William Maley

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com October 23, 2012 "For your dealership to take full advantage of the refreshed Civic and the marketing we will have supporting it you must greatly increase the turn rate on our 2012 Civics. With the unprecedented enhancements we have made to the current Civic after its first year in its cycle you will want to have little to no Civics on hand at arrival time of this refreshed 2013 model. The changes made to the 2013 model will make the outgoing 2012 Civic a difficult model sell when they are side to side. I strongly encourage you to discuss your Civic inventory situation with your district manager today, and set up a sell down strategy that will reduce your total remaining model year 2012 Civics by a minimum of 60% before December 1, 2012. I cannot stress enough, sell down of your 2012 Civics is critical to the 2013 Civic launch and the success of inventory balance at your dealership." This excerpt is from a letter by David Hendley, Assistant Vice President of Honda National Sales that was given to Autoblog by an anonymous tipster. Hendley's letter also gives some hints as to what to expect in the 2013 Civic. The 2013 Civic will address the 2012 Civic's interior by having "upgrades and improvements to bring more sophistication and quality to its appearance." Outside, the 2013 Civic will get "dramatic improvements to the exterior styling that moves Civic into a more premium sporty direction." The 2013 Honda Civic goes on sale on November 29, 2012. Source: Autoblog William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster. View full article

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com October 23, 2012 General Motors has announced that it will be doing a software upgrade on 4,000 2013 Chevrolet Volts due to glitch which could cause the electric motor to shut down. Kevin Kelly, manager of Electric Vehicle and Hybrid Communications told GM-Volt.com that problem lies in the software when a Volt is in the delayed time and rate charge mode. "We are notifying 2013 model year Chevy Volt owners about a customer satisfaction issue. We have received a few reports from owners that their electric motor has temporarily stopped working, resulting from a software anomaly when their vehicle is in the delayed time and rate charge mode. We’re asking owners to bring their vehicles into their local Chevy dealer for a re-flash of the vehicle’s control system, which should take less than an hour. Until then, we’re recommending that customers switch to immediate or delayed time charging to avoid this inconvenience," said Kelly. When asked if this problem is in the 2011 or 2012 Chevrolet Volt, Kelly said this problem doesn't exist in those models since the data is only on the 2013 model. Source: GM-Volt.com William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster. View full article

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com October 23, 2012 According to a new report from Automotive News, Subaru is working on a turbocharged version of the 2.0L boxer-four used in the BRZ. A source tells AN that this 2.0L will utilize a new a twin-scroll turbocharger and a new direct-injection system that will produce an estimated 280 HP and a excess of 250 lb-ft of torque. The turbocharged BRZ will arrive sometime in the 2014 model year. This is a 180-degree turn from earlier this year when Subaru global marketing manager Atoshi Atake said there would be no turbo BRZ due to space constraints of the BRZ's engine bay and wanting to keep turbocharging separate from the BRZ to the rest of the Subaru lineup. Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required) William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster. View full article

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com October 23, 2012 Back in 1983, American Motors signed an agreement with Beijing Auto Works to build the Jeep Cherokee XJ. Two years after the agreement, Jeep Cherokees would roll off the line in Beijing. The agreement would solider on when Chrysler brought American Motors in the late eighties. Chrysler would end the agreement in 2009. But now, Jeep vehicles could be rolling off the line again in China. According to Bloomberg, Fiat, Chrysler's parent company, is in talks with their Chinese partner, Guangzhou Automobile Group, to build Jeeps locally. This could include building Jeep's full lineup. “The volume opportunity for us is very significant. We’re reviewing the opportunities within existing capacity” as well as “should we be localizing the entire Jeep portfolio or some of the Jeep portfolio,” said Mike Manley, COO of Fiat and Chrysler in Asia and Jeep's president. Manley was quick to say if this was to go ahead, building vehicles in China would only augment production in the U.S., not kill it. Why is Fiat consider building Jeep vehicles overseas? Sales have been rapidly growing overseas, with 117,189 vehicles sold so far this year. Source: Bloomberg William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster. View full article

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com October 22, 2012 Earlier this month, we reported that four states; Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon were complaining about Tesla and their stores. "Tesla's factory-owned stores present unfair competition for rival dealerships, are inconvenient for consumers needing repairs and, if left unchallenged, ultimately threaten the franchise system," said a report in Automotive News. Tesla didn't see a problem with their stores. "We do what we're capable of doing, and we do whatever they let us do. It's unique for each location. If we can't be a dealer in a mall, we won't do reservations on-site. We tell people where to go on our Web site to make a reservation. We just want to locate in high-traffic locations and interact with people when they are specifically not thinking of buying a car. We have no motivation to change the laws or how the car industry does its business," said George Blankenship, Tesla's vice president of sales. Now, two states have filed suits against Tesla. According to Automotive News, New York and Massachusetts' dealer associations have filled lawsuits against Tesla. Massachusetts dealer association is asking the court to shut down Tesla's store in Boston. New York's dealer assocation has filled suit against Tesla and the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, stating that the two "violated state franchise law by seeking, in Tesla's case, and granting, in the department's case, a dealership license for a Tesla store in Westchester, N.Y." "The big question for a lot of the states is do they have the kind of statute that addresses the issue of who's allowed to be licensed to sell cars for their particular state.Tesla is a good poster child because they're setting up all over the place," said Mark Schienberg, president of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association. Tesla still stands behind their defense of saying their stores are just a place to look at the vehicle. If you want to purchase a Tesla, you can do that on their website. "They claim they're operating under the guise of a nonsales showroom, and we call that out as an outright scam," said Robert O'Koniewski, executive vice president of the Massachusetts dealer association. Earlier this afternoon, Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a piece on the Tesla Motors blog defending their retail strategy. "Automotive franchise laws were put in place decades ago to prevent a manufacturer from unfairly opening stores in direct competition with an existing franchise dealer that had already invested time, money and effort to open and promote their business. That would, of course, be wrong, but Tesla does not have this issue. We have granted no franchises anywhere in the world that will be harmed by us opening stores. Regrettably, two lawsuits have nonetheless been filed against Tesla that we believe are starkly contrary to the spirit and the letter of the law. This is supported by the nature of the plaintiffs, where one is a Fisker dealer and the other is an auto group that has repeatedly demanded that it be granted a Tesla franchise. They will have considerable difficulty explaining to the court why Tesla opening a store in Boston is somehow contrary to the best interests of fair commerce or the public. It is further worth noting that these franchise laws do not even exist in the rest of the world, where almost three quarters of premium sedan sales take place." Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required), Tesla Motors Blog William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster. View full article

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com October 22, 2012 Along with teasing the next generation Sliverado today, Chevrolet has released a teaser video of the next-generation Corvette, due out at the Detroit Auto Show on January 13, 2013. The video shows clay scrapings, testing, people in race suits, the wheels, and quick, blurry glimpses of the C7 before showing the 01/13/13 date. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ0JGkjtZXQ William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster View full article

William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com October 22, 2012 Porsche's new Macan crossover will be using the platform from the Audi Q5 and Porsche is saying the Macan will not be a Q5 in Porsche clothing. “Everything has been modified. Engines, transmissions, suspension — it’s all new. Audi can’t believe what we’ve done,” said Porsche’s R&D chief, Wolfgang Hatz. Hatz went onto say that the Macan will be the first Porsche in a long time to have a four-cylinder. “Not from the beginning, but in the medium to longterm, for sure,” he said. Source: Autocar William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster View full article