Last night, President Obama signed the CARS Act. NHTSA has 30 days to finalize the rules of the program and to execute it. Under the terms of the program, it begins with sales effective July 1. However, the final rules will not be announced until July 24th at the latest. Therefore dealers that try to leverage the program prior to the rules being announced are at risk of not completing all the steps that would be required to claim the incentive. The NADA and the Government are strongly recommending that dealers wait for the rules to be in place before selling vehicles under the program. Dealers are certainly encouraged to prepare to take advantage of this program and make plans for a fast start when all the rules are in place.
We have received many questions from the dealers about how to claim the incentive, timing of payment, how to scrap the vehicle and who is entitled to the scrap value of the vehicle. Those are all the questions that will be answered when NHTSA provides the final rules in the next 30 days.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Ford Brand Quality Improves for the 8th Straight Year in 2009 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study
Ford brand's quality continues to improve faster than the overall industry; Ford brand remains statistically tied with top Japanese automakers
- Ford brand's initial quality improved for the eighth consecutive year
- Ford F-150, Mustang, Edge and Mercury Sable were quality leaders in their respective vehicle segments
- F-250/F-350 Super-Duty manufacturing plant, Kentucky Truck in Louisville, was awarded a Bronze Plant Quality Award
DEARBORN, Mich., June 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ford Motor Company F recorded another strong improvement in J.D. Power and Associates' 2009 Initial Quality Study, putting the Ford and Mercury brands in a statistical tie with the top Japanese brands.
The Ford brand, which continues to outpace the overall industry's quality improvement, now has posted eight consecutive years of gains in the closely watched quality study based on consumer evaluations after the first three months of new-vehicle ownership. Overall, the Ford brand improved by 10 points over last year's study.
"It is gratifying to see our commitment to quality paying off," said Bennie Fowler, Ford group vice president, Global Quality. "Ford has demonstrated consistent and continuous quality improvement. We're now tied with the best of the Japanese automakers and we won't be satisfied until Ford is the industry's global quality leader."
Some of Ford's most popular nameplates received top honors for their respective segment, including Ford F-150, Mustang, Edge and Mercury Sable.
J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Initial Quality Study is based on responses from 80,930 new 2009 model-year vehicle owners after they have driven their new vehicles for three months. It measures problems per 100 vehicles and was based on November through February registrations.
In April, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based RDA Group's Global Quality Research System (GQRS) showed that Ford has surpassed Honda and is in a statistical tie with Toyota in initial quality.That report, an analysis of "things gone wrong" in new vehicles as measured by customers, is commissioned quarterly by Ford.
"The blue oval is becoming synonymous with high quality with customers," Fowler said. "We're not only dramatically reducing defects, we are delivering the long-term durability and the superior craftsmanship that today's customers demand."
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 205,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.
SOURCE Ford Motor Company
Copyright 2009 PR Newswire
- Ford brand's initial quality improved for the eighth consecutive year
- Ford F-150, Mustang, Edge and Mercury Sable were quality leaders in their respective vehicle segments
- F-250/F-350 Super-Duty manufacturing plant, Kentucky Truck in Louisville, was awarded a Bronze Plant Quality Award
DEARBORN, Mich., June 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ford Motor Company F recorded another strong improvement in J.D. Power and Associates' 2009 Initial Quality Study, putting the Ford and Mercury brands in a statistical tie with the top Japanese brands.
The Ford brand, which continues to outpace the overall industry's quality improvement, now has posted eight consecutive years of gains in the closely watched quality study based on consumer evaluations after the first three months of new-vehicle ownership. Overall, the Ford brand improved by 10 points over last year's study.
"It is gratifying to see our commitment to quality paying off," said Bennie Fowler, Ford group vice president, Global Quality. "Ford has demonstrated consistent and continuous quality improvement. We're now tied with the best of the Japanese automakers and we won't be satisfied until Ford is the industry's global quality leader."
Some of Ford's most popular nameplates received top honors for their respective segment, including Ford F-150, Mustang, Edge and Mercury Sable.
J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Initial Quality Study is based on responses from 80,930 new 2009 model-year vehicle owners after they have driven their new vehicles for three months. It measures problems per 100 vehicles and was based on November through February registrations.
In April, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based RDA Group's Global Quality Research System (GQRS) showed that Ford has surpassed Honda and is in a statistical tie with Toyota in initial quality.That report, an analysis of "things gone wrong" in new vehicles as measured by customers, is commissioned quarterly by Ford.
"The blue oval is becoming synonymous with high quality with customers," Fowler said. "We're not only dramatically reducing defects, we are delivering the long-term durability and the superior craftsmanship that today's customers demand."
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 205,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.
SOURCE Ford Motor Company
Copyright 2009 PR Newswire
Friday, June 19, 2009
Crashing the party: A tire incident in the Ford
If you want to read about how the car drives, that
review is coming in our next issue. For now, I’ll tell you
how it crashes.
I never saw it coming. A tire had flown off an
Oldsmobile Cutlass heading in the opposite direction
on the freeway, rolled past its horrified driver, skipped
over the median, bounced at least 20 feet into the air
and smashed through my windshield as I emerged
from under an overpass. At least, that’s what I was
told by a witness kind enough to stop--and the Cutlass
driver, who, after successfully steering his car to the
shoulder, sprinted across eight lanes of Memorial Day
traffic to make sure he hadn’t killed me.
The metallic green Ford Fiesta, one of only a handful
brought to the States for us journalist types to testdrive,
looked like a squished ash borer, the glass
completely breached where the rearview mirror once
hung, a skid mark on the hood the telltale sign of the
original impact and the roof crumpled where the tire ended its destructive ways. Inside, circuit boards lay scattered about,
wires dangled uselessly from the headliner, and every surface glistened under a thick coating of shattered tempered
glass.
(Oh, tempered glass! Two days later, still flossing the stuff from between my teeth, I was more grateful for it than ever.)
Had the tire hit just six inches to the left, it might have landed in my lap. Or my brain. Instead, I walked away with little more than a right arm
splattered with exploded glass, the tiny droplets of blood twinkling on my hand and wrist a testament to, I don’t know, the mood of the Fates that
day, a buildup of good karma or the beating wings of a butterfly in China.
Regardless of why the tire chose my car or why I was spared decapitation, I found myself in awe of the Fiesta’s actual performance under fire.
The manner in which it sustained such forceful damage isn’t something tested for by the feds or even the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety. No airbags deployed (the car was struck from above, not in front, where the airbag sensors sit), and the car was traveling at 75 mph, far
faster than any prescribed crash test mandates.
Throw in the fact that we’re talking about a car significantly smaller than a Ford Focus--and, by all accounts, smaller even than a Honda Fit, if
only by millimeters--and it’s astounding that the tire didn’t utterly atomize it.
Then again, the car will likely live to drive another day, thanks to a little something called boron steel.
Used extensively in the roof structure of the Fiesta, particularly in the A- and B-pillars, boron steel is one of a variety of ultra-high-strength
steels, so hard that it resists conventional cutting methods--including the Jaws of Life.
The use of boron steel isn’t new; the stuff’s been around for years now. But its application in a car like the Fiesta, a B-segment, entry-level ride
that will start at about $15,000 when it debuts here next year, is a first. We hope it’s not the last.
They just don’t build small cars like they used to. And thank goodness for that.
To read more visit the AutoWeek Car news, road tests, photos and insight section.
review is coming in our next issue. For now, I’ll tell you
how it crashes.
I never saw it coming. A tire had flown off an
Oldsmobile Cutlass heading in the opposite direction
on the freeway, rolled past its horrified driver, skipped
over the median, bounced at least 20 feet into the air
and smashed through my windshield as I emerged
from under an overpass. At least, that’s what I was
told by a witness kind enough to stop--and the Cutlass
driver, who, after successfully steering his car to the
shoulder, sprinted across eight lanes of Memorial Day
traffic to make sure he hadn’t killed me.
The metallic green Ford Fiesta, one of only a handful
brought to the States for us journalist types to testdrive,
looked like a squished ash borer, the glass
completely breached where the rearview mirror once
hung, a skid mark on the hood the telltale sign of the
original impact and the roof crumpled where the tire ended its destructive ways. Inside, circuit boards lay scattered about,
wires dangled uselessly from the headliner, and every surface glistened under a thick coating of shattered tempered
glass.
(Oh, tempered glass! Two days later, still flossing the stuff from between my teeth, I was more grateful for it than ever.)
Had the tire hit just six inches to the left, it might have landed in my lap. Or my brain. Instead, I walked away with little more than a right arm
splattered with exploded glass, the tiny droplets of blood twinkling on my hand and wrist a testament to, I don’t know, the mood of the Fates that
day, a buildup of good karma or the beating wings of a butterfly in China.
Regardless of why the tire chose my car or why I was spared decapitation, I found myself in awe of the Fiesta’s actual performance under fire.
The manner in which it sustained such forceful damage isn’t something tested for by the feds or even the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety. No airbags deployed (the car was struck from above, not in front, where the airbag sensors sit), and the car was traveling at 75 mph, far
faster than any prescribed crash test mandates.
Throw in the fact that we’re talking about a car significantly smaller than a Ford Focus--and, by all accounts, smaller even than a Honda Fit, if
only by millimeters--and it’s astounding that the tire didn’t utterly atomize it.
Then again, the car will likely live to drive another day, thanks to a little something called boron steel.
Used extensively in the roof structure of the Fiesta, particularly in the A- and B-pillars, boron steel is one of a variety of ultra-high-strength
steels, so hard that it resists conventional cutting methods--including the Jaws of Life.
The use of boron steel isn’t new; the stuff’s been around for years now. But its application in a car like the Fiesta, a B-segment, entry-level ride
that will start at about $15,000 when it debuts here next year, is a first. We hope it’s not the last.
They just don’t build small cars like they used to. And thank goodness for that.
To read more visit the AutoWeek Car news, road tests, photos and insight section.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
House, Senate teams OK $1B 'cash for clunkers' program
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington -- House and Senate negotiators reached agreement late Thursday on a $106 billion wartime spending bill that includes $1 billion for a "cash for clunkers" program to boost auto sales.
The program would offer vouchers of up to $4,500 for car buyers who turn in old, gas-guzzling cars and trucks for new, more fuel-efficient models. Auto state lawmakers, carmakers and dealers have sought the measure as a partial antidote for auto sales that have plunged 40 percent or more in the face of a deep recession.
The House and Senate are expected to pass the compromise version of the spending bill next week. But the $1 billion set aside for the auto-purchase program is far short of the full cost of such an effort, estimated at $4 billion. The $1 billion is expected to fund the program through Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year, according to two congressional sources close to the negotiations who asked to remain anonymous.
Advertisement
This week, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, who sponsored the Senate version of "cash for clunkers" legislation, said she was comfortable with winning approval for money to start the program, with the idea that additional funding could be approved later.
Legislation establishing a program passed the House this week, but Senate supporters had struggled to overcome disputes over funding and mileage requirements. Those concerns are unlikely to derail the war-funding bill, which includes $51 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, $5 billion to support the governments of Iraq, Afghanistan and other allies and other spending with broad support.
The agreement reached Thursday includes the same mileage and other requirements as the measure approved by the House on Tuesday, said the congressional sources.
Under the program, owners of cars rated at 18 mpg or less in combined highway and city mileage could turn them in for a cash voucher. Buying a new car rated at least 4 mpg higher would earn a $3,500 voucher; a 10 mpg improvement would earn a $4,500 voucher.
Pickups would be eligible as long as the new vehicle has a mileage rating of at least 18 mpg and is at least 2 mpg higher than the old vehicle. A new truck rated at least 5 mpg higher than the turned-in vehicle would earn a $4,500 voucher.
Under the program, vehicles turned in would be scrapped.
Washington -- House and Senate negotiators reached agreement late Thursday on a $106 billion wartime spending bill that includes $1 billion for a "cash for clunkers" program to boost auto sales.
The program would offer vouchers of up to $4,500 for car buyers who turn in old, gas-guzzling cars and trucks for new, more fuel-efficient models. Auto state lawmakers, carmakers and dealers have sought the measure as a partial antidote for auto sales that have plunged 40 percent or more in the face of a deep recession.
The House and Senate are expected to pass the compromise version of the spending bill next week. But the $1 billion set aside for the auto-purchase program is far short of the full cost of such an effort, estimated at $4 billion. The $1 billion is expected to fund the program through Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year, according to two congressional sources close to the negotiations who asked to remain anonymous.
Advertisement
This week, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, who sponsored the Senate version of "cash for clunkers" legislation, said she was comfortable with winning approval for money to start the program, with the idea that additional funding could be approved later.
Legislation establishing a program passed the House this week, but Senate supporters had struggled to overcome disputes over funding and mileage requirements. Those concerns are unlikely to derail the war-funding bill, which includes $51 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, $5 billion to support the governments of Iraq, Afghanistan and other allies and other spending with broad support.
The agreement reached Thursday includes the same mileage and other requirements as the measure approved by the House on Tuesday, said the congressional sources.
Under the program, owners of cars rated at 18 mpg or less in combined highway and city mileage could turn them in for a cash voucher. Buying a new car rated at least 4 mpg higher would earn a $3,500 voucher; a 10 mpg improvement would earn a $4,500 voucher.
Pickups would be eligible as long as the new vehicle has a mileage rating of at least 18 mpg and is at least 2 mpg higher than the old vehicle. A new truck rated at least 5 mpg higher than the turned-in vehicle would earn a $4,500 voucher.
Under the program, vehicles turned in would be scrapped.
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