Detroit Wins Suck Of The Year Award!
The Detroit News reports: The year of the Honda. The Detroit News has picked its car and truck of the year. Both Hondas. Car of the year shouldn't come to much surprise to Detroit, but we bet the truck award sent some shudders through Detroit. Especially when we read stuff like: AutoWeek reports: Ford struggling to sell 900,000 F-Series pickups in 2005. And, yes, we understand there is no comparison in sales of the F-Series and Ridgeline... but when Ford has trouble meeting sales goals for its key product... well, that's gotta spell trouble. We're betting Ford sells 10% fewer F-Series for '06. But we're a car blog so we don't focus on that. Ha! See? Focus is a car by Ford. No extra charge here for cleverness!
Is It Smart Or Not?
Oh, another two-fer here at Cars! Cars! Cars! We got CNN/Money reports: Smart cars coming to U.S.? Meanwhile, AutoWeek reports: DCX pushes back decision on whether to launch Smart brand in U.S. Seems to us that Smart could sell 20,000 in the U.S. if it is marketed correctly and in the right cities. The right cities being crowded ones like Boston, NYC, San Francisco. There are other cities, but we're over-caffeinated and can't think clearly.
Detroit: Oy!
We read these in this order:
The Detroit News reports: Kerkorian unloads GM stock
The Detroit News reports: Hyundai to add 600 jobs in state.
The Detroit News reports: Toyota on pace to become No. 1.
Man, those are all bad things if your name is General Motors. First, we got Kerkorian dumping his stock and sending GM's price into the crapper. Then Hyundai announces it's doing well enough to hire more people (rather than do layoff after layoff). And, finally, Toyota is totally looking to be #1 in car sales. We're not saying things look really bad for GM, but... Wait. We are. It's exactly what we sayin'. GM is hurtin' and it's just not going to get better. Here's a great example: First, GM's Pontiac division comes out with the Aztek that, upon arrival, made people begin vomiting. It was truly unbelievable that GM/Pontiac thought the vehicle was good. Holy cow are they messed up on goofballs. Then, after getting their asses kicked, they go back and make the Torrent. Which is better than the Aztek, but so mediocre that... Well, The Car Connection says it pretty nicely:
In all, the Torrent offers plenty of utility but comes up a little short in other areas. For those who haven't caught the underlying message, no we don't see a Torrent of buyers storming the Pontiac dealership.
Full review here:
The Car Connection reviews:
2006 Pontiac Torrent. Oh, here's another article on that stock move:
General Motors' European Stock Falls as Kerkorian Pares Holding.
Wagoner: I'm Not Conceding!
The Car Connection reports: Toyota Edging Closer to Number One.
Toyota Motor Co. has announced it plans to build 9.06 million vehicles next year. The expansion of the Japanese automaker's production plan will pose a direct challenge to General Motors, which has been the world's leading automaker for the past 70 years. However, Richard Wagoner, GM's chairman and chief executive officer, said that GM isn't about to concede its claim to the number-one spot, which has been a key element of the company's corporate identity for decades.
"I'm not conceding anything to anybody," Wagoner said in a statement released after Toyota announced its plans to boost production in 2006. "We respect our competition around the world, and we're realistic about our challenges and opportunities. We know we have to earn the right to maintain our global sales leadership, and we're doing that day after day," the statement added.
Dude. Dude! DUDE! What day are you referring to? You guys are bummin'! You guys gonna continue down the path that leads to Toyota making 9.06 million cars while you make 9.06 million mistakes? Somebody better wake up Mr. Wagoner.
Big news in the auto world! GM CEO Rick Wagoner hands over North American operations to new dude! Everyone is writing about it, too:
