<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-update:auto; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; … [Read more...]
GM Reinstating Over 660 Dealers To Help Jumpstart Sales
March 15, 2010 By
General Motors is currently sending out letters to 661 dealers who have bitten the dust, asking them to reinstate their stores so they can start selling again. There is a catch, however – dealers have to comply with standards for facilities, capitalization and inventory financing, but these are things that they should have been doing in the first place, right? The Detroit-based company is looking to have a balance of 1,160 dealers who have appealed so far and is continuing toward arbitration. Dealers currently have ten days to sign the letters and return them, though a full two months to fulfill the requirements that the letters said … [Read more...]
Toyota Market Share Drops in Wake of Recall
March 13, 2010 By
Edmunds.com has adjusted their automotive sales forecast for 2010, mainly because of Toyota’s huge recall problems. In other words, they’re going back on what they said before because Toyota is currently tanking faster than the Exxon-Valdez in 1989. They are also adjusting the true market value prices for the affected Toyota models, and Ford is forecasted to overtake Toyota as the second largest automobile maker in the United States market. The auto transport industry saw this coming, that’s for sure. Edmunds.com is not reporting anything that no one else saw, but their numbers are something that other people didn’t see. New … [Read more...]
US Vehicle Decline Still Declining Through 2020
March 12, 2010 By
Well doesn’t this just feel like rain on your wedding day? According to www.aftermarketbusiness.com, the Earth Policy Institute has said that cars scrapped are exceeding new car sales in 2009, which is the first shrinkage since World War II and that the US Vehicle fleet decreased from an all-time high 250 million vehicles to a much-lower 246 million vehicles. The United States currently has five vehicles for every four registered drivers, and four of every five residents in the United States live in cities where public transportation is expanding. In other words, cars aren’t selling and people don’t want them anymore. This shrinkage … [Read more...]
NHTSA Now Under Fire For Being Nice to Automakers
March 11, 2010 By
According to the New York Times the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has failed to subpoena Toyota’s records in the six years that the company has been suspected of withholding critical information. Now, the NHTSA is under as much pressure to perform as Toyota. But what concerns people the most is the fact that the NHTSA has opened six safety inquiries on Toyota since 2003 and closed each and every one of them with a pat on the back and a slap on the wrist. And now look what happened. This is just more proof that something is going on with the whole thing with Toyota, and the auto transport industry has seen something fishy … [Read more...]
New Certification Program from NSF International
March 10, 2010 By
According to the Auto Body Repair News NSF International has launched a new certification program. If you don’t know what NSF is, it’s an accredited standards writing organization based in Michigan and they are certifying certain aftermarket collision repair costs so customers don’t get completely axed by the repair company, as is known to occur from time to time. This is designed to verify quality and performance in the parts that are sold aftermarket, and the program has been instituted following concern over crash worthiness of certain parts that are important when it comes to the vehicle’s integrity. The program from the NSF … [Read more...]
Diesel and Gas Prices Up in 2010 and 2011
March 9, 2010 By
Great news for everyone out there who owns a vehicle: crude oil prices have continued to fluctuate and rose to over $83 per barrel in early January then dropped to $72 on January 29th. Diesel and gasoline prices, however, are expected to rise in mid-to-late 2010 and early 2011, with diesel prices expected to rise to an average of $2.95/gallon in 2010 and $3.16/gallon in 2011. The biggest thing with diesel’s rise is the fact that demand for diesel is increasing. The auto transport industry is already barely making it with these insane diesel prices – now, with prices going up, more companies are going to be going out of business unless … [Read more...]
Nissan to Start Filling Leaf Orders in April
March 8, 2010 By
According to the Detroit Bureau the 2011 Nissan Leaf will go on sale in April 2011, with Nissan already taking $100 reservation deposits on the new electric vehicle. The Leaf is Nissan’s first attempt at a full electric vehicle – it’s battery powered and the company has just finished a 24-city promotion tour. The deposit that customers put down ensure that they will be the first for formal orders when the vehicle debuts, and Nissan also received government aid to modify their Tennessee assembly plant for the company. The company is planning on a phased rollout starting in December of 2010 for select markets, though no final price has … [Read more...]
Loans Clear for Saab-Spyker Move
March 7, 2010 By
According to Bloomberg.com EIB, the European Investment Bank, has approved the $543 million loan to Saab, which thus clears the way for General Motors to sell the company to Spyker Cars. The loan also has a guarantee from the Swedish government as well as European Union state-aid clearance. Spyker is buying Saab for $74 million in cash and $326 million in preferred shares in the company. The company will now be called Saab Spyker Automobiles and will be listed in both London and Stockholm, and the company has already raised $50 million that it owes to General Motors, with the other $24 million expected by July 15th. Spyker makes the C8 … [Read more...]
Toyota Gets Defense from State Officials
March 6, 2010 By
Right now, the current total of recalled Toyota vehicles stands at over 8.5 million, while the company itself operates seven production plants and 1,400 dealerships in the United States alone. It employs hundreds of thousands of workers in the United States, and now they’re getting some backing from states where Toyota plants and Toyota workers reside. Many governors in states that Toyota has plants and workers in are concerned about unemployment should those plants fail in the wake of the recalls. Other governors are suggesting that the United States government and its officials should think twice before criticizing the company, though … [Read more...]
