Automotive Reporter Biz News for Wk of 10-26-15

Ford’s marketing geniuses continue to blend Mustang’s heritage with various speedsters to produce very appealing derivatives of the iconic muscle car. 

Petty’s Garage is being tapped to build a limited number of highly modified Mustang GTs – 243 King edition models, 43 King Premier and 14 King Premier convertibles.

What will the King-packages include? The already hot, 5.0-litre engine will be modified with a Ford Performance supercharger to boost horsepower to 670—with a three-year, 36k-mile warranty.

Petty’s Garage owner, the legendary Richard Petty, says the King Edition Mustangs are “pretty much the way I’d build my own.” To handle the extra power, the Petty shop also adds TrakPak Ford Performance halfshafts, three-way adjustable front and rear sway bars, and a rear axle upgrade. MSRP prices begin at $67,495—which is pretty affordable in this universe. Order yours from the Petty’s Garage website.

The OnStar network is amazeballs. With a push of a button, you can be connected to a real, live person in this country (who speaks flawless English), who will answer any question you have. If there’s an emergency, they’ll dispatch help—even before you ask, in some cases. Now OnStar is offering to read books to you while you drive along. Actually, they’re downloads of audio books, but you get the idea.  

Maritz Research finds that Buick owners are 30% more likely to read books as a leisure activity, and so GM and Audiobooks.com are offering two free downloads to 2016 Buick owners. I think they should add another volume to the list—the 2016 Buick Owners’ Manual.

The electrical evolution continues in the automotive realm.  Chevrolet has created a snappy EV-version of its Bolt sub-compact, which it says can go 200-miles on a single charge.  GM says the electrified model will go into production for the 2016 model year, assembled at its Orion Township, MI plant. 

The Bolt EV is a collaboration between Chevrolet and LG Corp, which has invested $250-million in a manufacturing facility in Korea that will gen-up some of the components for the car. LG Chem has been manufacturing batteries for GM’s first-generation Volt since 2010.

Last Wednesday the entire world celebrated “Back to the Future Day,” that moment in time to which Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled from 1985. Probably the best “moment” of the day occurred on Jimmy Kimmel Live, when Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd emerged—in character—from a smoke enshrouded DeLorean rolling onto the set. 

The pair bantered about how 2015 sucks, and Doc headed back to “fix a few things” at the end of the segment.  Special mention goes to Huey Lewis, who was planted in the audience, and jammed with the house band during the commercial break.

As promised, Toyota produced a special edition Tacoma 4 x 4, the ride of choice of McFly in the film series, and a BTTF-themed TV spot to capitalize on the theme.
It worked. 

Worst automotive ad campaigns ever:
3.) Art Grindle’s Saturday morning cartoon sponsorships: In what alternative universe is jumping up and down on top of cars while screaming low-price promises an effective venue for marketing? Oh, yeah—Houston in the 1960’s.

2.) Toyota’s Muppets TV spots. In what alternative universe is screaming puppet dialogue a suitable venue for marketing motorcars?

 1.) Honda’s singing owner Radio spots: There’s only one thing more obnoxious than a car dealer's jingle singers, and that’s car owners who CANNOT sing, attempting to voice the praises of their cars’ rear view camera, et al. 

I’d like to see an automotive derivation of M&M Mars’ series of candy bars ads, in which various “hangry” drivers are magically transformed with just a bite of a Snickers bar. Maybe that’s what the Houston Texans needed on Sunday—just a Snickers.

Listen to the Automotive Reporter Radio Show every weekend on Stitcher.com, or from our webpage. 

Automotive Reporter Biz News for Wk of 10-19-15

This is the week that Back to the Future arrives from the past.
October 21, 2015—the date that lives in infamy in the futuristic genre.  Toyota is capitalizing on the theme with a series of “Back to the Future” television ads. One of them features a futures recap, starring “Doc Brown” and Marty McFly, a.k.a, Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox, discussing which technologies from their 1985 hit have actually come to pass.

For those of you keeping score, “Back to the Future-II” did get a few things right, although McFly is still waiting for self-tying sneakers. But video chats, large screen TV’s, fingerprint scanners, and wearable devices are in the here and now.  In an interesting exercise, a group of teens were asked to review some of the gadgets from the film, and rate how 2015 has kept up with expectations from 1985.

Toyota’s tease includes a promised reveal of a tricked-out Toyota Tacoma 4 x 4, Marty McFly’s truck of choice in the future. Watch for multiple sightings around the country on October 21, 2015.
Great Scott!

What’s that in your rear-view mirror? Red and blue flashing lights? Odds are, that’s a Ford Motor Company police pursuit vehicle that’s giving chase. Ford’s Interceptor sedans and utility vehicles are the best-selling cop cars on the market, with a staggering 61% share, as of the end of June. 

License and registration, please, and keep your hands on the wheel.

The saga of Volkswagen is still being written, but if someone doesn’t make a movie out of this, I’ll be surprised. The board of the beleaguered automaker continues to tweak its strategies on how best to move forward from the “diesel-gate” fiasco, even after replacing its CEO, and shuffling a few other execs.

The company is reorienting its diesel technology stratagem, and pushing for a more standardized electrical architecture for both passenger and light commercial vehicles. Look for a new iteration of the popular Phaeton series, as VW’s efficiency program is accelerated (no pun intended.)

Sales numbers are in for the first three Quarters of 2015. Volkswagen Group says it delivered 7.43-million vehicles to customers globally in the period. Of that number, 4.35-million were passenger cars. General Motors counted 7.2-million vehicles delivered.  BMW Group’s deliveries are up 7.5% for the first nine-months of the year, totaling more than 1.6-million units sold. 

Listen to the Automotive Reporter Radio Show every weekend on Stitcher.com, or from our webpage.