Tag Archives: automotive news

GM U.S. Sales Increase 7% in February. Retail Share Up

Posted on 1 March 2013 by Ken Zino

General Motors said today that it sold 224,314 vehicles in the United States in February, up 7% compared with a year ago. Retail sales and fleet sales were both up 7%, matching expected overall market growth. GM’s fleet sales were 25% of the total, equal to a year ago.GM estimated its retail market share at more than 17%, well above its 2012 calendar year share at 15%. This was best February since 2008 at 268,737 units when the market was trending down and GM was headed for bankruptcy. The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate back then was about the same as today at 15.6 million light vehicles. Continue reading →

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Chrysler Group February U.S. Sales Increase 4% as Growth Rate Slows

Posted on 1 March 2013 by Ken Zino

Chrysler Group today posted U.S. sales of 139,015 units, a 4% increase compared with sales in February 2012 of 133,521 units. While it was the Group’s best February since 2008, the overall market was predicted to grow at a 7% to 9% rate, if so Chrysler is not keeping up with the auto sales recovery. The comeback car company has been consistently outpacing market growth, as has been Toyota Motor, which also posted a 4% sales gain. Continue reading →

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GM Debuts New Business Elite Program for Fleet Customers

Posted on 1 March 2013 by Ken Zino

Chevrolet and GMC are today introducing a new commercial dealer program called Business Elite at 469 dealerships. The Elite program, targeted at business customers who own one to 100 vehicles, is designed to provide the country’s estimated 400,000 small-to-mid-size businesses with special treatment. Continue reading →

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New Stamping Presses for GM Full Size SUVs coming to Texas

Posted on 28 February 2013 by Ken Zino

The first shipment of equipment to stamp out components for General Motors’ new full-size SUVs arrives at the Arlington Stamping Plant this week. The four gigantic presses from Korean supplier WIA, pit equipment and two press beds – weighing a total of 5 million pounds – are making their way 550 miles from the Port of Houston. Continue reading →

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Nissan Juke Nismo Arrives in U.S. this Spring

Posted on 28 February 2013 by Ken Zino

Nissan Motor at a dedication of its refurbished Nismo facility in Yokohama, Japan said that the first performance car coming from the new center will be a Juke, followed by the 2014 model 370Z. A new GT-R Nismo is also in the works. Nissan said more Nismo models will appear, at least one every year. All of the cars that the performance versions will be built from so far represent small volumes in the U.S., selling in January 2,400 Juke, 331 370Z and 48 GT-R models. The Nismo versions will be built in the same plants as the standard models.
Continue reading →

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CountryMark Refining to Install $18 Million in Pollution Controls to Resolve Clean Air Act Violations at its Indiana Refinery

Posted on 28 February 2013 by Ken Zino

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that CountryMark Refining and Logistics has agreed to pay a $167,000 civil penalty, perform environmental projects totaling more than $180,000, and spend $18 million on new pollution controls to resolve Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at its refinery, located in Mount Vernon, Indiana. Continue reading →

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Chevrolet Donates Damaged Vehicles to Train First Responders

Posted on 28 February 2013 by Ken Zino

Chevrolet is donating 300 cars, crossovers and SUVs rendered unsalable during Hurricane Sandy to help train first responders at Guardian Centers in Perry, Georgia. Continue reading →

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EU Commercial Vehicle Sales Drop 11% in January as Slump Continues

Posted on 28 February 2013 by Ken Zino

The sale of new commercial vehicles in the EU declined again in January (-10.6%), continuing a worrisome downward trend evident for all of 2012. Continue reading →

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Cadillac XTS Now in Production in China, World’s Largest Market

Posted on 26 February 2013 by Ken Zino

Criticisms that auto companies are making vehicles in China or transferring jobs there are at best ignorant of, or deliberately ignore, Chinese industrial policy, which requires local partners and production for access to the market. There are also high Chinese tariffs on imports that effectively restrict volume exports of the kind that are now coming out of, say, South Korea under the U.S. Korean FTA. (I can only imagine the outcry if Mercedes-Benz was required to partner with the city of Detroit to build cars there – the ruling party in Detroit controlling the jobs – as a condition of access to the U.S., one of the world’s most lucrative luxury car markets. This is required in China.) Continue reading →

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Future Mustang and Lincoln Coupe?

Posted on 25 February 2013 by Jim Dunne

At first glance, this Mustang looks somewhat altered. Take a close look and you can spot the differences in this prototype and the cars in the showrooms. From the front there is little to see that’s different. However, that galloping horse set alone in the grille is a design not offered on current Mustang models. Continue reading →

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Jeep Cherokee Returns as 2014 Model. New York Auto Show Debut

Posted on 25 February 2013 by Ken Zino

Cherokee is inches wider and longer than its Italian donor platform and as you can see uses the traditional Jeep styling features such as a box-like body and the famous vertical slotted grille that goes back to Bill Mauldin’s Willie and Joe cartoons that won Pulitzer prizes during WW2. Continue reading →

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Clean Green Fuel Owner Guilty in $9 Million in Bio-Diesel Scam

Posted on 22 February 2013 by Ken Zino

A U.S. District Judge today sentenced Rodney R. Hailey, of Perry Hall, Maryland to nearly 12 years and six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for selling $9 million in renewable fuel credits that he falsely claimed were produced by his company, Clean Green Fuel, LLC. Hailey, age 34, was convicted in June of 2012 on eight counts of wire fraud, 32 counts of money laundering, and two counts of violating the Clean Air Act. He has been detained since the guilty verdict.

Hailey made more than $9.1 million from selling the false credits, and used the proceeds of the scheme to purchase luxury vehicles, including BMWs, a Mercedes Benz, a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati and others, as well as real estate and more than $80,000 in diamond jewelry. In all of these transactions, Hailey generally used cash or checks drawn on accounts he controlled to make the purchase, including a check for $645,330.15 to buy his home in Maryland. Continue reading →

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60-Day Auto Loan Delinquencies Rise for First Time since 2009

Posted on 22 February 2013 by Ken Zino

It was the first time since the end of 2009 that either 30- or 60-day loan delinquencies increased year-over-year. In what could be an early warning sign that sub-prime loans from finance companies are becoming too speculative, the total balance of 60-day delinquent loans grew from $3.48 billion in Q4 2011 to $3.93 billion in Q4 2012. Continue reading →

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U.S. Sues Lance Armstrong for False Racing Sponsorship Claims

Posted on 22 February 2013 by Ken Zino

From 1996 through 2004, the USPS sponsored a professional cycling team owned by Tailwind and its predecessors. Between 2001 and 2004 alone, the Postal Service paid $31 million in sponsorship fees. (Imagine how much could be recovered only the Justice Department went after its friends at the Wall Street firms, banks and ratings agencies that cost taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars because of false claims in the sub-prime mortgage business.)
Continue reading →

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U.S. February Auto Sales Projected Up Again as Recovery Continues

Posted on 22 February 2013 by Ken Zino

Retail sales of new vehicles in the U.S. during February are forecast to increase from February 2012, as the tentative recovery of the U.S. economy continues. However, sales at 931,000 cars and light trucks or a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 12.1 million units will dip below an unexpectedly strong January SAAR of 13.1 million, a normally slow selling month. U.S. vehicle sales in January were surprisingly strong, with no automaker stronger than Toyota Motor’s three brands, which increased sales almost 27% in a retail light-vehicle market that grew by 14% to more than 1 million units. Continue reading →

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