Archive for February, 2010

CAR MAKING ACCELERATES 65% IN YEAR

Scrappage sparks sales boost

Car production has soared by 64.8% over the last year – the largest increase since May 1976.

A total of 101,190 cars were made last month alone, up from 85,316 in December.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said production of vans and lorries was also up 9.6% on January 2009.

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Toyota recall crisis is threat to ‘whole car industry’

Toyota‘s recall crisis has wiped more than 10pc off the value of the company’s brand and could damage the reputation of Japanese car makers for a generation, one of the world’s leading brand experts has warned.

The verdict comes with the crisis on the brink of being exacerbated by recalls of the Prius hybrid and high-end Lexus marque, two of Toyota ‘s proudest names.

Brand Finance, which publishes an influential ranking of leading brands, said Toyota’s poor handling of the crisis meant it was downgrading the brand from AAA rating and a value of $27bn (£15.4bn), to an A rating and $24bn.

Toyota’s brand had been the most valuable in the car industry, according to David Haigh, the chief executive of Brand Finance, but faces “terminal damage” unless the company improves the way it has handled the recall of more than 8m cars.

He added: “The inept way Akio Toyoda and his management team have handled the recent crisis has massively damaged the brand. Machiavelli once said the ‘Good news should come out slowly but bad news should come out at once.’ Toyota has dribbled out the bad news over a month.”

The chief financial officer of Toyota’s Japanese rival Honda waded into the turmoil on Monday, claiming the image of all car makers was threatened by the recall.

“I think we should see this Toyota problem from a broader viewpoint,” Yoichi Hojo told the Wall Street Journal. “If customers start to harbour doubts, that would be problem for the whole industry.”

Toyota cars are being recalled worldwide, including 180,000 in the UK, because of problems with sticking accelerator pedals on a selection of its models.

A potential recall of the Prius because of a potential problem with the braking system could affect 300,000 vehicles. Reports in Japan said on Monday that the recall will be on models sold between last May and January in Japan and the US.

Toyota has insisted it is still investigating the possibility of a problem on the hybrid Prius, after Mr Toyoda, speaking for the first time since the crisis began, said last Friday that he had ordered an examination of the car and that an announcement was imminent.

It is also thought Mr Toyoda may order a recall of the Lexus HS250h, which is not yet on sale in the UK but has sold more than 15,000 units in Japan and the US. Lexus has not been part of the recall so far but there are concerns that the HS250h may, like the Prius, have a software fault that causes problems with the brakes on bumpy or low-grip surfaces.

US authorities are investigating the brake issues and Yoshimi Inaba, chief executive of Toyota Motor North America, will face questioning from a Congressional committee this week. There are thought to have been 124 complaints in the US about the Prius braking system.
Sourced via telegraph.co.uk

British Motor Industry’s Setting Sons

The British motor car industry looks decidedly less British these days, with the announcement last month that Jaguar Land Rover’s British chief executive, David Smith, was being replaced by an executive from India.

Mr. Smith was replaced by Ravi Kant, the managing director of Tata Motors. Tata, the Indian automaker, bought Jaguar in 2008 from the Ford Motor Company; Mr. Smith had been appointed by Tata to run the company when it took over ownership.

Observers of Britain’s motor trade are now hard-pressed to find many Brits who are actually minding a store.

Two weeks ago, BMW announced that the chief executive of its Rolls-Royce division, Tom Purves, was retiring as of March 1 and being replaced by a BMW executive from Germany. Mr. Purves, a Scotsman, began his career with Rolls-Royce as an apprentice in 1966.

His replacement, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, had propelled his rise through BMW’s management hierarchy with his stint running another quintessentially British brand, Mini.

Meanwhile, the chairman and chief executive of Bentley Motors since 2002 has been Franz-Josef Paefgen, a German executive from Bentley’s parent, Volkswagen. Mr. Paefgen also is in charge of Bugatti.

Chronic back pain forced Mike Kimberley to retire last year as chief executive of Lotus Cars. Lotus, controlled by Proton, a Malaysian company since 1996, named Dany T. Bahar, a Swiss national, to replace him.

One bit of continuity, however, remains at Morgan Motor Company, where Charles Morgan, grandson of the company’s founder, H.F.S. Morgan, remains at the helm.

The highest-ranking Brit among the major automakers these days is Ian Robertson, a member of BMW’s board. He is also chairman of Rolls-Royce and oversees the Mini brand through his role as head of the German automaker’s sales and marketing arm.

New MÉGANE COUPÉ-CABRIOLET

New Mégane Coupé-Cabriolet rounds off the renewal of the New Mégane family in style with introduction of the line-up’s sixth body type. The newcomer’s striking looks combine the elegance of a coupé with the promise of the thrills that go hand-in-hand with driving a cabriolet.

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