Smartphone apps for Mercedes-Benz

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Posted in Auto Industry News, Mercedes-Benz

Smartphone applications have helped luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz collect about $2.5 million in lease or loan payments since they launched six months ago.

Andreas Hinrichs, the company’s vice president of marketing, told the Wall Street Journal that its Mercedes-Benz Financial Application, which allows customers to manage their accounts and performs several other functions, has been downloaded by 11,000 people.

"We wanted to be the first out there and now we have seen rapid customer adoption," Hinrichs told the news provider.

This summer, Fox Business reported that Mercedes Benz, a unit of Daimler AG, will launch two more applications for the iPhone and BlackBerry that can remotely control the car or locate it in a crowded parking lot.

The phone applications will be integrated into the car’s Mbrace system. By using the phone’s online connection, for example, one can tap their smartphones in New York to unlock a Mercedes in Washington, D.C., the report added.

The Mbrace car assistance service comes free for the first six months for new-car buyers, but it can also be purchased for older Mercedes models for $280 a year for the basic service.

Honda expands dealership of CNG-powered Civic

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Posted in Auto Industry News, Honda - DO NOT USE

Japanese automaker Honda has expanded the dealership of its compressed natural gas-powered Honda Civic GX with the recent addition of Oklahoma as a sales base.

Oklahoma became the fourth state in the U.S. to sell the GX, which was launched in California in 2005. Since then, retail sales have expanded to New York in 2006 and Utah in 2009.

“Honda seeks market opportunities for the Civic GX where strong natural gas refueling infrastructure exists,” Elmer Hardy, senior manager at Honda’s alternative fuel division, said in a news release.

KTUL-TV reported that Oklahoma provides a tax credit of up to $2,500 for motorists who buy CNG equipment to fuel their vehicle at home. At the same time, consumers can also claim a 50 percent tax credit for CNG vehicles, such as the Civic GX.

The 2010 Civic GX boasts an EPA rating of 24 mpg city and 36 mpg highway and was named the “greenest vehicle” by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. It is the only OEM-built, CNG-powered passenger car assembled in the U.S.

Survey shows BMW on top of most valuable car list

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Posted in Auto Industry News, BMW

German automaker BMW has overtaken the perennial frontrunner Toyota by a slim margin as the world’s most valuable car brand, according to an annual ranking of the world’s top brands.

The BrandZ Top 100, a survey compiled by the market research company Millward Brown, pegged BMW’s brand’s value at $21.82 billion, higher than Toyota’s $21.77 billion.

Peter Walshe, Millward Brown’s global brand director, told the Automotive News that Toyota will likely bounce back on top once recall issues are addressed and media scrutiny subsides.

“It is likely that Toyota’s brand has suffered further in recent months, but it is a strong brand and is trying hard to overcome the damage through a major communications campaign,” Walshe told the news provider. “All of our evidence shows that strong brands are much more likely to recover from a crisis.”

Rounding up the top 10 list are Honda ($14.3 billion), Mercedes ($13.7 billion), Porsche ($12 billion), Nissan ($8.6 billion), Ford ($7 billion), Volkswagen ($7 billion), Audi ($3.6 billion) and Renault ($3.3 billion).

Ford reports rise in resale value, fewer repairs

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Posted in Auto Loans & Financing News, Ford

Ford vehicles with one to five years on the road are fetching higher resale values during the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest North American Dealers Association auction data.

In a news release, the Dearborn, Michigan-based carmaker reported that its car fleet gained 23 percent year-over-year improvement in resale value, outpacing the industry average by 4 percentage points.

“Ford products have outperformed the overall market, especially in the increasingly important segments of compact cars, midsize cars and crossover vehicles,” said Tom Webb, chief economist at Manheim Consulting. Webb cited the 2010 Ford Taurus, which he said sells 50 percent higher at auction than the 2009 Taurus after one year in service.

Meanwhile, Ford also reported that warranty repair rates have declined by 40 percent globally in the past three years, claiming that Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles now have the “fewest number of defects of any full-line manufacturer.”

Ford reported Tuesday its best quarterly performance in six years with a profit of $2.1 billion. According to the New York Times, the last time Ford earned a quarterly operating profit of $2 billion was in 2004, when it sold nearly 17 million cars in the U.S. Ford expects to sell less than 12 million this year.

General Motors upgrades 5 factories to meet car demand

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Posted in Auto Industry News, Buick- DO NOT USE, Chevrolet, GMC - DO NOT USE

General Motors will spend $890 million to upgrade five of its engine and component plants to keep up with demand for the company’s most popular vehicles, including its four core brands Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.

About $400 million will be spent to revamp GM’s powertrain factory in Tonawanda, New York, and $235 million will be spent on the company’s St. Catharines, Ontario plant. The rest will go to engine casting and component production at factories in Defiance, Ohio; Bedford, Indiana; and Bay City, Michigan, the New York Times reports.

The new investment comes less than week after the Detroit-based company repaid a $6.7 billion U.S. loan and announced a $257 million upgrade of its assembly plants in Kansas and Michigan for the next-generation Chevrolet Malibu sedan.

GM aims to build more fuel-efficient engines in response to consumer demand and future federal mileage requirements. Its North American assembly plants work on 24-hour schedules because of spikes in sales after it emerged from bankruptcy using government bailout money. GM’s sales were up 17% though March this year compared to 2009.

Car loan interest rate drops to record low

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Posted in Auto Loans & Financing News

Consumers may be better off buying cars now as a new study found that the average automobile finance rate dipped to 4.4 percent in March, the lowest rate in the last eight years.

Edmunds.com said Toyota has the lowest average finance rate at 1.9 percent, followed by Mazda (2.5 percent) and Mercury (3.3 percent). Kia claimed the spot with the highest interest rate in March at 7.1 percent.

“Low interest financing is compelling for consumers because those who qualify often enjoy greater savings than they would get from a cash-back offer,” said Jessica Caldwell, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com.

In other trends, Edmunds.com reported that of all luxury brands BMW had the highest average down payment, $13,614, and the shortest average loan term, 52.4 months. Subaru took this spot in the non-luxury category with an average loan term of 60.9 months and highest down payment of $3,911.

Dodge had the industry’s longest average loan term, 67 months, followed by Chevrolet at 66.6 months and Hyundai and Kia at 66.1 months. Scion buyers financed the lowest average dollar amount, $18,978, and the lowest average monthly payment, $348.

Subaru expands Indiana assembly plant by 40%

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Posted in Auto Industry News, Subaru - DO NOT USE

Subaru will increase its production capacity by 40 percent in its Lafayette, Indiana, assembly plant to meet the growing demand for the newly redesigned Legacy sedan and Outback wagon.

First quarter sales of the two cars in the U.S. more than doubled from last year, with the Outback reaching 19,275 and the Legacy hitting 8,550 sales, the Automotive News has reported.

Fuji Heavy Industries, maker of the Subaru brand, said it plans to produce 140,000 vehicles in the Indiana plant, which currently churns out 100,000 cars a year.

Representatives did not say how the plant will meet the new demand, but Automotive News implied it may draw from capacity currently being used to manufacture Toyota vehicles. The plant has a separate line with a capacity of 100,000 units for the Toyota Camry.

In 2009, Subaru sold about 217,000 vehicles, and the boost in production should increase this year’s figure to at least 230,000, the news provider added.

Nissan signs deal with GE to study smart-charging technologies

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Posted in Auto Industry News, Nissan

Fueled by the increasing demand for plug-in hybrid and electric cars in the past three years, Japanese automaker Nissan and General Electric have signed a deal to make smart charging technologies a reality.

The collaboration will explore ways to integrate hybrid and electric vehicles with homes and buildings, and will later brainstorm on how these new breed of cars can affect the larger electric grid, the two companies said in a news release.

Nissan, which last week began taking orders for the all-electric Leaf sedan, said the deal is part of its vision is to realize “zero-emission mobility through a holistic approach by by working with various partners in a broad range of industries.”

A blog post by GE scientist Matt Nielsen discussed some challenges in the integration of plug-in vehicles to homes and buildings, including the need to equip homes with the appropriate wiring for car charging and low-cost metering plans from utilities. The research will be conducted at GE’s global research operations in Niskayuna, New York.

According to the New York Times, about 98 percent of the vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2009 were powered by conventional gasoline engines. But many expect this trend to change in the next few years as automakers fill their pipeline with hybrid and electric cars and motorists become more aware of environment-friendly alternatives.

Good time to refinance an auto loan

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Posted in Auto Industry News, Auto Loans & Financing News

An online aggregator of financial rate information has reported that many of this year’s auto loan refinance rates are 1 percent to 2 percent lower than they were in April of last year, depending on the length of the refinance loan.

“Refinancing an auto loan may be a good option if you need to reduce your monthly expenses in order to get your finances back on track,” said Tara Baukus Mello, an analyst at Bankrate.com.

While it is ideal not to extend the length of any loan, job loss or other similar situations could urge people to consider refinancing their loans to ease some financial burden, according to the news provider.

For example, a car purchased in April 2008 for $28,000 and financed for five years at 6.53 percent (the national average at the time) requires a monthly payment of about $550. This means the owner currently owes the bank a little less than $18,000.

Refinancing the remaining amount for four years, at the national average rate of 5.38 percent, would drop monthly dues by $133 and the owner would spend just $176 more in interest over the life of the loan, Mello said.

According to a Businessweek report, refinancing an auto loan might be a very good idea in the near future because interest rates remain at historically low levels. “Whether you have a used car loan or a bad credit personal loan, you could probably get the interest rate lowered if you go through a refinance process in the near future,” the report said.

Toyota Prius declared greenest car of the year

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Posted in Auto Industry News, Toyota

With its topnotch fuel efficiency, solar-powered ventilation system and various high tech features, Toyota‘s 50-mile-per-gallon Prius topped this year’s list of 10 greenest cars.

According to the Kelly Blue Book, the Prius remains the most fuel-efficient car in its class of hybrids, boasting 51 mpg city and 48 mpg highway. Aside from its hybrid powertrain technology, Prius was praised for its glass moonroof with a solar-powered ventilation system, voice-activated navigation and Dynamic Radar Cruise Control with Lane Keep Assist.

“To be considered for the green Top Ten, each vehicle was required to offer fuel economy and carbon dioxide emissions superior to the bulk of vehicles in its class and at the same time provide all the safety, creature comforts and driving enjoyment that would make it pleasant to own,” Kelley Blue Book said in its website.

This year’s list was largely dominated by last year’s collection, but also included two newcomers — the Volkswagen Golf TDI, one of the newest “clean diesels,” and the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, which demonstrates SUV-like features that can co-exist with a hybrid powertrain.

Rounding up the top five are Honda Insight Hybrid (41 mpg), Ford Fusion Hybrid (39 mpg), Volkswagen Golf TDI (34 mpg) and MINI Cooper (32 mpg). Ranked sixth to tenth are the Ford Escape Hybrid (32 mpg), Honda Fit (31 mpg), BMW 335d (27 mpg), Toyota Highlander Hybrid (22 mpg) and Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid (22 mpg).

The New York Times reported that Toyota will introduce a third-generation Prius in May in line with Toyota’s plan to sell a million hybrid cars in the next few years, from about 250,000 hybrids in 2008.