Awesome news today! Today marks the first time that GM has started test drives for the pre-production Chevy Volt extended range electric car. This comes just one day after the company announced that by October, GM will have 4,000 less salaried executives and other employees (probably taking the advice of smart people for a change). While the real deal won’t be available for you to purchase until late next year, It is pretty much safe to say that the day of the electric car has finally come… well, sort of. The Lithium Ion battery has actually not yet been proven to work in a high-volume hybrid car, but this is something that they’ll work out in time for the big release next year (hopefully). GM says that they plan to build around 80 prototypes of the vehicle to use for testing throughout the next year. We will actually have affordable electric cars on the road in a year’s time. Am I the only one that’s excited about this? I’ll include a picture c/o GM at the end of the article.

In a follow up to an article I wrote last week concerning the Cash for Guzzlers bill under consideration in congress: The bill passed through both the House and the Senate. As of 4:30 yesterday President Obama signed the bill into law. This voucher program will go into effect next month (5 days) and will provide assistance to any owner of a gas-guzzler wishing to purchase a more fuel-efficient car. Any person that is interested in acquiring one of these vouchers (and believe it or not, these aren’t limited to just drivers of SUV’s and large trucks) can access a brand new government website www.cars.gov to find out if they are eligible.

That’s all for this week. It’ll get better, it has to.

Apparently there is this argument that big SUV’s and big trucks are a major profit maker, especially for the big 3 in Detroit. Now I will be the first to admit that earlier in the decade this was an absolute truth. Somewhere around 2003, everything was about bigger and better. While it was true 6 years ago, time tends to change everything. This has obviously in these past couple of years proven to be false due to the economic downturn and almost entire halt of the lucrative Big Truck market. Increasing concern for the environment, and to be quite honest, practicality in regards to the price of gasoline has driven this argument into obscurity. However, if there was any doubt in your mind about this, there was a study released from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute that basically confirms what I just said. They insist that the Detroit 3 would be more likely in increase their profits, and less likely to lose money if they geared their production to meet fuel efficiency standards that far exceed future government regulations. This isn’t a new concept: the idea of making a prediction based on a trend, and making decisions that will bring success in the future. Honestly, I can’t say whether or not these auto companies have made the necessary changes (only time will tell us I suppose), but it does force me to beg the question, Why didn’t they respond to people’s warning that this economic downturn would occur years ago? The study also sheds light on this by adding that for these companies to become viable again in the future, they are advised to replace existing management teams. Sounds smart to me, replace the people who refused to listen to THEIR OWN researchers for THREE DECADES.

In other news today, Japan is seeing a restructuring of its major auto companies’ leadership. Toyota announced today that the current president is stepping down and being replaced by the grandson of the company’s founder. Toyota claims that the company will strive to remain economically viable in the future by weeding out production of oversized cars, and focusing on their production of smaller more fuel efficient vehicles. Sound familiar?

On top of Toyota’s announcement, the ONLY Japanese automaker to actually post profit during this recession, Honda, has announced that they are replacing THEIR president. It just goes to show, if you are a higher-up in the auto industry, don’t count on the success of your company to be an indicator of the safety of your job. (ouch.) That’s all for now..

Here’s another interesting piece of auto industry news I happened across today. You may be familiar with a piece of legislation that has been discussed for a few months now and was voted on by the House of Representatives yesterday. This legislation is nicknamed “Cash for Guzzlers” and entails pretty much what you would expect given the title. This bill would allocate 1 billion dollars to a voucher system for car owners who wish to trade in “gas guzzlers” for a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle. Each owner would be eligible to receive 4500 dollars towards their purchase of the new vehicle. A novel idea, I mean, I think this would be a nice way to stimulate the populous: encouraging them to simultaneously buy an American vehicle and reduce their carbon footprint (which regardless of whether or not you like Al Gore, actually is an important issue).

Some lawmakers are calling this legislation just another attempt to bail out the auto industry. Bailoutbailoutbailout. Maybe the government is giving to much money to failing businesses, I’m not here to make any judgments Regardless of this squabbling, the bail.. I mean bill passed the House by just 24 votes and now moves into the Senate where it will probably die a painful and public death. This voucher system (if passed) would be in effect until November of this year.

In other news, a new car manufacturer called V-Vehicle will soon be opening its doors in Louisiana. This is just the latest from the Louisiana Economic Development team, and should do wonders for the (approximately) 1400 people it will employ. This company is another step in the right direction, as they will specialize in the production of high gas mileage vehicles. It’s got to worth something, I mean.. T. Boone Pickens attached his name to it as one of the chief investors. That guy is so much fun.

That’s all for this week. Wish me a happy birthday! (tomorrow)

I recently read a story about a Florida couple who arranged to have their vehicle shipped to them from their summer home in New York. They chose an auto shipping company based out of Fort Lauderdale for the service. Now with a situation like this the transport job was supposed to be complete in a matter of days: a week at the most. Six weeks later this couple found themselves scratching their heads wondering why their car had not yet been delivered. So what were they to do in this situation? They called the company.

This turned out to be a fruitful as CBS’s Matlock 2020 (which if you’ve never heard of is essentially Matlock set in the year 2020… if failed, as did this metaphor). With the company turning a blind eye to them over the phone, the natural next step would be to go to them in person to see what happened to their car. They sent their daughter who was told that their car was sitting on a transporter (those large trucks that carry around 6 vehicles at a time) and that it would be delivered in the next 4 days. With this information, they sat at home and held their breath. This hope didn’t last long, as predictably the car still didn’t come.

After 6 weeks of no car, they sent their daughter back down to the lot. The company continued to swear up and down that they didn’t have her parent’s car… this was until the young woman spotted the car sitting on their lot. It was right there the whole time!

You will be happy to hear that the FMCSA has revoked this business’ license to transport cars. Don’t let this story shun you from having your car transported. It turns out this company had received 20 – 30 complaints about the same basic problem before finally being shut down.

As everybody knows by now, GM, the nation’s largest auto manufacturers effectively bit the dust on Monday. It is a little astounding to me how we have a special name for a large business failing (filing for chapter 11 sounds like bureaucratic jargon for the end of a work day). They announced that they would be filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, though honestly I think we would all be denying ourselves the truth if we say that we haven’t seen this coming for a long time now. So what does this mean for the company and its vast network of employees?

GM is painting as a chance for reinvention. They are describing this epic failure on taxpayer dollars as a chance to revitalize their failing business model to keep themselves competitive in a global market. So far, this bankruptcy does not mean massive layoffs (other than the ones that have already occurred) or cessation of operation (don’t worry, you can still buy American.. if you want to). So are we led to believe that a massive financial loss will do nothing but revitalize their company? Not exactly. One of the first places we will see a gradual change is in dealerships. Their North American Vice President of Sales and Marketing Mark LaNeve says that dealerships will begin to disappear immediately. He goes on further to state that the company will make every effort to let the customer know when their local dealership will be going under, so really this will just be a slight inconvenience.

So what exactly is this NEW GM supposed to look like? To begin with they are going to be producing fewer brands (depth in specificity rather than wide breadth of production), fewer models (the same idea), and fewer dealers (they will be better placed, better supported). So, I understand that they are doing things – making changes that will make them a more viable company in the future. My question is, why does GM feel the need to paint this chapter 11 filing as a success? Everybody knows that is not the case (that’s not an opinion, I think).

In my last post, I discussed the last report on the trend of the auto transport industryThis week, why don’t we take a look at our transportation czar. In the auto transport industry many aspects of the business are contingent upon decisions made by this person. Decisions such as which projects in the transportation sector receive funding, or rather, which projects are most important and are thus worthy of receiving funding. This is an important person for our industry, so lets go ahead and put a face behind the name.

Our current Secretary of Transportation is Ray LaHood. On January 24, he was nominated by president Obama for the position after serving as a representative of Illinois for 14 years. As Obama’s first republican nomination, many have seen his appointment as a mere ploy to demonstrate his bipartisanship. I say this because at the time of his nomination, he served on none of the house committees involving transportation (though he had before in years past). It is the opinion of some that he does not wield much influence in regards to the transportation decisions, many believe that this influence belongs to James Oberstar who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (though this can be argued both ways, I don’t feel the need to go into it). Nevertheless this position is an important one. After all, LaHood leads an agency that oversees 55,000 employees, and a 70 billion dollar budget.

Summer is finally here which means quite a few things. Energy prices rise every summer without fail. With this gasoline prices rise (as they do every summer). What does this mean for the auto transport industry? A rise in students being out of school, people who we can affectionately refer to as snowbirds, and an overall rise in summer travelers means that the demand for auto transport will rise as well. How do we deal with these two changes with regards to the auto transport industry?

Now I think it’s important to point out that this rise in gas prices is not that terrible in comparison to the fiasco that was gasoline prices last year. However this is a rise we must consider. Is it cost efficient to continue transporting cars by means of private transport companies. Considering the options, I believe it is cost effective. It just seems to me to be much easier to go to a small transport service that will give you more personalized attention.  All of this bodes quite well for an auto transport company and the consumer. It seems to me that with relatively lower cost in actual shipping that a profit margin can be easily found while simultaneously giving good news to these people who want to have their cars shipped to a desired location.

As we trudge our way through this recession, it is sometimes hard to believe that progress can still occur. We hear numerous reports of our auto industry largely going under, which undoubtedly leaves many of us to believe that there is no sign of relief. What is a pessimist to do in these circumstances?

Considering individual loss of wealth (exacerbated by the credit crisis), people will begin to fear. This fear is not unfounded: for instance, what do you do if you get injured when there is not enough income coming in? What if you’re uninsured? It would make sense to me that companies would be focusing their efforts to make the public feel safer. This leads me to something I read about last week.

OnStar, which interestingly enough is a subsidiary of General Motors, announced on May 13^th that they are improving their service by integrating their technology with Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D mapping. Essentially what this does, it gives responders a more specific location of the driver in peril. While this does nothing to prevent accidents from occurring, it is nice to know that the ever-expanding safety net is being constantly refined. Failure and Progress can exist simultaneously.

Hi, I’m Matt. I will be writing for this blog for a while now. It is not my intention to express my opinions whatsoever (yes, there can be a blog that does this). If at any point I begin to do this, feel free to disagree and tell me why I’m wrong. But most importantly, visit this site m3 auto shipper

Thanks for reading the blog.

We continue today with our foray into the new Ford company and their efforts to redesign their lineup to better accomodate American drivers as well as make the company profitable again. Our topic for discussion: the new Ford F-150. The new F-150 pickup, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), is sporting a brand-new airbag system that no other truck has, and this is giving them an edge in the world today. It’s earned five-star ratings in government crash tests and is on the IIHS best-picks list for 2009; but what makes this truck so good?

As stated, the new airbag system has eyebrows raising and people looking impressed. The F-150 is implementing a new “K-bag” airbag system; it’s design is to protect the ribcage during a side-impact crash, drastically decreasing the loss of life during side-impact crashes. The k-bag is named so for its unique shape and is mounted on the side of the front seat to minimize damage and maximize safety for the driver and passenger. The k-bag is the first in a long line of new, innovative safety features that many people are heralding as the thing that may get Ford back on the map.

But that’s not the only thing that Ford has in mind for its truck. Many more airbags are being implemented, including one that would protect front-and-rear-outboard passengers during rollovers, which last considerably longer than a front-or-side impact crash. The F-150 is also sporting a brand new roll-assist technology and advanced electronic stability controls – both of which helped it to win the IIHS’ top safety rating for a full-size truck.

The truck is also offering a brand new design in terms of how its built. Ford has utilized a new, ultra-lightweight, ultra-strong tubular material to build their front end, allowing for more distribution of less weight, allowing the truck to reach unheard-of miles-per-gallon ratings as well as the ability to withstand a front-end impact, making it much easier to repair and much more affordable.

Lastly, we come to the trucks new towing capabilities, which are also helped by the ultra-strong, ultra-lightweight materials used to build the frame and front-end. Probably the most exciting feature of the new truck is the trailer sway control system. This new, standard system determines the yaw of a towed trailer, figures out just how much it’s swaying, and attempts to put a stop to it. Though the technology is new, the results are promising. Other features include a factory-installed trailer brake control system, an all new tow/haul mode (allowing more torque and power to be used when hauling large loads), and an available rear-view camera, which is located behind the blue Ford oval on the back of the truck. This is activated when the truck is shifted into reverse, allowing unsurpassed control of the vehicle to the driver.

These new features sound promising, to say the least. Hopefully Ford can implement these features smoothly and cleanly into their new vehicles, which would bely their reputation for shoddy workmanship. If Ford can make a vehicle like the 2009 Ford F-150 affordable and available to the masses (the cornerstone of the company, ever since Henry Ford started it), then they are well on their way to rebuilding their company and making them competitive once again.

We’ll keep exploring the Ford Story and the company’s attempts to rebuild itself from the ground up next time.