Okay, so in all this Toyota stuff, we're not hearing much about Hyundai putting a stop sell order on 2011 Sonata's because of faulty door locks.
And there wasn't a whole lot said when Honda had a problem with electric windows that could catch on fire.
News flash. All products have bugs. Consumers need to get used to the fact that cars have bugs that need to be worked out.
Lets not get all freaked out.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Toying with Toyota
Politics is politics so its not surprising that congressional committee members investigating the Toyota recall tried to make as much political hay as possible on national television during hearings into the way the whole recall situation was handled.
If you read the Sun Sentinel this morning and made to the editorial page, you might have seen a guest column from Ed Sheehy, president of Southeast Toyota and Colin Brown, the top guy at JM Family in which they defended Toyota and the company's actions.
Ed and Colin made good points – this is not a widespread problem and in fact its hard to say for certain if any of the accidents that have been cited as evidence of a problem are indeed the result of acceleration problems.
The preemptive shot was a noble effort but the truth is Toyota should have come out with this stuff weeks ago. At this point, the damage has been done.
Here's what you probably won't hear. There is a lot of political stuff happening here. If this was a GM or Ford product, Congressman Dingle from Michigan would be defending the company left and right, rather than attacking.
Toyota needs to make absolutely certain that the problem with acceleration isn't link to the electronic components and they need ot start rebuilding confidence. Congress, which was pretty silent when drug companies marketed medications that killed hundreds of patients, need to focus on getting some real work done.
If you read the Sun Sentinel this morning and made to the editorial page, you might have seen a guest column from Ed Sheehy, president of Southeast Toyota and Colin Brown, the top guy at JM Family in which they defended Toyota and the company's actions.
Ed and Colin made good points – this is not a widespread problem and in fact its hard to say for certain if any of the accidents that have been cited as evidence of a problem are indeed the result of acceleration problems.
The preemptive shot was a noble effort but the truth is Toyota should have come out with this stuff weeks ago. At this point, the damage has been done.
Here's what you probably won't hear. There is a lot of political stuff happening here. If this was a GM or Ford product, Congressman Dingle from Michigan would be defending the company left and right, rather than attacking.
Toyota needs to make absolutely certain that the problem with acceleration isn't link to the electronic components and they need ot start rebuilding confidence. Congress, which was pretty silent when drug companies marketed medications that killed hundreds of patients, need to focus on getting some real work done.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Stonewall Jackson Jr.?
If you had the opportunity to listen to Mike Jackson at the NADA convention last weekend, then you know he's not only one of the smartest guys in the auto business, but he's also among the most eloquent. Jackson, the head of Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation, has been an outspoken critic of the auto manufacturers' "push" policy. His point is that the manufacturers have been making lots of cars in order to keep factories running efficiently without really worrying about whether those cars sold or not. That lead to dealers holding large inventories, which they had to pay interest on, and it also led to trouble throughout the industry.
Here's perhaps the most interesting thing that Jackson said. It is time, he says, that consumers and retailers start driving the bus. Do the manufacturers of shirts and other garments tell Walmart how to do business? Not on your life. But in the auto business, the 800 pound gorilla is the supplier. Jackson also believes that manufacturers need to be listening to consumers. Dealers, he says, need to be that voice of the consumer.
In one of his more colorful analogies, Jackson pointed out in the past the decisions on what's available have not reflected consumer demand. He compared the process with that of a woman who goes to a dress shop wanting a size 12 and is given a size 8 and a diet book.
Jackson is a powerful voice in the auto industry and dealers should recognize that he is probably their best advocate, even if they're not too excited to have a public company plowing full steam ahead into their industry.
Here's perhaps the most interesting thing that Jackson said. It is time, he says, that consumers and retailers start driving the bus. Do the manufacturers of shirts and other garments tell Walmart how to do business? Not on your life. But in the auto business, the 800 pound gorilla is the supplier. Jackson also believes that manufacturers need to be listening to consumers. Dealers, he says, need to be that voice of the consumer.
In one of his more colorful analogies, Jackson pointed out in the past the decisions on what's available have not reflected consumer demand. He compared the process with that of a woman who goes to a dress shop wanting a size 12 and is given a size 8 and a diet book.
Jackson is a powerful voice in the auto industry and dealers should recognize that he is probably their best advocate, even if they're not too excited to have a public company plowing full steam ahead into their industry.
Eating Crowolla
Okay, so Toyota is finally doing what they should have done a few weeks ago and that is trying to get out in front of the confidence crisis, which really is more of a media event, than a real crisis but that's another story. Frankly, we should be more afraid of cars catching on fire from faulty window switches than we should about gas pedal issues, but that's just one opinion. In any event, now that people are coming out of the woodwork to pile on, there's news that an investigation is under way into Corolla steering issues. Apparently that was enough to get Toyota to take out ads in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Washington Post and the New York Times in which the company promises to learn from its mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes it made was in how it handled the crisis. Toyota did a lousy job of pointing out that it was actually doing the right thing by putting a stop sell order on the vehicles in question and that recalls happen all the time in the car business. The company also did not do dealers any favors by not making it clear that a large number of vehicles among the best selling models - Camrys and Corollas - did not have accelerator problems. My guess is that Toyota had a lot of goodwill capital going into this "crisis" and will survive - to some degree in spite of itself.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Disappearing Dealers
If you drive through South Florida, you might not notice that across the U.S. the automotive retail landscape is shifting.
According to a study by a consulting group that does this stuff, the number of new-car auto dealerships in the U.S. dropped by about 1,600 stores.
What, you hadn't noticed?
Well, part of that may be because there are still 18,841 new car dealerships in the United States. With 11 million cars sold last year in the U.S., that's still an average of close to 600 cars a year being sold per dealership.
Part of the reason for loss of 1,600 dealerships, of course, is the turmoil of U.S. manufacturers such as Chrysler and GM. But lets face it, another reason is that there are just too many doggone dealerships.
Here is South Florida, we're not seeing a bunch of empty dealerships lining Federal Highway. Instead what we're seeing is a little bit of musical chairs, with dealerships changing owners and and in some cases brands.
In the last year, South Florida has seen a Honda dealership and a Toyota store, both struggling to some degree, being taken over by the largest private dealership company in the country. And we're seeing mergers and and changes and big fish gobbling up little fish.
For car buyers, well, the South Florida market - especially when it comes to luxury vehicles - is as competitive as ever. And that's very good news.
According to a study by a consulting group that does this stuff, the number of new-car auto dealerships in the U.S. dropped by about 1,600 stores.
What, you hadn't noticed?
Well, part of that may be because there are still 18,841 new car dealerships in the United States. With 11 million cars sold last year in the U.S., that's still an average of close to 600 cars a year being sold per dealership.
Part of the reason for loss of 1,600 dealerships, of course, is the turmoil of U.S. manufacturers such as Chrysler and GM. But lets face it, another reason is that there are just too many doggone dealerships.
Here is South Florida, we're not seeing a bunch of empty dealerships lining Federal Highway. Instead what we're seeing is a little bit of musical chairs, with dealerships changing owners and and in some cases brands.
In the last year, South Florida has seen a Honda dealership and a Toyota store, both struggling to some degree, being taken over by the largest private dealership company in the country. And we're seeing mergers and and changes and big fish gobbling up little fish.
For car buyers, well, the South Florida market - especially when it comes to luxury vehicles - is as competitive as ever. And that's very good news.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Cars.com Superbowl Ad
Even if you don't like football, you'll want to watch the Superbowl tonight just to see the Cars.com Timothy Richman ad. It is much more sophisticated than anything Cars.com has done in the past and it ties in with the tagline: "With Knowledge Comes Confidence."
Check it out. You'll be glad you did.
Rolling in Relief
While everyone has been talking about Toyota, something much more indicative about the kind of people who run car companies was going unnoticed.
Though Haiti is disappearing from the headlines, trumped by over blown coverage of a Toyota recall that in the overall scheme of things really pales in comparison, car folks have been gathering up trucks and sending them across the Caribbean.
Yesterday, Roger Penske's Penske Corp., pleaded to send a million dollars worth of diesel powered trucks to Haiti via the Clinton Bush fund. Earlier in the week, the General Motors Foundation made an announcement here in South Florida that they would send 30 GMC vehicles to Haiti. And the NADA, National Association of Auto Dealers has been working with dealers to generate a donation of 100 trucks.
Much of this is being done under the radar, which these days seems to be honed in on the recall issue. And my guess is that no one is really bothered by the fact that any positive publicity is overshadowed by the negative. Doing the right thing doesn't always have to have a dollar sign attached.
Though Haiti is disappearing from the headlines, trumped by over blown coverage of a Toyota recall that in the overall scheme of things really pales in comparison, car folks have been gathering up trucks and sending them across the Caribbean.
Yesterday, Roger Penske's Penske Corp., pleaded to send a million dollars worth of diesel powered trucks to Haiti via the Clinton Bush fund. Earlier in the week, the General Motors Foundation made an announcement here in South Florida that they would send 30 GMC vehicles to Haiti. And the NADA, National Association of Auto Dealers has been working with dealers to generate a donation of 100 trucks.
Much of this is being done under the radar, which these days seems to be honed in on the recall issue. And my guess is that no one is really bothered by the fact that any positive publicity is overshadowed by the negative. Doing the right thing doesn't always have to have a dollar sign attached.
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