Alizium Auto Blogs: 2009

No Sympathy for the Devil, No Gimmicks

Why has Detroit gotten so little sympathy from the public? Maybe because of all the ridiculous sales gimmicks it has tried over the years—discounts, sales pitches, red-tag events, blown-up monsters on the lot, dealer/factory incentives and so on. Maybe because the buying public has gotten fed up with feeling taken to the cleaners in every car purchase. Maybe because the dealer experience is mostly composed of intimidation and jive—and I can say that from having sold cars for a brief period about 10 years ago.

The worst gimmick is the fiction of MSRP, the sticker price. All subsequent gimmicks flow from this. People are sick of being bombarded by phony sales and traditional dealer pitches about invoice pricing and other lies. Because of the abrupt decline in the new-car market, two-for-one sales are popular now, but they aren’t attracting all that many buyers. A dealership in Miami offered zero-percent financing for 72 months and rebates of up to $7,500, but the showrooms still lack customers.

A variation of the 2-for-1 theme is “buy a car for $1.” That is, after you buy your $40K Chrysler Pacifica, for example, at full price in Chicago, you can get a nice used $12K PT Cruiser for a buck. Two dealerships in Hampton Roads, VA, have opened cafés in their showrooms. Reportedly, the food is good even if the car trade is not.

Business also stinks across the pond, where VW dealers have been offering vinyl graphics to put cutesie art on the sides of their New Beetles. But maybe the most imaginative and ludicrous attempt to lure buyers is BMW’s new touchscreen interface in its showrooms. The presumptive buyer can now slide some tiles around a screen and pick out upholstery and wheel trim colors. Check out the video.

So far, most of these attempts to sell cars haven’t sold many cars. One thing that will have to change is the number of dealers, and indeed the whole dealer system is or should be nonfunctional. NADA, the National Automobile Dealers Association, predicts that about 1 in 10 dealers or some 2,000 will be closing in 2008-2009. The dealer’s position as a middleman is pretty hard to defend in what will be a restructured auto industry. This blog had something to say earlier on that score.

Yet the consequences of dumping dealers could be severe. Wages and salaries of the workforce constitute 13% of the US retail payroll. As independent businesses, they and their communities would be hit hard.

So maybe it’s time for dealers to do some creative thinking about their plight. Instead of concocting more sales gimmicks, how about giving cars and trucks, new and used, away to good causes and taking the charitable deduction in the spirit of Christmas? Do a service for a worthy nonprofit in your community by holding a raffle for a new car. (They are probably hurting more than you are.) Get volunteers to drive people (oldsters, shut-ins, sickies) to their errands and doctor appointments. Offer employee discounts on used cars . . . to everybody.

Build a presence in your community and people will remember when the recession is over.

Tell us about the most effective (or laughable) dealer gimmick you’ve encountered.

—jgoods

Audi A8: Spotted in the US!

Posted by The German Car Blog

An eagle-eyed guy was able to snap a few spy shots of the new Audi A8 in the US. Make sure to watch!Related news: GermanCarBlog, P4MR, Audi A8Source: VWvortex

2009 Jaguar XF Unveiled...Hopefully This Will Help Turn the Company Around!

Jaguar has revealed its new XF sedan ahead of its official unveiling at next month's Frankfurt Motor Show. The XF, which will launch early next year will replace the aged S-Type sedan and is very important for Jaguar.

The new Techart Magnum Porsche Cayenne

The undisputed best SUV on the market is to get the TechArt treatment in time for the Frankfurt Motor Show later in the year.

TechArt will be offering the individualization program to buyers of the high performance car, who will be able to choose what refinements they will be needing to suit their way of life and driving needs. Options will include a manifold choice and two new engine performance kits, which will provide the car with an additional 120 bhp for the car.

techart magnum

To cope with the power there is a new improved braking system, that has been especially developed with six piston brake calipers with the 405/38 mm brake disks on the front and the rear has 365/28 mm disks with a four piston caliper.

As expected with any TechArt enhancement there is there usual option for the famous air suspension, trims for the front and rear lights, twenty two inch wheels, and a super new exhaust system which can offer sports mode.

techart magnum

The TechArt treatment does not stop there though, there are some interior options too, like the special option of the interior design house “de Sede of Switzerland” which will clearly make your car exclusive, and probably cost a fortune too.

This car will be on display at the Frankfurt Motor Show hopefully! With the car being available a short time afterwards.

Source [Zer Customs]

Hilo Hot Rod

I’m sitting high atop a cliff that looks over Hanalei Bay. We’ve got just about every door and window open in our little beach house and the waves are crashing hard down below us. The breeze is as cool and delivers as constantly as the Modelo Especial beer we’ve been drinking all weekend. Put simply and frankly, this is paradise.

And you’d think hot rods would be the furthest from my mind considering this environment. Of course, I’m a sick and deranged bastard. I’ve been fighting the urge all week to post about some of the conversations and ideas that Tardel and I have discussed while staring at the Pacific. Keith is a sick bastard too… We’ve talked a lot about hot rods – not the industry or our professions so much, but good ole traditional hot rods.

One that came to mind that both of us have contemplated at one time or another is the ‘39 convertible originally built by Harry Keiichi Nishiyama and later finished by Robert “Papio” Kaluna. Appropriately, both did their deeds while “stranded” in paradise – Hawaii. I was going to write a nice little piece about the car, but a google search turned up an article ran by Honolulu Streets Magazine. I figured you guys would enjoy it as much as Keith and I did.

Check it out.

……..

2009 Dodge Journey Unveiled...Yay Another Crossover!

Dodge has unveiled the new Journey crossover SUV that is going to be officially unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month. Spy photos of the upcoming SUV have been circulating for months and now we have our first look at the Avenger-based SUV.

1959 Speed Shop Part 3: More Performance Parts!

Heads, cams, adapter kits… I’ve even scanned the page of Quick Change rearends & mag wheels. We’re almost done thumbing through the 1959 Almquist catalog, but I figured you might want to check out a few more parts and prices of a half century ago. Notice at the bottom of the Flathead heads page, you’ll see the Weiand “Sportsman” heads. They were all aluminum, high compression heads that appeared stock- A little cheater head idea taken from the Ford aluminum Denver & Canadian heads. My buddy just picked a pair of these Sportsman heads up at the swap last week thinking he was getting Canadian heads, only to find the little Weiand logo on the back. Nice Score!! Check out the Edmunds head selection for flat 6’s and 8’s, and the “Double Disc” brakes by Halibrand for a whopping $595 (about $4,300 in today’s money)!

Anyway, I hope your not getting bored with the catalog scans, cause I’m having fun. Coming up soon, Part 4 will have hubcaps and accessories for the Custom guys…

A mini record

Minis of all ages, shapes and sizes broke a record at Virginia Beach.

The record for the longest continuous line of minis being driven along a set the road was 269, this took place in the UK last year, a record that it would appear to be very hard to beat, considering the amount of space needed and the cars to get all together in one place, but of when you are talking about space then clearly the States is the place to break a record like that.

mini

Which is exactly what has been done, 273 minis turned up at the famous Virginia Beach to begin their journey, the site must have been incredible if you can just imagine the site of that amount of minis in a continuous line driving along a single stretch of road.

mini

The line of minis started to move in formation at one o’clock and the last mini did not get to move until two hours later, imagine a line of traffic going past your house for that amount of time, just awesome. The journey was forty minutes which meant in total that the line of cars stretched out over 5.8 miles and thus breaking the world record for the longest convoy of minis.

So the mini record should become a world record when the details are confirmed by the people at Guinness World Record HQ in London.

Source [Auto Blog]

The IIHS Releases Convertible Crash Ratings for 2007

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released its results from testing it did on America’s 10 top selling convertibles. While a history of safety may make the top picks on the list appear obvious it was the poor crash test performance of a couple of the intrants that is alarming.

2007 volvo c70 iihs crash test results

The Volvo C70 and the Saab 9-3 Convertibles tied for the highest ratings in the IIHS crash results. They both received the Good ratings in front and side crash results, but really stood out from the rest of the field in rear crash protection. Out of the 10 car line-up the Volvo and Saab convertibles were the only cars whose seats were properly designed to lessen the effects of whiplash in an accident. The other 8 cars received marginal test results in rear crash largely because of potential neck injuries.

The biggest losers in the pack were the BMW 3-series and the Pontiac G6 convertibles. The G6 was the only car in the field to receive a marginal score in both side and rear impact testing. In both frontal and side crash testing the driver-dummy suffered serious head injuries that could prove fatal in an actual crash.

Pontiac g6 iihs worst in crash test results

Both the G6 and the BMW 3-series convertibles were disappointments to the IIHS because both cars are new models. Of all the cars on the list the BMW comes in with the highest sticker price. To cost so much while providing such marginal protection seems to steal away the old adage, “you get what you pay for.”

Click hereto view the IIHS summary for their Convertible Crash Testing. While you are there you can go on to search for your car to see how it fairs in IIHS Crash Tests.

World of our fathers

All our lives, we’ve all heard, “If you got it, a truck brought it.” That’s always been true, long before most of us were even percolating. Let’s affirm it by looking at some photos of rigs from bygone days, which came from a collection bequeathed to Hemmings by Marshall Johnson of Mechanicville, Virginia. For you meticulous blogsters, the collection also anchored our recent discussion of the armored car built on a Model A chassis. Admittedly, we can’t identify every truck make here, but what memories.

rig 5.jpg

We can’t see enough of the radiator emblem to be certain, but this may be a Graham Brothers chassis, here wearing a new body from the Finn Body Shop in Cincinnati. Your grandparents’ groceries were delivered in an A&P truck like this. Much later, a lot of A&Ps were rebranded as Superfresh markets.

rig 2.jpg

Figuring the make is easier here. These are Sterling trucks, manufactured in Milwaukee. Check out those drive chains, something you can’t even find on a Harley anymore. Around 1930, Sterling produced a huge variety of trucks with both chain and shaft drive, including these dump rigs for a Pittsburgh gravel firm.

rig 3.jpg

I’ll be 53 this year, and I can still remember ice trucks from my childhood, which then mainly delivered big blocks to local taverns that chopped them up and used them to keep Rheingold and Piels bottles chilled in their metal coolers. This rig, based on a Model A (AA?) chassis with duals on Seventies-ish rear spokes, was definitely not hauling coal. Lucky for the driver, the load got lighter as the trip got longer in one continuous trickle. For handling coal, you needed something like …

rig 4.jpg

… this. At the apartments where my family lived in Brooklyn during the 1960s, the coal bin in the cellar got filled by a truck with a body just like this, a chute attaching from the small rear gate. Those swept louvers on the hood sides may, or may not, give away the brand of truck here, given that it was photographed new outside a Pittsburgh shop that specialized in custom bodywork. Beautiful truck, though.

rig 11.jpg

What a beast. This was when a well-equipped truck had padding on its bench seat, not a Sirius satellite radio. Peg this one at 1930 or so, a regal-looking monster that was hauling heavy aggregates. The badge is at the wrong angle to peg through our guides, but we can tell you that the Oneida truck, built through about 1931 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, used similar louver patterning on its hood sides. Enjoy, and if you know, share.

Toyota is now selling on eBay! Sort of

I wrote yesterday about my desire to buy a car directly from the manufacturer, and skip the entire dealer fiasco.

ebay_motors I won’t repeat my argument for that here, but instead point out a very interesting fact I recently learned: Toyota is selling cars on eBay. So are GM and Chrysler.

You might ask yourself, “How can this be? I thought there were laws outlawing the practice of an automaker selling directly to the public!” Well, you’re right. Don’t get too excited just yet.

An article here says:

Toyota will be listing its pre-owned inventory on eBay, in a move that will put it on the famous auction site with rivals such as General Motors and Chrysler.

On first read, one might assume that Toyota is listing and selling these cars, which is exciting!

Upon further review, though, I found this blog that goes into a little more detail, basically saying that Toyota’s inventory of cars is searchable, but still must be purchased through a dealer.

At the very least Toyota, GM and Chrysler seem to understand the importance of offering their inventory for sale online. But on a quick search of eBay, all I found were ads by dealers begging for a test drive.

So my high hopes of simplifying the car-buying process are dashed and I’ve decided that by posting on eBay, automakers are just trying to generate more leads for struggling dealers. I should’ve known.

Do you think the car buying process should be simplified? Leave us your comments!

-tgriffith

What Would You Write On The World's Dirtiest BMW M6? [Novelties]

Whether or not you count yourself among the literally dozens of fans of BMW flame surfacing, we're pretty sure everyone can agree leaving an oh-so-speedy, V10-powered BMW M6 out in the Dubai sun until it gets this crusty is an affront to automobile ownership. We share the dust taggers sentiments wondering if the owner may be dead, and wishing our significant other was equally dirty. The situation begs the question: What pithy, snide, witty, mean, snarky or otherwise clever comment would you feel inclined to inscribe upon the dirtiest BMW M6 we've ever seen.

[via MadWhips]

Fifth Gear 16×06 Out Now

You can find today’s Fifth Gear right here.

Common Negotiating Tricks the Dealers Use

Dealer tricks If you plan on purchasing a new, or even a used car from a dealer in the near future, there are some tricks that you should be well aware of when you’re about to go out there, and purchase your car. Some people think dealers are shady, while others seem rather comfortable with them. I’ll let you decide on what you think.

“It’s time to make a deal”

Never let the car salesman know that you’re extremely interested in a car. If they see your eyes light up, they are going to pressure you into the sale. If you don’t want to be bothered with the sales crew, I would recommend that you do your research online, and visit the lots when they are closed.

“I need to get my manager”

If you’re the type that loves to make a deal, that’s great! Most of the times though, you’re going to find that the level one sales guy isn’t going to be able to authorize the purchase. Instead of paying full price, you may get double teamed, and that’s okay. Stand your ground, and never be afraid to walk away.

“What else do we need?”

The dealership doesn’t want you to just leave with all the basics. Instead, they want to add all those little goodies in such as the floor mats, alloy rims, and more. If you don’t need them, I wouldn’t recommend that you go out, and add them.

“This deal won’t last”

This is a trick used by many that isn’t even true. In order to get a sale that day, they are going to tell you that it may not last for long. Instead of biting the bullet, and buying that day, you’ll want to wait, because I can almost guarantee you that the same deal will be there at the end of the week.

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Ford, PML Flightlink Hauling Plug-in Hybrid F-150 Pickup To SEMA [Sema]

PML and Ford have been palling around for a while now, most recently to develop the Volvo Recharge C30 concept. Now they've gone in on an in-wheel electric drive plug-in hybrid Ford F-150 concept coming to SEMA. The in-wheel motors are a clever brushed pancake design that act as a part of the wheel and not just another add-in part. We've often thought hybrid tech would be best developed in the pickup market, where high torque matters and light weight and great driving dynamics don't. Don't be surprised if we go poking around this truck when we hit the show floor in Vegas. [Pickuptrucks.com]

The Cars That Ate Paris! [Movies]

So there's this Australian fella, Peter Weir, and he directed movies like Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show, and it's nice that he made a few bucks doing that stuff. But before he hit it big in Hollywood, he made a movie about an Australian town in which the inhabitants cause car crashes in order to loot the wreckage: The Cars That Ate Paris! We haven't seen this one yet, but the trailer (jump to watch it) sure looks promising; check out the blade-festooned armored Beetle! Thanks to Rex for the tip.

AEV HEMI-Powered Jeep Wrangler: First Drive [Jalopnik Reviews]

The new Jeep Wrangler is a damn fine off-road vehicle straight from the factory, but a 202 HP V6 just doesn't quite fit the bill for the folks at American Expedition Vehicles. Remember, this is the same group of guys who built the Hemi-powered SR-392 Roadster and the amazing Brute conversion kit that'll let you turn your Wrangler into an honest-to-goodness Jeep truck. This year at SEMA AEV'll be showing their latest and greatest new toy — the custom shop's dropped a 5.7-liter HEMI V8 into the evergreen off-roader...and then tosses us the keys for an exclusive first drive. That's right, they let us loose in this monster of an off-roader — outfitted with their complete HEMI conversion kit, a Flowmaster exhaust, an Nth Degree three-inch suspension lift, 35-inch BFG Mud Terrain KM2s on a set of their own wheels, 4.88 rear gears, their all-steel heat-extractor hood and a beefy front winch bumper of their own design. The result: A seriously badass Wrangler.

Before we even talk about how the thing drives, it's worth noting the almost ridiculous level of build quality on this conversion. If you didn't know better, you'd think the HEMI was original equipment; in fact, thanks to AEV's connections to Chrysler, it's built using a lot of the same suppliers Chrysler uses. The wiring harness comes pre-tested and everything plugs up to the point that if you patch in a technician's scanner, it'll read as a Wrangler with a HEMI. It's literally as good as if it came from the factory.

But what the HEMI Wrangler is all about is performance, and let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat: The price of admission for the AEV conversion kit is worth the exhaust note alone. Firing up that big V8 fills the little cabin with intoxicating levels of awesomeness. Out on the asphalt, the big bad JT actually rides really well for what is in essence a purpose-built rock crawler. That's not to say anyone will mistake it for a sports car, but it certainly will get you where you're going quickly. Since this is Michigan and not Moab, the most off-roading we could do in our short test drive involved some back-country dirt roads — the kind that would swallow a passenger car into its ruts and holes, but only rough enough to test the assembly quality of a rock hopper and not much more.

Up against this measly test, the Wrangler didn't even flinch, providing an almost disturbingly smooth ride. Even with the huge tires, the excellent turning radius found on a stock Wrangler is unaffected. Ride and drive, exhaust note, nice leather seats — that stuff is all well and good, but you know what's really fun? Four-wheel dirt burnouts. Not that we did any of those, or dirt road brake stands. We'd never do stuff like that. But if we did, we would probably report AEV's HEMI V8 conversion turns a stock Wrangler Rubicon, which is pretty good on it's own, into a fire-breathing, mud-spitting, swaggering, snorting, off-road superstar.

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