Major Developments Major Developments by Calendar Year

In the US, the retail sales of new vehicles are increasing continuously. September sales are increasing drastically than the sales in August month. With these trends it is found that the US market is found to have more demand for new vehicles. According to the JD power motor sales report on September’s new vehicle sales in the US, JD powers sold out 8,42,400 units whose seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) value is 10.3m units. Market SAAR value is 10m Units after the April (SAAR value is 10.8m units) month in 2011.

The global forecast report has said that the second week of September has exhibited good performance and the retail sales of new vehicles increased largely. The recovering of the inventory has helped to bring back the buyers into the market.

The light vehicles sales of JD power for September 2011 is expected to be 10,38,700 units which is the more than the previous year sales. SAAR projects its value for the September 2011 as 12.9m units which is more than the August SAAR which of 12.1m units and more than the September 2010 SAAR which is 11.7m units. JD power forecasts the total sales for 2011 as 12.6m units which is an increase of the sales value by 9% from the previous year.

Consumers in the United States purchased more number of new cars in the month of March but increase in the demand, shrinking supplies are fueling worries of higher vehicle prices.

Smaller cars are selling more in US, in the month of January, compact and subcompact vehicles made up 19% of retail auto sales, according to Frod’s analyst. GM’s sales rose to 206,621 vehicles, a 9.9% increase from March 2010. Nissan also increased their sales and Nissan North America Inc. said its March sales rose 26.9% to 121,141, the most it has ever sold in any month in the U.S.

Small cars and hybrids were registered more sales when compared to other cars and the sales of Prius hybrid rose 58 percent and the Toyota is going to rise its car prices by an average of 1.7 percent starting in May. The popular Camry will go up $375, the Highlander SUV by $550.

GM slashed the incentives and discounts it offered in January and February and the over all industry incentives fells 5.6% from February to March. The prices of cars are also increasing due to less supplies of smaller cars with the best fuel economy. Nissan has less than a 30 day supply of small cars such as the Versa, Sentra and Rogue and Ford has taken 40 to supply Fiesta.

Even used car prices are starting to rise. With the natural calamity in Japan, auction prices for 2 to 5 year old compact cars such as the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus have risen about 11% compared with February, according to the National Assn. of Auto Dealers.

(more…)

The Swedish automaker Saab, has left the ownership of Gneral Motors, more than a year ago and is now in a near to death situation. It has temporarily shut down its production lines as it is negotiating with its suppliers who have gone unpaid.

Saab is hoping to revive ties with a Russian businessman whose participation had been a deal breaker during the negotiations when the Spyker purchased Saab from General Motors. The Russian investor, Vladimir Antonov, chairman of Snoras Bank is willing to invest up to $21 million in return he expects nearly thirty stake in Saab but this deal requires an approval from Swedish Government. Saab was acquired by Spykar which is a very small specialty sports car maker from General Motors in 2010 in an unusual deal. In February, Spyker said it would sell its sport cars business to CPP which is a British coach builder controlled by Mr. Antonov, for 32 million euros, or about $46 million, to shift its focus completely on Saab.

Sales of Saab increased slightly to 31,696 cars at wholesale in 2010 when compared to 2009 in which the company sold 27,482 units. This increase in sales for Saab is not enough to prevent a loss of $308 million in 2010 incurred by the company. Saab is planning to sell 80,000 units in 2011 which may not be possible for the company and it wants to return to profitability, which it sees possible with sales of 120,000 vehicles annually, in 2012. In March, Saab sold 830 cars in the United States.

According to data of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), in the last financial year 2.5 million cars were sold in India and this rate is expected to slow down in this financial year because of higher borrowing costs and surging commodity prices. 64 new cars were introduced in to the Indian automobile market last year and sales of passenger cars, including utility vehicles, increased 30% in 2010-11.

Many of the key players in the automobile market including the Maruti Suzuki which is a market leader also increased the prices because of an increase in the prices of raw materials like steel, aluminium, copper, lead and natural rubber. The growth is predicted to be in between 12% – 15% in this fiscal year.

But there are 60 new cars and bikes that are to be introduced in India this year. All the automakers are hoping to see double digit growth in sales, as the economy is growing continuously and the urban and rural populations are experiencing increased income.

(more…)

DuPont releases their Global Automotive Color Popularity Report every year. DuPont issued its 58th annual color popularity report recently and silver and black are in tight competition for the title of “world’s most popular car color” and both are separated by only 2 percentage points. Black is the leading vehicle color globally and silver is at second place, white and gray are tied for third place.

The top 10 global vehicle colors are:
1. Silver — 26 percent
2. Black/Black Effect — 24 percent
3. White/White Pearl and Gray — 16 percent each (tie)
4. Red — 6 percent
5. Blue — 5 percent
6. Brown/Beige — 3 percent
7. Green — 2 percent
8. Yellow/Gold — 1 percent

European market opted greatly for black/black effect, making it top choice for nearly all vehicle categories, with 24 percent. Black/black effect are popular for luxury models in the Pacific region. In India, with 29 percent share in the market, white is the leading color. In South America, silver rules with 33 percent of the market. Japan opted for white/white pearl as its top color choice for vehicles, continuing at 28 percent of total market share.

(more…)