November 6th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
Firestone Industrial Products Company announces the development of Ride-Rite LS, a new load adaptive shock designed to work with the company’s Ride-Rite air helper springs.
Ride-Rite LS is a tri-tube, mono-flow shock absorber designed to iimprover performance under a full range of load and temperature conditions. Firestone worked with Rancho, Tenneco’s off-road suspension and shock division, to design the new load adaptive shocks specifically for Firestone air spring applications. The shock is connected directly to the helper spring, allowing pressure within the air spring to automatically control the product’s performance. As a result, damping is low when the vehicle is unloaded to deliver a comfortable ride and then automatically increases to stiffer damping when the vehicle is loaded for improved control.
“We designed the new Ride-Rite LS to minimize the trade-off between ride and handling at various payloads,” said Todd Green, regional sales manager, Firestone Industrial Products, Ride-Rite division. “The shock performance changes dynamically with the modifications in payload on the axle, resulting in better body and roll control as well as safe and secure handling of the vehicle. And because damping level is automatically controlled by the air pressure inside the spring, there is no need to crawl under the truck to adjust the shocks.”
Ride-Rite LS features durable precision-machined construction, a protective urethane dust boot and double-welded loops. The easy-to-install product comes complete with air line and “T” fittings, and it is currently available for 2003-2009 Dodge Ram 2500 and 3500 (part #4350). For more information, visit www.ride-rite.com.
November 5th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
The new Chrysler and Dodge logos will not be appearing on cars destined for the European market after 2011. Instead, cars sold in the North American market as Chryslers and Dodges will be badged as Lancias and Fiats. The move is designed to save money by reducing distribution costs.
The Chrysler Voyager minivan will appear as the replacement for the Lancia Phedra and hte next-generation 300C will be sold as the successor to the upscale Lancia Thesis. The next Sebring and the new midsize crossover will also wear Lancia badges. The Dodge Journey will become the replacement for the large Fiat Ulysse minivan and the Fiat Chroma will be a re-branded version of the upcoming Dodge mid-size sedan.
As was confirmed yesterday, Jeep will be hte only CHrysler brand that will be sold in Europe under its own name.
November 4th, 2009 by DaveAdmin
Dealer network productivity is to be increased, with redefined dealer standards. Chrysler went from 21% of dealers to 12% in the US, losing 2,831 dealers in the last 19 years. Project Genesis is continuing as planned, to increase franchise attractiveness, profits, and throughput, providing a sound base for reinvestment. Full implementation is due for 2011. At the moment, Chrysler has around 440 sales per dealer in metro areas; the goal is for them to go up over 700. Tight credit is a serious problem especially for dealers — and Chrysler dealers tend to sell fewer cars per month than competitors. New dealer financing will replace Chrysler Financial by December.
Just 36% of dealers have a return on sales greater than 1.5%; they expect this to increase to 60% by 2014. Dealer support is being expanded to include financial skills. Planned growth of commercial vehicle sales will require overcoming strong competition and changing service hours to meet business owners’ needs. In general, dealers need to overcome problems of high land cost, and customer convenience (old or suboptimal locations).
A green facility initiative is planned to both increase environmental friendliness, and to cut costs.
A North American version of the
Fiat 500 is expected to increase foot traffic and new customers. It will mainly be sold in key metro areas with specific interior showroom branded salons, and a high degree of customization through accessories. The 500 will have dedicated sales and service staff.
Since June 10, dealers have committed over $250 million in capital investment, with 20 new buildings, 200 major renovations.
A North American version of the Fiat 500 is expected to increase foot traffic and new customers. It will mainly be sold in key metro areas with specific interior showroom branded salons, and a high degree of customization through accessories. The 500 will have dedicated sales and service staff.
Dealer network productivity is to be increased, with redefined dealer standards. Chrysler went from 21% of dealers to 12% in the US, losing 2,831 dealers in the last 19 years. Project Genesis is continuing as planned, to increase franchise attractiveness, profits, and throughput, providing a sound base for reinvestment. Full implementation is due for 2011. At the moment, Chrysler has around 440 sales per dealer in metro areas; the goal is for them to go up over 700. Tight credit is a serious problem especially for dealers — and Chrysler dealers tend to sell fewer cars per month than competitors. New dealer financing will replace Chrysler Financial by December.
Just 36% of dealers have a return on sales greater than 1.5%; they expect this to increase to 60% by 2014. Dealer support is being expanded to include financial skills. Planned growth of commercial vehicle sales will require overcoming strong competition and changing service hours to meet business owners’ needs. In general, dealers need to overcome problems of high land cost, and customer convenience (old or suboptimal locations).
A green facility initiative is planned to both increase environmental friendliness, and to cut costs.
Since June 10, dealers have committed over $250 million in capital investment, with 20 new buildings, 200 major renovations.
November 4th, 2009 by DaveAdmin
Chrysler’s five year plan is being unveiled, with a limited-entry webcast on Chrysler LLC’s corporate web site, constant updates at Automotive News, and frequent updates here at allpar.com. The plan will take around five hours to describe.
The plan is for a complete repackaging of all current vehicles, with new options mixes, by the end of the fourth quarter of 2009. A complete overhaul of branding, marketing, positioning, and point of sale is to be completed by the end second quarter of 2010.
Follow our regularly updated page at http://www.allpar.com/corporate/chrysler-group/five-year-plan.html
November 4th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
October 2009 was almost a photo finish compared to October 2008; just 104 sales separate the two with last October having the edge. In percentage terms, it works out to a .0124% deficit. If you want to play the Daily Sales Rate game, last month had one more selling day than October 2008, so the shortfall comes in at 3.58 percent.
Automakers sold or leased 838,052 cars and light trucks last month. The seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate (SAAR) came in at 10.46 million units, down 360,000 sales from last October’s SAAR, but 1.24 million ahead of September 2009 and the third-best reading so far this year and the best result for a month where sales weren’t fueled by government rebates.
Let’s hope the big plan Sergio Marchionne is revealing later today is a humdinger; Chrysler had another bad month though it was better than September and better than the prediction from Edmunds.com. The damage done by Daimler and compounded by the shortsighted moneywonks of Cerberus is really starting to show. Sales were down 30.4% for the month and are now 38.9 percent behind the first ten months of 2008. Chrysler’s market share in October was 7.85 percent, a drop of 3.43 percentage points from last October. In a market where the majority of the big pickups reported improved sales, sales of the Ram were down 30.4 percent and it dropped a spot, to number 9, in the Top 20. Sales of the Belvidere trio were down an average of 71.1% and volume was less than a quarter what it was last year. Last October, the Caliber and Patriot each beat the combined sales of the Compass, Patriot and Caliber this year.
Sales of the Caravan were up as it took the top spot in the minivan market for the month. The Town & Country came in third, behind the Toyota Sienna, which is now 858 sales behind the T&C for the year. The Honda Odyssey, which still has a firm grasp at the top of the minivan market in terms of year-to-date (YTD) sales, came in fourth in October.
General Motors posted its first month-over-month improvement in 21 months, up 4.7% on an 18.3% jump in sales of its light trucks. Not only were sales of newer models, like the Traverse, strong; sales of GM’s big trucks, like the Silverado and Sierra pickups, the Tahoe and Suburban and their GMC and Cadillac clones were also up sharply. It was more than enough to counter a 13% drop in passenger car sales. All four of GM’s “core” brands posted improved sales in October as the General picked almost an entire point of market share.
The new Camaro is really taking off, outselling the Mustang and Challenger for the month and it could be a close race to see whether the Mustang or Camaro will be the year’s best-selling pony car.
Ford also showed improvement, up 3.28% and picking up just over a half-point of market share. Car sales were up 9.9 % while truck sales beat October 2008 by 52 units for a .06% gain. Sales of Ford’s crossovers were up nicely, thought the Dodge Journey is still outselling the Flex. The F-Series pickup took an 8.8% hit in October but it still has a lock on its long-running title as best-selling vehicle in America. Volvo sales were up 19.37 percent; maybe Mr. Mulalley should rethink that deal with Geely.
Toyota and Honda had interesting months. Toyota beat its October 2008 sales by 64 units, a gain of .04 percent thanks to a 15.5% jump in Lexus sales. Honda missed hitting its year-ago totals by 362 sales, a drop of 0.4 percent. In Honda’s case, its premium brand hurt its final results. Honda sales were within five vehicles of matching October 2008 but Acura missed its mark by 357 sales.
Nissan beat its October 2008 numbers by 5.6 percent. Nissan itself was up 7.7% but a 9.3% slump in Infiniti sales trimmed the gain.
Once again, Subaru had big news, setting a new October sales record on a 44.7% leap in sales fueled by triple-digit improvements in sales of the Legacy and Outback.
The other Japanese automakers all missed their marks. Mazda came up 8.4% short, while Mitsubishi and Suzuki fought it out to see who could do worse. Suzuki won, with a 49.9% plunge, just ahead of Mitsubishi’s 48.3% fall.
The Koreans had a good month: Hyundai sales were up 48.9% and Kia wasn’t far behind with a 45.3% jump.
Mercedes-Benz was the top-selling German brand in October with a 21.3% increase, followed by Volkswagen which added 7.23% to its October 2008 total and remains the best-selling European car in the U.S. BMW, which is losing ground on Lexus in the YTD race, came in third with an 18.6% deficit.
At the end of October, the industry was 25.4% short of matching the first ten months of 2008. Just three automakers, Subaru, Hyundai and Kia, are in the black. Nonetheless, fears of a sub-10 million-unit year appear unfounded and it looks like the industry should finish the year with somewhere around 10.4 million sales.
Top 20 in Year-To-Date Sales
1. Ford F-Series, 334,922
2, Toyota Camry, 294,493
3. Chevrolet Silverado, 261,142
4. Honda Accord, 244,579
5. Toyota Corolla/Matrix, 240,755
6. Honda Civic, 223,751
7. Nissan Altima, 169,435
8. Honda CR-V, 158,573
9. Dodge Ram Pickup, 155,467
10. Ford Fusion, 148,045
11. Chevrolet Impala, 139,577
12. Ford Escape, 138,739
13. Ford Focus, 136,032
14. Chevrolet Malibu, 131,081
15. Toyota RAV4, 120,834
16. Toyota Prius, 118,290
17. Toyota Tacoma, 94,694
18. GMC Sierra , 91,327
19. Honda Odyssey, 84,761
20. Chevrolet Traverse, 75,156
November 3rd, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
Audi kicked off the reporting, saying it had its third-best October ever with strong performances by the A5 and Q5. Sales trailed last October by just 1.1 percent. On the year, Audi sales for the first ten months of 2009 are just 8.7% behind 2008. Parent company Volkswagen came in with a 7.2% improvement.
BMW sales dropped 18.6 percent while Mini sales fell by 20.8 percent. Mercedes had its best month of 2009 with a 21.3% gain. Smart car sales were down over 70 percent.
GM announced a 4% sales gain, its first in nearly two years, Ford a 3% gain, while Chrysler saw a whopping 30% drop compared with October 2008. Still, Chrysler’s sales were enough to keep it ahead of Nissan among the top six automakers. The Dodge Caravan was the top-selling minivan for the month.
Toyota reported a gain of 64 vehicles or about 4/100 of a percent; Honda sales were down by 362 vehicles, a loss 4 tenths of a percent; Nissan a 6% increase; and Subaru a 41% increase for its best October ever. Mitsubishi sales plunged 48.2% last month.
The Koreans did very well: Hyundai sales shot up 49% while Kia sales were 45.3% better than last October.
This post will be updated throughout the day as sales reports are released. A recap of the month’s activity will be posted tonight.
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