Latest Articles by jennifer

GM: To Fight And To Hold Its Reign

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0600

General Motors Corporation will not be giving up its reign that easy. Toyota has to fight first a pretty tight battle. GM is determined to fight and to hold the title no matter what.

GM's 2006 sales totaled 9.1 million and is just a few notches away from that of Toyota's. However, GM will not cede its title without waging a tough battle with its closest rival in the auto industry. GM has been the world's No. 1 auto company since 1931. Last Thursday, it announced a sale of 9.1 million vehicles in 2006. Said figure is down from about 9.2 million the previous year.

Toyota, on the one hand, has reported 8.8 million sales. Toyota performance parts are etching a remarkable milestone in the auto realm despite the fact that they do not belong to the domestic auto circles. Toyota expects to sell 9.35 million vehicles this year. On the part of GM, this statement is hard to accept because it would mean giving the long-cherished title in favor of a rival. "We like being No. 1 and our people take pride in it, so it's not something we would sit back and let somebody just pass us by," said Rick Wagoner, chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors. "We're going to fight to keep the position; and if one day we lose it, we'll fight to get it back."

GM has not announced its global forecast yet but according to Wagoner, GM's foreign sales continued to grow. He added, "Outside the United States, GM sales increased 6.7 percent last year. Over the past five years, GM's sales outside the United States have increased by 1.3 million vehicles." Last year was the second in a row that the automaker sold more vehicles outside America.

Auto analyst Erich Merkle of IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids said the goal of the automaker which is to maintain the No. 1 post is an admirable aim. "The thing that concerns me is that Toyota just has so much momentum right now," Merkle said. "I'm very pleased with a lot of the progress GM is making on its product front, but GM has still got to get its mojo back here in the North American auto industry. Where I think GM has a shot at running with Toyota is their wild card, which is China."

GM is still on the lead in China with an overwhelming 32 percent increase in sales. Said sales record has significantly boosted its 2006 overall sales. "Buick is a huge brand in China," Merkle said. "The Chinese tend to really embrace American culture and American things. They embrace American cars." Merkle noted, "Japan's Toyota could have some difficulty in China because of a contentious history between the countries."

"We're going to have to fight for every sale and do it in a way that's consistent with building the value of the enterprise from a shareholder perspective," Wagoner concluded. "If, as a result of that, we get passed, it won't be a happy day for me. But I've lost basketball games in my life and you get ready and you learn and you go back and play the next day -- and that's what we'll do."

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Jennifer Dylan is a 35-year-old gal who hails from San Francisco. She has a habit of updating herself on new car trends and models. She spends most of her time reading up on cars and hopes to test drive them. She works for one of the topnotch car parts dealer in the U.S.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

The Best Features Behind The Wheel

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0600

Automakers have their own way of popping up surprises to lure consumers. Now that the end is almost over, it is high time to make the best-of-lists. What's the best car features this year?

According to auto enthusiasts, one of the awesome features this year is the OnStar Turn-by-Turn navigation. What makes this feature indispensable is its Turn-by-Turn navigation. OnStar serves as a detailed navigation system available on Cadillacs and Buicks. It is also made an option in most of General Motors vehicles. Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS and other GM vehicles are also given the heated washer fluid. The latter is used to eliminate the crusty layer of winter grime.

Another delighting auto feature is the heated and cooled cup holders. The cup holder of the midsize vehicle from Chrysler is also engineered not just to regulate temperatures but to cool cups of drive-through coffee.

The triple windshield wipers integrated to FJ Cruiser SUV Toyota auto body parts is fun to stare at. It also enhances the style of the sport utility vehicle. Mercedes-Benz OEM auto parts in R-class also boast its iPod controllers. Features linked with music sources and other luxury accessories are deemed de rigueur in tech-savvy vehicles. GM and Ford will introduce this feature in Silverado and Expedition.

Auto enthusiasts are also into E85 fuel. According to them, it burns less than a gallon of gasoline using an E85 mixture to drive a 320-horsepower, 5,537-pound vehicle for about 88 miles. This is especially true with Chevrolet Tahoe. The drawback though is the shortage of E85 fuel filling stations. Nonetheless, this fuel reduces oil consumption as well as greenhouse emissions.

Fascinating auto tops can never be separated from the best-of-lists. Auto Mazda Miata parts flaunt its retractable hard top. Also, Jeep Wrangler shows off its freedom top. The latter is a three-piece plastic hard top, which can be easily operated for convertible driving. The 2007 version of the convertible is evidently made quieter and more sophisticated.

As the auto industry continues to evolve in micro steps, it is expected to offer more delightful, valuable, and breathtaking features to make driving fun, comfy, safe and thrilling.

Toyota Reveals 25 Months Of Bliss

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0600

Toyota Motor Corp. revealed its 25th straight month of bliss in the auto industry. It has been more than two years for Toyota's growth in the automobile production worldwide. In fact, critics are saying that Toyota could dethrone General Motors in its reign as the largest automaker around the globe.

Toyota reported that its global production totaled 736,003 vehicles in November, up by 12.3 percent from the same month last year. Moreover, its overseas production increased by 10.5 percent to 350,300 and its domestic production increased by 14.1 percent to 385,703. It can be recalled that oil fluctuation led to the shift of consumers to fuel-efficient cars like Prius hybrid, Camry and Corolla compact.

The success of the automaker can be attributed to the quality of its OEM, aftermarket and Toyota auto replacement parts. Camry, for one, maintain its best-selling standing in the United States market for eight of the last nine years now.

Last week, the automaker's executives in Japan divulged the 9.42 million vehicles production target for 2007. The figure is 4 percent more over the 9.04 million vehicles it expects to produce for 2006 and more than 9.2 million than General Motors Corp. estimated production this year. GM has not divulged its target production for next year but it was burdened to scale back production after seeing its market shares eroded by Toyota and other Asian car manufacturers.

Toyota's closest Japanese rival is Nissan Motor Co., an ally of Renault SA of France. Nissan's global production dropped by 1.1 percent to 291,737 vehicles in November compared to its previous year's record. It has also reported a decrease by 4.9 percent to 106,163 vehicles in Japan while its overseas production increased by 1.3 percent to 185,574 vehicles. The automaker is famed for its Nissan auto body parts, which are engineered for sophistication and durability.

Another competent rival of Toyota is Honda Motor Co. The latter reported a 10.6 percent increase to 328,792 vehicles in the worldwide production in November. So far, this is the 16th month of on-year growth for the automaker, which is concentrating on its genuine Honda car parts. Honda's domestic production increased by 15.0 percent to 126,534 and its overseas output rose by 8.1 percent to 202,258 vehicles.

Toyota Unveils Tundra Like A New Division

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

The introduction of Tundra to the press is made phenomenal by Toyota. Press people present in the event said that the introduction belongs to a different species of automotive press event.

Usually, reporters from farming, construction, aftermarket trades, towing, hunting and fishing, RV, and motorcycle magazines do not come all at the same ride and drive. Toyota brings them together to take part in a remarkable press event. So far, it is the largest press gathering Toyota has spearheaded in its 45 or so years in the United States.

"People in construction, farming, mining, will help give us credibility," said Michael O'Brien, product planning manager, who added that, among other things, the commercial sales fleet has been charged with finding high-visibility operations, such as road construction and maintenance companies to sign up for fleet purchases of the truck.

Ernest Bastien, VP vehicle operations group, said Toyota is treating the launch of its Tundra full-size pickup as if it were launching an entirely new division, including reorganizing its marketing and product development teams. "We have co-located planning, advertising, PR, event planning, distribution, accounting, and the company's University of Toyota," he added.

Tundra is a full-size pickup truck that was nominated for the North American Truck of the Year award. For the year 2000, Tundra was named Motor Trend's Truck of the Year. Auto Toyota Tundra body parts are engineered to stand the demands of towing, transporting and other needs of real truckers. Further,auto parts Toyota truck are now also given more attention than before. The emphasis is to penetrate the loyal truck market of the industry.

Toyota is also making a Scion dealer sales-force training program beyond the traditional. In addition, the automaker is running a 4-day product and marketing immersion called "Truck Champions." "The only dealer training immersion we have done that even comes close to that was for the Prius launch," said Bastien, who added that Toyota 's dealership training road show in January is also much larger than before. "We will train some 24,000 salespeople," he said. "For the Camry launch we trained 18,000." Auto parts for Toyota Camry exude quality and performance.

The new plant of the automaker in San Antonio, Texas has 200,000 units of capacity. For Princeton, Indiana plant the capacity is 100,000. Toyota intends to sell about 200,000 vehicles next year.

Camera Vision System Available In Auto Market

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

It is quite not so surprising anymore when during the Christmas and holiday season many companies and businesses introduce and send out their products and wares in the market. This is the very same trend that is going on even in the auto market. In fact, when such a season is soon to arrive, you can be sure to find plenty of new auto products from the newest vehicles to the coolest auto parts Nissan you can find.

There is another new product and it has been created to be quite an innovative camera vision system. The vehicle is from the TTTEch Off-Highway group which is very much known as one of the auto industry’s creators and suppliers of electronic control systems made just for off-highway vehicles.

With the new camera vision system, operators of such mentioned vehicles can have a better view of the tasks and duties that they are doing especially in new environments that they are working with. In this regard, these people can thus be able to have a safer and even more productive type of work at the end of each day. You see, the whole gadget comes with an LCD model and there are also three cameras as part of it. Everything in this vehicle is controlled by the TTC Vision which is the company’s visualization unit.

Off-highway vehicles are actually used at construction sites and when the operators of such machines do not have the right kind of equipment to go with their work, bad work and an unsafe environment could really be the cause of accidents for them. In fact, statistics have it that such have been one of the reasons why accidents do occur when using such machines. However, if operators do use the camera vision system, operators can be free from such and also be able to have a better finished product in the end.

You would find a digital LCD module as well as a visualization unit. You can also have a maximum of three analog PAL cameras which have been designed to be used for outdoor environments. The cameras also have an internal heater so much so that it can withstand use and time.

The Greenest BMW Arrives

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

BMW aims to showcase its fuel viability in a brand new sedan dubbed as Hydrogen 7. Said vehicle is the greenest, most advanced and at about half a million dollars – it is definitely the most expensive BMW ever built. However, if you are one of the lucky few chosen by the automaker, it will be loaned to you for free.

The automaker earlier made 25 to 30 BMW Hydrogen 7 prototype sedans to be offered to chosen politician, scientist, business leader, media member or celebrity around the globe who BMW thinks can best campaign hydrogen as an alternative fuel for the auto market.

Also, a total of 100 of Hydrogen 7 sedans will be distributed around the globe to countries in Asia and Europe in addition to the United States. In Europe, lucky individuals must lease Hydrogen 7 sedan for a fixed amount in accordance with the law of the land. The automaker hopes that the production version of the vehicle will be on sale by 2020.

Parts BMW auto used in Hydrogen 7 are more advanced that the conventional. When it comes to appearance, Hydrogen 7 is identical to the top-of-the-line BMW 760Li ultra-luxury sedan, for which it took the 6.0-liter 12-cylinder engine and other spoiling amenities. These plus the environment-friendly nature of the car made it more than desirable.

Also, auto parts BMW in Hydrogen 7 incorporated an internal combustion engine which is capable of running on both gasoline and hydrogen. It can run the car about 435 miles with both tanks full and 124 miles on hydrogen alone.

"The public often sees hydrogen and hybrids in the same way, as green vehicles," said BMW’s director of traffic and the environment, Dr. Klaus Scheurer. "But hybrid technology alone does not solve the problem of sustainable mobility."

With regards fueling, Pierre Gauthier, hydrogen director for Air Liquide - the French energy giant noted, "The availability of fueling is really an issue with the retailers." He further added that his company is ready to provide hydrogen for vehicles either in gaseous or liquid form. Right now, he continued, these retailers are leaning toward hydrogen gas, which could complicate BMW’s liquid hydrogen hopes.

Automakers To Rev Up BLUETEC Diesel Initiative

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Audi, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen announced at the Los Angeles Motor Show their intention to establish the BLUETEC brand name as the designation for particularly clean, highly fuel-efficient passenger cars and SUVs with diesel engines. In order to make the initiative flourish automakers will be concentrating on their own technical systems to comply with the strictest emission regulations around the globe.

In "Global Outlook For Diesel", a recent J.D. Power study, it was predicted that the share of diesels among first-time registrations in North America will rise to over 15 percent by 2015. in connection with the study, several automakers including Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Volkswagen announced their forthcoming systematic expansion of their ranges of diesel vehicles.

The mentioned automakers are convinced of the upcoming diesel development. Another reason for the clever move is to take part in the conservation of environment as well as clean mobility. Automakers intend to take advantage of the BLUETEC diesel initiative by offering greater torque, agility, economy, and sophistication in their lineup. Moreover, they expect that this move will be especially appreciated by their customers.

BLUETEC diesel's fuel efficiency is greater by 20 to 40 percent compared to petrol engines. It combines both ecology and economy to outstanding driving experience to be more than just satisfactory to customers.

BLUETEC include diesel engines with exhaust emission treatment systems that comply with the strictest emission regulations in the United States. Its systems reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx). Automakers also intend to make BLUETEC compliant with the strict emission limits of California. BLUETEC simply stands for clean diesel engines. It is now being incorporated to Audi, Volkswagen and Jeep auto parts.

Audi will also be setting forth Q7 V12 TDI, which is anticipated to make it to the world's most powerful diesel. It is capable of producing an output of 500 horsepower and 1000 Nm of torque. Audi OEM parts active auto parts are now being engineered to fit in this powerful engine initiative. With regards Volkswagen, the automaker is upgrading its auto parts to formulate superior vehicle lineup. Auto parts Volkswagen are meticulously designed and assembled to perfect their efficiency.

Auto analysts predict that BLUETEC diesel initiative will make it big in the auto industry in the coming days.

DaimlerChrysler Celebrates 50 years in Brazil

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

For DaimlerChrysler do Brasil, this year means painting the town red. This is because 2006 is the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of its plant in São Bernardo do Campo city. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Dieter Zetsche, DaimlerChrysler's board of management chairman and Mercedes Car Group's head. Andreas Renschler, a member of the DaimlerChrysler Board of Management, was also there. Renschler is also liable for the automaker's Truck Group & Buses.

"Fifty years of operations in this country have contributed to DaimlerChrysler do Brasil becoming a truly Brazilian company which has grown along with the country. With our large experience here and based on 100 years of leadership in the automotive industry, the Mercedes-Benz brand can provide the consumers with premium products and technology. That’s why we are the Brazilian market leader in luxury cars, trucks and buses," Zetsche said during the ceremony.

At present, Mercedes-Benz yields 36 percent market share with C-, E- and S-Class. As a fact, Zetsche divulged that 5 out of 10 trucks in Brazil use the automaker's star and flaunt their Mercedes-Benz performance parts.

"The plant of São Bernardo has played a strategic role in the DaimlerChrysler Truck Group. In recent years, its rational and lean production system was even considered a reference to all plants of the Group worldwide. In the last 50 years we have produced almost 1,600,000 commercial vehicles here in Brazil," added Renschler.

São Bernardo do Campo plant began its production on September 28, 1956 with only 862 employees. Four years after, workers of the plant had surpassed 5,600. Nowadays, the unit employs about 11,500 workers. Said plant is now concentrating on the production of L 312 truck, better known as the Torpedo.

The history of Mercedes-Benz in Brazil epitomizes the pioneering spirit of the automaker. The majority of the Mercedes-Benz parts for trucks and buses incorporate the use of diesel engines. At that time, 2 percent of the trucks available were powered by diesel fuel. In the year 1956, the automaker launched and consolidated the use of diesel fuel for transportation. In 1998, Mercedes-Benz launched the first electronically-controlled diesel engine produced in Brazil. This feature is now made available in the current line-up of the automaker.

The automaker is also responsible for other auto industry innovations like the natural gas-powered engines, ABS and ASR brakes, disk brakes for trucks, Turbo Brake system, Top Brake system, and other key aspects in the auto industry milestones. These contributed features significantly prompted the success of the automaker.

What’s Up For The LA Auto Show?

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

What should we all be looking out for during the upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show? After all, this much coveted international auto show would already be opening its doors not only to vehicle manufacturers and press people but also the public as well. You may even get some ideas on how to make your vehicle look like that cool one you saw by just using new auto parts Nissan.

There have been already some scoops and sneak peaks on what should we all be expecting for the mentioned auto show. One of the sources of such information is the Car Connection which you can access at www.thecarconnection.com. However, this is not the main site that would show you what they have been able to glimpse at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

According to the mentioned automotive and car web site, those who would be going to the Los Angeles Auto Show would be able to gape and gawk at the 2008 version of the Audi TT roadster. Plus, there also would be a chance for people to visit and look at the 200 Chrysler Sebring Convertible along with the very much hyped Nissan Altima roadster. The Nissan Sentra SE-R model would also be made available along with the Aston Martin V8 roadster which has yet to be named. These are just a few of the vehicles that have been made available for goers.

But this is not the end of all those vehicles you would be encountering once you walk through the doors of the LA Auto Show. The Car Connection also did report that there are also concept vehicles available for the public. One would be the Chrysler Nassau concept vehicle which is quite unique in its own way. And for Jeep lovers, the new Jeep Trailhawk concept would also be showcased there.

Other vehicles that have been “scooped” by The Car Connection include the new Chevrolet Silverado as well as the newest version of the Audi S8 vehicle. Honda would also be showing off a new environmentally friendly vehicle – the Honda FCX – although many are still questioning if indeed the Honda entrant would really be the answer to the environment problem.

Is Your Child Protected By That Car Seat?

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Is this the season for recalls?

A couple of days back, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration has announced the recall of hundreds of thousands of vehicles from two major auto manufacturers – Daimler Chrysler AG and the Ford Motor Company. However, it seems like another auto product is going to be recalled. If you are eyeing your newly purchased Mitsubishi OEM parts, then there is actually no need to worry. These products are not for recall.

It is really good that the Britax Child Safety, Inc. actually did a recall without the need for the NHTSA to be involved. They voluntary called back to their arms one of their child seat products – one model of their much purchased Boulevard child restraints with model number E9L57. According to the company, they are voluntarily recalling such a product because they have found out that such has been unable to comply with the safety regulations given out with regards to child seats.

If you have bought a Boulevard child restraint with the model number E9L57, you should do go first check if the product was produced from March 1st of this year up until the 1st of August. Products only produced during that period would be recalled. However, if you have other Britax products, then there is no need to worry for the company itself has said that there are no other products to be recalled.

What made Britax recall such products? Well, it is certainly a good thing that the company is doing random product evaluations. And on one of those, they were able to find out that the recalled model may be quite dangerous to the little child in it. They have found out that the top tether hook could actually open or even break during some situations. And if it does, of course, the passenger or the child in it could also fall down and get harmed.

Britax did several tests and they found out that the top tether hook actually opens or breaks during a certain situation. This was when the child restraint was actually installed facing the front. The tether was then attached to a dummy that was used in place of a child. So if the hook breaks during a crash, the restraint could move forward. Such increases the risk of injury and harm to the child.