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Back-Seat Driver: Maybach concept dated?

Mercedes is being forced to cut back on its U.S. Maybach stores, according to Automotive News.

You surprise me.

I have always thought this bizarre car was out of sync with the times. It's not so much that it's enormous and enormously expensive; there are plenty of rich folks out there who want to show it.

But the thing about Mercedes' Maybach is that it's not a driver's car. It's a "being-driven" car and I'm not sure that most of today's super rich want to be driven around like geriatics. The back seats are like those in first class on airplanes: they stretch out to fully reclined and are surrounded by a medley of services for the sedantry.

Time was when being cocooned like this in the back of a massive car with names that harked back to horse-drawn days - coach, brougham, landrau, limousine - was the way to go. Rich meant being old and deserving of privacy, privilege and respect.

But today, being active into advanced years is practically as important as being rich. Rolls-Royce still produces monsters, but most of today's super expensive cars are high performance driver's cars, whether Accuras, Audis, Cadillacs, Bentleys BMWs, Lexuses or other Mercedes-Benzes - to say nothing of Aston Martins, Ferraris or Porsches et al.

Automotive News reports that 29 of Maybach's original 70 U.S. dealerships have given up their franchises and while a Mercedes spokeswoman was quoted as saying: This is just about where we want to be," one has to wonder if that is putting a brave face on it.

After all, Automotive News reports Mercedes had hoped to sell 600 Maybachs a year in the U.S. when it introduced the car about five years ago, but last year sold a paltry 146.

- Peter C. T. Elsworth

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:38 AM to Mercedes-Benz | Permalink | Comments 0

M: How BMW Spells Performance in Just One Letter

For much of the 1980s, enthusiasts cringed as BMW seemed to let slip its well-deserved image as creator of the Ultimate Driving Machine to assume a new role: marketer of the Ultimate Fashion Accessory, according to the New York Times.

Cars from the company credited with fathering the modern sport sedan were becoming known as much for the status they conferred as the performance they delivered — badges of self-indulgence for me-generation drivers. When the stock market swooned in 1987, sales plummeted — by 45 percent in the United States in 1986-91.

Many factors contributed to BMW’s subsequent revival. Among them were the company’s efforts to re-establish its performance reputation, in part through the release of special factory-tuned versions of its bread-and-butter models under the BMW M badge.

That reputation will get another upgrade next spring when a new-generation M3 arrives in the United States, two decades after the first M cars made their American debut. The fiercest M3 yet, the 2008 model will be powered by a 414-horsepower V-8, a vast leap from the original 4-cylinder M3 of the 1980s.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:34 AM to BMW | Permalink | Comments 0

Once Again We’re Driving What’s Not Made Here

Now that the Big Three automakers are shrinking their labor costs — removing what they have so frequently described as the biggest obstacle to selling more cars in this country — they should be able to regain market share. Right?

Well, not exactly, according to the New York Times.

The game has changed. The foreign companies against whom the Big Three compete are selling more and more cars that are not made at their factories in the United States, making labor costs here less important. They are importing again — in fact, quietly importing almost as many cars as they did in the 1980’s when Japanese vehicles flooded the market, provoking an outcry, and also import quotas.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:30 AM to Auto industry | Permalink | Comments 0

Restyled lineups click with buyers

Despite a difficult overall market, General Motors and Ford found a receptive audience for new and redesigned vehicles in September, giving hope that their evolving lineups could win back U.S. customers, according to the Detroit Free Press.

GM reported Tuesday U.S. sales in September of 334,974, up 0.3% from the same month last year. Sales of the redesigned Cadillac CTS were up 66.8% to 6,416.

Ford's U.S. sales, hurt by slumping truck figures, dropped 20.4% to 189,037. But a redesigned Escape was a bright spot with sales increasing 10.3% to 11,132.

GM and Ford were not the only automakers helped by new products. Sales for Honda Motor Co., which launched a redesigned Accord in September, were up 9.4% to 127,000.

Nissan was up 6.7% to 94,269 thanks largely to the Altima, redesigned in late 2006. A new coupe version was added this year.

Toyota's U.S. sales fell 4.4% in September to 213,043 vehicles, marking the third straight month of declines.

Chrysler LLC's sales were down 5.4% to 159,799. The Auburn Hills automaker emphasized that Jeep brand sales were down 10.6% to 37,460 in September because of a planned fleet reduction.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:17 AM to Auto industry , Chrysler , Ford , GM , Honda , Nissan , Sales , Toyota | Permalink | Comments 0

Toyota picks up truck perks after weak sales

The pickup wars intensified Tuesday as Toyota announced new cut-rate versions of its full-size Tundra amid flat industrywide September sales in the hotly contested segment, according to USA Today.

The pickup developments were a facet of a September in which General Motors showed a slight sales gain for the second-consecutive month among all its divisions.

By contrast, second-place Toyota saw its sales drop 4% compared with the same month last year, Autodata reported. Ford took the biggest hit with a decline of 20.4% overall, and most painfully, 15% in the most-coveted sales to individual retail customers.

Overall, sales were down 2.9% for the month. After the first three quarters of the year, the industry remains down by almost the same amount it was at this time in 2006. Ford predicts the final tally for the year will make it the worst for automakers since 1998.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:14 AM to Ford , GM , Sales , Toyota | Permalink | Comments 0

Mazda shows sexy sportscar, hydrogen hybrid

Check out this amazing concept car from Mazda which consistently produces concepts closer to sculpture than mode of transportation.

The company took the wraps off the Taiki and a hydrogen powered vehicle ahead of its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month.

See the AP story as printed in USA Today.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:04 AM to Design | Permalink | Comments 0

Oil above $80, investors eye U.S. crude stocks

LONDON - Oil climbed further above $80 a barrel on Wednesday after three days of losses as investors expected weekly U.S. data to show crude stocks declining and raising the prospects for a winter supply crunch, according to Reuters.

U.S. crude gained 46 cents to $80.51 a barrel by 9:11 a.m. EDT (1311 GMT). Prices had fallen close to $3 from a near record high late last week on concerns the global credit crunch would stymie U.S. and European economic growth.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:48 AM to Crude oil market | Permalink | Comments 0

Ford Sales Down As It Faces Labor Talks

DETROIT-- Ford has something else to bring to the table in its ongoing contract talks with the United Auto Workers union: A dismal September sales report, according to the Associated Press.
Ford's U.S. sales plunged 21 percent last month as the automaker continued sharp reductions in sales to rental car fleets. Toyota Motor Corp. outpaced Ford for the month and for the January-September period, continuing its drive to replace Ford as the nation's No. 2 automaker in sales after General Motors Corp.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:41 AM to Unions | Permalink | Comments 0