August 4, 2010

AIADA's Market Watch: Dealers See Mixed July Sales
AIADA today released July 2010 sales figures for the international nameplate automobile industry. Last year, at the end of July, the start of the government-funded Cash for Clunkers program jumpstarted the weak auto retail market. According to Market Watch, this year, automakers saw mixed results. International brands last month were led by Hyundai (up 18.8 percent from July 2009), Nissan (12.1 percent), and Volkswagen (16 percent). "In 2009, the Cash for Clunkers program provided a welcome boost to auto sales," said AIADA president Cody Lusk. "This year, manufacturers and dealers are working together to build a lasting recovery. Improvement may be gradual, but it is founded in real market conditions and consumer confidence in our vehicles." Overall sales, including domestic brands and unadjusted for business days, were up 5.2 percent from July 2009 and 14.8 percent for the year. They improved 6.7 percent from June 2010. The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) for light vehicle sales is estimated at 11.55 million, the third highest of the year. Click here to read the entire report on U.S. international auto sales during the month of July.

America's Third Largest Domestic Automaker: Honda?
The third-largest domestic producer of automobiles in the U.S. is Honda. The automaker beat out Toyota and Chrysler, which builds nearly all of its cars in North America. Kicking Tires reports that this year, Honda has built 555,734 vehicles in the U.S. and a total of 756,788 vehicles in North America. That bests the 468,440 vehicles that Chrysler produced in the U.S. and Toyota's 430,535. Ford and General Motors still far surpass Honda in terms of U.S. production. According to The Detroit News, Honda built more vehicles in the United States than in its home country of Japan through the second quarter. Honda has more than 10 factories in the U.S., with two new plants under construction, and 14 R&D facilities. Honda employs more than 27,000 people in the U.S.; Toyota has 28,700 American employees. Honda was also the first Japanese automaker to build cars in the U.S., starting with the Accord back in 1982. Click here for Kicking Tires' coverage of Honda's role in the U.S. auto industry. Click here to read more at The Detroit News on the number of vehicles Honda built in the U.S. during the second quarter. Click here to check out Cars.com's American Made Index to see the lineup of the most American-built vehicles.

Toyota Erases Red Ink with a $2.2B Profit
Toyota reported a quarterly profit of $2.2 billion, reversing from red ink a year earlier as the world's top automaker benefited from a global sales recovery that offset lingering doubts about the safety of its cars. According to MSNBC, the company, which makes the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid, raised its full year earnings forecast Wednesday, and said it now expects to sell 7.38 million vehicles worldwide for the year through March 2011, up from 7.24 million the previous year. Previously it forecast sales of 7.29 million vehicles. The numbers show that Toyota Motor Corp. is on a recovery track from the sales battering it took from the global financial crisis two years ago and the blows to its image from massive recalls that began last October. Toyota's revenue for the April-to-June quarter surged 27 percent to 4.87 trillion yen ($57.3 billion) as car sales jumped in North America, Japan, and other parts of Asia including Thailand and Indonesia. The only trouble spot was Europe, where auto sales were lagging partly because of concerns about Greece's debt crisis, according to Toyota. For more on Toyota's second quarter profits, click here.

GM's Latest Nemesis: VW
Like awarding one little league team five outs per inning and six strikes per batter, then doing a victory dance because they have a good inning, President Obama applauded the "success" of his GM bailout in a visit to Detroit last week. Holman Jenkins writes in the Wall Street Journal that as much as GM benefited from being able to shed debts and other expensive obligations in a government-financed bankruptcy, the real test will be whether GM can go forward and adapt successfully to a relentlessly competitive market. GM still has to contend with the United Auto Workers (UAW), a government-orchestrated labor monopoly that its foreign competitors carefully avoid. It also still has to contend with the ambitions of powerful competitors seeking to survive and expand in the U.S market - the latest being Volkswagen. VW Chief Martin Winterkorn has trumpeted a goal of becoming the world's largest car maker by volume - an aim suddenly plausible for two reasons. VW gets most of its sales in Germany, China, and Brazil, where generous scrappage and stimulus subsidies helped Volkswagen continue to grow even through the subprime abyss. Secondly, VW is a famous has-been in the U.S, still the world's most important market, with high brand-recognition, meager sales, and nowhere to go but up. Click here for Holman Jenkins' entire take on why VW could pose a serious competitive threat to GM.

Yesterday's Flops, Today's Collectibles
One lesson that came out of product launches like New Coke and the Sony Betamax is that too much hype can be a bad thing. According to MSN Autos, the auto industry has had its fair share of flops over the years - cars that didn't live up to the expectations, gained infamy for abysmal sales or performance, or were just plain weird. But those cars didn't disappear from the roads. Many have achieved cult status and become collector's items, sought after by car enthusiasts for their rarity. "Enthusiasts measure success differently," explains McKeel Hagerty, founder and CEO of Hagerty Insurance, which specializes in collector vehicles. "They'll find some odd-duck car that no one has and they want it." Click here to check out MSN's list of today's 10 most coveted car flops. The site has also compiled its list of today's biggest car flops that have the potential to be tomorrow's collector's items. These recent car-lot losers are poised to fetch the attention and dollars of automobile aficionados sometime in the future. Click here to see the list.

Around the Web
Over 2 Million Cars to be Sold on Social Networks This Year [TheCarConnection]
Hot Metal: 2011 Models Break Cover [Motor Trend]
2011 Mazda2 Full Test and Video [Edmunds Inside Line]
Fortune Motorsports Honda CR-Z Coming to SEMA [Autoblog]