A release out of London today says Sam’s Scrapbook by Sam Posey is now available in the US. Sam Posey, as motorsport fans likely know, raced a huge variety of sports cars, saloons and open-wheel machines in numerous racing segments such as Can-Am, USRRC, Trans-Am, IMSA, Indy, NASCAR, Formula 5000 and Formula 1. His formidable rivals and friends include George Follmer, Parnelli Jones, Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, Dan Gurney, David Hobbs and Brian Redman.
Running alongside the images, Posey’s commentary is both amusing and emotional. This is a must read memoir by one of America’s racing stars. Surely it will appeal to all motorsports enthusiasts and those who are just getting to know the giant motorsports money machine. I knew Posey from my long association with the International Motor Press Association in New York. He was friendly, intellectually curious and colorful in a latter-day Connecticut Yankee kind of way at Racing’s court. Sam’s Scrapbook is a first-hand account of a golden era in racing, through pictures no outsider has seen and stories not heard. Continue reading →
Chinese Covid Recovery Policies is Zero-Sum Game for Automakers Overall. Luxury, Compact Segments Benefit Most?
The Chinese Passenger Vehicle market is on track for sales of ~22 million units in 2021 – equal to the 2019 level. But the segment mix will differ from 2019, and “the rate of recovery from the 2020 decline will be far from uniform across the various sales groups per LMC. In terms of market status the Premium share is expected to improve from 14% in 2019 to 18%. The Low-Cost segment is forecast to end 2021 with 2% market share, up from 0.5% in 2019. Click to Enlarge.
The Chinese central government put into action a series of policies focused on ample monetary funding and pro-active fiscal measures during the still ongoing Covid crisis. With the effective containment of the virus in China from strong government public health/common good rules and regulations, the government intervention resulted in a quick economic recovery. While the auto market in other major economies floundered during the second half of 2020, the Chinese auto market beat expectations. The recovery continues during 2021.
As with most statistics though, the devil is hiding in the details. Consultancy LMC Automotive says there is an enduring imbalance in the economy’s internal structure: the performance of the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) among medium and large enterprises is significantly better than that among smaller enterprises. Continue reading →