Automotive News - May 19, 2008 - (Page 6)

6 • MAY 19, 2008 Carlos Ghosn: To boost revenue 5 percent a year through 2012, Nissan will roll out 60 new models in the next five years. Tata enters race for 100-mpg car Leslie J. Allen lallen@crain.com Nissan sees future of electric autos, new markets Hans Greimel hgreimel@crain.com TOKYO — Nissan Motor Co. is embarking on a five-year business plan that emphasizes electric vehicles, cost cutting and emerging markets such as China, Russia and Brazil. The automaker will bring an electric vehicle to California and Japan in 2010 and plans to mass-market it globally in 2012, CEO Carlos Ghosn said. Key to the global strategy will be an ultracheap car for India. At $2,500 wholesale, it will go head to head with the highly anticipated Nano being developed by Tata Motors. Ghosn unveiled the ambitious goals here last week, saying Nissan aims for 5 percent revenue growth on average from 2008 to 2012. To get there, Nissan says it will roll out 60 all-new models in the next five years. The plan is dubbed Nissan GT 2012. The “G” stands for “growth,” and the “T” is for “trust.” GT 2012 differs from earlier revival plans in that it avoids numerical profit targets. The justended Nissan Value-Up initiative missed its goals for sales and return on invested capital. Nissan will focus on developing markets. The company says its current lineup covers only 79 percent of the global auto market. New models will stretch that to 94 percent coverage by 2012. “There is a lot of room for growth,” Ghosn said. Meanwhile, Nissan aims to trim costs several ways. For example, it plans to cut the use of precious metals by 50 percent per car on models it will launch in 2009 and 2010. Ghosn outlined the plan after reporting a 1.8 percent increase in operating profits to ¥790.83 billion ($7.68 billion) for the fiscal year that ended March 31. Sales climbed 3.4 percent to ¥10.82 trillion ($105.04 billion) in the 12 months. Nissan sees sales falling 4.4 percent to in the year ending March 31, 2009.c Tata Motors Ltd. of India has signed on as the first automaker to enter the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition. The privately funded $10 million prize, to be awarded in 2010, will go to teams that develop vehicles that attain at least 100 mpg and win a series of races designed to simulate real-world driving conditions. Vehicles that don’t use gasoline must get the energy equivalent of 100 mpg. Tata joins more than 70 other teams that have signed letters of intent to enter the contest, whose signup deadline is this summer. Other en- trants include Motive Industries, of Canada; Western Washington University; and Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technologies Inc., of Chicago. In addition to meeting the fuel-efficiency mark, vehicles must meet carbon emission limits. Tata’s team plans two entries: a hybrid in the mainstream vehicle category and a pure electric vehicle in the alternative vehicle category. Tata’s tiny Nano is not one of the entries. John Shore, senior director of the Automotive X Prize, told Automotive News the organization doesn’t expect the Detroit automakers to enter until late in the signup process. Shore said vehicles planned or in development — such as the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle, the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid and an electric vehicle from Nissan — would likely qualify for the competition. Winning vehicles must be “production-capable,” Shore said. “It’s not a production car, but it’s not a concept car. It’s not a science experiment. “It has to be designed from the beginning so that it could be produced and sold in quantities of at least 10,000 a year.” It also must meet U.S. safety rules. Four committees will eliminate vehicles that don’t qualify, and then a series of races of 25 to 200 miles will be held in various cities. The first race will be in New York in September 2009. Shore acknowledged that in the automobile business, $10 million is not a big payout. “The value of the prize is not the purse, it’s the publicity,” he said. “It’s all about eyeballs. It’s all about exciting the public. It’s all about trying to help build the market for these vehicles.” The Automotive X Prize is the first car-related project of the X Prize Foundation, of Santa Monica, Calif. The foundation is best known for the Ansari X Prize, awarded in 2004 to Burt Rutan for developing SpaceShipOne, a manned spacecraft that completed two suborbital flights. c VW positions Tiguan as ‘GTI’ of small SUVs Diana T. Kurylko dkurylko@crain.com BOULDER, Colo. — A crippling dollar-euro exchange rate coupled with heavy demand elsewhere in the world has forced Volkswagen to price its new compact SUV at the top of the segment. The 2009 Tiguan SUV that goes on sale this month starts at $23,840, including shipping, for a front-wheeldrive model with a manual transmission. The all-wheel-drive version has a base price of $29,515, including shipping — nearly $1,700 more than a similar version of the segmentleading Honda CR-V. VW expects about 60 percent of Tiguans sold to be awd. And the CR-V doesn’t have many of the features that the Tiguan has as standard equipment, such as electronic stability control. The high price means the Tiguan will be a niche product for VW in the United States with annual sales of 20,000 to 25,000, said Toscan Bennett, vice president of product and marketing strategy. That’s out of the projected annual production of 110,000 units VW plans for the Tiguan worldwide. Tiguan has been on sale in Europe since late last year, and there are waiting lists of several months in many markets. “Clearly, for us to achieve big-volume production, we need to be in a The dollar’s weakness vs. the euro and heavy demand elsewhere have forced VW to price the Tiguan at the top of the compact SUV segment in the U.S. non-European cost base,” Bennett said here at a press event introducing the vehicle. “Tiguan will allow us to establish a foothold in the segment.” Because of the volume and pricing, VW is positioning the Tiguan as the GTI of compact SUVs — on par with its sporty GTI hatchback. Tiguan has the same 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 200 hp as the GTI.c Harley Earl was the daddy of auto design Before Harley Earl, automotive styling was an afterthought. Engineers designed cars — and it showed. Styling was something you wrapped around the innards to keep them out of the rain. Earl was designing custom cars for Hollywood stars before General Motors brought him to Detroit to design a car to fit between Buick and Cadillac. Earl brought forth the 1927 LaSalle, the first production car styled by an honest-to-goodness designer. GM CEO Alfred Sloan liked Earl, and that same year established GM’s Harley Earl helped shape the look of about 50 million GM vehicles and developed design techniques used for 80 years. Art and Colour Section with Earl at the head. GM became the industry’s design leader, and Earl attracted a flock of youthful talent. Some of his recruits flourished at GM, and many went on to make their marks at other auto companies. Bill Mitchell succeeded Earl when he retired in 1959. All told, Earl had a hand in the creation of about 50 million GM vehicles and developed design techniques used for eight decades. For the rest of the story, read Automotive News’ GM 100th anniversary edition, How General Motors Changed the World, on Sept. 15. For information about the special edition, go to www.autonews.com/gm100. Car trouble Lexus truck sales are flat in 2008 (not bad for the year of the great truck plunge), but Lexus cars, such as the LS 460, shown, have taken a beating. CAR NAMEPLATE JAN.-APR. ’08 % CHANGE VS. JAN.-APR. ’07 At Lexus, the sales laggards are cars Sales of Lexus trucks are holding their “Why the luxury SUVs are making sense (for own this year even as the segment is in customers) vs. the cars, I can’t tell you,” said sharp decline. The problem at Lexus is the Irv Miller, Toyota’s vice president of corpocars. rate communications. “I think we have some While the total market for luxury cars is off car lines in the Lexus lineup that are a little 7.2 percent through April, Lexus cars are down tired.” 15.4 percent. Meanwhile, the brand’s trucks All five Lexus cars — the ES, GS, IS and LS are virtually even with last year. sedans and the SC coupe — are down in sales Running the numbers Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales this year. The LS has taken the biggest hit, off U.S.A., said the Lexus car slowdown is “hard to 32.6 percent to 7,914. understand.” “The SC is certainly at the end of its life cycle,” said Miller. “The “The overall luxury market (in) December was red-hot and GS is probably toward the end of its life cycle, and we will probacooled relatively quickly in January, February and March,” he said. bly be freshening.” In fact, if it weren’t for Lexus’ 9.7 percent drop this year, Toyota But the LS 460 is not so old. The current version of the big sedan Motor Sales would be running ahead of 2007 instead of being debuted in the fall of 2006. A midcycle freshening will likely come down 3.3 percent. in the fall of 2009.c ES 20,599 GS 6,138 IS 16,516 LS 7,914 SC 860 Lexus cars 52,027 Total luxury cars 311,936 Source: Lexus, Automotive News Data Center –16.2% –13.6% –1.5% –32.6% –33.6% –15.4% –7.2% http://www.autonews.com/gm100

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - May 19, 2008

Automotive News - May 19, 2008 Ford eyes smaller F-150 cousin Sonic: Mercedes tries to 'extort' store upgrades Chrysler seeks 25% slash in parts prices Dealership managers pushed Chrysler's latest incentive Crain names 4 new VPs Automotive News staffers win Wheel Awards GM will keep cutting sales to fleets GM studies the future of full-sized trucks American Axle plans to expand in Asia At Lexus, the sales laggards are cars VW positions Tiguan as 'GTI' of small SUVs Tata enters race for 100-mpg car Harley Earl was the daddy of auto design Focus will follow Fiesta as a global vehicle Lexus shows how it sweats details Industry slows tide of state CO2 rules Chevy tweaks Cobalt to add fuel economy Be careful; don't do anything dumb Looking ahead to different industry They thought they knew everything Cerberus doesn't belong in autos Dealers as scapegoats Smart, steady growth works best for suppliers Farley's smart to value Ford's heritage Absurd logic in the U.S., cowardice in Germany BMW, Daimler keep a wary eye on U.S. economy James Franey Dealers' approach can lessen pain of staff cuts GM plans to distinguish Opel with image makeover Make or buy? Software can estimate costs for company Honda, Toyota see robots in their futures Bosch aims to lead in hybrids technology King of hearts Clarke aims to get GM back on track in N.A. Fields navigates Ford through 'white water' LaSorda steers Chrysler's global ventures Toyota's Lentz: A crash course in hard times Truck sales fall 13% in April Modine sells Thermacore unit Alcoa to close Mexico plant Toyoda Gosei expands in Mexico Hayes Lemmerz plans to close Georgia factory Japan's sales slide 2% in 1st quarter; output climbs Dealers Hyundai let U.S. direct Sonata freshening After .com and .edu, is it time for .car? Panoramic sunroof of Lincoln MKS boosts Inalfa sales Chrysler hedged gas price bet Smart phones help dealerships retain customers CAW completes pacts with GM, Chrysler early GM, UAW resolve 2 disputes New media buyer for Chrysler Visteon names Stebbins CEO Convertible registrations drop Ferrari: From denial to debut Buildings Porsches in U.S.? Depends whom you ask Toyota will go slow in Tupelo Ghosn is glum on prices, U.S. sales prospects Pischetsrieder has earned a celebratory cigar NHTSA spins VINs, averts meltdown F_RD GU_S WI_ BUI-_KS 50 PEOPLE FOR 50 YEARS Yutaka Katayama Clarence Talley Jim Morton Pete Brock Marvin Runyon Yoshikazu Hanawa Bill Bruce Shin Maki Jack Collins Mitsuya "Scape" Goto Bob Link Soichi Kawazoe Jerry Hirshberg Takashi Ishihara Roy Rogers John Parker Bob Thomas Teruo Uchino Morrie Sage Bob Thomas Nobe Wakatsuki Earl Hesterberg Carlos Ghosn Lee Clow Jerry Benefield Yutaka Kume Doug Betts Tim McCarthy Jed Connelly Atsushi Nakatsuji Dave Hubbard Joe Opre Patrick Pelata Yoshiyuki Kimura Diane Allen Mad Mike Taylor Chuck King Larry Dominique Mark Igo Mitsuhiko Yamashita Shiro Nakamura Tom Mignanelli Dick Roberts William Cushing Emil Hassan Chester Luby Jane Nakagawa Louis Schweitzer MR. K Ray Lemke Richard McCutcheon

Automotive News - May 19, 2008

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