Author Archive: LukeS

Auto makers capped 2011 with a strong December and forecast the recovery in U.S. sales would intensify as long as a stabilizing economy and improved U.S. job gains continue to encourage shoppers.

Detroit auto makers reported increases in vehicle sales for December, with Chrysler Group LLC posting a 37% rise, Ford Motor Co. citing a 10% gain and General Motors Co. reporting a 4.6% increase. For the full year, Chrysler’s sales rose 26%, Ford’s 11% and GM’s 13%.

All told, auto makers sold 1.2 million cars and light trucks in December, a rise of 8.7% from the same month in 2010, according to Autodata Corp. Light vehicles sales for all of 2011 totaled 12.8 million, Autodata said, an increase of 10.3% from 2010.

The annualized sales pace in December was 13.56 million vehicles, the second highest of 2011. It also marked the fourth consecutive month in which the sales pace topped 13 million, a positive [...]

As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods — merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor. This year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands. Yes there is!

It’s time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper? Everyone — yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates from your local American hair salon or barber?

Gym membership? It’s appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some health improvement.

Who wouldn’t appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned detail shops and car washes would love to sell [...]

Wall Street Journal:

Congested cities are fast becoming test tubes for scientists studying the impact of traffic fumes on the brain.

As roadways choke on traffic, researchers suspect that the tailpipe exhaust from cars and trucks especially tiny carbon particles already implicated in heart disease, cancer and respiratory ailments may also injure brain cells and synapses key to learning and memory.

New public-health studies and laboratory experiments suggest that, at every stage of life, traffic fumes exact a measurable toll on mental capacity, intelligence and emotional stability. “There are more and more scientists trying to find whether and why exposure to traffic exhaust can damage the human brain,” says medical epidemiologist Jiu-Chiuan Chen at the University of Southern California who is analyzing the effects of traffic pollution on the brain health of 7,500 women in 22 states. “The human data are very new.”

So far, the evidence is largely circumstantial but worrisome, researchers say. And [...]

The Detroit News
General Motor Co. reported flat vehicle sales in October – up just 2 percent from the same month last year – while crosstown rival Chrysler Group LLC saw a 27 percent spike in sales.

For Detroit-based GM, retail sales were up 3 percent and accounted for 77 percent of all sales, the carmaker said Tuesday morning in a news release.

“Chevrolet led the way for GM in October, driven by the continued success of the Cruze and Equinox,” said Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations, in a statement. “Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC have all performed well this year, which has set the stage for our transition to a higher mix of 2012 model-year vehicles. Combined with the launches of several new fuel-efficient cars, including the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick LaCrosse eAssist, we are very well positioned going forward.”

GM sold 186,895 vehicles in October and Chevrolet did the all [...]

This article provides some pretty modern and creative ways to try and keep animals off the road or at least alert drivers when an animal may be close. Investigations of dangerous crossings for animals, done by state officials, have shown specific spots in which overpasses or underpasses may be used to limit collisions with animals. Also infrared sensors may be used to alert drivers of animals nearby on roadsides.

I was most amazed with the different states legislature regarding what citizens can do with their road kill. Some states allow you to take anything you hit, while some make you give the road kill to charity in order to eat. And in Illinois you can only keep your hit road kill if you are not delinquent on your child support payments.

Further down in the article they provide a recipe, yes a recipe, for how to prepare a venison meal if you happen to hit [...]

Within this article you see compiled reviews on how reliability is viewed for many all the cars brand with the highs and lows distinguished. Consumer Reports, who is active in almost every industry, does a very complete look at the car industry for the past years models. I would wonder how “reliability” is measured. Is it in terms of repairs or maintenance needed? Or is it a personal feeling of how dependable the car is? If the rating is an opinion, I think the overall brand image before/during/after the purchase has a lot to do with how the car is measured. The article does mention part of the rating comes from readers “reported problems” with the cars, but that seems pretty vague.

How important is this rating?
Reliability is an obvious point in the car buying decision, but how much would this type of ranking sway you? I would say that a very high [...]

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/best-new-car-deals-for-october.html

Automakers seem to have missed the news that the nation was still suffering from a recession last month, as new-car sales continued to swell, with some brands posting record numbers. Concurrently, incentives on some vehicles are becoming slimmer and in many cases nonexistent, particularly among smaller and more fuel-efficient models that continue to be in demand among fuel-price-sensitive shoppers.

This month we are seeing the first real round of model-year 2012 sales incentives, particularly on larger cars and SUVs that have fallen off many consumers shopping lists. Even better bargains can be found on closeout 2011 models that sit like ticking time bombs on dealer lots racking up financing costs while current model-year rides usurp their positions on showroom floors. As an example, the richest incentive we could find this month was a $10,000 additional dealer discount on the limited production 2011 BMW Alpina B7, which is the ultimate expression of the full-size 7 [...]

http://www.chrysler.com/en/experience/news/articles/?guid=2008_01_4_300_owners_individuality

*Bold design of award-winning Chrysler 300 inspires owners to create videos showcasing their customized vehicles *Louisville, Ky., woman wins contest and trip to Los Angeles to have her vehicle displayed at Los Angeles International Auto Show in November

Auburn Hills, Mich. In addition to marking the return of the “Great American Car” when it was first introduced, and earning the distinction of being the most-awarded new car in automotive history*, the Chrysler 300 also proved to be a canvas for owners to express their passion and style through customization.

To capture and share this creativity, the Chrysler brand encouraged owners to “Spin it Your Way” by creating and uploading a short video to the Chrysler 300 YouTube channel. Each video showed how owners brought out their individuality by customizing their Chrysler 300.

The public voted for their favorite video and Lisa Marie Varon of Louisville, Ky., was named the “Spin it Your Way” contest [...]

Shift in Car Companies Priorities lead to Rapid Industry Turnaround

As I scan the car company’s websites over the last month or so you can’t help but notice the news they are projecting on us that they are seeing “record sales” or other drastic increases in sales numbers from this same time a year ago. It would be hard to convince us that the success is from a drastically improved economy, because of the still depressed economy we see still. But instead I have to credit the car dealers and manufactures on these successes because of how they are marketing and designing their cars around what people want.

“Build it and they will come”?not so fast

Back in the golden days of car sales and a great economy the car companies could make anything they wanted, throw it out on the lot, have one good advertisement campaign and they would sell out. They were in [...]