Auto News for the Week of May 21st, 2012

Auto Industry Mash Up…Try To Follow This

Friday May 25, 2012

It’s Friday and not a lot going on so I will pontificate on a variety of things car related. So here we go. Auto makers are starting to feel the pressure of demand for vehicles and that spells more work for the auto transport industry. Ford has announced they will increase production by 40,000 cars this summer by extending each of their 13 plants by an extra work week. They have also added additional shifts at 3 of their facilities this week. Meanwhile, Nissan has started work on their new engine plant in Decherd, Tennessee for their Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz models. They are expanding the current facility to handle an additional 250,000 engines per year. That facility already builds engines for several of the Nissan models as well as the Infiniti SUV. We may also see these Nissan engines in other Infinity models as their production capacity increases. BMW is unveiling a new sport wagon for the spring of 2013 in the U.S. It has more cargo space and is longer than their current model and will be available in a sport, modern and luxury editions. The engine to be used has not been announced, so we will have to wait on that. On an “It affects you directly” note, the Consumer Electronics Association wrote to the National Traffic Safety Board to make known their opposition to the proposed ban on hands free calling. Now the name is a bit confusing, see the proposal suggests that there be no law requiring hands free usage. The NTSB has decided that if they restrict cell phone usage to allow only cell phone use in cars with embedded technology, they will have to ban applying makeup, eating, drinking and child care as well. They also cited a recent study that shows cell phones are a smaller part of the distracted driving problem that everyone assumed. The #1 culprit is improper and/or lack of turn signal usage followed by food, children and personal hygiene. It seems everyone is distracted by something while driving and you can’t just go around banning everything. I have a better solution, maybe we should actually have higher standards for getting a drivers license than being able to fog a mirror. They don’t even give driving tests to first time applicants anymore if they took a home training course provided by the parents. Really? No wonder our driving habits are going down the tubes and accidents are at an all time high. That is just my 2 cents anyway. Happy driving and be alert out there…because that is what we need…more alerts!

Americans and Our Love Affair with the Automobile

Thursday May 24, 2012

Americans and Our Love Affair with the Automobile, Through Sickness and in Health! Car shipping doesn’t come to mind directly when we see car commercials, but maybe it should. Over the past few years the car commercial sector has been almost a ghost town and that is a telling sign of the times. Just as telling is the fact that we are starting to see a rise in the infamous car commercial from serious to practical to downright funny and I think we as a country actually missed those commercials. Maybe we won’t admit it to ourselves, but subconsciously we know the auto industry is really “The Heartbeat of America”. I mean after all we invented the automobile, we invented the moving assembly line and of course the entire auto industry that sprung up around it was all America. I would be willing to say that more than 40% of our country is employed in the auto industry and more than 70% is affected by anything that happens in the auto industry. Sure, there are no hard numbers or facts to back up my claim however if you think about it; it just makes sense. Of course there are car makers and gas stations, but is that it? How about the quick stores that are attached to almost every gas station, the trucks needed to get the gas, food and other items to those quick marts. The people that drive to and from work in cars they purchased from a dealer and need to fill up the gas tank and their coffee cup every morning. All of which lead to the Drive-Thru window at almost every place that sells fast food; including the almighty Starbucks who has drive thru windows as well. And lest we forget the entire road infrastructure needed to connect and ensure safe passage to all of those places for all of those people. Take a moment and think of all the ways that the auto industry affects your life throughout the day and I think you will be truly surprised. I said all of that just to say this; maybe this is why America holds their cars in such high regard and is sensitive to the auto industry ups and downs. Maybe that is why we get angry when we force those jobs overseas, when we see the government playing favorites between the companies and mostly when people try to change or take away our vehicles. Here is the good news, when the auto industry recovers; so will the American economy. Sure the housing industry is big, but don’t kid yourself; our economic emotions are directly tied to the good old American car.

Auto Shippers Benefit from Resurgence in Sales

Wednesday May 23, 2012

Auto Carriers need to fill up the tanks because it looks like Chrysler is back. They have leased 33,000 square feet of office space in Detroit, Mi. That’s right; the once dying city of Detroit may once again be springing to life as the auto industry starts the long road to recovery. This time it is a real recovery and not a fake, government run debacle. Chrysler is doing all of this with their own money on profits from vehicle sales. Their profits climbed in the first quarter from $116 million last year to $473 million in 2012. Chrysler’s 200 & 300 model sedans are the heavy movers and Chrysler is projecting even more growth in those models for the rest of the year. I guess Clint Eastwood, in the controversial Super Bowl commercial, was right and the so called news media was wrong…again. Good thing the majority of the American public thinks for themselves; this is helping the U.S. auto makers and car dealers back on their feet and their bottom lines back in the black. While this is great news for Detroit, there is also good news for Montgomery, Al. The Hyundai plant is starting a third shift of workers to help meet demand for their vehicles. This will increase their capacity by 20,000 cars per year off the assembly line and will decrease those unemployed by 877 workers. The plant now employs over 3,000 people and that is big news in Montgomery. Hyundai’s sales have increased by 15% this year compared to last year and that has created a need for a third shift. This was an unexpected but welcome turn of events for Hyundai based on last year’s numbers. All this is great news for auto transport companies who depend on the manufacturers and dealers for cars to deliver around the country.

Brake-Throttle Override Mandate?

Tuesday May 22, 2012

Brake-Throttle Override is coming to the forefront as accidents and deadly crashes continue to climb in numbers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has concluded that over 100 people have been killed by the “unintended acceleration” problem and most of them are driver error and not a vehicle flaw as we have been led to believe. The NHTSA is calling for a mandate for all vehicles to be fitted with this override on all new models…forever going forward and this will increase the price to the consumer…forever. This harkens back to the 80s when “60 Minutes” ran a story titled “Out of Control” involving Audi, 6 witnesses and an Audi 5000. This story caused such an outcry from the consumers that the NHTSA got involved and started investigating. Well it turns out that the “60 Minutes” team forgot to mention that they staged the footage of the Audi displaying “unintended acceleration” and had modified the vehicle to do exactly what they wanted for their story to show how bad the problem was. As we know now, “60 Minutes” doesn’t seem to mind fabricating evidence to prove whatever outcome they want; but I digress. Now the NHTSA wants to try and create a mandate that doesn’t seem to really be a problem. There has been no evidence of “unintended acceleration” outside of some people claiming it happened. I am not suggesting that it has never happened but rather that we not knee-jerk to provide a solution to a problem that may or may not exist. Just remember, sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

All Electric Vehicle

Monday May 21, 2012

Nissan is sticking to their guns and says they have not misjudged the market for electric vehicles. EV auto makers have had to deal with slow sales and a slew of problems with their vehicles. It seems that everyone is in for the long term and is willing to take some losses now while they work through the issues. That is good for car carriers because it will continue to provide them the much needed work they need. The electric vehicle market is targeting the generation Y group of 30 years and younger. That is probably because anyone older than that won’t be around when they fix all the problems and make them affordable. As fuel costs continue to rise and affect the everyday driver and the auto shippers, the need for alternative fueled vehicles becomes more of a reality and less of a fancy. There does seem to be another stumbling block for the manufacturers and that is the auto dealers. Apparently the dealers hate trying to sell them because of all the negative press and the consumers are well educated. Another reason the price and problems are hitting them where it hurts…new car sales.