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Technology Parents Must Have in their Cars: No DVD Players?

Now try confining them to a car

Sometimes I just wake up in the morning full of ideas and wisdom.

Of course, most mornings I find myself in a blurry fog while doing things like accidentally pouring cough syrup instead of creamer into my coffee. Lucky for me, and the entire auto world, today wasn’t one of those mornings.

Today I woke up with brilliant ideas swirling in my head about how to build cars more parent-friendly. I was equally delighted when I saw that Ford would be hosting a chat with marketing manager Amy Marentic about automotive technologies important to moms.

I’ll tell you what Ford, you don’t even need to have that chat. You just need to read this; because this is what all parents, not just moms, need in their cars:

Invisible force fields separating all seating positions.

Any parent will tell you that kids fighting in the car is an instant mood changer. I don’t care if you’re driving with your freshly bathed children to meet the pope on Easter morning while listening to The Wheels on the Bus, if one kid reaches over and pinches the other, suddenly your fuse explodes and you’re screaming like Glenn Beck discovering his kids are democrats.

All parents know: kids touching each other equals fights. Automakers: figure out how to make it impossible for kids to touch each other. Parents will buy your cars.

Sound deadening glass separators

This would be kind of like what you see in a limo. Even though the force fields are installed in the back seats already, we all know a kid determined to pinch his brother will break through all known technology. When this happens, a parent should be able to push a button (not unlike closing a sunroof) and become encased in a soundproof cockpit, along with the sounds of soothing jazz and the scent of sizzling bacon. Because bacon makes everything better.

Built-in customizable booster seats that self clean

This is so obvious I shouldn’t even have to mention it. Why do parents still have to mess with infant seats that never fit correctly then move on to booster seats that always sit too far to one side and cover up the seat belt attachment? If an automaker developed a seat that was:

Comfortable and safe for the kids
Able to adapt to infants, toddlers and big kids
Could be removed when no longer needed
Resistant to crumbs

Every parent in the country would be knocking on dealer doors to get one.

Parents don’t need much in their cars. All they need is a safe place for the kids to sit and a way to keep kids from fighting. That’s it. DVD players, video games, refrigerators… those are all just modern conveniences getting in the way of our commute while training kids to believe that they must watch TV at all times while always being within reach of a cold drink.

That shouldn’t be expected until marriage.

What parent-friendly features would you like to see in a car?

-tgriffith

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Green Update–> The Future Is Not Now

So much is happening with green vehicles that, as we have said before, this report can only give you a partial view. Still, the big talk today is that the Feds (through DOE; press release here) gave Fisker $528 million in a low-interest loan to develop a next-generation plug-in hybrid (around $40K after tax credits, says Autoweek) and to continue development of the twice-as-expensive Karma (right). You won’t see the “family-oriented” plug-in, to be called Niña, until 2012. We wonder if Fisker—like Columbus’ ship, namesake of this new project—will still be in existence then.

Looking even further down the road, Volkswagen announced that its L1 Concept 1-liter hybrid TDI vehicle (in the works since 2002) would become available in 2013. This is really futuristic stuff: Called “the most fuel-efficient automobile in the world,” the super-light carbon-fiber and aluminum L1 is predicted to “achieve 189 mpg [some stories say 240 mpg] on the combined cycle while emitting just 39 g/km of CO2.” Driver and passenger sit in tandem, and the car uses a 7-speed transmission to reach 100 mph, fairly slowly. This from the company that brought us the Bugatti Veyron.

Frankfurt showed Kia’s new 2010 Sorento 1.7-liter turbodiesel hybrid, which impressed Evelyn Kanter, who noted that, once again, we won’t get this car in North America and it won’t get to Europe till 2013:

Like so many of the great new green cars I saw in Frankfurt, these are for Europe. Like the Lexus FL-Ch hybrid hatchback, sibling Toyota’s newest hybrid, the Auris, and all those good looking and efficient little Pugeot [Peugeot], Renault and Citroen cars.

That exclusion didn’t keep Ford from talking green at Frankfurt. It makes hybrids of course, like the Fusion and Escape and others for the world market, but the company stressed that present-day improvement in traditional technologies has also been its goal. So it touted its EcoBoost engines, which can provide 20 percent better fuel economy, and its C-Max car, coming in late 2011 after the new Focus debuts. C-Max a small 7-passenger minivan that tgriffith discussed here.

BMW, we learn, has 450 Mini E electric cars doing a year’s trial in metro New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles. To get its 240-volt rapid recharger certified in N.J. has been a nightmare of approval and compliance problems. Imagine what happens when and if the car, or any 240-volt car, goes national. The two-seater Mini E has a huge battery and is basically a test-bed for new technology and BMW’s commitment to electric car development.

GM ran an interesting webchat last week with its departing R&D head Larry Burns, a big proponent of hydrogen fuel cell technology. Among the provocative things Burns said:

The beauty of hydrogen is that it can come from a wide variety of sources. Natural gas is an excellent source to get started (As I mentioned earlier, large amounts of hydrogen from natural gas are already used in the production of gasoline.) Very importantly, any source of renewable energy—biomass, wind, solar, geothermal—can be used to make hydrogen cost competitively with gasoline at $2.50 to $3.50 per gallon equivalence.

and

I’ve seen a tendency for people to promote one solution over another. They seem to think the question is batteries vs. fuel cells. Or fuel cells vs. biofuels. I have become convinced we need all three. Like I said earlier, it’s “and” not “or.” Unfortunately, many of the players have a vested interest in a single solution. Therefore, they over-promote one and criticize the others.

The big question, I think, is when: When will these solutions (take your pick) start to become viable in numbers/applications that can support a real market? What are your thoughts?

—jgoods

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Best and Worst of Re-Badging: GM Sinks, VW and Chrysler Soar

Routan: Can you see the Caravan hidden inside?

Back in 2008, Chrysler and Nissan announced plans to help each other out by swapping some vehicle designs.

Now those plans are canceled, mostly because Fiat now owns Chrysler and doesn’t need Nissan to provide fuel-efficient small autos. It’s too bad, really, because Nissan’s contribution to Chrysler might have been branded as a Dodge Hornet. That could’ve been cool!

Chrysler would have given Nissan a truck based on the Dodge Ram Pickup to replace the aging Nissan Titan.

Even though none of this will actually happen, it got me thinking about some of the best (and a couple of the worst) results of this common platform-sharing practice. Here are some of my favorite examples:

Suzuki was getting sick of seeing its popular ATVs and motorcycles getting lugged around by non-Suzuki vehicles. So the company commissioned Nissan to rebadge its Frontier pickup with some new sheet metal. The result? A solid entry in the compact truck market and a Suzuki to tow people’s Suzukis.

Getting Toyota to build a car for General Motors is equivalent to getting the Pittsburgh Steelers to play football for Mississippi Valley State. It’s a can’t-lose situation, and GM scored big with the versatile and reliable Vibe, which was copied from the Toyota Matrix. Pick one up and watch it last forever.

The Grand Caravan/Town & Country minivans are easily the best vehicles Chrysler builds. For whatever reason, Chrysler is a minivan king, so V-dub was smart to commission the company to build the new Routan minivan. While Chrysler wouldn’t add its popular (and patented) Stow n’ Go or Swivel n’ Go seating to the Routan package, the rest is Chrysler-engineered and VW-tuned minivan perfection. If there is such a thing as “minivan perfection.”

Of course, there have been some bad examples of platform sharing too…

Ugh. While the end result was pretty, the car itself didn’t even come close to competing with the BMW 3 Series as an entry-level luxury performance sedan. It wasn’t reliable, it wasn’t fast, and it handled like a Ford. Thank goodness Jag came to its senses and discontinued this afterthought of a vehicle.

General Motors has a way of removing the “cool” factor from whatever it touches. Saabs had a quirky Swedish personality before GM swooped in, but with the 9-7X, Saab officially became re-branded Chevrolet. Why pay a premium for a Chevy Trailblazer? Here’s to hoping Koenigsegg brings the Sweden back to Saab.

Do you have a favorite (or least favorite) re-branded vehicle?

-tgriffith

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Hyundai Equus Coming to the U.S., But Will It Sell?

Hyundai_equus

You know the how the old saying goes…

“When the economy’s in the tank, offer the big-ticket items.”

What? That’s not a saying? Oh. Someone might want to tell the Koreans that.

Hyundai will announce the U.S. arrival of its premium luxury sedan, the Equus, at this weekend’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The sedan will be sold in the U.S. beginning in late 2010.

While the Pebble Beach crowd might consider a pricetag just south of $60K a bargain, most of the rest of us still consider that a pretty hefty chunk o’ change. Conventional wisdom says unveiling an expensive new luxury car in a falling market is unwise, but then again Hyundai has no intentions of being conventional.

And maybe Hyundai can afford to take some risks, considering its sales have seen a boost, partially thanks to the infamous Cash for Clunkers plan. AutoObserver.com says:

The Hyundai group’s July sales - which includes the performance of Kia Motors America - actually were better compared with last year (a 16-percent jump) than with last month, over which sales improved 9 percent.

In typical Hyundai fashion, the intent is to undercut the price of those competitors while offering features that would be expected in all of them.

Expect rear-wheel drive, potent V8 power, and possible options like reclining rear seats with massagers and TV screens. Of course we’ll know more after the weekend, but I expect the Equus to be the final element in Hyundai’s transformation from being the butt of jokes in the early 1990s to a king of the auto world now.

That is, if people buy it. I can’t help but be reminded of Volkswagen’s experiment with the Phaeton… a terrific car that is still sold around the world, but tanked in the U.S. I still think a major reason for that failure was the giant VW logo on the trunk; very few people wanted to spend $70K on a Volkswagen.

Hyundai is smart not to plaster its name all over the Genesis or, presumably, the Equus. Who knows? Maybe this is all part of a plan to turn the Equus into an entire line of luxury cars. Toyota would have Lexus, Nissan would have Infiniti, and Hyundai could have Equus.

Of course that’s all just conjecture, but I sure wouldn’t want to spend $60K on a Hyundai Equus. Call it something like an Equus Genesis, though, give it a fancy new logo and hood ornament, and we’ve got a whole new ballgame.

Can Hyundai’s new luxury sedan succeed in the U.S.?

-tgriffith

Too Late: CfC Money’s Almost Gone. Buying This Weekend? C’mon In!

The Cash for Clunkers program has surprised a lot of people with its success, but it may be too successful. The Detroit Free Press and others report that its funds are nearly exhausted, “leaving thousands of dealers and consumers in the lurch.” And yet, President Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said yesterday,

If you were planning on going to buy a car this weekend, using this program, this program continues to run. If you meet the requirements of the program, the certificates will be honored.

Who’s on first here?

Lawmakers and the administration are making a desperate search today to find more funds before Congress adjourns—tomorrow. The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), which runs the CARS (CfC) program, said that 22,798 vehicles worth about $96 million had been sold. They also said that the “vast majority” of deals were being rejected for incomplete or ineligible paperwork. NADA, the National Automobile Dealers Association, reported some 25,000 deals (13 trades per store) had been submitted but not yet approved by NHTSA.

The upshot seems to be that dealers may have sold, or agreed to sell, more than the 250,000 cars and trucks the plan has funds for. Ouch. One consequence is that dealers have invested millions in promoting the program this weekend—for nothing. We know how all-important recess is, but you Congresspeople had better get on the stick. We must assume the feds aren’t going to leave drivers and dealers holding the bag because they screwed up.

1998 Isuzu Rodeo (not the McGowans')

If it continues, the CARS program ought to be revised so it can live up to its original premise, which was not just providing stimulus to the car industry but getting truly dirty cars off the road. (Wikipedia has a good, up-to-date history here.) We’ve read too many stories like this one: Patrick McGowan and his wife told Bloomberg they

wouldn’t have traded in their 1998 Isuzu Motors Ltd. Rodeo for a new car if it weren’t for the $4,500 rebate they got through the clunkers program and the additional $2,000 rebate from Hyundai [for a new Elantra]… “Our car had 140,000 miles on it,” he said. “We in a million years weren’t going to buy a new car.”

How about, finally, getting the mileage and age qualifications straightened out so the program will really remove stinkers from the highway, instead of vehicles that are only marginal? If the government put money into a really effective (and lots less bureaucratic) CfC, we could all cheer.

Do you think the CARS/CfC program should be given more funding and continue? Or should the government find a more effective way to promote its environmental and economic goals?

—jgoods

UPDATE
Big front-page news this afternoon: The House approved $2 billion to extend the CfC program. Funds will come from a set-aside approved for the Department of Energy. But don’t start dancing just yet: The Senate, still in session next week, must take up the matter, and all are expecting “spirited debate.”

There is still plenty of unhappiness among dealers, some of which echoes our points made above. See Adam Lee’s report to Green Inc., the energy/environment/business blog of the NY Times. His remarks are spot on, according to others I’ve heard.

Best Cars for a Long Summer Drive with Your Honey

The end of July is here, and before we know it, August 2009 will be in the history books.

I think we all need to make sure this summer is one to remember; the summer of ‘09 should be right up there with the summer of ‘69. In fact, let’s put that summer to shame by embracing our wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, or people we picked up on Craigslist, packing up a killer car, and hitting the highway for a road trip to who knows where.

Your minivan isn’t going to cut it, though. What kind of rebel adventure can you have tooling around in a ‘02 Caravan? For this trip, when it’s just you and your sweetie, you’ll need one of these cars:

1997_jaguar_xk8_convertible

If you’re looking to travel in attention-getting class, find yourself a version of this sexy convertible. Heck, you could even go get yourself a 1997 XK8 for about eight grand and still look like you’re cruising the States in a $60,000 car. You’ll feel like a modern-day James Dean hitting the accelerator in this baby.

I recommend this vehicle for two reasons. First, the rear windows come factory tinted, and the rear seats fold completely flat. ‘Nuff said there.

Second, when you’re ready to pull back onto the highway, you’ll travel in leather-and-wood opulence while still getting fuel mileage in the mid-20s. You can’t go wrong.

The key here is “TDI.” Go on a road trip without the diesel, and you’re just another wagon on the road getting in the way of the Porsches and Jaguars in the left lane. With the diesel, though, you won’t care, because you’ll suddenly go a good 450 miles between fill ups. Good thing the seats are good enough to keep you comfortable for those long hauls.

I’m assuming you are rich beyond belief by recommending this ride. But seriously, if you can secure yourself one of these rad rides, you’ll guarantee your sweetie the time of his or her life. And you’ll probably benefit, too, from the insanely huge back seat, the beverage coolers, the video monitors, the reclining rear seats, the power privacy curtains….

I don’t care what year… if you can get your speedy little paws on one of these for a two-week road trip, do it! Nothing says “I don’t care where I’m going because I’m getting there in style” like a 911. This car is epic. You’ll feel like king of the world while blasting George Thorogood songs and weaving through traffic like a madman. Of course, you’ll end up passing the same Jetta TDI a hundred times, because you’ll have to stop for gas while it keeps chugging along.

Stay with me on this one for a minute… I speak from personal experience. Get a Tercel that doesn’t have air conditioning. Yeah, it may seem crazy for a summer road trip, but if you’re a guy traveling with a girl, it’s worth it. You see, there’s a very good chance she’ll get so hot she’ll wear nothing but a bikini. Then you can spray her with a water bottle to keep her cool as the temps reach 105 degrees in Southern Idaho. It’ll be a trip you’ll never forget.

What are your favorite road-tripping cars?

-tgriffith

Michael Jackson’s Curious Car Collection

The interior of Michael Jackson's 1999 Rolls Royce Silver Seraph

As those of you who’ve seen “The best car songs… ever!” know, we at CarGurus are music fans as well as car fans. And while Michael Jackson got awfully strange and maybe a little criminal toward the end of his life, I love some of his music, and I think it’s a shame he so clearly never learned how to truly grow up despite - or perhaps because of - his absolutely massive success.

Maybe Jackson’s desire to live his whole life as a child explains why his car collection consisted mostly of vehicles that allowed him to bask in over-the-top luxury in the rear while someone else drove. Auto Trader UK assembled a slide show featuring some of Jackson’s cars in an article on a planned-but-canceled auction of Jackson items in February, including a 1999 Rolls Royce Silver Seraph limousine for which Jackson designed the interior himself, using lots of 24-karat gold.

Sadly, that limousine and a 1997 Neoplan Touring Coach (which doesn’t appear until near the end of the slide show) are the only really interesting vehicles in the bunch, and they are interesting mostly because they’re so over-the-top gaudy and gold (including the fixtures on the bidet in the tour-bus’s bathroom). No Ferraris or rare muscle cars, no hot rods, not even a well-preserved classic from the year of his birth - Jackson had the money, at least in the ’80s, to assemble a fleet of cool cars that would rival Jay Leno’s. But no, he built a 2,700-acre amusement park instead.

Based on the segment from Jackson’s film “Moonwalker” called “Smooth Criminal,” though, he did at least appreciate the futuristic looks of the Lancia Stratos - he morphs into a 1970 prototype version to escape Mr. Big and his cronies in the video. Of course, Michael probably didn’t handle the driving for that scene, and maybe one of his collaborators selected that car to feature. According to Wikipedia, that car now sits in a private showroom for Bertone, who did the exterior styling, in Italy. But surely Michael could have found - and afforded - one of the other 500 or so versions of the Stratus. Why didn’t he?

I guess the King of Pop and I don’t have too much in common. I wear two gloves at a time, I’ve never had and don’t want a pet monkey, I wouldn’t hang my child out a hotel window, and I don’t moonwalk at all well. But if I had enough money to start assembling a collection of cars, you can bet I’d have some beautiful Italian cars, some American muscle, and I’d drive those babies myself.

Thanks for sharing your enormous talent with the world, Michael, and may you find more peace in the afterlife than you did in this world.

If you had enough money to buy any single car on the planet to begin your car collection - we’re not looking for daily drivers here - which car would you select, and why?

-Steve Halloran

Ford in a Bind

Manny, Moe and Jack

All the recent talk about Ford has been glowing and positive: how much better its product lineup is than GM’s or Chrysler’s, how smart it was not to take the bailout, how much better positioned it is for the future. Well, I wonder. Ford does have an edge in product and clearly has avoided the stigma of bankruptcy.

On the other counts, there are big uncertainties looming. The Detroit News interviewed Ford’s Treasurer, Neil Schloss, who noted that the company was “at a cost disadvantage” in raising capital for its lending unit, Ford Credit Group. That is, since the government granted GMAC, GM’s lending arm, bank status, it can borrow money—and hence finance car purchases—much more cheaply than Ford: 2.2 percent versus 8 percent on recent debt transactions.

Well, that’s a very large disadvantage. Bloomberg had another way of putting it: “In recent competing bond offerings, Ford paid $107.5 million more than GMAC for every $1 billion it borrowed.” That makes for a very un-level playing field. Yet Treasurer Schloss maintains that having an in-house finance company can offset this.

There are significant benefits from an operating perspective to being able to have the credit guys and the marketing and sales guys working right next to each other and agreeing on the right way to approach the market and what the right incentive levels are. There are also benefits associated with the consumer and how we treat them.

As a former marketing person, I must say I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. You have to have the marketing and finance guys under one roof? Why? Ford’s phones don’t work? What consumer benefits is he referring to?

The conclusion to me is that Ford made a big mistake in not taking government financing, even though it is the healthiest, right now, of the Big Three. Or should we call it the Big One? But look what has to happen:

Ford must bear the immense cost of restructuring on its own, and it will take far longer than the GM and Chrysler rebuilds.

With bankruptcy, GM and Chrysler will eliminate over 2,000 dealers with the stroke of a pen; Ford will be stuck with more than 3,700 dealers who are bound by state franchises.

Finally, Ford’s debt burden is over $30 billion long-term, which isn’t going away any time soon. GM and Chrysler will be getting some $62 billion in government investment.

Looking at the financial side, I don’t think the company has much to cheer about.

Can Ford make it out of this hole on product alone? Give us your thoughts.

—jgoods

General Motors Sinks… But Will It Survive?

gm-sinks

And now, a brief ode to General Motors as its day of reckoning has arrived.

For nearly a hundred years GM was the epitome of American manufacturing and extravagance. It built cars with huge fins, dripped cars in vats of chrome, and gave the world the Corvette.

GM was the Titanic of the corporate world: huge, formidable, and utterly unsinkable.

Now, just barely into its second hundred years, the company has hit an iceberg and is going down. An event that would’ve been called laughable a decade ago, that would have been downright inconceivable in GM’s heyday, is happening today.

Part of GM’s iceberg was avoidable and could have been seen up ahead had someone taken the time to notice it. Outrageous union benefits, vehicle inefficiencies, bad management, and the Chevy Vega all conspired with the oil crisis and an economic downfall to crush the once mighty GM.

GM is actually lucky it had a rescue ship in the form of the U.S. government, or the company would be history by now.

With the United States propping up the badly hobbled General, there is hope to rebuild. Former GM CEO Bob Lutz said the new GM will be a smaller, leaner powerhouse. I agree.

The days of arrogance and extravagance are long over in Detroit, and I sincerely hope that Mr. Lutz is correct and GM’s ship can be trimmed, righted, and saved through this bankruptcy.

Here’s to you, General.

Do you think General Motors will pull through bankruptcy and become a stronger, leaner company?

-tgriffith

How to Fix the Car-Buying Experience

woman-car-keys Like many of you, I’m a completely car-obsessed nut job.

I love almost everything about cars: I love driving them. I love reading about them. I love writing about them. I love criticizing them and praising them. Heck, I even love smelling them (2004 models and newer only, please).

Buying cars is perhaps the only thing that I don’t like, even though I’ve done it now 13 times in 12 years.

Last weekend I again began the process of car shopping to replace my wife’s 2002 Honda CR-V. Last night we finished the process and happily brought home a 2004 Lexus RX 330 with only 28,000 miles on the odometer. The days in between were a mix of delight, excitement, frustration, and torture. But I have a way to fix the process.

First, though, this Lexus is the first car my wife picked out herself, test drove herself, and took delivery of herself. Being the car nut that I am, I ALWAYS decided what cars we had and when we bought them. This time I was the casual observer - the friend who came along for advice, support, and negotiation know-how.

My wife is quite delighted that I hadn’t even driven an RX 330 before she did, which is a miracle, considering how many cars I’ve tested.

Lexus was the first brand we looked at and the last, with Mazda, Nissan, car-in-cart Chevy, Volkswagen, Ford, and Cadillac in between. Negotiations started and stalled, we walked onto dealership lots and off them. It was during one of those walk-offs that a stroke of brilliance hit so hard I was nearly ready to go start my own dealership and change the way America buys cars. And it’s so simple it’s almost silly!

I want dealerships to negotiate whatever price they want for the trade-in vehicles they acquire. But, when a shopper comes in to look at that vehicle, the dealer has to show them what they paid for it and include a set mark-up that’s not negotiable, say 15 percent. The shopper then knows exactly what the car costs, the salesman knows exactly what his commission will be, and the dealership knows exactly how much profit it will make. It’d be like buying from Saturn, only better.

Would you rather buy a car at a no-negotiation price, or do you like the back-and-forth experience?

-tgriffith

A New Way for Car Dealers to Make Money

Buy the car, but watch out for extra fees

Here’s an example of car dealers getting special treatment in these hard economic times:

The legislature in my state, Washington, has approved a new law allowing dealers to triple the $50 “document fee” they charge customers.

The law has one purpose: to help out struggling auto dealers by increasing a fee that goes straight into their pockets. In my opinion, it’s another hurdle for struggling consumers who need to buy a new car.

The prime sponsor of the bill is state Rep. Dean Takko, who told lawmakers at a recent meeting,

They’re hurting, and I don’t mind giving them a hand if this is something that they really need.

Hey Dean, if you’re going to help auto dealers, why not extend your generous helping hand to all the other struggling businesses? I know espresso stand owners are hurting right now, too. So are newspapers and radio stations and home builders. How about a special law allowing them to charge more, too?

This isn’t a law that will help out dealers as much as it will further gouge the consumer. The law is asking us to prop up a sagging industry by throwing an additional hundred bucks into the dealer’s pocket and getting nothing in return. If buying a car from a dealer isn’t enough to keep that dealer afloat, let it fail, and let the stronger ones survive.

There is good news included in this law, though it’s buried: The state requires dealers to notify consumers in writing that the document fee is negotiable. Problem is, the notification is made during the signing process, after the deal is made.

Fellow cargurus, watch out for similar laws popping up in states across the country, and if you are in the market for a car, make sure you negotiate on the dealer documentation fee. Pay what your state charges the dealer to file your paperwork, and no more.

Do you think dealers should be able to increase their documentation fees in hard times?

-tgriffith

U.S. Auto Sales Lag China’s for Third Month in a Row

The Chinese are moving into the passing lane, making it only a matter of time before they overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest auto market. March sales may well set a record for them, and the winds of change are blowing strong.

China sold 1.03 million cars last month; Americans bought 657,735, down 37% from March 2008 sales of 1.36 million. At three months’ duration, this sales shift looks like a real trend. One reason China’s market remains strong is that its government takes an aggressive role in promoting sales of small, fuel-efficient cars, light trucks, and minivans, especially in rural areas. The U.S. has been slow in this regard, as it has been in recognizing how desperate the auto industry’s situation is.

To counter some of the bad news, GM announced it sold 137,004 vehicles in China in March, up 24.6 percent from the year before. With a fairly wide product group, GM predicts it will double its sales to more than 2 million a year by 2014.

Brilliance BC3

Other companies are eagerly pursuing the Chinese market, which consists mostly of small, regional manufacturers, because their home markets are miserable. Daimler is launching its Smart minicar in China this week, and we will see a host of new cars debut at the Shanghai Auto Show, April 20-28, according to an AP story today.

Of course, the U.S. and Chinese markets are very different, as we’ve indicated, and the per-vehicle profits in China are smaller. But these numbers should scare the pants off even the staunchest Detroit boosters. American automakers not only have to go after an entirely new foreign market now, but must reconstitute, somehow, the utility, desirability, and value of their products for the U.S.

What do you know about Chinese vehicles? Has anybody driven one? Is the quality there?

—jgoods

Wanted: Your Opinion on Road Trips

On the road in Utah

I recently returned home from a 3,000-mile, eight–state road trip through the western United States.

We started in Washington state and drove through Oregon on our way to California, where we visited San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. From there we headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, then into Arizona, and up through Utah, Idaho, and Montana before heading home.

To some people, this might sound like a form of torture, considering the trip included my whole family - my wife, my 7-year-old son, and my 4-year-old daughter. The trip at first was supposed to include just Disneyland, and more than one person asked, “Why didn’t you just fly?”

Well, for the price of one plane ticket we bought enough gas to see eight states. And you can’t get pictures like this from an airplane:

Moon over Arizona

And I did learn a few things from this trip, too:

In some towns, there are tractor dealerships much bigger than Chevy dealerships.
Finding a Honda or Toyota dealership in rural America is nearly impossible. Buick, Ford, and Chevy, though, are everywhere.
Washingon and Oregon highways are dominated by Ford F-250 Super Dutys. Once you get into central California, the F-250s are gradually replaced by RX 350s.
There aren’t any dirty Lexus vehicles on California’s highways. We even turned it into a game: Find a Dirty Lexus.
Sometimes an enormous bug splatter is just plain funny. Gross, but funny.
Just because a city is listed on a sign telling how far away it is doesn’t mean that city has a bathroom. Sometimes the “city” is just a guy’s garage. Especially in Montana.

Before the trip, I was sure my family would come back ready for a break from each other. Instead, we’re all closer. I honestly don’t think that would’ve have happened had we flown to California. Instead of stressing about making our flights and waiting in security lines, we read books and played games. Instead of a quick 3-day Disneyland trip, we saved money AND turned it into a 12-day adventure.

I think it’s time to bring back the family road trip. We’re always so focused on arriving at our destination that we forget to enjoy our journey. So get out there, fellow cargurus, and take a drive.

Just be sure to tell me if you see a Lexus that needs a wash.

Do you have any road trip stories? I’d love to hear about your adventures!

-tgriffith

Road trip! tgriffith heads to LA

That's one full Honda!

In the classic tradition of family road trips, I’m making the 1,200-mile drive to Los Angeles.

My lovely wife, two kids, and way more stuff than I thought possible are crammed into our 2002 Honda CR-V, and we’re going to Disneyland. Yes, there will be fights. I can guarantee someone’s going to throw up all over themselves and the portable DVD player will probably short out, leaving my wife and me panicked about how to keep the kids quiet.

But we WILL have fun. I’m the dad, and I can demand that, right?

I’ll check in from the road and write thrilling blogs about life in the car and maybe share some bumper stickers that make me laugh along the way. If I end up behind a 1997 Buick going 40 in the fast lane with its left turn signal on, you’ll hear about it.

I may not have the exotic location and foreign cars that jgoods recently posted about, but I’ve got two kids and 2,400 miles of road-trippin’ fun ahead of me.

And it WILL be fun!

Keep the comments coming, preferably in the form of advice from all the other other well-traveled car gurus out there. Oh yeah, and happy Spring Break!

-tgriffith

No recession for Audi! How are they making so much money?

audi-r8

Even in this economy, it IS possible to make money in the automotive market. Turns out all you need is a great product, worldwide growth, and a solid business plan.

For most of the last year we’ve heard nothing but reports of declining sales and billions of dollars in losses. Just check out these final tallies for 2008:

Toyota’s 2008 loss: $4 billion
Chrysler’s 2008 loss: $8 billion
Ford’s 2008 loss: $14 billion
GM’s 2008 loss: $31 billion
Audi’s 2008 profit: $3 billion

Wait, what was that last one? Audi made a PROFIT? Let me check my sources to make sure that’s not an error… Yup, it’s true!

Not only did they make money in 2008, but Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said:

2008 was the most successful fiscal year in the history of our company.

That’s incredible. What’s even more remarkable is that they did it by selling luxury vehicles and offering less sales incentives than other premium carmakers; all while increasing their sales in China, Eastern Europe, Germany, and the U.S.

Pretty dang impressive!

Audi is staying optimistic about keeping their momentum going as the hot new 2009 A4 and 2009 Q5 hit showroom floors, followed in 2010 by the smaller A1. Those models should keep their streak of 13 straight years of sales increases going strong.

Audi is a company that has come a long way since the days of the Audi 80, and seems to be the car company to watch. Of course, being owned by Porsche and Volkswagen (who have world domination plans of their own) isn’t going to hold them back at all.

Have you ever owned an Audi? What do you think of the brand today?

-tgriffith

Scanning the Auto Blogosphere

Bobby Darin's 1960 DiDio 150

Time for another round-up of the last week’s auto-blog highlights. You’d think the current economic crisis, particularly among the Big Three, might make it hard to find good news about the car business these days, but I guess the spinmeisters work overtime around the big auto shows - we’ve already posted a preview of the current Geneva Auto Show, and we’ll likely post a wrap-up next week. Anyway, here goes…

The Geneva Auto Show’s “booth professionals” have gotten a huge amount of blog coverage this week, and given the photos we’ve seen, we can understand why. The folks at Jalopnik put together a very lovely gallery that should make anyone who appreciates beautiful curves forget, at least briefly, our current economic and automotive woes.

Consumer Reports recently posted its list of top 2009 cars. It’s a solid list with no huge surprises, but I find it a little sad that CR’s “best overall vehicle,” the Lexus LS 460, costs about $30K more than the next most expensive vehicle on their list, the Chevrolet Avalanche, and the top-end version costs $40,000 more than a maxed-out Infiniti G37, which took CR’s nod for “upscale sedan.” Given everyone’s increasing financial concerns and carefulness these days, maybe CR’s list of the best and worst used cars will prove more useful.

Automotive Traveler posted a terrific gallery of used cars, too, but they were all from the 2009 Palm Springs Concours d’Elegance and likely even more expensive than that Lexus. The best of show winner - a 1961 Alfa Romeo SZ Coda-Trunka - was a new one to me, and while I wouldn’t want to have to keep it running, I’ll bet my co-workers would be happy to head out for off-site lunches in it.

While we’re on the topic of collectible vintage cars, have you seen Bobby Darin’s 1960 DiDia 150 (above)? CarLust’s article includes a few great pictures of a truly distinctive auto that anyone who appreciates ’60s cars - and fins - should see. And Ferrari fans will definitely want to take a look at the World’s Luxury Guide’s “Red Racers” slideshow. Yum!

Old-school still photos serve vintage cars and car shows pretty well, but video does a much better job capturing the spirit of cars in motion. Nihon Car’s video of an HKS GT-R completing a lap of the Fuji Speedway in less than 1:55 is darned impressive. And YouTube’s video of Vaughn Gittin Jr. setting a new drifting world record (not yet certified by Guiness) is amazing.

Okay, one last bit of good news, at least for the future. Apparently Fiat has just developed a new bit of technology that can adjust valve lift profiles while running to reduce fuel consumption up to 25% and CO2 emissions by 10% while increasing power and torque output. The company’s new Multiair feature is expected to debut in the 2010 Alfa Romeo MiTo, which looks like it won’t arrive in the U.S. until late this year, possibly as a 2011 model.

Anything you’d like to see get more - or less - coverage here on the CarGurus Blog?
Let me know.

-Steve Halloran

It’s no surprise that all SUVs have disappeared completely from the top ...

The best selling car in America... for now

We all know auto sales are way down; so much so that automakers and dealers are taking some desperate measures to move cars.

While it may sound like nothing but doom and gloom, cars are still selling. It’s when we look at which ones that we get a glimpse into what consumers are demanding. And there are some surprises about what cars are popular right now.

Through August, the top selling vehicles for 2008 are:

Toyota Camry
Honda Accord
Honda Civic
Toyota Corolla
Ford F- Series
Nissan Altima
Chevy Silverado
Chevy Impala
Ford Focus
Chevy Cobalt

Here’s what surprises me about this list: First, even though the first half of 2008 saw the highest gas prices EVER, the Toyota Prius isn’t present. I take that as a sign that consumers are smart, electing to save their money by buying traditional gas-powered cars that deliver an acceptable MPG.

Second, there are two trucks on the list. Chalk this up to aggressive discounting by Ford and Chevy, in addition to the simple fact that a lot of guys in America will ALWAYS buy trucks.

It’s no surprise that all SUVs have disappeared completely from the top 10. Families in need of hauling soccer gear and kids are sacrificing the space of an Explorer for the practicality of the Accord.

No doubt this list is posted in the corporate offices of automakers around the world, and we’ll be seeing more 4-door fuel efficient sedans in the future.

I want to know: How long will pickups stay on the top 10?

-tgriffith

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