Automotive News - November 3, 2008 - (Page 6)

6 • NOVEMBER 3, 2008 Winterkorn: Audi needs to build in U.S. April Wortham awortham@crain.com WOLFSBURG, Germany — Audi must build vehicles in America to reach its goal of more than doubling U.S. sales by 2015, says Volkswagen group CEO Martin Winterkorn. The questions: What vehicle? Where? “Perhaps in Chattanooga, but we have no decision yet,” Winterkorn told VW’s Martin Winterkorn: The decision comes down to product. “They should have the right product for the market.” Automotive News at a reception for Tennessee officials here last month. Volkswagen AG, the parent company of the Audi and VW brands, is building a $1 billion factory in Chattanooga. When the Tennessee factory opens in early 2011, it will produce up to 150,000 vehicles a year, all of them VW mid-sized sedans. The company plans to expand that capacity to 250,000, leaving the door open for Audi. “We have very precise, definite concepts of where to expand and how to expand the paint shop, how to expand the final assembly, how to expand the body shop,” Jochem Heizmann, VW group board of management member in charge of production, said at a related event in Berlin. “There is a possibility to build Audi cars at this plant as well.” Audi expects to decide whether, if not where, to build vehicles in the United States sometime in 2009. Winterkorn said the decision comes down to product. “They should have the right product for the market,” he said. That also drove VW’s decision to build in Tennessee. Said Winterkorn: “The new midsized car which we want to build in America, we want only to sell in America.” c Brown: Delphi technology chief Martens: Lightvehicle boss Reynolds bolsters document business Ralph Kisiel rkisiel@crain.com Supplier execs join innovation panel at congress Andrew Brown, chief technologist at Delphi Corp., and Phil Martens, president of the light-vehicle systems group at ArvinMeritor Inc., will join a roundtable discussion on the role of innovation in auto industry sustainability. The panel will meet Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 20, at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit. Martens, 48, oversees ArvinMeritor’s passenger-vehicle business. Under his leadership, the business group has gone from supplying lightvehicle parts to supplying integrated systems. Martens joined ArvinMeritor in September 2006 after 18 years in leadership positions at Ford Motor Co., where he rose to become the top product development executive at age 42. Brown, 59, provides leadership on corporate innovation and technology issues for Delphi. He also represents Delphi globally with government and regulatory agencies, customers, alliance partners, suppliers, contracting agencies and academia. Brown came to Delphi in 1995 from the GM Research and Development Center in suburban Detroit, where he was director of strategic futures. He also was a manager of Saturn car facilities. Brown was on Saturn’s site selection team and was responsible for the conceptual design and engineering of Saturn’s Spring Hill, Tenn., plant. Brown began his GM career as a project engineer in manufacturing development in 1973. c The Mini E, which has a lithium ion battery that powers an electric motor, debuts this month at the Los Angeles auto show as a concept car. Mini wants its test drivers to begin taking delivery of their vehicles in January. Quietly, Mini seeks 500 drivers to lease electric car for a year Diana T. Kurylko dkurylko@crain.com Mini is recruiting 500 drivers in California, New York and New Jersey to lease its electric car for a year. In the two weeks that MiniUSA.com has been offering a peek at the Mini E, 9,500 people have signed up for more information, says Trudy Hardy, Mini USA’s manager of marketing communications. Although the Mini E will take over the site in mid-November, marketing will still be low-key because “we don’t want to turn too many people away,” Hardy says. The Mini E debuts this month at the Los Angeles auto show as a concept car. It’s part of BMW AG’s Project i, an initiative to develop a low-emissions city car that could become a fourth brand. BMW is noncommittal about whether the E concept will become a production vehicle. Formal applications for the Mini E will be taken for three to four weeks starting in mid-November, and delivery of the car starts in January, Hardy says. BMW wouldn’t disclose the monthly lease payment, but a spokeswoman said it will be more than $500. The lease will include all maintenance and replacement of parts. Because the car will require special technicians, BMW decided to focus on just three states. Eight dealers on each coast will service the electrical components. The Mini E is based on the current two-seat, three-door hatchback car. The E has a lithium ion battery powering an electric motor with 204 hp that takes 23.6 hours to charge at 110 volts — and 4.4 hours on 240 volts, which is used in Europe and elsewhere in the world. BMW is talking with two utility companies on both coasts to help with the test program, says Ian Robertson, BMW board member for sales and marketing. Speed on the Mini E is limited to 95 mph. The car’s range on one charge is 160 miles. c Reynolds and Reynolds Co. has acquired DiversiForm Inc., a Beaverton, Ore., business that provides printed forms and labels to dealerships. Reynolds, a Dayton, Ohio, supplier of dealership management systems, has a documents business. The acquisition of DiversiForm last month will complement what Reynolds already offers dealers, Reynolds spokesman Tom Schwartz says. “It’s a positive thing for us and our customers and Reynolds and Reynolds,” says DiversiForm owner Dick Ipsen. “It’s a good fit, so that’s all I can say.” He referred other questions to Reynolds. Reynolds, a private company, did not reveal details of the acquisition. DiversiForm offers service reminder letters and postcards, e-mail marketing, survey reply cards, live and automated customer phone calls, service dispatch tags with advertisements, service reminder window labels in various formats and used-car buyer guides that seal all four sides of the form to the window. While dealerships are using more digital forms today, printed documents are still an important dealership purchase. For example, Volkswagen Credit Inc. just adopted Reynolds’ Universal Retail Sale Contract for use in its consumer financing business, replacing its own proprietary form. More than 900 Volkswagen, Audi and Bentley dealerships in the United States now will use the Reynolds form as part of their regular Volkswagen Credit financing process. c The great revenue drop of 2008 It has been a truly lousy tail price for the month was year for the auto industry, down a whopping 7.8 perbut you knew that. Still, let’s cent compared with Octoplumb the depths of the 2008 ber 2007, to $26,089. For the downturn a little further. year to date, the average Consider that even with transaction price is down Running the numbers this year’s shockingly steep 3.6 percent to $26,421. decline in unit sales, the “There is a threefold plunge in industrywide revenue is even worse. headwind impacting revenues,” said Power anThat’s because vehicle transaction prices, year alyst Tom Libby. “One is the decline in unit on year, have fallen for 10 straight months. Be- sales, the second is the softening in prices due fore that, the Power Information Network says, to lower demand, and the third is the change in prices rose for 44 consecutive months — from mix toward smaller and less expensive vehicles. May 2004 through December 2007. “Some people tend to concentrate just on the And the tailspin in transaction prices keeps unit sales decline, but the other two issues are getting worse. Though Oct. 26, the average re- substantial ones right now.” c Plunging prices After rising for 44 consecutive months, retail vehicle transaction prices, year on year, began falling in January. For the year to date, the average transaction price is down 3.6% to $26,421. JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT.* Key facts When: Jan. 19-22 Where: Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center Cost: $1,495 early registration fee by Dec. 1 (save $200); daily fee $850 Information: 313-446-0485 or autonews.com/worldcongress Exclusive lead sponsors: PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM 0 -1% -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 *Through Oct. 26 Source: Power Information Network Change from previous year -7 -8 http://www.MiniUSA.com http://www.autonews.com/worldcongress http://www.autonews.com/worldcongress

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - November 3, 2008

Credit? Come and get it, industry groups say GM's product delays signal dire health Ford sticks with small-car plans Mitsubishi CEO: Let's halt Galant production in U.S. A dealer â and his reputation â on the ballot Help vehicles shed pounds American Axle posts loss UAW hires bailout adviser Ford to spend $200 million to upgrade 2 Ky. plants No off-lease cars? Certified will find others Arlena Sawyers China's stock market plunge has spooked car shoppers Advantage, Ford: Mulally likes owning Ford Credit Supplier execs join innovation panel at congress Quietly, Mini seeks 500 drivers to lease electric car for a year Reynolds bolsters document business Winterkorn: Audi needs to build in U.S. The great revenue drop of 2008 Bidders bet they can rebuild Heard 1 size fits all NADA: Give us tax incentives, dealer loan guarantees Campaigns' climate, energy plans hit economic wall Detroit 3 need and deserve U.S. help now Chrysler needs a buyer, but not GM Dealers pay fair share of taxes Washington hurts, not helps, electrics Compressed natural gas is the best fuel New ads aim to raise Suzuki's low profile Suzuki's new ad strategist: This brand has soul Fuel efficiency is coming â it just takes time Electrics edge closer by 2010 Tougher CAFE standards loom R&d chiefs shift gears for an electric future Japan carmakers lead charge into electrics Buffett backs BYD's sketchy plan for U.S. electric car Q&A: BYD envisions 2010 exports to U.S., Europe Girding the power grid for an electric fleet Hype powers plug-in vehicles Coachbuilders see salvation in electric cars Electric vehicles are charging into Europe Expect stop-start's big start to arrive in 2010 Flexibility will help Honda survive the storm Nardelli: Bailout not perfect â but needed Audi goes high-tech to boost service Acura offers quick service to win business Toyota's fashion fan Picture this Hondaâs N.A. operating profit falls 80.6% in quarter Aug. RV shipments fall 44% VW drops hints about car for new Tenn. plant Mexico sales fall 10.7% in September Honda to boost CR-V, end Civic output in Ohio Ford and GM jockey for steel discounts Dealers Ford Credit seeks to tap $700 billion package GM will end a used-car incentive early Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda recast fiscal 2009 forecasts Metaldyne to bondholders: Take 30% or Chap. 11 looms Detroit 3 ties hurt profits of dealer groups GM takeover would eviscerate Chrysler ranks, model lineup Mitsubishi plans electric hauler To match Toyota, Nissan offers 0% loans Sticker, sticker at the mall, what's the cheapest of them all? The Versa Waiting is what it's all about, Alfa Buy Chrysler? GM should sell Buick to SAIC Pickups pumped up by pump price plunge Chrysler hybrids, we hardly new ye Ghosn: Your best partner is a president in your pocket Sonic wins, but Mercedes wants last word

Automotive News - November 3, 2008

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