July 20, 2010

Honda Says it will Launch Plug-In Hybrid, Electric Car in U.S.
Honda said Tuesday it would launch a plug-in hybrid and a battery electric model in the U.S. and Japan and mapped out other plans to put greener vehicles on the road as rivals catch up with more fuel-efficient cars. According to Automotive News, outlining a medium-term strategy, CEO Takanobu Ito told a news conference that Honda was planning to sell a plug-in hybrid vehicle and a battery electric model in Japan and the United States in 2012. Honda also said it would launch a new small diesel model in Europe in 2012 as well as revamp its gasoline engine and transmission line-up to improve fuel efficiency of its fleet. The Japanese automaker was one of the world's only carmakers to offer gasoline-electric hybrid cars during the past decade. Honda had so far only announced plans to sell a battery-run electric car in the United States simply to meet legal requirements in California, arguing their batteries were too expensive to be practical. The carmaker has been a strong proponent of hydrogen fuel-cell cars as the best zero-emission alternative to today's combustion engine cars, although their infrastructure hurdles are even bigger than for plug-in vehicles. Honda expects its plug-in hybrid to go 37 miles or more on a single liter of gasoline, making it more fuel-efficient than rival Toyoto's best-selling hybrid, the Prius. Click here for more on Honda's fuel efficient plans.

Senators Lincoln, Kyl Float Estate Tax Reduction Proposal
Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) introduced July 14 a proposal to permanently reform the federal estate tax. According to Investment Advisor, the proposal would require the Senate Finance Committee to amend H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010, to permanently set the estate tax rate at 35 percent, with a $5 million exemption amount phased in over 10 years and indexed for inflation. It would also provide a "stepped up basis" for inherited assets. The Lincoln-Kyl proposal also instructs the Senate Finance Committee to offset the difference in revenue loss between the Obama Administration's proposed 45 percent estate tax rate with a $3.5 million exemption amount and their proposed reform. The estate tax temporarily expired this year, but if Congress does not act this year, the federal estate tax is scheduled to jump to 55 percent with only a $1 million exemption at the beginning of 2011. The small business lending bill passed the House in June, but the Senate pulled the bill from debate in mid July due to procedural delays. Several organizations, including AIADA have expressed support for the Lincoln-Kyl proposal. Click here to see a letter the organizations sent to the Senate. For the latest on efforts to reform the federal estate tax, click here.

Daimler, BMW Surge on 'Bottomless' Appetite for German Luxury Cars
Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz E class, BMW AG's new 5 series, and a revamped Audi A8 are attracting wealthy buyers in the United States and China, prompting the German carmakers to boost deliveries. Automotive News reports that the German carmakers are posting gains in China, which passed the United States last year as the biggest auto market, as new models attract buyers. BMW has said the new 5 series is sold out, while Audi is benefiting from the new A8 sedan. Mercedes aims to add market share with an extended E-class sedan, its first vehicle for Chinese consumers. BMW, the largest luxury carmaker, has raised its 2010 forecast, predicting sales will rise about 10 percent to more than 1.4 million cars and SUV, while the operating margin at the automotive unit will exceed 5 percent. BMW increased first-half group deliveries 13 percent while second-ranked Mercedes-Benz posted a 12 percent gain. Six-month deliveries at Audi, which aims to dethrone BMW by 2015, advanced 19 percent. Marc-Rene Tonn, an analyst at M.M. Warburg in Hamburg, said German luxury carmakers are benefiting from their product portfolio and their regional positioning especially in the surging North American and Chinese markets. Click here to read the latest on German luxury automakers' surge in the North American and Chinese auto markets.

Dropping Auto Dealers Not a Savings Bonanza
Collapsing housing prices and the ensuing financial crisis eliminated more auto dealership jobs than Chrysler's and General Motors' closing of about 1,800 dealers, according to government employment data. But according to the Detroit Free Press, savings automakers estimated they would realize from the dealership closings - $2.6billion by GM and $36 million by Chrysler - will be far smaller due to legal costs of arbitration and GM's decision to reinstate hundreds of dealers it had targeted for closing, say lawyers who represented dealers. Auto dealers of all brands employed 1,186,000 in 2008, based on the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of June 2010, that had dropped to 1,014,600, a decline of 14.5 percent. However, from June 2009, when the dealer closings were begun, dealer employment has actually risen by 1,500, the BLS data show. About 29 terminated Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge dealers have won the opportunity to be reinstated through arbitration. Chrysler had offered reinstatement to about 50 terminated dealers before the arbitration process began. GM has offered reinstatement to 666 dealers it had planned to terminate. GM spokeswoman Ryndee Carney declined to say how many of those will reopen. Click here for more findings on the economic impact of dealer closings.

Volkswagen Aims to be Electric Car Leader
The Detroit News reports that Germany's Volkswagen AG will roll out gas-electric hybrids and all-electric cars in the next couple of years as part of its plan to stake a leading position in the battery-powered electric car sector. "I am deeply convinced Volkswagen will play a key role in electrifying the automotive world," Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn told reporters Monday. The automaker, the largest in Europe, has been a leader in clean diesel technology and fuel-efficient gas engines for many years. It is now developing zero-emission electric cars in response to increasingly strict regulations in most regions that call for emission-free vehicles. Volkswagen has begun producing a VW Touareg SUV hybrid, and plans to launch a Jetta hybrid in 2012, followed by Passat and Golf hybrids a year later. It will begin a trial fleet of all-electric E-Golf cars next year, and it will launch the E-Golf and E-Up! in 2013. Click here for a photo of the E-Up! One of the two cars will be available that year in the U.S., Winterkorn said, which is part of the automaker's strategy to invest heavily in the U.S. as part of its plant to become the world's biggest automaker by 2018. Click here for the latest on VW's electric car plans.

Top Ten Muscle Cars
Car shoppers looking for high performance without a high price tag have a lot of options in today's market - everything from reprised muscle cars to pseudo-rally tuner rockets to powerful American sedans. But which ones offer the most bang for the buck? To find out, MSN Autos considered the contenders and divided their base price by the specified horsepower to come up with our price-to-power ratio. Then it ranked the top 10. Of course, there's more to performance than pure horsepower, but if you're looking for tire-smoking fun on a budget, start at the top of the list. Click here to see the list which includes several international vehicles such as the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8. MSN writes that Hyundai's hot rod nips at the heels of Detroit's muscle machines thanks to a chippy 3.8 liter V6 engine tuned to make 306 horsepower. The Subaru Impreza WRX also makes the list, noted for its all-wheel drive and 2.5 liter turbocharged flat-four engine that makes 265 horsepower. A sporty version of the classic Honda Civic compact - the Si - is also on MSN's list. Its 197 horsepower 2.0 liter four-cylinder engine, sport suspension tuning, a limited-slip differential, 17-inche alloy wheels, and sport seats make it a showstopper. Click here for MSN's coverage of the best values for those looking for affordable performance.

Dealership Drives Down Costs With ARMS® Application
Before switching nearly five years ago to the Automated Rental Management System (ARMS®) application, available to dealerships at no charge from AIADA's Affinity Partner, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Steve Quiroga, Parts and Service Director for Ancira Nissan in San Antonio, struggled to control costs for service loaners. "With the ARMS® application, we have complete control," Quiroga said. "We no longer worry about whether our service advisors will remember to manually charge a service loaner to the repair order, because an electronic purchase order for a rental car is automatically entered when they initiate a repair order." With the largest dealership service department in South Texas and more than 70 percent of customers having service agreements, Quiroga says he cannot afford to make mistakes. "The ARMS® application eliminates errors, so I have more time to focus on serving customers instead of tracking which rental cars are being reimbursed by Nissan for warranty repairs or which customers have been in a rental car too long," said Quiroga. "Having this technology makes a huge difference in our service department's ability to maintain the loyalty of our customers." For more information or to arrange a demonstration of the ARMS® application, please go to www.ARMSDealership.com or e-mail ARMSDealership@erac.com.

Around the Web
Most Arguments in the Car Are Over Directions, Says Survey [NY Times Wheels Blog]
Dueling Bentleys: Supersports vs. Speed [Forbes]
Gender Wars and Car Shopping [AOL Autos]
2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Looks to Split the Uprights [Autoblog]