Category: Exhaust Note

Last week, R.L. Polk & Co. reported that convertible registrations had dropped 8.6% in 2007. In a 16.1 million-unit year, convertible registrations dropped below 300,000 units, or about 2% total light vehicle market share. AutoPacific, VehicleVoice’s parent company, can predict with near certainty that convertible registrations will be lower yet this year – if only because overall industry sales will almost certainly end up well under 15 million units – a decline of at least 1.1 million units over 2007CY.

Automotive technology always seems to trickle down from the high end. And why shouldn’t it? Expensive and innovative technologies typically appear in luxury vehicles first, but as they increase in popularity and volume, economies of scale ultimately make them financially viable to mainstream consumers.
Coincidentally, a whole host of formerly pricey accoutrements are making their way into small vehicles at a time when interest in small vehicles is increasing. Yes, fuel prices have a lot to do with increased consumer interest in smaller vehicles, but it’s also a steadily increasing number of young, Generation Y first time buyers coming into the marketplace.


Just last week, Suzuki announced that navigation will be standard – yes, standard – in the 2009 Suzuki SX4, their little entry level car. And it’s no bare bones nav either – it includes all the latest in navigation technology, [...]

I’ve never owned a major manufacturing corporation worth millions, never employed Union workers and I’ve never played the game of ‘Chicken’; but I’ve heard all are risky endeavors. In the case of American Axle they are dealing with all three variables concurrently. They are said to be ‘sitting on “$344 Million” (AN), employing 3,650 UAW members and American Axle CEO Richard Dauch is currently playing ‘Chicken’ with UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. Are we taking bets? I’m really trying to figure out what I would do in either position and whose side I’m really on.

What happened?
Since February 26 all 3,650 UAW member walked off the job leaving American Axle production in a lurch. In the last two months this strike has affected progress at as many as 30 GM plants. American Axle produces parts for GM’s full-size pickups and SUVs, the hot new [...]

So I’ve spent all this week in the city some of us at the office like to call Detwah…that’s Detroit to all you ‘Murrican speakers out there. Looking to save a few bucks for VehicleVoice, I reserved the lowest class of automobile (Economy) knowing that rental companies usually stock only a few of them – usually resulting in a free upgrade.
Well, that didn’t happen this time. I reserved a Chevrolet Aveo, and instead of getting the usual free upgrade to something bigger and nicer, I got…wait for it…a Chevrolet Aveo. Rats!

It seems that everywhere you look, America’s gone green. Products and their packaging proudly announce their sustainability. Recycling bins are prominently placed in public places. And of course, those hybrid vehicles seem to be just about everywhere. There are countless good reasons to think about environmental sensitivity, but it should also be said that it’s pretty easy to get caught up in the hype too. What am I implying here? I’m suggesting that it’s pretty easy to do small token acts – and then feel like you’re helping the environment a lot more than you really are.
I’ll come back to this is a moment. I think it should first be said that there is a universal truth about automobiles. This universal truth is that people tend to buy vehicles that make them feel good. What makes people feel good varies with the times. Back in the 1950s, big cars with tailfins and jet-exhaust [...]

It’s a fact of life that we are all “connected” more than ever today. We gab on our cellphones constantly, we check our messages both in front of computers and on the go on our smartphones, and we have more choices than ever over how we are entertained. For the most part, these are all positive changes in our lives and a clear sign of progress.
We live, however, in one of those “in-between” times when society hasn’t yet figured out how to merge progress with basic safety. You know, like back when automotive engineers figured out how to make cars go really fast but hadn’t yet invented the 3-point seatbelt. To what am I referring? I’m talking about being able to use all of these devices that keep us connected safely while driving.
This is a topic that’s been talked about time and time again over the last decade. Initially, people talked [...]

Much has been made of the recent onslaught of really great cars and trucks from General Motors. It’s particularly amazing for me, an automotive analyst in his thirties, to witness. You see, until very recently, GM – for my whole life – has always been the perpetual underachieving giant; in many ways a symbol of everything wrong with Detroit. I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s – a time when more and more of my generation’s Baby Boomer parents were abandoning GM clunkers in favor of far higher quality imports. Even throughout my adult years, GM hardly represented the “Mark of Excellence” its corporate slogan claimed. As long as I could remember, GM products (large trucks excepted) were rarely world class; in my mind, price and patriotism were the only real reasons to buy them.
For the last year and a half, however, I’ve been forced to rethink this notion that had been [...]

(editor’s note: VehicleVoice will now kick off each new week with Exhaust Note, a weekly rant or rave of automotive industry insight. Here’s our first…enjoy!)

Pickups Are At Our Core
Like ‘em or not, big pickups remain a staple of the American automotive industry, representing one of the biggest chunks of the U.S. automotive market in terms of sales. Last year, full-size pickups represented over 2.1 million sales, or just over 13% of all new light vehicles sold, and AutoPacific, VehicleVoice’s parent company, forecasts sales to remain over the 2-million mark through 2013.
What gives? Aren’t all of the green messages getting through to people? Why aren’t people ditching these guzzlers in big numbers? The fact of the matter is that big pickups are core and central to our lives. Just think about all the goods and services that are delivered by pickups, [...]