Car Prices Rev Buyers
The average sticker price for new vehicles sold in August is at an
all-time high of almost $29,000 as consumers snap up luxury cars or load
non-luxury vehicles with expensive options. The average actual price
paid by consumers in the first half of the month was $23,302, says CNW
Marketing Research, second only to May's average. Buyers in all ranges
appear to have been active in August. Automakers and Wall Street predict
August car and truck sales will be the year's highest, with a likely
annual selling rate of 18 million, up from 17.3 million in July and
about even with last summer. Automakers attempting to clear out 2003
models and move early '04 models have been pulling buyers in with
incentives averaging $4,200 a vehicle. But about two-thirds of the
incentive money is being used to buy more expensive vehicles than
planned, something automakers have been banking on. CNW found that while
the average sticker price is up 8.3% from a year ago and the price paid
is up 7%, buyers' average income is down about 11%, meaning buyers are
spending more of their incomes on cars. "It's human nature to buy more
when someone makes it easy for us, even when it's not good for us," says
consultant Veronica Hanslow, who studies consumer behavior. "It's the
'supersize it' mentality."
(Source: USA Today)



EPA Will Not Set Car Emissions Rule
In a decision with ramifications for the auto industry, the
Environmental Protection Agency concluded Thursday it lacks the legal
authority to regulate the carbon dioxide emissions of motor vehicles.
The International Center for Technology Assessment, a nonprofit research
group in Washington, asked the EPA in a 1999 petition to set standards
for car and truck tailpipe emissions of CO2, arguing the greenhouse gas
was contributing to global warming and was a pollutant. The EPA
disagreed, hewing to a narrow interpretation of the Clean Air Act.
"Congress must provide us with clear legal authority before we can take
regulatory action to address a fundamental issue such as climate
change," said Jeff Holmstead, assistant administrator at the EPA.
"Regulating the transportation sector for climate change purposes would
have enormous economic, practical and societal impacts." Joe Mendelson,
legal director of the International Center for Technology Assessment,
said the EPA decision will be challenged in court. Automakers could save
millions of dollars on new technology if the requirements are waived.
Environmental groups said the EPA decision was the latest in a string of
Bush administration attacks on the nation's clean air laws.
(Source: The Detroit News)


Revived Mazda Serves as School for Parent Ford
Mazda Motor Corp. was once one of Japan's worst-performing car makers.
Now, the affiliate of Ford Motor Co. is serving as a training ground for
many of the U.S. auto maker's most promising executives and engineers.
In the latest example, Ford this week named Mazda Chief Executive Lewis
Booth to become president of Ford's struggling European operations. He
succeeds Martin Leach, who resigned earlier this month. Mazda has served
as a school for Ford executives in part because of Japan's cutthroat
competition. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. lead the world in
the speed with which they develop new vehicles, a skill that allows them
to quickly churn out designs to meet changing market trends. "The pace
in Japan is very, very fast," Mr. Booth said Wednesday. "For someone who
hasn't lived and worked here, that is the shock" he said. Ford also is
making a big bet on Mazda's product strategy, especially the midsize
sedan called Mazda6. Ford is developing at least 10 products for the
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands in North America as derivatives of the
Mazda6. This is a big portion of the total 65 new vehicles that Ford
aims to develop in its home market in the coming five years. Ford also
hopes that collaborating with Mazda will help remedy one of Ford's
biggest problems: a product-creation system too sluggish and too costly
to be competitive in today's market. To lead that effort, Phil Martens
last year returned from three years at Mazda to become Ford's vice
president of product development in North America. "Mazda's turnaround
on the product side is truly notable, and I believe that is reproducible
at Ford," he said.
(Source: The Wall Street Journal)



Blitz for New Truck to be Ford’s Biggest
Ford Motor Co. said it and its dealers will spend more than $200 million
combined to launch the redesigned 2004 F-150 pickup truck, in the
biggest campaign to date for the auto maker. The blitz begins Friday
with four 15-second so-called teaser television ads to "let people know
something big is coming," said Rich Stoddart, a Ford advertising
manager. That will continue for about a week until the official launch
this Thursday of the six-month-long campaign. That is when Ford will
unveil the redesigned F-150 pickup. That weekend, the start of the
National Football League's season, Ford plans to air F-150 ads in TV
broadcasts of all 16 NFL games, as well as on broadcasts of major
college football matchups. Through the NFL games, which will air
Thursday and Sept. 7-8, Ford expects to reach 50% of the core
truck-buying audience. Ford will be a major sponsor of NFL game
broadcasts on News Corp.'s Fox. Steve Lyons, head of the Ford division,
said the company will spend "more than $100 million" in the next four to
six months to launch the pickup, which has been the best-selling vehicle
in the U.S. for 21 years.
(Source: The Wall Street Journal)