The Wall Street Journal-20080114-Best of the Auto Show Tracker - Excerpts from Recent Blog Entries from the North American International Auto Show
Return to: The_Wall_Street_Journal-20080114
Best of the Auto Show Tracker / Excerpts from Recent Blog Entries from the North American International Auto Show
GM Plans to Expand in Foreign Markets
With Production of Car for Under $4,000
General Motors Corp.'s Asia-Pacific chief is working on developing a car for emerging markets that could play in the sub-$4,000 price range, as the company looks to compete with auto makers that are already building cheaper cars.
"We're obviously doing work on it," Nick Reilly, head of GM's Asia unit, said during an interview at the North American International Auto Show yesterday. He said the company wouldn't rule out working with a partner to make the car a reality, however, he added, a partner isn't a requirement.
Currently, GM sells a minicar that costs about $4,500 in some markets.
Last week, India's Tata Motors Ltd. unveiled a car designed to sell for $2,500 in India. The vehicle, dubbed the Nano, proved to GM that "the debate is open" as to how cheap cars should be. In the past, Mr. Reilly argues, the basement for a new vehicle had been $4,000.
Mr. Reilly said the cheaper car under consideration could be sold in several markets, including Russia, India, China and South America. "The demographics [in these markets] just show there are a lot of people coming into the situation where they can afford a new car," Mr. Reilly said.
Those markets have increasing appeal these days. Sales in the U.S. and in Western Europe are expected to be sluggish this year.
GM is also looking into exporting low-priced Wuling vans from China to other emerging markets. These vehicles, made by GM's SAIC GM Wuling Automobile Co. joint venture, sell for about $3,500, but are largely targeted toward agricultural buyers, and aren't really sold outside of China.
GM is looking to potentially send Wulings to other Asian countries and South America, Mr. Reilly said. He said the company has other plans, but didn't give details.
-- John D. Stoll
Ford's Ford Takes
The Stage Again
Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford Jr. emerged from the shadows after essentially firing himself a year and a half ago when he turned over the chief executive reins to Alan Mulally, a former Boeing Co. executive.
His new mission: change consumers' perception of Ford Motor on technology and the environment. To that end, Mr. Ford says he will be asking some of the nation's "thought leaders" for help turning things around. Dubbed the Transformation Advisory Council, the group will meet a few times a year, Mr. Ford told a crowd in Cobo Arena, the site of the show.
The council members include Amory Lovins, chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, which studies energy and resource issues; Paul Hawken, an environmentalist, entrepreneur and author, and Peter Senge, an authority on systems-thinking and organizational learning.
The auto maker has lagged Toyota Motor Corp. when it comes to perceptions of corporate green streaks and advanced technology. Ford has broken promises in the past to sell hybrids in large volumes and improve the mileage of its fleet of sport-utility vehicles.
Now, Ford is promoting EcoBoost, the name it is applying to engines that combine turbocharging and direct-injection technology. The auto maker hopes to put EcoBoost engines in half a million vehicles over the next five years.
The technology, which hasn't yet been applied as widely to an auto maker's fleet as Ford plans, can boost mileage through more efficient combustion and increase power to smaller motors. A V6 engine, for instance, would get the power of a V8.
-- Mike Spector
Dodge's Bum Steer
Chrysler LLC has chosen all kinds of dramatic effects in the past to introduce new models and concepts at auto shows, including driving through plate glass windows.
This year, in a move loaded with double entendre, Chrysler chose to hire some cowboys -- and cowgirls -- to drive a herd of cattle through the streets of Detroit to show off its updated Dodge Ram pickup. The launch is especially important to the auto maker, which has seen its sales slide and would like to strengthen its position in the high- margin pickup market.
It was a quiet, anticlimactic affair. A few hundred journalists and auto industry people lined Washington Boulevard outside to watch the longhorned steer quietly amble up to the front of the Cobo Center, accompanied by the occasional crack of a cowboy's whip and the rumbling of the two pickups in the parade.
Given the chilly temperatures, most of the crowd headed back indoors quickly.
-- David Patton
