Axis Autos

The General Motors Company made an unprecedented move by offering free auto insurance to customers in two states. Of course, it is too early to see if GM will expand the incentive nationwide. One of the main deterrents that new car shoppers face is the high costs associated with insuring new vehicles. Most states and finance companies require comprehensive coverage, which is why GM has targeted two states in particular – Washington and Oregon. These two states only require motorists to carry liability and physical damages policies on their vehicles, which will make it cheaper for GM to offer coverage to these consumers.

Participants will need to meet several criteria. First, they will need to be residents of either Oregon or Washington states. They will also need to purchase a new GMC, Cadillac, Chevrolet, or Buick that was manufactured between 2010 and 2012. Customers will need to agree to be covered by the MetLife insurance company, and they will also need to possess a valid license. There’s a lot of stipulations, but what other auto manufacturer is offering free car insurance to any of its customers?

The offer is only valid until September 6th of this year, but if GM profits substantially increase, there is a good chance that they will run the same promotion again in the future on a national level. Consumers that are looking to purchase a new vehicle in the Washington or Oregon just might want to check out the new models available on the showrooms of GM authorized dealers.

Stock prices for Sirius XM are barely over the $2 mark, but the satellite radio company believes that it can become profitable again through used car sales. GM and Sirius XM have teamed up to give previously owned car buyers a great promotion. For three months, all cars purchased from authorized GM dealerships will be listen to Sirius XM radio for free. This offer has been extended to all vehicle sold from GM lots, even vehicles that have been manufactured by other companies.

The truly strange thing about Sirius XM’s lack of success is the fact that there are no other competing satellite radio companies. Pandora, which started as a web based radio company, has gone public and is looking to get into the mobile market. Because users have more music customization options with Pandora, Sirius XM could be in trouble. For starters, Pandora subscribers only have to pay one price. By comparison, Sirius XM car radio listeners will have to pay an additional fee if they decide to tune in at home.

Pandora is already working on developing car radio equipment that will eliminate the need for drivers to listen with their smart phones. If Pandora can successfully segue from the web to the auto industry, Sirius XM will no longer have a fighting chance. Sirius XM has been offering free subscriptions to listeners for the last five years and its customer base has still not increased. Sirius XM used to be two separate companies before they merged into one.

The 2011 Chevy Volt sold incredibly well, which is why the car maker has decided to cut prices on the 2012 model. The base price for the 2012 Chevy Volt is $39,145, which is around $1500 less than the 2011 model. The Chevy Volt is on sale across the US, and the automotive company hopes that it will be able to sell a record number of cars before the end of the year. The fully electric car comes with a number of new features, which will hopefully entice consumers.

With the $7500 federal tax credit, buyer will only be paying around $31,000 for a brand new electric car. Of course, Chevy has to compete with other electric cars that are on the line. The Nissan Leaf is priced similarly and Ford is about to release the Electric Focus model. Car makers regularly reduce the price of their new cars if they think that the gamble will pay off. The Chevy Volt was featured heavily in the auto show circuit earlier this year. While many auto analysts believe that the Chevy Volt is a good buy, there simply might not be enough consumers around to help Chevy get to its bottom line.

For now, shoppers will be able to get the 2012 Chevy Volt for an attractive price, but Chevrolet may decide to go back to its original pricing plan at any time. Sales of the used 2011 Chevy Volt have also been respectable. If enough buyers turn out, the automotive maker might even decide to reduce the price of the Volt even further.

Executives at Ford know that they won’t be able to increase sales by 50% based on the US market alone, so they are turning their focus toward Asia. In China, millions of cars are purchased each year, but only the most wealthy people are able to afford foreign imports. Ford thinks that it will be able to top the 8 million car mark by 2015 if it is able to stay on the right course.

Ford will also be able to save money by producing smaller cars for the Asian market. Their roads are more congested than highways in the US, so every inch of room counts. If all goes well, approximately 33% of Ford’s sales will come by way of Asia. In the US, Ford is doing fairly well. Only one other company has managed to post a higher profit margin, but the year is not yet over.

CEO Alan Mulally spoke to members of the automotive industry about his future plans for the company at a press conference earlier this week. Although politicians are criticizing whether or not the federal auto bailout was a success, Ford employees testified that the company was doing better than ever. With the help of Asian buyers, Ford really become one of the key power players in the car industry again. GM has not done as well as Ford, and Chrysler is still sorting out the details of its acquisition. In short, Ford remains one of the only car makers that has not issued a huge recall or been purchased by a foreign entity.

It seems like every major city is holding an auto show, and Philadelphia won’t be left out. Although the event isn’t slated to begin until this Saturday, thousands of spectators are expected to be in attendance. Plenty of auto makers have already unveiled their most impressive redesigns and new models, but a handful of car manufacturers still have a few tricks up their sleeve.

First up is Ford, who is going to unveil the Ford Mustang BOSS 302 and an updated version of their most popular economy car, the Ford Focus. Many shoppers looking for cars for new drivers end up purchasing the Ford Focus because is it small, expensive and easy to handle. Volkswagen will be showing an updated version of the Passat and luxury car makers Audi and Bentley Motors will be revealing their latest contributions to the auto industry.

The convention will be held in Pennsylvania Convention Center, smack dab in the heart of Center City. City officials have been hard at work in order to make sure that there is adequate parking. The long awaited event will commence on January 28th, and ticket pre-sales indicate that this will be a sold out event. Other auto makers scheduled to make an appearance include Hyundai, Kia and Toyota. All in all, more than 40 different popular automotive companies will be showcasing their vehicles and holding events meant to educate the public on their latest innovations. Some companies will be pulling out all of the stops while others are only expected to feature one or two of their newest cars. A relatively new organization named the Auto Dealers CARing for Kids Foundation will be making contributions for every ticket sold. The event is expected to reel in visitors from all over the tri-state area as new car shoppers look for the next great deal.

The automotive market is booming in China, and many of the manufacturing giant’s closest neighbors are feeling the effects. After Chinese auto makers increased their sales by a whopping 33%, the country eagerly accepted bids from Singapore auto parts makers to help Chinese motorists stay on the road. Amtek, a Singaporean auto parts manufacturer that was bought out by CVC Capital in 2007 is planning to double its production space in Shanghai, China, in the near future. So far, the auto parts manufacturer has been re-listed on the Singapore Bourse, with its shares rising by more than 25% in the past 30 days.

Amtek is not the only Singapore-listed auto parts manufacturer that has seen its profits grow recently.
Armstrong Industrial and Cheung Woh Technologies have both experienced a steep rise in revenue ever since the Chinese government began offering its citizens attractive incentives for buying new cars. While just about every auto parts and car manufacturer that exports products to China has been riding the gravy train, analysts predict that the market could fall sometime in 2012. New car sales may begin to lag, but given the fact that China is the world’s largest consumer of automobiles, auto parts will always been in high demand.

Many auto manufacturers are working on hybrid and electric cars, but auto experts do not believe that countries like China will be keen on making a switch anytime soon. This means that discount auto parts manufacturers will be able to find a home in China for many years. With Chinese consumers set to purchase even more automobiles in 2011 than they did in 2010 and 2009, Singapore-listed auto parts manufacturers will probably see their best year yet. Unless the Chinese government agrees to extend tax incentives, car parts makers may end up needing to lower their prices in order to remain competitive.

Some of Chrysler’s 2011 models have already gone on sale, including the 2011 model Jeep Grand Cherokee. Reports show that October’s sales already show a 291% increase when compared to sales from the same month in 2009. The Dodge Charger, Challenger, Durango and Grand Caravan, some of the company’s best selling cars in the past, received a huge redesign. The management at Chrysler also made major improvements to the Chrysler Sebring, now called the Sebring 200. Chrysler still has a few years to pay back the government loan, but if their current sales are any indication of how they’ll perform in the future, the company still has a fighting chance.

In a move that will sadden many car fans in the United States, Ford Motor Co. has announced that it intends to close its Mercury car division in an effort to stream line its focus. This means that Mercury will join other previous American stalwarts such as Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn in the grave of now defunct car makers. This comes as a surprise to many industry experts because the car sales in the US have been so strong in 2010, posting record gains all through the first 5 months of the year, but Ford intends to focus its efforts on only its most profitable divisions and avoid those which are not quite as good of a return on investment. Mercury had only been making up around 5% of Ford’s overall sales and not proven to pull its weight in terms of profitability, struggling to keep up with the other divisions. However, the name plate was certainly famous and will be missed by many car collectors who now expect the value of more recent Mercury vehicles to begin to rise.

Instead of focusing on Mercury, Ford will now swing its attention over to its Lincoln division and work to improve both the design of the vehicles and market them even more strongly in order to compete in the higher end vehicle market. The upscale car division will be used to replace sales at the dealership level for those dealerships that had been offering Mercury on their lots. In the past, Mercury and Lincoln had often been shown side by side so the arrangement should work in Lincoln’s favor.

The Detroit based United States auto industry is celebrating for May because sales are on a major upswing, following a brutal downturn in April 2010. The US demand for cars has been rocketing right back up as Americans continue a strong trend of buying new vehicles in May and bringing a double digit spike in sales that prove consumers are feeling confident about the US economy and deciding that the time is right to buy a new vehicle. With the process of getting a new car loan getting a little bit easier and prices for gas keeping at a fairly stable rate, consumers are having more to spend and not quite so scared about the future. In all, May is the seventh consecutive month of higher sales compared to the same seven month stretch for 2008 through 2009. 

This is good news for companies such as Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors Company and Ford Motor company, each of whom say double digit gains for their sales compared to only a year ago when GM was going into a now legendary bankruptcy like Chrysler had just done at that time. In addition to strong car sales for US companies, car makers in both Europe and Asia also posted strong sales increases for May with the exception of Toyota which had given far too many discounts after experiencing a tragic level of safety related recalls. The Japanese auto maker will now need to play a strong game of catch up if they hope to regain the market share that the recalls have cost them.

As India continues its rather fast paced rise to the status of major global power, the nation’s auto industry has been posting huge gains. May 2010 has been a particularly strong month for growth in nation’s vehicle market as it is now the 3rd largest auto market in all of the Asian continent. Even recent increases in overall price have done very little to dampen sales and neither has the withdrawal of efforts from the government to stimulate the industry back to health after the global recession which began in late 2008. Tata Motors Ltd., the largest truck maker and third largest car maker in India, posted sales of nearly 56,000 vehicles both in India and elsewhere in the world in May alone. This bodes quite will for the company and in comparison with May of 2009 is a 41% increase, something many auto makers around the world have proven to have trouble approaching in terms of their own sales in the current economic state.

In comparison with a year ago, exports from India have also jumped dramatically from just over 1,800 vehicles to just under 4,000. These figures prove that India is a rising star in the auto world and if analysts are shown to be correct, will become a major player in the future not only in Asia, but parts of Europe, Canada and the United States. Tata has not only been doing well in terms of sales of its trucks and buses, but also Nano cars which are very small and have accounted for over 3,500 of its May sales as consumers have shown favor towards more eco friendly vehicles.