All About Cars

There’s little doubt that Toyota will displace General Motors as the world’s biggest automaker when 2008 sales are finally tallied. GM edged out its Japanese rival in 2007, but the American giant continues to struggle with a drawn-out turnaround plan and billions in losses. Toyota, by contrast, has been growing virtually everywhere it does business, with record profits in 2007. Ascending to No. 1 worldwide seems inevitable.

Now, here’s a startling new possibility: Toyota could overtake GM in its home market, the first time ever that a foreign company would be the No. 1 seller of cars in the United States. Only a few months ago, that seemed implausible. Toyota’s market share had grown consistently, to about 16 percent of the U.S. market at the end of 2007. But GM still had a commanding lead, with 23 percent of the market. And share swings of more than a point or two in a given year are rare.

But car sales this year have flipped more dramatically than anybody anticipated, and suddenly Toyota is within striking distance of GM. In May, Toyota’s market share surged to 18.4 percent, according to J.D. Power & Associates, as buyers flocked to small, efficient cars like the Corolla, Yaris, and Scion xB. Sales of GM pickups and SUVs plummeted, leaving GM with 19.3 percent of the market—less than a single point above Toyota. And GM recently announced it willclose four plants and curtail production of light trucks by about 40 percent. Those developments could reorder the U.S. auto industry. Some possible scenarios:

Toyota bounces GM. Toyota’s sales have actually declined by 3.5 percent so far in 2007—but that’s a strong performance compared with GM’s 16 percent decline, which is why Toyota’s market share is rising sharply. In May alone, the sales gap was much bigger: GM’s sales plunged by 28 percent, compared with a mere 4.3 percent drop for Toyota. Like GM, Toyota is suffering from a severe drop in sales of big vehicles like the Tundra pickup and the 4Runner SUV. But GM is far more dependent on big vehicles, and Toyota has a much stronger lineup of small cars and crossovers.

If the pronounced shift in buying patterns continues, Toyota’s market share could eclipse GM’s on a monthly basis through the summer or fall. But GM will probably retain more market share for ‘08 overall, given that it started the year much stronger than it is now. As for 2009—that could be a close race.

U.S. Market Share by Manufacturer

	May 2007	May 2008
GM	23.8%	19.3%
Toyota	17.2	18.4
Ford	16.5	15.4
Chrysler	12.8	10.7
Honda	9.3	12.0
Nissan	6.0	7.2
Hyundai	4.6	5.6
BMW (includes Mini)	2.0	2.3
Volkswagen (includes Audi)	2.0	2.2
Mercedes (includes Smart)	1.4	1.8

GM rebounds. May was a wild month for car sales, with several developments that stunned analysts. Sales of big pickup trucks, for instance, fell below 10 percent of the total for the first time in decades. Compact cars, which usually represent about 15 percent of the market, rose to more than 20 percent. And sales of large vehicles fell by a staggering 36 percent. “We rarely see swings like that,” says Tom Libby of J.D. Power. “The question is whether May was the beginning of a trend or an aberration.”Libby tends to think it was an aberration, since research suggests gas prices would have to stay near $4 per gallon for a year before such abrupt changes in buying habits become permanent. So far, they’ve been near that level only for a couple of months. If Libby’s right, car sales over the summer won’t be weighted so heavily against larger vehicles, which would pad GM’s market share. But others see it differently—most notably, GM CEO Rick Wagoner, who said in May that rising gas prices and changes in the U.S. car market are “more structural than cyclical.”

Honda surges. Honda may be in an even better position that Toyota, because it has no full-size trucks or SUVs to weigh down sales. And its numbers prove it. Total industry sales are down about 8 percent so far this year. Honda’s are up 5 percent. And for the first time ever, the thrifty Civic was the top-selling overall vehicle in May. Honda’s market share has risen from 9.3 percent a year ago to 12 percent, surpassing Chrysler. It could even pass No. 3 Ford on a monthly basis by the end of the year.

Ford and Chrysler recede. This seems likely under any scenario, at least through the end of ‘08. Ford, heavily reliant on the F-150 pickup and SUVs like the Explorer, has the same big-truck problem as GM. Many analysts think Ford plans to ax its Mercury brand, which could cost a full percentage point of market share. Newer vehicles like the Edge, Fusion, and Focus will help, but Ford needs more of them, and it will take awhile. Chrysler—once one of the “Big Three”—is now the fifth-largest U.S. carmaker and drifting further. A $2.99 gas-price guarantee promotion was supposed to goose sales—but instead, they fell 25 percent in May. If discounted gas doesn’t help sell cars, it’s hard to know what will.

Honda, one of the major competitors on international car markets, announced some interesting news. If you want to find them out, join us, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the new Honda Freed!

The new Honda Freed was unveiled today in Tokyo. The Freed is a compact minivan, based on the new 2009 Honda Jazz. While the Freed retains the same width as the Jazz / Fit at 1,695 mm, it’s longer (4,215 mm vs 3,900 mm), higher (1,715 mm vs 1,525 mm) and it also features an extended wheelbase measuring 2,740 mm in length (vs 2,500 mm).

Honda will offer three variants the Freed on local market: a seven-passenger edition; an eight-passenger version and a five-passenger type which offers a large cargo space. All three variants of the Freed are also equipped with sliding rear doors on either side of the vehicle.

2009 Honda Freed will be offered in front-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive variants, both of which are equipped with a 1.5-liter 4-cylinder that delivers an output of 120Hp. No word about the Freed will find its way out of the Japan.

Here is a site, a unique resource to buy and sell your vehicle where you can crack the best deals in the market, www.automobilecontacts.com is one such site offering a great platform through which you can increase your profits and expand your clientele. The site is gaining its popularity across the continent, more and more dealers are registering with this site daily moreover the best thing about the site is that it is absolutely FREE, now list your trucks and trailers, cars, motorhomes or RVs, ATVs, boats on the site without paying anything and in return get worldwide exposure, buy and sell your old used trailers, trucks and accessories, exchange contact details through this unique site offering you a unique opportunity to expand your business to greater heights.

The design of the site is user friendly allowing the users of any age group to understand and list their vehicles with complete details, the procedure to register is self explanatory so you need not worry about operating on your login account moreover our online representative will help guide you for perfect selections. There are even customized searches options through which you can browse through different categories, this makes your search easier and simple, you hit upon the perfect vehicle of your choice which you had been searching all this while. The site has some of the best and famous dealers registered with them which truly speaks volume about the reliability of the site. register with www.automobilecontacts.com today and enjoy the lifetime of great profits and the famous business contacts.

You just walked out of the local mega-mart, bags in hand, and noticed that something was wrong with your car. It looks scratched! After close inspection, you see that the mark isn’t rubbing off and that your new car is now scratched. What to do - get out the touch-up paint?

For God’s sake NO! The sound of the words “touch-up paint” always make me cringe.

Don’t get me wrong - if you have a big, deep scratch, touch-up paint is probably appropriate. But I don’t recommend that an average person uses it. First of all, it’s very hard to apply correctly unless you’re experienced. Second of all, it’s usually overkill. There are other methods of reducing the appearance of a scratch that are easy and relatively cheap.

Most scratches can be fixed with a process called “wet-sanding”. Wet sanding is done by a professional, and it involves moving paint and clear coat molecules around to reduce the appearance of a scratch. It works on light scratches, but deep scratches are another matter.

How do you know if you have a deep scratch? Can you feel it with your fingernail? Is bare metal showing? Is the scratch longer than 10″? If you can answer any of these questions with a yes, go to the local body shop. Make sure to get a written guarantee and a few quotes — repairing a deep or big scratch can cost anywhere from $50 to $1000 dollars, so check around.

If the scratch is light, your local body shop should be able to fix it up for less than $40. Make sure the shop you’re going to us has a written guarantee and that you understand it. Usually the person repairing your car will tell you what it’s going to look like when they’re done.

One last thing - these are only methods to reduce or diminish a scratch, not to truly repair it. A true repair would involve a new paint job for the scratched panel and paint blending for the nearby panels, and I think that’s a terrible idea to fix a light or even heavy scratch. It’s better to fix these things inexpensively - they’re just going to happen again. Just remember, the scratch isn’t going to miraculously disappear. It will look a LOT better though.

Mack Financial Services and Mack Canada announced that truckers Gordon Hooge and Kenneth Lawrence are the top winners of the “Mack Highway Free Payment Extravaganza” for the fourth quarter of 2007. Customers in Canada who financed any new Mack highway model were entered into the program for a chance to win free payments. A total of 24 customers won free payments in 2007.

First prize is free payments for a year. Second prize, won by Keith White Trucking and Nidish Enterprises, is no payments for six months. And third prize winners Gerald Herter Trucking and Warren Transport are free from payment for three months.

Mack Financial Services is a division of the Volvo Group and supports Mack Trucks, Inc.

Dunbar Public Works Director David Nelson has asked the city council to buy a couple of new dump trucks for his department.

At a council meeting Monday, Nelson requested a new GMC C5500 truck that could be using for hauling. Nelson said General Truck Sales has offered the city a deal if it purchases two new trucks.

The new trucks would haul the same amount as the city’s one current truck, he said. Drivers could operate the new vehicles without being required to have their commercial driver’s license.

Nelson told council that the dump truck the city uses now is 12 years old and has been driven 210,346 miles.

“My goal is to save the citizens of Dunbar some money,” Nelson said. “We need the trucks. I believe we should purchase the trucks.”

Council member Connie Boardman expressed reservations about acting too quickly. Boardman suggested the city solicit bids to get the best deal on the purchase.

“I just want to make sure that the City of Dunbar is getting the best price and the best trucks,” Boardman said.

In other news, the city’s two new police cruisers have been put into operation.

Mayor Roger Wolfe said he’s already received positive feedback from residents since the new cars made their debut.

Also Monday, city officials announced they need lifeguards at the city pool this coming summer.

Anyone interested should bring a copy of his or her lifeguard certification to the city recreation center and fill out an application.

More than 100 dump truck drivers convoyed to Washington, DC, honking their horns while circling the U.S. Capitol to protest high diesel fuel prices on Thursday, April 10.

Truckers met in Forestville, MD, to line up for the convoy to DC. They drove in a loop several times around the National Mall to raise Congressional awareness on the impact that recent changes in the economy, including fuel, have had on the trucking industry.

One dump truck had a sign attached to the side that read “Fair compensation,” according to The Associated Press.

Plummeting car sales have led to a slump in prices, and some car sellers are headed for the wreckers’ yard, says an industry commentator.

“There’s blood on the showroom floor and it’s inevitable that some car retailers are going to go to the wall this year,” said Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the Dog & Lemon Guide for car buyers. “On a positive note, there are some real bargains out there at the moment.”

But while car buyers might be happy, Mr Matthew-Wilson predicted a grim year for sellers.

“Car prices traditionally go up with the sun and come down with the rain: we are heading into winter at a time of global uncertainty and local economic gloom. Couple this with cautious buyers and an oversupply of cars in the New Zealand market, and you’ve got a perfect recipe for disaster.”

According to Independent Motor Vehicle Dealers Association chief executive David Vinsen, the used-car market is “slow and slowing”.

Land Transport NZ figures show new-car registrations for 2008’s first quarter rose 3.6 per cent. Used imports fell 8.2 per cent. Comparing March 2008 to March 2007, sales from the public to dealers have dropped nearly 21 per cent, private sales are down by over 7 per cent, while sales from dealers to the public are down nearly 20 per cent.

Sales from dealer-to-dealer have fallen nearly 28 per cent, while registrations of used imports of have dropped nearly 18 per cent.

Mr Matthew-Wilson blamed a combination of factors.

“The economy is in decline, which has made buyers suddenly cautious,” he said. The new vehicles on sale were ordered during boom times, so there is now an oversupply.

“Although overall imports of Japanese secondhand vehicles are falling, a few dealers brought in vast numbers of vehicles in anticipation of tighter government controls on vehicle emissions,” Mr Matthew-Wilson said.

“There are now too many vehicles chasing too few buyers.”

The recession had also hit optimistic car buyers who had already bought expensive vehicles during the economic boom and were now suffering financial pressures as the downturn begins to bite.

Turners Auction general manager for marketing Todd Hunter said repossessed vehicles going to auction had risen 100 per cent in the year to March 2008, with 700 going under the hammer.

The Fairfax-owned online auction site Trade Me - now the dominant force in car sales - was the only retailer reporting growth, and increasing numbers of commercial car dealers were using the website to move stock.

In the twelve months to March 2008, about 170,000 vehicles were sold on Trade Me compared to 115,000 the previous year.

But Mr Matthew-Wilson said that despite more new cars and upmarket second-hand models being offered on Trade Me, the median price remained at around $11,000.

“This suggests that while volumes are up, prices continue to soften,” he said.

The second-largest auction house, Turners, did not reveal sales figures but said that lower prices had meant a major increase in bargain hunters on the auction floor.

According to Statistics New Zealand, it was a $41 million fall of 5.8 per cent in the value of car sales which sent the nation’s overall retail sales down in February. That followed falls of 0.6 per cent and 2.5 per cent in January and December.

When Mike Patton of Galesburg saw a pristine 1935 Hudson Terraplane for sale on the Internet, he thought it was the find of the century.Little did he know, a few thousand miles away, movie executives at Universal Studios also were eyeing the same rare car. And on top of that, one of the biggest names in Hollywood, Johnny Depp, already had been shown pictures and fallen in love with it.

Patton, who has a dozen or so cars from different eras, decided to pay the price asked by the Bay City Motor Company in Bay City, Mich., knowing this was a chance he couldn’t easily ignore.

“It was really a neat-looking car,” Patton said of the beige-colored vehicle. “It’s the only Hudson Terraplane that I had found anywhere on the Web, much less for sale.”

So he wired the company the money on a Monday in December. Late in March, he received a phone call from David Cotten, founder and partner in the Bay City Motor Company.

“They really want the car,” Patton recalls Cotten saying of the Universal representatives who contacted him. “They want to work something out and said they had to have that car or there wasn’t going to be any shooting.”

The Universal representatives wanted the Terraplane for a new movie starring Depp as 1930s gangster John Dillinger, which was about to commence shooting. Set to release sometime in 2009, the movie also stars Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent who led the manhunt for Dillinger; Channing Tatum as Pretty Boy Floyd; Stephen Graham as Baby Face Nelson; and Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard as Dillinger’s paramour, Billie Frechette.

The crew has spent the spring filming in Wisconsin, Indiana and Chicago, where Dillinger was shot to death outside the Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue.

The film is based on Bryan Burrough’s 2004 book, “Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34.”

So why was it so essential that this new film have that exact car?

“Apparently Dillinger had quite a few cars, but his favorite car was the Hudson Terraplane,” Patton said.

India’s luxury car market, till recently was dominated by just one player, Mercedes Benz and a few individual imports, registered a 50% growth last year, with the sale of 4,500 cars. That was the first effect of the entry of more players.

This year, they expect to sell between 6,000-7,000, with more players and more models. Of this number, the oldest player in the segment, Mercedes Benz, has revised its sales target for 08 to 3,000 cars. BMW’s target is 2,000 cars, leaving the balance for the others.

One reason for the higher sales is the aggressive dealer network that the car makers are rolling out. In Pune, for instance, from a situation a few months ago of just Mercedes Benz having a showroom, BMW and Audi have set up dealerships. And Volvo Cars, part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG) has declared its intention of setting up dealerships in the country’s top 10 cities, including Pune.

Auto industry analysts claim Pune had a population of about 50 Audis, prior to the opening of the showroom, imported by individuals. Now that there is a dealer in the city, this number has risen dramatically, with at least another 25-30 cars with the four inter-linked circles to be seen on city roads.

Ditto for BMW, which opened a showroom in the city in December 07. While a BMW spokesperson said they do not give city-specific details, the visible effect is everywhere: open a dealership and see sales grow dramatically.

Auto analysts estimate that the western Maharashtra region, excluding Mumbai, which is served by the Pune dealer, could account for the sale of more than 250 Audis annually. And these are cars in the Rs. 42-73 lakh price bracket.

Audi, a Volkswagen group company expects to sell, in the first year, 500 units of just one product, its all-new A4 launched recently in Europe and set to debut in India by July, its managing director, Benoit Tiers, had said at the time of the dealership inauguration a month ago.

The BMW population in the city has also swelled: from just a few head turners, the number of cars with the white and blue twin propellers are becoming a fairly common sight. BMW, which has set a target of selling 2,000 cars this year, with an entry level price of Rs. 30 lakh, has increased assembly capacities at its Chennai plant, anticipating this growth across the country.

Mercedes Benz, which has been locally assembling cars in India for 13 years now, has also upped its annual sales target for 08: it is now 3,000 cars. Not including completely built units (CBUs), Dr Wilfried Aulbur, CEO and managing director, Mercedes Benz India, has stated recently.

There are two specific segments in the high priced car marekt which are growing: sports utility vehicles and the all-new coupe. Take Mitsubishi’s Pajero SFX, the new version of the all-time favourite SUV: it now has a waiting period of two-three weeks. And prospective buyers are depositing the full amount!

YVS Vijay Kumar, vice president and SBU head, Chennai Car plant, Hindustan Motors, said, “We may have to add a second shift at our Chennai plant since there is a waiting list for our premium SUVs. Last month, we had orders for 260 Pajeros and we could only deliver 200. Already, in the first week of April, we had an order book of 150 cars. No additional investment will be required since we already have the capacities installed: the plant is capable of making 24,000 cars annually while we are doing 6,000 now.”

For the moment, Hindustan Motors Mitsubishi Motors is betting on the premium SUV segment, where it has an 18% market share. “We are looking at growing this with the Outlander, which is coming in September,” Mr Vijay Kumar said.

The Audi Q 7, an SUV, is running neck to neck in popularoty with its sedan siblings, industry analysts claimed, with roughly half the bookings being for the SUV. While SUVs have been popularised by politicians, there is another segment which dealers expect will grow significantly: that of the coupe. Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi and Volvo Cars all have offerings in this segment and each of them is eyeing growth.

The Audi TT, which has an existing population of about six in Pune, could double soon, is the belief of industry watchers, who believe the car maker could, on average, sell one coupe per month in the western Maharashtra region.
The BMW M3 coupe was a head turner at the Auto Expo in Delhi in January, with company officials saying that this set of wheels, priced just under Rs. 75 lakh, had already received a few orders.

Mercedes showed its four-door convertible, the CLK 350, and Volvo Cars’ C70 convertible coupe at the same event.

In 06, 3300 luxury cars were sold in India. This jumped to 4,500 in 07 and the expectation is that in the current year, the number could well touch 7,000. And officials working for the luxury car brands claim that the current economic slow down has not yet hit them: just look out for the March sales figures!