Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Volkswagen considering price hike]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/24/volkswagen-considering-price-hike/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/24/volkswagen-considering-price-hike/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/24/volkswagen-considering-price-hike/#commentsFiled under: ,

Volkswagen is making money hand over fist right now thanks to cost cutting measures and increased global sales, and the German automaker wants to keep the good times rolling. High commodity prices for items like steel, aluminum and rubber are beginning to eat away at VW's cash horde, so the German automaker may hike the prices of its vehicles. VW marketing chief Detlef Wittig told reporters that he feels automakers are afraid to raise prices in such a competitive sales environment, and that the company was monitoring the situation closely. While VW may not be afraid to pull the trigger on price hikes, it likely still won't ask customers to pony up the entire amount for high commodities. A lot will depend on whether VW's many competitors also jack up MSRPs, and by how much.

It seems as though most automakers here in the States have either announced price hikes or are "thinking about doing it." The market is even more competitive in Europe, so such a decision isn't as easy. Wittig expects several automakers to raise prices in the second half of the year.

[Source: Automotive News (subs req'd)]

Volkswagen considering price hike originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>commodity pricesCommodityPricesprice hikesPriceHikessteelvolkswagenVWThu, 24 Jul 2008 08:02:00 EST<![CDATA[Saw dust shortage to affect car prices?]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/04/saw-dust-shortage-to-affect-car-prices/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/04/saw-dust-shortage-to-affect-car-prices/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/04/saw-dust-shortage-to-affect-car-prices/#commentsFiled under: , ,

In the past few years, we've all heard about the price of cars and trucks being impacted by the price of steel. We've also heard about the reduction in the numbers of trucks sold due to the downturn of the housing market. According to this article (sub. req'd), there is a new raw material affecting the price of vehicles: sawdust. It seems that the slow housing market means that fewer scraps of wood are being reduced down to dust, which is used in the manufacture of certain interior components, like steering wheels. Apparently, there are a few substitutes to sawdust in the farming industry, like cow manure. This fact raises an interesting question: would you rather pay more for your car or have the steering wheel made with cow manure? Or, how would the use of cow manure in the making of your next car affect that "new car smell" that we all know and love?

[Source: The Wall Street Journal via All Cars All The Time]

Saw dust shortage to affect car prices? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>car pricescar-pricesCarPriceshousingmanuresawduststeelTue, 04 Mar 2008 18:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Score one for the free market: US dumps most of its steel tariffs]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/15/score-one-for-the-free-market-us-dumps-most-of-its-steel-tariff/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/15/score-one-for-the-free-market-us-dumps-most-of-its-steel-tariff/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/15/score-one-for-the-free-market-us-dumps-most-of-its-steel-tariff/#commentsFiled under:



Yesterday the U.S. International Trade Commission lifted tariffs on imported steel from Australia, Canada, France and Japan, and there was much rejoicing in the boardrooms of many automakers that build cars and trucks in the U.S. The tariffs were originally put in place on cheap steel imported into the U.S. from a total of six countries that threatened to collapse the U.S. steel industry back in 1993. Some 13 years later, the U.S. steel industry is healthy, and the tariffs that once were helpful, are now creating artificially high steel prices in the U.S.

Six automakers including General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Honda, Nissan and Toyota lobbied hard for this outcome and were extremely pleased yesterday, despite not getting tariffs lifted against steel imported from Germany and Korea, tariffs on both of which will remain in place until reviewed again in 2011.

The rising cost of raw materials, steel in particular, has been a constant thorn in the side of our own domestic auto industry, the members of which are busy trying to orchestrate complex turnarounds at the moment. Hopefully market prices for steel will begin to drop as competition to sell this all-important ingredient in modern day cars heats up again.

[Source: Just-Auto]

Score one for the free market: US dumps most of its steel tariffs originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>daimlerchryslerfordgmhondanissansteeltarifftariffstoyotatradeFri, 15 Dec 2006 11:32:00 EST<![CDATA[U.S. automakers call for end to steel tariffs]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/06/u-s-automakers-call-for-end-to-steel-tariffs/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/06/u-s-automakers-call-for-end-to-steel-tariffs/http://www.autoblog.com/2006/10/06/u-s-automakers-call-for-end-to-steel-tariffs/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

The Big Six U.S. automakers (General Motors, Ford Motor, Toyota Motor, DaimlerChrysler, Honda Motor and Nissan Motor) are calling for the U.S. International Trade Commission to put an end to heavy tariffs on imported steel. Current tariffs boost the price of high-grade steel from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Korea by about 30 percent, at a time when automakers are struggling with steel prices that have skyrocketed 68 percent in the past two years.

On the other side of the fence is the U.S. steel industry, which lobbied hard for the tariffs in the early '90s to prevent its foreign competitors from dumping cheap steel into the U.S. market at prices the domestic producers couldn't match.

Automakers contend that the steel industry no longer needs protective tariffs to compete, while the Steel Manufacturers Association contends that removing the protection would damage the industry while providing insignificant cost benefit to the automakers.

Considering that GM alone buys about 10 million tons of steel annually, we're guessing that the automakers have a pretty strong case, and with the U.S. steel industry employing about 150,000, vs. the auto industry's 2.4 million workers, it's not hard to see which side should be able to muster the greatest political support.

[Source: The Detroit News]

U.S. automakers call for end to steel tariffs originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Oct 2006 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>steelsteel pricessteel tariffFri, 06 Oct 2006 12:32:00 EST