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This week is for SEMA. That's the Specialty Equipment Market Association. I remember when it stood for Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association, but that was before the first energy crisis almost killed the aftermarket business. This week the auto industry conducts its annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas. It's an unbridled time for car companies, their dealers, the aftermarket and distributors, parts dealers — just about anyone who has a ...
[SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | Nov.2 |
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Someday, decades from now, we may look back on this nasty 2009 not as the bottom of a global financial crisis but as a dramatic tipping point, when outmoded 20th century business models were tossed out like the trash and replaced with radical models for the new millennium. Or maybe we won't. The history of the auto industry is littered with the corpses of people and companies that tried to operate — to borrow Saturn's tarnished ...
[SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | Sept.28 |
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Something to think about: Will the Detroit 3 ever become primarily carmakers again?They have been mainly truckmakers since 1996. They are gradually switching back to the car side and -- boy oh boy -- is it ever tough.But they're working on it, and the fruits of their labors will be in General Motors and Ford showrooms within the year. At GM, the Buick LaCrosse and Chevrolet Malibu are on sale, and the Chevrolet Cruze will arrive in 2010. ...
[SUB] 4:08 pm U.S. ET | Oct.7 |
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Catalytic converters, diesel particulate filters, hybrid drivetrains -- the shock of being late on these technologies still runs deep among German automakers.The proud German auto industry doesn't want to be told again that it didn't recognize an important new trend, so electric drive is being researched everywhere, from Wolfsburg to Ruesselsheim and from Stuttgart to Munich.That's because it's considered a technology of the future, at ...
[SUB] 12:01 am U.S. ET | Oct.20 |
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SHANGHAI -- How can Geely, a young Chinese company making cheap cars, revive a troubled global premium brand like Volvo?This question, I believe, flashed into the minds of many people in the industry last week after Ford confirmed Geely as the preferred bidder for its Volvo unit.I too am unsure of Geely's ability to manage a global marque. But I am willing to give Geely the benefit of the doubt as I believe it has a better chance of ...
[REG] 1:29 pm U.S. ET | Nov.5 |
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