, which would mean a seasonally adjusted annualized rate or SAAR of 12.9 million units. If accurate, November would see the highest retail rate for the auto industry since January 2008, before the corrupt practices of Wall Street collapsed the global economy and caused the Great Recession alter that year. Retail transactions are said to be the most accurate measurement of true underlying consumer demand for new vehicles. Continue reading

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Mazda Atenza on Sale in Japan, Comes to U.S. Next Year as Mazda6

The Mazda6 is due in the U.S. next year where the family car market is much larger and much more competitive. Year-to-date Mazda sold 31,000 of the older 6 sedan in a segment dominated by the newly revised Toyota Camry, Honda Accord models, both of which are now selling almost 30,000 units a month and the Nissan Altima at 26,000 a month. Two Japanese variations of the new Mazda6 present additional sales opportunities for the U.S. subsidiary. Continue reading

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Milestones: One Million Fiat 500 Cars. EV Comes to California in 2013

The one-millionth Fiat 500 left the Fiat Auto Poland production line. Since its reappearance in 2007, the tiny Cinquecento or 500 has been sold in more than 100 countries – from Italy to Brazil, South Africa to Japan, and the United States to the Middle East – while also being produced in Toluca, Mexico, since 2011 as a requirement for taxpayer funding for fuel efficient cars that was part of the conditions for Chrysler’s bankruptcy bailout. More than 70,000 have now been sold in the U.S. The 500 in its most fuel-efficient manual transmission version is rated at 31 mpg city and 40 mpg highway by the EPA. Continue reading

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