The net income is no longer in red for automotive giants Chrysler and GM who once filed for bankruptcy in 2008. As of April 2010 the total U.S. sales have increased to 12.1% and 2% for GM and Chrysler respectively. Chrysler’s first quarterly report, for the year 2010 shows that the cash flows for the company have turned positive. And, GM posted a net income of $865 million on $31.5 billion in sales.

Both the companies have started to regain their market shares in the automotive market and things are certainly looking bright for them. The use of sales incentives to increase sales has also been reduced. Their cars are now being sold at conventional prices which gives them an opportunity to generate higher profits.

The success story can be attributed to the change in management that both the companies went through, particularly General Motors. Edward E. Whitacre Jr, the new chief executive of GM has done a tremendous job to turn things around. He has brought new lease of life to the company which was on the verge of extinction.

The recovery of these automotive giants is good news for the ailing automotive industry and the U.S. economy as a whole. The U.S. Treasury department expects that it will soon recover the $81 billion that the government invested in the automotive sector. The efforts made by the Obama administration to revive the auto industry are bearing fruit now.

About Auto Relief Group

Auto Relief Group offers Car Loan Modification service, we assist car owners in renegotiating their car loan or lease, avoid repossession and maintain ownership of their vehicle by working directly with lenders to restructure loans, extend terms or reduce payments.

We provide our clients with customized reports, expert advice and negotiation assistance when restructuring their car loans.

Website:  http://www.autoreliefgroup.com

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About the Author

Anthony Giudice is a president and CEO of 5 international companies.

(ArticlesBase SC #2514282)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Chrysler and GM Back on Track

So he reached out to contacts at Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada Inc., and by this January, Saturn of Belleville had become Mitsubishi of Belleville.

“Their reaction when I called was, ‘We’ve been trying to get you for five years,’ ” Mr. Clute recalls. “It was a pretty good marriage from the first phone call.”

Read the Full Article:
The Globe and Mail | Report on Business

With a reputation as the “turnaround expert” at Chrysler Corp. and IBM, Mr. York spent recent years as Mr. Kerkorian’s representative on the GM board, calling for urgent overhaul in “crisis mode”, as reported by the Wall Street Journal in 2006.

Through a spokesperson, Mr. Kerkorian called Mr. York “a unique individual with boundless courage, charisma and intellect, and a deep appreciation of the automotive industry.”

After attending U.S. Military Academy at west Point, Mr. York’s military career was thwarted by a gymnastics injury.  After receiving an engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he took a job with General Motors, where he created patents for carburetor designs, while attaining his MBA attending night classes.

Mr. York was known as an ambitious and hard-working man.  He was hired and worked for Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler after his time with GM.  In 1997 Mr. York was asked to join Apple Computers Inc. board of directors, at the same time Steve Jobs was returning to the (then) struggling company he had helped to build.

Mr. York remained a critic of the Detroit auto makers and their inability to change.  He said Ford should sell its Mercury brand, and gave Chrysler a 50% chance of survival despite its partnership with Fiat SpA.

Representatives of the partnering companies released a statement announcing the association from a hotel in Tokyo.  The association includes roughly 160 businesses, and government organizations.

According to Nissan’s Chief Operating Officer:  “Automakers are competing in many aspects, but the entire industry needs to come together and offer convenience for our customers,”

Nissan’s electric car, “The Leaf” is planning to start selling in limited numbers later this year, and Mitsubishi and Fuji Heavy already have electric vehicles on the market.

General Motors is pinning its future in part on its all new, Chevy Volt, a fully electric vehicle that is slated to be in dealer showrooms by the end of the year.

The association includes such members as French car-maker PSA, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., a large electricity producer in California, Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. and KDDI Corp., a major Japan telecommunications company.

The association is called “CHAdeMo” which comes from the words “charge” and “move,”.

Advertising is about shaping expectations.

Advertising is all about shaping expectations, and supporting them before and after a transaction.  How often do you make a significant purchase and then check every ad you can lay your hands on to see if you got a good deal or not?  It could be a recently purchased wide-screen television or a new front-load washing machine.  If you find the same model for less money advertised by another store, you feel that perhaps you rushed your purchase or you didn’t negotiate hard enough.  If you see that the price you paid is lower than anyone else’s advertised price, you feel the value of your purchase is reinforced.  The result is that you feel more confidence in shopping at that same store in the future.  They offered you good value and you feel good about your decision.

Advertising is about reinforcing value.

Most people would point to the spot that runs during the breaks of your favourite television programs.  It is your favourite TV commercial that shows off new products, informs us about a sale, or how to find the nearest store.  And those people would be absolutely correct.  However, advertising is much, much more than just that.  You have to think of it in broader terms for your own business.  For instance, your service shuttle or parts truck is also your advertising.  It is also how your shuttle driver conducts himself (or herself) in front of your customers or the driving habits of your parts truck driver on the public roadways.  These vehicles are rolling billboards for your business, and if the person at the wheel exhibits some less-than-courteous driving habits it reflects on your business.  Those actions are also advertising.  People will form opinions about you and your business based on what they see.  What you chose to tell them through paid media versus what they gather about you in the course of an average day all adds up positively, or adds up negatively. It can be as simple as what you allow your sales people wear, or how neat and tidy the showroom is kept.   It is a big mistake these days to think that you can say one thing in advertising and not bother trying to deliver on the promise in person.  Small things add up to big things.  They all lead to deeply held opinions that are not easily changed once they are formed.

What about Social Media?  Beware the Vikings!

First of all, social media is exactly what the name implies.  It allows everyday people to interact with each other on-line.  Think of the users on Twitter, facebook, MySpace…etc.  Each site gives a single individual the ability to reach a lot of people without incurring significant expense.  All this ‘free’ communication can have an impact on any business.  Never underestimate the power of an individual with the skills to engage in social media mass communication.  They can support your business or they can tell everyone about a bad experience which can hurt your business.  I can’t help but shake my head when I read about incidents where a small customer service issue has turned into a large social media campaign by some unhappy consumer.

Recently, I watched a home-made video on line that featured a young lady wearing a Viking helmet playing a guitar.  She had produced this video to help draw attention to her problem with a vehicle.  Not only did she sing about how unhappy she was with her car built in Sweden, she sang the entire song in SWEDISH!  Through the lyrics of the song, she documented every unhappy service discussion, unfulfilled promise and non-yielding customer service policy she encountered.  While it was very engaging and quite funny, it also got some senior level attention at the automaker’s head office in North America.  They needed to act quickly to take care of her concerns and put an end to her entertaining but damaging campaign.  This story illustrates a hard lesson about social media.  While we all know that you cannot please every customer, you also need to have some reasonable and detailed customer service policies in place to quickly handle issues like these.  The issue here was allowed to escalate several times without being resolved.  The lack of resolution then gives permission for someone to take matters into their own hands to try and force a resolution by going ‘public’.  Social media is the fastest way to make an issue public.  The simple answer is to resolve every issue as quickly as you can with a clear logical policy that everyone in your business understands and follows.  No one wants to see their business mocked in some way on a social media site, no matter how funny it is.

My Advice: Take Stock

1. Take a close look at every aspect of your business that touches customers directly.   From the physical showroom to the printed materials you use to conduct business.  They all have advertising impact. 
2. Ensure what you say in paid advertising is reflected by your staff and your store.
3. Need inspiration?  Go for a coffee!

Ignition Brand Marketing

Ignition Brand Marketing helps automotive clients efficiently align brand messaging with retail activities with useful, proven and practical strategies. President and Founder, Doug Pearn brings over 17 years of successful automotive brand and retail advertising experience that can make a real difference in your business. You can contact Doug at 416-648-9655 email at : djpearn@rogers.com or visit our website:www.ignitionbrandmarketing.com

Doug Pearn,
President and Founder,
Ignition Brand Marketing

OPENLANE, Inc., a leading online auction company in North America for automotive dealers to buy and sell wholesale vehicles, has partnered with Carfax so that dealers can quickly and easily check a vehicle’s history before they purchase cars on OPENLANE’s open auction site. Dealers have one-click access to both Carfax Auction Quick Check and Carfax Vehicle History Reports directly through OPENLANE’s site.

“There are so many steps involved when purchasing a car and the more information that the buying dealer can access about the vehicle prior to purchasing it, the better,” said Daniel Farrar, CEO of OPENLANE. “By providing our entire dealer base, both franchise and independent, the ability to access Carfax Vehicle History Reports, we are providing dealers with access to more information about the vehicles and helping to make the entire transaction process even more seamless and efficient.”

Readily-available vehicle history information from Carfax through OPENLANE helps buyers at auction ensure they stock the right cars for their inventory and pay the right price. Carfax Auction Quick Check contains information that helps dealers make more informed purchases, such as branded titles, reported accidents, ownership history and more.

“There are many factors that we consider before putting any car on our lot – vehicle history is paramount,” said Geoff Bedine, Group 1 Automotive, Director of Used Vehicle Operations. “Having access to Carfax information through the OPENLANE Open Auction is a tremendous benefit that streamlines our auction buying process. Carfax Auction Quick Check helps us pinpoint the vehicles our customers want and cherry-pick the best of the best.”

About OPENLANE

OPENLANE, Inc. is a leading online auction company in North America for automotive dealers to buy and sell wholesale vehicles.  The company offers end-to-end auto remarketing solutions to auto manufacturers, captive finance companies, lease and daily rental companies, financial institutions and wholesale auto auctions throughout the United States and Canada.  OPENLANE powers online remarketing programs for American Honda Finance, Audi Financial Services, Avis Budget Group, Chase Auto Finance, Chrysler Financial, Porsche Financial Services, Volkswagen Credit, among others.  For more information, please visit www.openlane.com or call +1 (866) 969-0321.

About Carfax (www.carfax.com)

Millions of used car buyers and sellers each year rely on CARFAX, the most trusted provider of vehicle history information. Using the unique 17-character vehicle identification number (VIN) found on vehicle dashboards and title documents, CARFAX instantly generates a detailed Vehicle History Report on any used car or light truck. CARFAX Vehicle History Reports™ provide valuable information that helps used car buyers and sellers make better decisions. For more information or to become a CARFAX subscriber, visit www.CARFAXonline.com.

Reynolds and Reynolds announced today the company has extended its relationship with BMW Group Canada as the exclusive provider of dealership management systems (DMS) and related products and services to all BMW and MINI automotive retailers across Canada. Reynolds first entered into an exclusive agreement with BMW Canada in 2001. Currently, BMW Canada serves 40 BMW retailers and 26 MINI retailers across the country.

“The entire Reynolds Canada team is extremely proud of this relationship and the opportunities we have to contribute to the success of BMW in Canada,” said Alain Sabbah, vice president of Sales for Reynolds and Reynolds Canada. “Especially as the industry recovers from the recent downturn, we expect to build on this foundation as we continue to help BMW and MINI retailers in Canada serve their customers more effectively and profitably.”

Under the agreement, BMW Group Canada will continue to offer the Reynolds ERA® DMS exclusively to all its BMW and MINI retailers. BMW and MINI retailers also will have access to a dedicated, toll-free support number at the Reynolds Technical Assistance Center, a dedicated support team, and comprehensive reporting from the DMS of activity across the entire retail network.

Sabbah added that BMW Canada continues to lead as one of the most integrated OEM’s in Canada and has used the ERA system to create highly streamlined retailer-to-manufacturer communications in the Canadian market. “We’re pleased to have played a role with BMW in reaching this level of integration, which yields real benefits for BMW, their retailers, and BMW customers. We look forward to working with BMW to help sustain this leadership.”

Reynolds and Reynolds continues to be the only DMS provider in Canada with exclusive OEM partnerships.

About Reynolds

Reynolds and Reynolds is the automotive industry’s largest and most trusted provider of automobile dealership software, services, and forms to help dealerships improve business results.  In Canada, Reynolds is the dealership management system market leader and has operations in Mississauga, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec. The company has operated continuously in the Canadian market for more than 45 years. Reynolds and Reynolds is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, with other major U.S. operations in Houston and College Station, Texas, and Celina, Ohio. (www.reyrey.com)

Since the economy began its downward spiral into recession in early 2008, we have seen changes in consumer behaviors and habits. Studies have shown that mindsets have shifted and that the current consumer is a very different person than the consumer of several years ago. Many marketing research services have begun to create their own surveys and reports to gain insight into this new consumer that we are dealing with today.

What most marketing research services begin with is an analysis of consumer behaviors – what are the top drivers of purchase decision making? Are people considering their purchase decisions with more thought to the future consequences? What are people buying more of? Less of? These questions and more can produce an effective study with meaningful results.

So far, various market research services have discovered that durability is a key propeller of consumers’ purchase decision making. This suggests that consumers are looking to the future and considering the long term implications to their current purchasing actions. It means that consumers believe the economic recession is here to stay, at least for a while. Consumers expect spending levels to remain at these reduced levels indefinitely, and they are making their decisions accordingly. A study that questioned consumers regarding their top reasons for buying a product produced the following results: the top three reasons for buying a product are 1) it is durable and will last for a long time; 2) the product will make the consumer’s life easier; and 3) it is something the consumer has always wanted to have.

In another study by a marketing research services company, questions deconstructed what purchases and experiences people miss the most since the economic downturn. The questions posed elicited four main responses: 1) 24 of respondents said they miss dining out in restaurants (including fast food restaurants); 2) 15 said they miss traveling and taking vacations; 3) 14 said they miss buying apparel (clothes and shoes) that they used to purchase; and 4) 10 said they miss the ability to buy something on a whim, and the freedom to buy whatever they want without having to worry about the future. Sentiments like these will likely lead to an increasing desire for these more luxury items and behaviors, and eventually will bring forth increased spending. It is uncertain when this increased spending will begin, but it is clear that it will happen eventually.

Market research services have pressed consumers for more information regarding their opinions of luxury goods. We’ve found that after consumers made attempts to forgo luxury items, they realized that it is not too difficult to go without these goods; many consumers say now that their current budgets reflect the fact that luxury items seem unnecessary to them now. Out of people who declared that they are on a permanently stricter budget with respect to luxury goods, 42 of them said the reason is because they no longer feel a need to have these luxury items.

In fact, the definition of luxury seems to have changed. In one market research services study, consumers declared that small splurges are now luxuries to them: they feel guilt over eating out (even if it’s inexpensive) or buying an item at full price. In the past, luxury items were more extravagant: expensive cars, high tech electronics, and fancy clothes. Consumers indicate that they, in fact, do not want to be associated with these big ticket displays of wealth.

The recession has brought about a fundamental shift in the way people view happiness. Consumers now say that the things they want most in life are not material, but emotional. People want to be happy and spend time with family and friends. One survey reveals that the top indicators of success (according to the consumers surveyed) are 1) being able to have dinner with family often; and 2) being able to exercise every day.

From these survey results and from the current state of the economy, it is clear that the current American consumer is very different now than he or she was several years ago. As the definition of luxury changes, producers must adapt their products and marketing strategies to fit the current spending conditions. In the next few months and years we will experience changes (some lasting, some temporary) in the market and economy. As these changes evolve, market research will be crucial to determining successful strategies for producers.

Author Resource:
Rachel Bonsignore is Associate Director of The Omnibus Company.

Article From Base Articles

The Geneva Motor Show has indicated that there is a strong interest for the greener cars across the Globe. Almost all the companies are gearing towards a green future. While Toyota is ahead in the race with the Prius being already successfully marketed, Chevrolet is catching up with Volt and Nissan is all set to launch Leaf.

From the initial results of Toyota’s Prius sales, it is clear the consumers are willing to lap up the hybrids. Nissan has been so successful in creating a buzz for the ‘Leaf’ that people are really anxious to have a ‘Leaf’ as a prized electric car possession. Infact, things seem to point towards a greener future for the cars.

However, the question behind all this glitz and glamour of new product launches for hybrid and electric vehicles is whether or not we are geared towards attaining green and electric environment? There are a few concerns on the way. Like the question that are we really so sure that the batteries that will drive electric cars won’t have any implicit or explicit impact on the environment? Or better still, who will be offering the batteries to provide a decent mileage on a full recharge of the battery? Or, who will fund the building of electric charging stations across streets and towns? Infact, there are more unanswered questions than the ones that have any concrete answer.

As of now, anything that does not have a gas engine seems to be mistaken as a greener alternative. Compared to the present day CO2 emission ridden automotive technology, the hybrids and electric cars seem to have been given a clean chit as far as environment is concerned. Nobody seems to be interested in thinking about common sense questions that are going to decide whether these cars will be eventually adopted for use by consumers.

And if the consumers were to adopt the hybrids globally, whether the cars will be adopted at the level of Lexus sales in the US or at the level of a normal and compact small car that is driven by majority population.

In the first instance, we need to understand whether automobile manufacturers would be able to deliver commercially viable hybrid vehicles. And they need to do so consistently. So, we are looking at a uniform supply of hybrids year after year. And on a similar basis, we are looking at consistent maintenance for these cars year on year.Are the manufacturers ok with this?

Next, we need to ask the source of batteries that will power the hybrids and electric cars. Current research and technology does not allow a very high mileage on a full recharge of the batteries. Furthermore, the weight of the batteries and number of units that will be used to power up these cars needs to be brought down for a mass scale adoption of hybrids.

And then you need to consider the massive investment that needs to be made in creating docking stations for charging electric vehicles in towns. While the Governments have shown initial interests in putting in the investments to build charging stations, there are other operational and maintenance issues that need to be taken care of.

Finally, if the hybrids and electric cars were to remain within the realms of a few towns and States in the US and a few countries in the European market then the cars would qualify to be called electric gadgets rather than mass market products that can drive people in the West and across the Globe.

Effective green technology needs to be able to produce products that are mass market and not niche dominated. While there is a clear fad for hybrids and electric vehicles as of now, next couple of years will throw in the pointers if the hybrid technology is able to deliver on what is promised – A Green & Clean Environment across the Globe. Until then, we will continue to see a surge in scores of new vehicle launch ceremonies at motor shows across the Globe.

Author Resource:-> Rob May is an automotive writer with a clear interest in the automotive industry.

Article From Base Articles

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