Vehicle SalesHow VW veered off target 12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 26, 2015
Competition has heated up, the Jetta and Passat have cooled off, and with back-to-back yearly declines, VW has missed out on a key boom period in U.S. auto sales -- a sore spot with dealers who made big bets on sustained sales growth.... Read More »
Exec: Enterprise holds steady on program cars 12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 26, 2015
Unlike its two closest competitors, Hertz Corp. and Avis Budget Group Inc., Enterprise Holdings is not increasing the percentage of its 2015 fleet filled by program cars, vehicles for which the automaker takes responsibility for remarketing, said the executive in charge of the company's vehicle acquisitions.... Read More »
Used-vehicle prices finish 2014 strong 12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 26, 2015
Greater volumes of off-lease, retired rental and other used vehicles returned to the market last year, but overall values of used vehicles closed 2014 with prices in December registering year-over-year increases.... Read More »
NICK BUNKLEY
Could a Super Bowl loss deflate car sales in New England or Seattle? 4:45 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 24, 2015
Cars are emotional purchases for consumers. A Wisconsin dealer told me he got clear evidence of that this week, after the Green Bay Packers were eliminated from the NFL playoffs is heartbreaking fashion.... Read More »
Service lanes can become source of used-car inventory 2:00 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 24, 2015
Brian Benstock has found that his own service department is the best place to shop for used vehicles. When the general manager of Paragon Honda in Woodside, N.Y. needs a used car or truck of a certain model year, color and trim level, he searches his database and invites owners of those vehicles into his service department. He offers them discounts on maintenance work.... Read More »
Kia's fourth-quarter profit drops 54% on ruble plungeJan. 23, 2015 11:31 CET
Kia posted a 54 percent fall in quarterly profit as a weakening ruble reduced income earned in Russia where Kia ranks No. 2 after Lada. Kia expects sales in the market to fall 12 percent this year, because the ruble's decline could force further price rises, denting demand.... Read More »
Long-term trends to siphon off sales, NADA economist says 1:15 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 23, 2015
Steven Szakaly, NADA's chief economist, reiterated his forecast of 16.9 million U.S. light-vehicle sales in 2015. In explaining why his prediction remains below 17 million, in contrast to some more optimistic analysts, he delved into some of the long- and short-term trends that are siphoning off sales.... Read More »
2014 rental fleet purchases are most since '07 2:36 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 23, 2015
Rental car companies bought 1.63 million new vehicles in 2014, almost 4 percent more than they purchased the year before. It was the highest purchase volume since 2007, but well below the 2.1 million new vehicles that were sold into rental fleets in 2005 and 2006, according to Manheim's annual Used Car Market Report.... Read More »
Honda axes Accord in EuropeJan. 23, 2015 16:33 CET
Honda will end sales of the Accord midsize sedan in Europe after the car failed to make headway against German rivals.... Read More »
GM sees Europe turnaround on track even if local economy isn'tJan. 23, 2015 10:34 CET
General Motors' efforts to restore European operations to profitability are on track even as the region's economy fails to revive, GM President Dan Ammann said. However, Russia is big "wild card," he said.... Read More »
Big sales goal for new Titan may be low, Nissan's Munoz says 10:45 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 22, 2015
Nissan startled many auto industry observers last week when it said it envisioned the redesigned 2016 Titan capturing 5 percent of the U.S. full-size pickup market. But Nissan's U.S. boss, Jose Munoz, says 5 percent might be on the low side.... Read More »
New models are driving brands' success 6:00 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 22, 2015
New-model introductions will continue to boost the performance of auto franchises for the next two years. Brands from mass-market to luxury are chalking up positive results in customer satisfaction and owner-loyalty largely as a result of a stream of new and substantially redesigned products.... Read More »
A bright outlook for 2015 -- with a few worries 2:45 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 22, 2015
Risky car loans are on the increase, rising interest rates will put a crimp on product prices, and a new wave of off-lease vehicles soon will wash over the market. That's the bad news, Thomas King, J.D. Power vice president of OEM operations, told the audience at Power's Automotive Summit on Thursday at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention here.... Read More »
Toyota may lose global sales lead to VW without new China strategyJan. 22, 2015 11:11 CET
Toyota remained the best-selling automaker worldwide in 2014 ahead of VW and GM, but the company may lose the sales crown this year as it falls behind in China, where rivals are expanding fast.... Read More »
Kia needs India plant to offset slowing sales in Russia and China, report saysJan. 22, 2015 12:10 CET
Kia needs to set up a factory in India to tap growth in the fast-growing market and offset slowing sales in Russia and China, a Korean newspaper reported the automaker's CEO as saying. India may become the world's No. 3 auto market by next year.... Read More »
Toyota keeps top spot despite strong VW challenge 2:16 am U.S. ET | Jan. 21, 2015
Toyota defended its crown as the world's biggest automaker in 2014, keeping a slim lead over Volkswagen. But Toyota forecast sales to slump 1 percent in the current calendar year, on the back of slowing demand in Japan and emerging markets.... Read More »
VW targets 'significant' savings by reducing variety of partsJan. 21, 2015 16:36 CET
Volkswagen Group plans to boost profitability by scaling back the range of components at its main VW brand. Reducing the variety of parts used in VW vehicles will offer "significant savings potential," finance chief Hans Dieter Poetsch said.... Read More »
JIM HENRY
The lesson of the pizza delivery man 11:00 am U.S. ET | Jan. 21, 2015
Here’s a lesson for dealerships that run security cameras in the F&I office and elsewhere: Treat all store visitors well.... Read More »
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE E-MAGAZINE
Michelin CEO aims to win share from Chinese rivalsJan. 21, 2015 07:48 CET
Michelin aims to counter rising pressure from low-cost Chinese brands in Europe and North America by increasing the number of cheaper tires it offers from budget subbrands, the tire maker's CEO, Jean-Dominique Senard, told Automotive News Europe.... Read More »
Loan terms will grow, making price increases more affordable, FCA's Bigland says 12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 21, 2015
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' head of US and Canadian sales says loose credit terms will continue to drive new vehicle sales, even as pent-up demand dwindles in a recovered economy.... Read More »
Daimler will invest more in Hungary to boost compact car outputJan. 20, 2015 13:32 CET
Daimler will boost compact car output at its Mercedes-Benz factory in Hungary after the automaker launched production of a new model, the CLA Shooting Brake. The automaker has seen strong demand for its compact lineup, which grew 25 percent last year.... Read More »
Ford revises EcoSport to counter slow salesJan. 20, 2015 12:02 CET
Ford will offer its EcoSport SUV in Europe without the spare wheel on the outside of the rear tailgate after the model's sales got off to a slow start. The EcoSport has failed to make a big impact in the region's booming subcompact SUV/crossover segment against sleeker-looking rivals.... Read More »
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE E-MAGAZINE
Daimler seeks profitability at Smart with 2 minicar sizesJan. 20, 2015 06:01 CET
Daimler hopes to make its Smart small-car unit sustainably profitable by offering the same car in two sizes: the two-seat ForTwo and the four-seat ForFour.... Read More »
Assault on Fortress Detroit 12:01 am U.S. ET | Jan. 19, 2015
Tougher specs, more rugged designs and ample new trim levels -- all wrapped in copious red-white-and-blue marketing. Japanese brands are upping the stakes in the pickup wars with products debuting at the Detroit auto show in hopes of making deeper inroads into the one segment in which the country's carmakers still trail their Detroit rivals.... Read More »
Renault's 2014 sales rise 3% as budget cars offset Russia dropJan. 19, 2015 10:40 CET
Renault delivered 3 percent more vehicles globally last year as strong European sales of cars such as the Renault Captur and no-frills Dacia Sandero helped offset falling demand in Russia and South America.... Read More »
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