Tag Archives: auto informed

Chrysler Group December 2011 U.S. Sales Up 37%; Year +26%

Nevertheless, the sales gains were not large enough to hold off resurging Toyota Motor Sales, which displaced Chrysler from the Number Three U.S. sales spot when Toyota inventories rebuilt this fall after the Japan earthquake and tsunami tragedy in March that removed Toyota and other Japanese automakers from the market. In October and November Toyota picked up 2 market share percentage points, with December results due later today. Continue reading

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Milestones: First U.S. Diesel Powered Car – Cummins Packard

Fuel prices have risen since then, now ranging between $3 to $4 a gallon. The company Clessie Lyle Cummins founded in 1919 – Cummins Engine Company of Columbus, Indiana – to build engines based on Rudolf Diesel’s compression engine (patented 20 years before) has grown to be a Fortune 500 company with more than $18 billion in annual sales. Continue reading

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Car Spy Jim Dunne Catches Revised Lincoln MKS or MKZ?

Following the Ford Jaguar debacle, success is also not a word that can be applied to Ford’s management of Lincoln, which is a poseur in the world of luxury cars dominated by the German Brands and Toyota’s Lexus, which even though it was out of the U.S. market for five months this year because of the Japan earthquake, still managed to outsell Lincoln by a better than 2:1. Continue reading

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Federal Appeals Court blocks Enforcement of EPA Cross State Rule until Dozens of Power Company Lawsuits are Resolved

The rule requires reduction in emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which the auto industry successfully undertook decades ago. The Appeals court will consider the legality of the rule sometime next year. Continue reading

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U.S. Treasury Says China Continues to Undervalue its Currency

In what will undoubtedly become a Presidential campaign issue next year, as a result of the undervalued renminbi, China continues to increase its global export market share, and it remains heavily dependent on exports. Continue reading

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Michigan Made Chevrolet Sonic Recall for Missing Brake Pad

How a car without brake pads could leave the Orion Township assembly plant, or pass a pre-delivery inspection was not addressed in the terse NHTSA filing. The embarrassing safety defect comes just before the public unveiling of the 2013 Sonic RS performance model – 138-horsepower from a turbocharged engine – at the North American International Auto Show in January. Continue reading

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Right to Repair on Massachusetts Ballot. National Bill Stalled

A similar national measure, the Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act (H.R. 1449), died from inaction in the 2011 U.S. Congress. Various forms of Right to Repair bills have been tied up in successive Congresses since 2002. It is not surprising that the National Association of Automobile Dealers opposes the legislation. NADA says that automakers provide emissions service and some other data available to any technician who needs it already. Continue reading

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Chevrolet Volt Hybrids for China arrive at Shanghai

Due to a combination of tariffs and incentives for locally-produced Chinese vehicles – at the core of China’s job creating industrial policy – the Michigan built Volt (more than $40,000 in the U.S. without government incentives) will be at about a $19,000 per hybrid disadvantage, not good news for UAW employees who build the Volt in Hamtramck. Continue reading

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Toyota Launches Prius c Hybrid as Aqua in Japan for $21,700

In Japan the Prius c comes in seven models with a price ranging from $21,750 to $34,500 for lavishing equipped models for handicapped people. Look for the Japanese-built Prius c in the U.S. to start somewhere under $20,000 with several more expensive option packages. AutoInformed is betting Toyota will continue to use aggressive ‘comeback pricing’ and incentives to regain market share lost post-tsunami and Thailand floods this year. With the introduction of the all-new reduced price Camry last October, Toyota has regained 2 percentage points of U.S. share in the last two months. Continue reading

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The Top Stolen Cadillac Escalade Has New Antitheft Devices

Cadillac Escalade is more than 6 times as likely as the average vehicle to be targeted by thieves and has overall theft losses more than 10 times as big, according the Highway Loss Data Institute – HLDI. So little wonder that Cadillac in a release today is touting what it claims are new security enhancements developed to thwart thieves on Escalade models. Continue reading

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Milestones: U.S. Population of 312.8 Million on New Year’s Day

Through 2050, the United States is projected to remain in third place behind India and China among the world’s most populous countries with 423 million inhabitants. China of course has been the world’s largest auto market for three years now, and will likely remain so for the next decade. While this looks like a large increases in the number of persons in the U.S., the rate of population growth, is projected to decrease during the next six decades by about 50 %. The decrease in the rate of growth is mostly due to the aging of the population and, consequently, a dramatic increase in the number of deaths. From 2030 to 2050, the United States would grow more slowly than ever before in its history, potentially an economic disaster with potentially grave implications for economic expansion, revenue and national wealth. Continue reading

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Iran Threatens to Close Strait of Hormuz, Shut Off Oil Supply. Here We Go With Another Oil Crisis Caused by Despots?

The larger issue remains an amorphous U.S. strategy conducted and – alas – at times directed in Washington by big money interests that care not about the welfare of the United States or its citizens. U.S. energy policy going back to President Carter and the first OPEC oil embargo four decades ago has failed under one-term Carter and every successive President and Congress since – Democrat or Republican – to eliminate this security threat – as well as the corresponding national economic decline posed by oil imports and the resulting enormous transfer of U.S. wealth overseas. Continue reading

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Nissan Recall Active for Oil Leaks. Infiniti Recall too

This is the fourth major Nissan recall since the end of November. Earlier recalls involved sudden stalling on Sentra models; Juke turbocharger boost sensors; and defective Rogue electric power steering control computers. Continue reading

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EPA Finally Decides 2012 Renewable Fuel Standards

This ongoing Congressional debacle started when EISA established annual renewable fuel volume targets, reaching an overall level of 36 billion gallons annually in 2022, including 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels; 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuels; 4 billion gallons of advanced biofuels; and 1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel. EISA further specifies that 21 billion U.S. gallons of the 2022 total must be derived from non-cornstarch products such as sugar or cellulose. Continue reading

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IIHS Posts a Record 115 Winners for 2012 Top Safety Pick

The independent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Pick has a record number of choices – 115 – among 2012 models. The best vehicles are those in IIHS’s view that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, rollover, and rear crashes. Continue reading

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