Recent Comments:
Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder wins for Most Toxic New Car Smell {Autoblog}
Jul 30th 2008 7:59PM Another important thing to note from the white paper is that they did not measure the amount of toxins out-gassed or transferred on contact. The toxicity of the "new car" smell or the air within the car was NOT measured.
They only measured the concentration of certain elements within the solid materials. The amount of those elements that would out-gas or transfer on contact depends on, among other things, the specific chemical compounds and how the materials were processed and finished -- none of which were explored in the study.
The rankings are only fair if you not only lick the materials, but chew on them as well.
Volvo bringing ethanol-powered C30 racer to WTCC {Autoblog}
Jul 23rd 2008 1:43PM "... and came back to the series last year with an E85 ethanol-powered C30"
The C30 is new to the STCC this year. The series is still in progress.
Last year, Volvo competed with the ethanol-powered S60 which won a number of races and came in second overall.
Mercedes-Benz to introduce fully turbocharged lineup by 2010 {Autoblog}
Jul 19th 2008 9:01PM "Saab were the first company to mass-produce a turbo-charged vehicle and it was during the 80's ..."
Make that 1978 - the Saab 99 Turbo.
The other Swedish manufacturer, Volvo, introduced turbo models of the 240 series sedans and wagons in 1981.
Saab and Volvo were pioneers in using turbo charging on "regular" cars.
Is it over yet? Oil prices drop like a rock {Autoblog}
Jul 19th 2008 3:40PM Ghosthunter,
The entire West Coast area** consumed 3.2 million barrels/day of petroleum in 2006, while China consumed 7.2. US consumption is flat, while China's is increasing - e.g., 7.6 million barrels/day in 2007.
** Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington
Volkswagen considering offering Polo in U.S. market {Autoblog}
Jul 18th 2008 4:52PM The Polo and the Golf (Rabbit in the US) have pretty much the same fuel economy when both use the same engine. You see the same thing with the Yaris to Corolla and other sub-compact to compact car comparisons.
The reason is that weight by itself changes fuel economy by only 1-2% per 100 lbs. So, the move would only make sense from a purely fuel economy point of view if the Polo was supplied with smaller engines.
Audi releases all the details on the North American Q5 {Autoblog}
Jul 17th 2008 4:02PM No worries, Johnny, it's 258 lb-ft from 1500 rpm all the way to about 5000 rpm - the typical flat torque curve of a turbo engine.
Volvo denies reported dealer cuts {Autoblog}
Jul 16th 2008 2:26PM Yeah, that's the theory and in practice it depends on the details of the specific circumstances, the objectives and how well the stragegy is implemented.
Volvo definitely has too many dealers. Last year, sales were under 350 cars/dealer on average. That's way lower than competitors such as Audi, BMW, MB, Acura and Lexus.
The problem is most acute in the Northeast where, too often, there are multiple dealers within a small radius. There just isn't enough customers to go around in those situations. A small struggling dealer might only be selling 2-5 cars each week and servicing a correspondingly small volume.
On the other hand, you wouldn't want to cut in places like Denver, where there are only three dealers, many miles apart, for the entire greater metropolitan area.
Besides, Volvo isn't looking to increase sales in the near-term. The strategy is higher margins at lower volumes, and to build the brand image for later growth in both sales and profitability.
Volvo denies reported dealer cuts {Autoblog}
Jul 16th 2008 12:51PM See my response to John above.
Volvo denies reported dealer cuts {Autoblog}
Jul 16th 2008 12:39PM "How does having less dealers help increase sales?"
It doesn't increase total sales in the near-term, but it increases sales per dealer. It also increases transaction prices due to less intense price competition among the dealers. The result is higher profits for the dealers ... and Volvo because of lower factory to dealer incentives and dealer support costs.
Higher profits allow more investment in improving dealerships and customer service. Lower overall sales at higher prices increases resale values. The brand image improves over time, which drives sales increases in the long run.
Volvo denies reported dealer cuts {Autoblog}
Jul 16th 2008 1:19AM I agree with Chris that the latest models aren't particularly fuel efficient, but he misses the mark on some key points.
First, Volvo didn't deny that they're cutting dealers as the headline suggests. They only denied the specific number, i.e., 30%.
Second, the model line-up is quite fresh. 3 of the 9 models are in their first US model year, C30, XC70 and V70; the S80 is in its second year and the C70 its third. The S40 and V50 were all new for MY2005 and were refreshed for MY2008. That leaves only the XC90 (MY2003) and the S60 (MY2001) as really old models.
Third and most important, the biggest driving force behind Volvo's US sales decline is neither fuel efficiency or the dealers. It's the weakness of the US dollar, which has eroded Volvo's margins in the US, especially on the smaller cars.
Consequently, Volvo announced last year that it would cut dramatically the supply and marketing support of the smaller models for a planned 15% decline in US sales. The cut in dealerships ties in with this plan.
The June YTD decline is 14%, with the S40, S60 and V50 down 32-36% as planned. On the other hand, the S80 is up 12%, the V70 up 13% and the C70 up 44%. The larger, less fuel efficient models are now nearly 65% of sales, versus 60% last year ... the opposite of the industry trend ... despite the addition of the C30 in late 2007.
