Spain’s Telefonica yachts took top honours in Saturday’s inaugural event of the 2008-09 Volvo round the world race, an “in-port” regatta in the Mediterranean port of Alicante.
Telefonica Blue, skippered by Dutch veteran Bouwe Bekking, won the day’s event ahead of Telefonica Black, captained by Spain’s gold medalist from the Beijing Olympics, Fernando Echavarri.
Volvo AB, the world’s second- largest truckmaker, will eliminate about 1,400 jobs at factories in Belgium and Sweden as the financial crisis accelerates a slowdown in European demand for commercial vehicles.
Volvo will initiate other cost-cutting measures in the face of declining sales and higher raw material costs, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based manufacturer said today in a statement. The company has begun talks with unions regarding the job reductions at plants in Gothenburg and Umea in Sweden and in Ghent, Belgium.
Ford has earned more “Top Safety Pick” ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) than any other automaker with a total of 16 to date.
Ford surpassed its closest rival Honda this week when four of its 2009 models — Ford Flex, Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKS and Mercury Milan — achieved “Top Safety Pick” ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
They say the middle child faces the most challenges in life. In autos, however, the midpoint may be the best position to hold. Take the Volvo S80 T6. It now seems to be selling the best of the three versions of the S80 available here.
Of course, this middle model of Volvo’s flagship luxury sedan was also the last to be introduced, so perhaps it is really the youngest that does well.
No one will be killed or injured in a Volvo vehicle in the year 2020. That is the mid-term goal for employees, designers and engineers at Volvo Car Corp. Ambitious, for sure, but the company is actually reaching even further: one day, all vehicles simply will not crash.
Impossible? Perhaps. But it’s a vision that we’re working toward to address a problem of pandemic proportions. The World Health Organization estimates 1.2 million people are killed and more than 50 million are injured in automobile collisions every year.
U.S. auto sales were hobbled in the first half as gasoline prices jumped to record highs. Now, a financial crisis that pushed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into bankruptcy has toughened new-vehicle loan terms and may further depress sales.
“The panic over fuel prices this year brought the quickest shift from trucks and SUVs to cars I’ve ever seen,” said Dave Zuchowski, vice president of sales for Hyundai Motor Co.’s U.S. unit, in an interview yesterday. “The new story is access to credit. That will impact us more in the second half.”
The Metropolitan Taxicab Board released a report yesterday by a well-known auto engineer blasting the vehicles and also filed a lawsuit to stop the city’s mandate requiring all new taxis hitting the street after Oct. 1 have a rating of at least 25 miles per gallon. The Taxi and Limousine Commission did not adequately test the safety of new vehicles, the group charges.
“Hybrids were designed to be personal cars for driving 10,000 miles a year, not 100,000 miles a year, like taxis,” said Michael Woloz, spokesman for the trade group.
Stephen Odell, 53, was named to steer a money-losing brand that has lost sales in its biggest market, the U.S., under Ford stewardship. The U.S. luxury leaders, Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus and Bayerische Motoren Werke’s BMW, meanwhile, have boosted U.S. volume by more than 75 percent.
“He has to figure out a way to make Volvo popular again,” said Aaron Bragman, a Troy, Michigan-based auto analyst for Global Insight Inc.
Mercedes-Benz will take on Volvo buses on Indian roads and look to replicate their global dominance in buses in the Indian market too. Globally, Mercedes enjoys a 70% market share in buses, while Volvo has a 5% share, the head of Daimler Buses, Harald Landman, points out. So they will be aiming for the number one slot in India too. Fleet owners are already switching loyalties despite a premium pricing over the Volvo. Three of the leading Volvo buyers in India have lined up to pick up the first buses rolling out of the company’s plant in Pune with the body made by Sutlej Motors.
General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said last week the company is hoping its recent decision to offer employee discounts to all will help spur some activity in a U.S. auto industry that remains uncertain.
“It is very early, but I would say, one or two days out of the box, the reaction is excellent,” Wagoner said last week in Lordstown, Ohio. “The market is so unsteady now we need to let this play out a few days and see if we can use it to build up some momentum. … to see if we could find anything that would get the market going a little bit.”
