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Cash for clunkers helps truck sales

admin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:05:22 +0000

Pickups and sport utility vehicles were big sellers under the “cash for clunkers” program, despite the federal government’s focus on replacing gas guzzlers with more fuel-efficient cars.

Data released late last week by the Department of Transportation shows that tens of thousands of trucks, minivans and SUVs with relatively low gas mileage were among the nearly 700,000 vehicles sold under the program in late July and August. It even included a handful of Hummers, a hulking vehicle not usually associated with fuel economy.

A major goal of “cash for clunkers” was to remove older and polluting vehicles from the road. To cash in on rebates of $3,500 to $4,500, car buyers had to buy new vehicles with better gas mileage than their trade-ins that were scrapped by dealers. For passenger cars, that difference had to be at least 4 mpg. But for buyers of SUVs, pickups and minivans, that difference had to be only 2 mpg.

That meant buyers trading in vehicles that dated to the mid-1980s, well before manufacturers put a priority on fuel economy, could qualify for the credits while buying trucks and SUVs that get less than 20 mpg.

The data was the first account of all the new cars sold through the program — prior to last week, the government had only released a list of top-10 sellers, which was loaded with smaller vehicles with higher gas mileage like the Toyota Corolla and the Ford Focus.

The Corolla was the top-selling new vehicle, with 29,488 sales. It was followed by the Honda Civic with 28,456, the Toyota Camry with 27,137 and the Ford Focus with 22,388.

But some crossovers and pickups were also among the best-selling vehicles in the program when different versions of the vehicle were accounted for. The government’s analysis had considered two-wheel and four-wheel versions of a car or truck to be a different vehicle.

The Ford Escape, for example, can be purchased with four-wheel or front-wheel drive, as a hybrid version or with an engine capable of running on flexible fuel such as E85 ethanol.

All told, Ford sold 21,894 Escapes through the program, the fifth-most in the program. Honda sold 20,106 versions of the CR-V crossover — more than half of the CR-Vs were 2009 four-wheel-drive models.

“Cash for clunkers” sales included 16,330 Chevrolet Silverado pickups when all models were taken into account.

Ford, meanwhile, sold 16,263 F-150 pickups, which come equipped with multiple engine assortments.

The Toyota Prius, meanwhile, a poster child for fuel efficiency, sold 15,013 vehicles through the program, fewer than the Nissan Altima, Honda Accord and Toyota RAV4.

Acadia Denali alive!

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:23:42 +0000

GMC will soon introduce an ultra-lux version of the Acadia under the Denali tag, GMC Communications Group Manager Dayna Hart announced on her Twitter page. The announcement hardly comes as a surprise, although the method in which the announcement was made public only further illustrates that automakers have been abandoning traditional public relations methods for releasing new product news.

GMC hasn’t officially released any details on the Acadia Denali, though it’s not hard to surmise that it will take some of the features from the Buick Enclave and apply them to the strong-selling Acadia. GMC has used the Denali tag line on two other SUVs, the Yukon Denali and Envoy Denali, to denote a range-topping content level.

It’s unknown whether the Acadia Denali will feature any additional underhood motivation beyond the 288-horsepower V6 currently offered.

Audi Q7 PPI Ice, 600hp 4.2 Twin Turbo

thetruth — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:06:55 +0000

To be honest, this is the first time, I’ve heard of the tuner PPI, out of Germany. They have taken the Q7 Audi and made it something right out of the RS catalog.

The 4.2 liter motor has been massaged and fitted with a pair of turbos to produce 600hp with a top speed of 295km/h. Not too shabby for an SUV.

Bigger brakes, 22″ rims and Michelin sport tires rated to 310km/h have also been added to the mix. Altho I’m not sure how much it costs, 0-100km/h times of 5.9s make it very tempting to add to the garage.

to discuss variations, log onto www.AudiForum.ca

Tata to buy Hummer?

thetruth — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:20:29 +0000

Word around Detroit is that GM would love to offload Hummer, it’s gas guzzler brand. Numbers thrown around are in the 500-700 million dollar range, but whose counting? Some think, since the Hummer is still a very popular brand in Russia, it might be good enough to be brought up by the same gentleman that bought a portion of Magna last year.
Of course, lets not count out Mahindra Mahindra, who is already in the business of SUV’s so this would be a deal more along the lines of it then Tata. Lets look at Tata. Has anyone heard of Tata prior to their announcement of making an extra small car that was to retail for $2500? Didn’t think so. So what is the logic behind it to buy Hummer, which is on exactly the opposite end of the spectrum. Luxurious and expensive. Time will tell, but it should be an interesting summer…