Toyota tops GM

Toyota outsold GM in the first quarter of 2007 by some 90,000 vehicles.

GM has been #1 worldwide for 76 years, though industry experts have been speculating about Toyota eventually overtaking GM, but always in a future context.

Both GM and Toyota reported record sales for the quarter. Toyota’s global sales for the quarter were 2.35 million units, up 9%.

Tags: GM, Toyota, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry

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IMF to Jack Welch: Wrong!

During his NADA keynote speech, Jack Welch showed his optimism in the U.S. economy, saying that he thought growth would be 4% this year.

But the IMF thinks differently.

They expect the U. S. economy to grow by 2.2 percent this year, the slowest since 2002 when it was recovering from a recession. Growth in 2006 was 3.3 percent.

The reason? "The U.S. housing market downturn in the United States has, if anything, been deeper than projected," the IMF said.

The IMF is projecting the world economy to grow a healthy 4.9 percent in 2007 and 2008, with these country-specific figures:

• China is expected to grow 10 percent this year and 9.5 percent next year
• India, 8.4 percent this year, 7.8 percent next year
• Canada, 2.4% this year
• Mexico, 3.4% this year
• Russia, 6.4% this year, 5.9% next
• Japan, 2.3% and 1.9%
• Germany, 1.8% and 1.9%
• UK, 2.9% and 2.7%

Tags: economy, world economy, U.S. economy, IMF

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Toyota moves in China

In case you need more proof that Toyota is ahead of the curve wherever they set their sights on an objective, Auto Industry UK reports that Toyota is making moves on two fronts in China.

First, they will assist the Chinese government through a special automotive technician training program.

Toyota will help devise the curriculum and will also provide teaching materials and vehicles, and will set up scholarships. The government plans to introduce the program at 25 vocational schools throughout the country.

As part of this initiative, Toyota will also:

• Set up a "Toyota Study Assistance Fund"
• Create a research center together with Tsinghua University in Beijing

The training will be based on Toyota’s TEAM 21 (Technical Education for Automotive Mastery for the 21st Century) curriculum for automotive maintenance technology.

At the same time, Toyota is also looking at the environmental consequences of the growing auto market in China. They have created a "Toyota Environmental Protection Aid Program for China’s Youth", as well as implemented tree-planting programs to combat desertification.

Tags: Toyota, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry

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Eleven rules of choosing business management software: Rule 5

Here’s another entry from our list of eleven "rules" to help guide small and medium sized companies when they evaluate potential suppliers of business management software.

Rule 5: Training is essential. Ask about the cost. Distrust suppliers that offer irrationally fast installations.

The training period for the dealership’s staff, as well as the new system’s “go-live” stage, is commonly underestimated when the implementation of the new dealer management system is planned.

However, training plays a key part in the correct utilization of the system. Proper training will help you:

• Get up and running faster

• Ensure new employees are immediately productive 

• Fully leverage the investment you’ve made in your new software system, which in turn will help you improve the way you manage your business with direct impact on your bottom-line 

According to a recent survey, over 85% of the reasons for a dealer’s dissatisfaction with their information system derived from its incorrect utilization, with a high percentage of users complaining about a lack of functionality that was later proven to actually be available in the currently installed software.

Unfortunately, training, especially when it is performed at the dealership site and at the hands of specialized trainers, are expensive both for the buyer (due to the actual cost as well as the time the users must set aside, momentarily leaving their daily tasks), and for the seller.

For this reason, it is common for both the dealer and the software supplier to make an effort to reduce the training during negotiations.

This often results in a bad choice for both parties.

During the contract negotiation, an appropriate training schedule should be contemplated and agreed upon. The necessary time will depend on the number of staff members and on the quantity of dealer locations. A “rough” estimate says that it should be no less than ten days per location. Don be surprised if the training ends up costing as much as or even a bit more than the software itself.

Dealers should be suspicious of training and go-live times that seem too short, which may signify poor quality in the software as well as in the related services.

Also, ask your supplier to tell you how much additional training will cost should the need arise in the future.

Posts in this series:

• Rule 1: Make sure the new system can accompany your company’s growth

• Rule 2: Does the system stay up-to-date regarding fiscal compliance?

• Rule 3: Attend a demo

• Rule 4: The system should be flexible

• Rule 5: Training is essential

• Rule 6: Choose a supplier that provides more than just a system

Tags: Autologica, DMS, dealer management systems, auto dealer software, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, auto dealer, auto dealers, car dealer, car dealers, motor vehicle dealer, motor vehicle dealers

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Miles Javlon electric car

Miles Automotive is a carmaker based in the U.S. but with its factories in China. They specialize in fuel efficient cars including low speed electric vehicles, such as their ZX40 and OR70 lines which have an average top speed of 35 mph and a range of 60 miles.

Now, Miles is announcing the imminent arrival of their sedan-sized Javlon, an electric car that will be built at their factory in Tianjin, China. The Javlon will have a top speed of 85 mph, a range of 150 miles, and a price tag of around $30,000.

The Javlon is expected to go on sale in the U.S. in late 2008.

Tags: Miles Automotive, Javlon, alternative energy, electric cars, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry

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Nissan vs. China in low-cost segment

Nissan will sell partner Renault’s low-cost Logan automobile in Mexico. The cars will come from Renault’s plant in Curitiba, Brazil.

Nissan and Renault share several vehicle platforms around the world, and in fact build vehicles for each other, but this will be the first time Nissan sells the Logan.

The Logan is currently built in Russia, Morocco, Colombia, India and Iran, with new plants to be set up in China, Pakistan and other countries. Renault’s goal is to build one million units by 2010.

The Logan was initially intended for emerging markets such as India, Iran, Romania, and Russia, but has surprised everyone by its success in mature European markets: France, Germany, and Spain have been big on the Logan, where on average it sells for half the price of a Ford Focus or VW Golf.

The Logan is also sold as the Dacia Logan in many markets (Renault bought Romanian carmaker Dacia in 1999; the Logan was born from that marriage).

The lesson? As Edmunds says:

"Renault has successfully demonstrated that the Chinese don’t necessarily have all the answers when it comes to building low-priced cars."

Read about the history of the Logan in this excellent Business Week article.

Tags: Renault, Nissan, Renault-Nissan, Logan, Renault Logan, Dacia, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry

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Toyota are like ants

… and ants rule the world. Read this.

J.D. Power wrote recently about how Toyota is plucking auto sales from practically every other brand in the U.S., including ones that compete in very different segments such as Jeep and Jaguar.

The criteria for the study was a comparison between the percentage of consumers who left a brand to buy a Toyota versus the percentage of people who left Toyota to buy that brand.

Individually the results may not be as surprising as they are when looked at cumulatively:

• Ex-Audi owners were most likely to buy a Toyota, while ex-Toyota owners were not among the top four sources of new Audi buyers
• 10% of former Land Rover customers went to Toyota
• 8.2% of ex-Fords chose Toyota, the inverse ratio was just 2.5%
• 11% of Infiniti owners went on to buy a Toyota, inversely it was 5.5%
• 7.5% of former Jaguar owners chose Toyota
• The same trend held for Saab, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Cadillac, GM,
  Subaru, BMW, Mini, Lincoln and Jaguar

Steve Witten, executive director of J.D. Power and Associates, concluded thus:

"… Toyota’s growth isn’t just about the product. If that was all it was, then they wouldn’t be attracting customers from places like Mini and Cadillac."

Tags: Toyota, J.D. Power, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry

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Ironic outsourcing

Recently read The World Is Flat, made me think of this ironic situation…

Shortsighted programming led to the Y2K "crisis", which necessitated massive amounts of low-cost, non-vital programmers to review and repair millions and millions of lines of code. So the U.S. turned to India, who had immense numbers of educated engineers, and thus began a cycle of ever-increasing outsourcing that has been moving many middle-class IT jobs from the U.S. to India.

In a somewhat similar vein, when the dot-com bubble burst, U.S. companies found their IT budgets aggressively downsized and again turned to India, already an established player since Y2K, to lower costs.

As MSN said a while back:

"It’s one thing to see a labor-intensive industry such as textile manufacturing shift to foreign soil, especially when the process has been going on for decades. It’s quite another thing to watch the United States lose jobs that require highly educated workers and the support of a sophisticated technological infrastructure."

Would the outsourcing of IT jobs have eventually begun if these two crises had not come about? Probably. But it’s still a little ironic, eh?

Tags: outsourcing, Y2K, India

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Why I bought a Mac for home use

I just bought an iMac to replace my home PC.

Why? I’m perfectly happy with Windows in the office, but at home it’s a different story. After years of trying to edit digital video (family stuff) on my home PC, I finally gave up and visited my local Apple store to see how much easier they could make my life.

My frustration with Windows when it comes to video editing is huge. Some time ago I bought what seemed at the time one of the better video capture boards, to move movies from my digital video camera onto my PC. I also bought Adobe Premiere, the famed (and excellent) video editing software program. And I got a good Premiere book at Amazon.

But I never got the board to work smoothly. After much struggling and tinkering, I was able to create some short videos, but the board and its drivers kept acting up, and finally stopped working. It turns out there were some incompatibilities between the board and XP, and no updates were in the works. As for Premiere, I liked it but it would freeze up and I never found out why, though I assume it was the board’s fault.

Back to the Apple store… I arrived with digital movie camera in hand. The Apple guy just plugged the camera into an iMac, opened iMovie, and started moving clips from the camera onto the Mac. In about three minutes he had created a short little movie made up of 2 or 3 clips, with transitions and background music.

That demonstration was enough for me, and so I am now the proud owner of a very cool iMac.

I’ll keep you posted with how thing go… and my impressions of the Mac OS X compared to Windows…

Tags: Mac, iMac, Apple, PC, digital video, Windows

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China automaker plans

China is now the world’s second-largest auto market. As competition starts to squeeze profit margins in China, local carmakers are beginning to show their hands.

Chinese automakers have joint venture operations with all of the major manufacturers. Analysts say that relations will probably begin to strain soon as the local companies begin to put more and more emphasis on their own-brand cars.

And it’s already happening: the Chinese Automakers Association says that in 2006, 26% of the cars built in China were designed locally or modified from imported models

Here’s what China’s major automakers are planning for the near future:

Shanghai Automotive (SAIC Motor):

• Currently China’s largest automaker.

• Has spent at least $600 million since 2002 buying overseas rivals and plants, to develop brands independently of its joint venture partners (GM and Volkswagen).

• Plans to sell more than 200,000 passenger cars and 400,000 buses and trucks a year under its own brands by 2010.

Geely Automobile

• Currently China’s largest privately owned carmaker.
• Plans to sell 240,000 Geely and Maple sedans in 2007, including 20,000 overseas.
• Will buy 23% stake in Manganese Bronze,, the largest maker of London black taxis.
• Will form a cab-making venture in Shanghai.

Chery Automobile

• Plans to sell 393,000 vehicles in 2007, a 29% increase.
• Will build compacts for Chrysler, for sale in the U.S.
• Has production partners in Iran, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Argentina.

Tags: Chery, Chery Automobile, Chery Automobile Co., Geely Automobile, Geely, Shanghai Automotive, Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp, SAIC, SAIC Motor, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry

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