CAC Auto

Chrysler Mini Vans Rising in Popularity

Recent stats revealed by the Auburn Hills based Chrysler Group show that the companies sales are up 25 percent from 2009, showing the auto maker has managed to sell almost twice as many passenger cars and keep mini van sales extremely strong throughout the course of the year. According to the company’s lead sales executive and Ram truck brand head Fred Diaz, the competitive pricing of the vehicles has lead the way for these results along with the fact that consumers have shown a strong desire to purchase Chrysler products. This has helped the car maker lower spending on incentives designed to entice consumers and focus more on improving its own sales. Industry analysts have shown that Chrysler ended up spending around $1,000 less on each vehicle it sold in comparison with the previous year, doling out only $3,374 per vehicle in items like rebates, leases that were discounted and low rate financing options.

With sales of just over 95,700 vehicles this month in 2010 versus a little under 76,600 for the same month in 2009, the stats prove that the cars are making up for 32 percent of the sales this year in comparison with only 20 percent in 2009. Experts suggest that the negotiations the company had to do with President Barak Obama’s auto industry task force regarding the federally backed bankruptcy case may have set them behind in the marketing efforts to the public. While February had proved to be a good year for the company, April has turned out to be an extremely strong rise that is the first of its kind since they emerged from the bankruptcy in June of 2009.

US Rekindling Love Affair with American Cars

For decades now, car buyers in the United States have been less than enthused by their native auto makers, widely choosing alternatives from Asian auto makers and leaving the US car manufacturing business struggling to wage a long war to catch up. It appears that these days may be coming to an end as Americans have returned to their roots in the nation where the first mass produced automobile was developed and popularized by innovator Henry Ford. According to a recent poll by the Associated Press and GfK, the percentage of US drivers who feel that American companies are building better cars than their Asian rivals is stands at 38% with 33% of those polled saying that they prefer Asian made cars. According to the poll providers, the analysts with the AP feel that the change in opinion is most likely largely due to the fact that Toyota’s formerly spotless reputation has been damaged recently while public perception of auto maker Ford has shot up.

The March 2010 poll took place not long after Toyota found itself in a hellish situation that meant it needed to recall nearly 10 million vehicles not just in the US, but many other nations around the world. The reason for the recall was based on accusations that Toyota was being slow to respond to safety issues with its vehicles. Ford still endures plenty of challenge from Toyota and many other manufacturers, but the fact that it is no longer contending with strong competition from GM and Chrysler has given it a definite edge of Honda, Nissan and other car makers.

New Hall of Fame for Nascar

In a major victory for auto sports fans, one of the fast growing of all pro sports in the United States, the Nascar Hall of Fame has opened up in the US state of Charlotte, North Carolina. The city has long served as the unofficial capitol of the sport so it comes as no surprise to both fans and local residents that such a facility would be established there. Thousands came to the opening ceremony to pay tribute to a sport that as a very illustrious past and quite an uncertain future. The event even faced rain which didn’t lower crowd support for the $195 million building. The CEO of Nascar, Brian France, let people know that the 150,000 square foot museum would be the ‘best hall of fame in the world’. The opening ceremonies inducted two of the initial five members of the hall were Richard Petty and Junior Johnson.

Petty wowed the crowd in a replica of his red and Petty blue ‘74 STP Dodge Charger, No. 43 while Johnson came in a black 1940 Ford which was meant to show off the historic roots of Nascar that tie back to liquor bootleggers that held the first races as a way to determine whose vehicle was fastest. While the sport was officially formed in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1947, Charlotte remains the primary center of the racing scene. After the two first members of the hall will come Dale Earnhardt Sr, Bill Frances Sr. and others. The museum itself will play home to several interactive simulations that allow visitors to try their hand at different Nascar related activities such as changing a tire in the time honored pit stop tradition.

University Students Design and Compete with Race Cars

Around the world, students often take place in various events building small model cars while at the grade school level, but at Michigan State University, college students are building the real thing. The event has attracted students who may have thought previously that engineering was not for them, however once they got the thrill of working on an actual vehicle that could race things began to change in terms of their perspective. The students are working on race cars that they show off for the North American International Auto Show that is held each year at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan. The students belong to an organization known as the Michigan State University Formula Society of Automotive Engineers. They divide into teams and then design, construct and test their cares in a number of amateur level open wheel races that take place each year. The organization is entirely run by students and educators on campus approve of it due to the fact that it builds student confidence and also encourages more to take up the math and science oriented professions such as engineering that are often over looked by younger incoming students in a university setting.