Archive for the 'Industry Update' Category

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Cadillac and Lincoln: Free Maintenance Packages

Published on June 21, 2010 in Industry Update, Manufacturer Update and New-Car Pricing. 0 Comments Tags: 2010, 2011, BMW, Cadillac, free, Lincoln, maintenance, Mercury, package.

2011 Lincoln MKX

If you’re going to play in the luxury car arena, you might want to look at how things are done by BMW. The German luxury car manufacturer gives new-car buyers free maintenance for 4 years/50,000 miles. Now, two domestic luxury brands are joining in, albeit in slightly different ways. Cadillac will give you free maintenance for 4 yrs/50,000 miles on any 2011 model, whereas Lincoln gives you the same length of time and mileage, but only on 2010 and 2011 models sold during this summer.

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Sales Figures: May, 2010

Published on June 14, 2010 in Industry Update. 0 Comments Tags: 2010, figures, May, Sales.

The sales figures are in for May, and they’re quite interesting! GM had a good lead over crosstown rival Ford, but Toyota, surprisingly, wasn’t far behind. Nissan flipped spots with Hyundai, selling more than the Korean automaker, but both were below Chrysler. Sales for BMW and Mercedes-Benz were mostly flat over April’s, and both were under 25,000 vehicles sold for the month.

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Breaking News: Ford confirms rumors of Mercury shutdown

Published on June 2, 2010 in Industry Update and Manufacturer Update. 0 Comments Tags: 2009, 2011, Concept C, down, EcoBoost, Ford, Hybrid, Lincoln, Mercury, Milan, MKS, MKZ, shut, Shutdown, shutter, shuttering.

In a press conference this afternoon with Ford’s president of the Americas, Mark Fields, it was announced that the Mercury brand, in existence for the past 71 years, will be shuttered at the end of this calendar year. According to Ford, this allows them to enhance the Lincoln brand, with Lincoln-specific powertrains and vehicles, without straining the resources of the Ford brand itself, which has seen major growth in sales, customer satisfaction, and reliability over the past few years. Read on for more details.

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Report suggests Ford planning to shutter Mercury

Published on May 27, 2010 in Industry Update and Manufacturer Update. 0 Comments Tags: close, down, Ford, Mercury, shut, shutter, shuttering, shutting.

Since it’s sales are down 74% since 2000, it’s no surprise that Ford would want to shut down its Mercury brand. Bloomberg has reported that 2 inside sources close to the plan have told them about the probable closing. For some years now, the impression consumers have of Mercury is that its vehicles merely represent another trim level for Fords. In the same vein as what got GM into a lot of trouble, most Mercurys are badge-engineered Fords, with slightly better interiors and some different exterior colors and parts. It’ll be a shame to see such a long-running marque disappear. If it’s shut down, Mercury would join Pontiac, Hummer, Oldsmobile and Saturn in the annals of history, and sales would wind down over the next 4 years or so. Keep your browser tuned here for updates to this story.

by John Suit

Source: Bloomberg

Sales Figures: April, 2010

Published on May 11, 2010 in Industry Update. 2 Comments Tags: 2010, April, Sales, Sales Figures.

The numbers are in, and it was an interesting month. Hyundai, which has seen great improvement in its products in the past couple of years, has been enjoying a meteoric rise, as bigger companies are downsizing (I’m looking at you GM) or getting their reputations hammered in the press (ahem, Toyota). In April, however, Hyundai saw a decline in the number of sales over the previous month. This is most likely due to other manufacturers’ incentives and special financing deals, most of which are being carried over from April into May. Read on for the rest of my analysis.

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Sales Figures: March, 2010

Published on April 9, 2010 in Industry Update. 0 Comments Tags: 2010, march, Sales, Sales Figures.

The numbers are in, and they’re full of surprises. Toyota’s recall fiasco hasn’t hurt sales – in fact, they’re up quite a bit over February. Many automakers’ numbers were up in March, due to heavy incentives and 0% financing. Ford fell to third place in March, lead by GM and Toyota. The interesting thing is that the top 3 automakers in March were almost double the number 4 player, Honda. Nissan, Chrysler and Hyundai followed, and then another significant drop before Volkswagen, which was less than half of Hyundai’s sales.

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Archive for the 'Industry Update' Category

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