Lol hell yeah! What u gettin?

2009 Ford Fiesta - Click above for high-res image gallery According to a new study by Jato Dynamics, the European automotive market may be rebounding ever so slightly from its alarming lows of early 2009. Though new car purchases are down by just over 13 percent year-on-year, there was actually a mild 2.4 percent improvement in May over April. Says David Di Girolamo, Head of Jato Consult: If Germany (up 39.7-percent from May 2008) provides a template for the other markets where scrappage schemes have been introduced, we may be at the very beginning of a period of recovery in Europe. It’s far too early to know what the sustained effects of the incentives will be, but at a time when the industry needs to see some rays of hope, it’s encouraging to witness some improvement . Interestingly, small, fuel efficient hatchbacks are performing better than the rest of the market, which is thought to be due to the various scrapping schemes in Europe. The redesigned Ford Fiesta is up an impressive 56 percent and the VW Golf is up 32.1 percent over last May. The Fiat Punto and Panda and VW’s Polo also posted better sales last month over May of 2008. Gallery: 2009 Ford Fiesta [Source: Channel 4 ] Filed under: Ford , Volkswagen , Legislation and Policy , Fiat , Europe/EU European scrapping schemes driving small car sales originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

The hotly-debated Cash for Clunkers legislation is on its way to President Obama’s desk tonight, oddly enough as part of a larger bill that will continue funding the military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. After a late Republican-backed effort to halt the passage of the bill failed , the Senate voted 60-36 to approve the legislation after some last minute phone calls from the President swayed a few swing voters. It seems extremely likely that President Obama will sign the bill into law in short order. Under this bill, new car purchasers who trade in a vehicle that manages 18 mpg or less for a new vehicle that achieves at least 22 mpg will receive a $3,500 voucher, or $4,500 if the mileage of the new vehicle is 10 mpg higher than the previous vehicle. SUV, pickup truck and minivan buyers are eligible for a $3,500 voucher if their vehicle gets at least two mpg higher than their trade-in and $4,500 if the vehicle gets five mpg more than their older model. Not surprisingly, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is pleased that the bill has passed votes in both the House and Senate. Says Alliance President and CEO Dave McCurdy: This legislation has been one of our top priorities. It will help restore consumer confidence in the economy by stimulating vehicle sales; while at the same time benefiting the environment by replacing older vehicles with cleaner and more fuel-efficient autos . The environmental merits of this particular bill are sure to be debated for at least as long as the $1 billion in funding keeps the program active. Click past the break for a press release from the Auto Alliance. [Source: AP via Google , Auto Alliance | Photo: kudzuplanet ] Continue reading Senate passes Cash for Clunkers, sends it to President’s desk for approval Filed under: Legislation and Policy , USA Senate passes Cash for Clunkers, sends it to President’s desk for approval originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

Myers Motors NMG - click for high-res image gallery A registered team in the Automotive X Prize, Myers Motors has long been working on its single-seat NmG (pictured) and a much-more secret two-person NmG2 vehicle. The company’s efforts just got a financial push thanks to a quarter-million dollar investment from JumpStart Ventures investment . JumpStart’s press release announcing the investment (available after the jump) highlights the work that Myers Motors did to its battery management system that was able to, with the addition of li-ion batteries , double the car’s range from 30 to 60 miles. Myers plans on using the JumpStart money to continue development of the NmG2. JumpStart’s Mark Smith said in a statement that the NmG2, “will provide Myers Motors with a significant competitive advantage in this quickly emerging market.” The vehicle was supposed to be revealed in Spring 2009, so that gives us another week. For more on the NmG, see our in-depth report from 2006. Gallery: Detroit 2009: Myers Motors [Source: JumpStart, Inc.] Continue reading Myers Motors gets $250,000 investment for NmG2, the secretive two-seat electric car Filed under: EV/Plug-in Myers Motors gets $250,000 investment for NmG2, the secretive two-seat electric car originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

America might get most of its oil from Canada, but the moves that OPEC makes still reverberate here. Thus, a statement by the Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmed al-Abdullah al-Sabah to reporters yesterday probably won’t help decrease domestic gasoline prices any time soon. OPEC’s al-Sabah said that the organization will not consider increasing production until the price of a barrel of oil reaches $100. Currently, the price is around $70 a barrel - up almost 60% this year, but way, way down compared to the highs of 2008. Oh, and when the $100 price per barrel threshold is reached, only then will OPEC “maybe” consider putting more supply into the market. OPEC sees the recent rise in prices as the result of investors looking for good places to put their money, not because demand for the product is rising. Over the long term, many expect for prices to easily surpass $100 a barrel once again . [Source: Bloomberg | Image: David McNew/Getty] Filed under: Etc. REPORT: Kuwaiti Oil Minister says OPEC won’t increase production until prices hit $100/barrel originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

General Motors’ decision to sell Saturn to auto magnate Roger Penske doesn’t make much sense to me. If anyone can make a go of it, it’s Penske. But it has the acrid whiff of a bad deal from GM’s end. Penske plans to use those Saturn retail stores to sell cars potentially made by manufacturers in Europe or Asia. While he may only select cars from one or two automakers, those companies will could be companies that don’t have a presence in the U.S. market already. For them, it makes great sense because they avoid the cost, risk and years of development time it takes to set up a successful retail network. Saturn, for all of the mistakes GM made over the years, has a great retail network. It is known for its no-haggle, no-pressure sales approach and customer service. Its customers loved it even when the Saturn cars weren’t so great. Through Penske’s acquisition, someone like France’s PSA (parent of Peugeot and Citroen) or India’s Tata Motors or any number of players from China can get into the U.S. That basically removes the biggest natural barrier to entry, which is developing a sales chain. Longtime GM watcher Maryann N. Keller, who sits on the board of retailer Lithia Motors, points out that whoever Penske gets to supply cars will be in direct competition with GM. I made the same point in this blog entry when Saturn went on sale. For its part, GM will still build Saturn vehicles for the next year or so. If Penske wanted, he could even have GM build Saturn vehicles on contract beyond that. Frankly, I’m not sure that Penske will succeed. Saturn’s brand is more damaged than many people think. The Saturn Aura was North American Car of the Year, but sales were weak because the brand didn’t draw showroom traffic. From the cold view of an economist, weak carmakers like Chrysler, Mitsubishi and poor brands like Saturn, Hummer, Saab and Volvo should be victims of the crisis. They can’t make money so they go away, leaving a stronger industry for the survivors. That’s what happens to weak players who didn’t justify their existence before the nasty downturn. By keeping Saturn around, GM has preserved one more brand the market doesn’t need and opened the door for more competitors to come into its most vital market. This is a market, by the way, that is already hotly competitive. GM is struggling to remake some of its brands and beat back the notion that the company is a failed enterprise. Since GM was already in bankruptcy, they could have killed Saturn off with minimal cost. Instead, they sold it off. If Penske succeeds with another carmaker, the cost could be huge.

Uncle Sam might be ready to give you up to $4,500 if you swap an old polluting car or truck for a brand new - and more fuel efficient - vehicle. The Sutton Fleet Modernization bill, which passed the House yesterday and will now head to the Senate, requires the car being traded in to get less than 18 mpg, one mpg more than a previous and similar bill. Buyers who want the $4,500, need to buy a new car that gets at least 10 mpg more than the old one. The total cost of the program could reach $4.5 billion, as up to a million vouchers can be be issued to car purchasers. This measure is similar to European cash-for-clunkers bills except that the European rules focus more on the age of the car being traded in rather than on mileage improvements. The Auto Alliance was pleased with the House passage of the bill, saying, “Now more than ever we need this fleet modernization proposal to be passed by the Senate and quickly signed into law by the President.” Their full statement is after the jump. [Source: Automotive News (subs. req'd)] Continue reading Senate to vote cash-for-guzzlers bill after House passage Filed under: MPG , Legislation and Policy , USA Senate to vote cash-for-guzzlers bill after House passage originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

It’s obvious that government ownership of General Motors and Chrysler is going to bring up all kinds of thorny issues and unwanted pressure on how the companies will be run. But the feds haven’t even acquired their shares yet and already the two companies are getting heat from Washington. At Senate hearings yesterday, GM CEO Fritz Henderson and Chrysler President Jim Press had to justify why they plan to cut 1,100 and 789 dealerships, respectively. West Virginia Democrat Jay Rockefeller said, “I don’t believe that companies should be allowed to take taxpayers dollars for a bailout and then leave local dealers and customers to fend for themselves with no real notice and no real help,” according to USA Today. This whole issue is wrongheaded on so many levels. First and foremost, the advisors hired by the Treasury Department’s Auto Task Force told both companies that they had too many dealers. The outsize retail networks are expensive to support. By fighting over a shrinking number of customers, many of the dealers that some in the Senate hope to save weren’t profitable. Money losing dealers can’t keep top sales people and managers, nor can they go the extra mile for customers. Retail is like ground war and the Big Three (yes, Ford, too) have been losing it for years. A smaller but healthier retail network will make them stronger. Even worse than that, with the opponents of government ownership crying “socialism” without the lease bit of prompting, we have members of Congress saying that the companies should preserve dealers that don’t fit the new business plan just because GM and Chrysler are getting government funds. Well, President Obama has been pretty clear. Helping these two automakers will preserve jobs, but not every job. Keeping dealers afloat because the companies received government funds is tantamount to putting them on the dole. It’s bad business. If GM and Chrysler relent to Congress and preserve some of the dealers that they intend to cut, it will set a terrible precedent. What happens if they want to close a plant? Will senators and representatives complain to the White House or the carmakers to preserve jobs in their locales? It’s very possible. Having the government, union and bondholders all owning a piece of these companies is complex enough. The future boards and management teams of these two companies need Congressional interference in running their businesses like the government needs more debt. It’s time to back off.

good to see the uaw is so helpful…not poor gm, they have made mistakes in the past and are getting better now…and they’re still getting slammed by the uaw

As summertime approaches, so do rising fuel prices. This time around, the price hikes are tied to rising world oil prices. When gas prices dropped from peaks of over $4 per gallon last summer to under $2 at the end of the year, world-wide demand reductions resulting from the financial collapse were to blame. Oil traders now seem to think that the economy will be recovering in the coming months, and have been bidding up prices in recent months. This week prices have $63 per barrel and Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi thinks the economy can sustain prices at $75-80 and expects prices to hit that level by the end of the year. OPEC is expected to hold production steady for now in an attempt to keep prices up. Saudi Arabia wants prices up to fund development of new production, while Venezuela wants higher prices to pay for President Hugo Chavez’s aggressive social programs. With the aggressive new CO 2 emissions standards announced by President Obama last week, higher prices will definitely help drive demand for more efficient vehicles. The problem is that if prices are too high before the economy picks up again, the current situation - where no one is buying any vehicles at all - will continue. As for the long-term, a new study predicts that prices will hit $110 per barrel in 2015 and then maybe $200 per barrel in 2030. [Source: Reuters , Green Car Advisor ] Filed under: Etc. Oil prices continue to rise as Saudis target $80 per barrel, could climb from there originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 28 May 2009 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments