bzcat

Production dates probably slipped a little. Instead of 4th quarter 2015, you may be looking at 1st quarter 2016. Production for 2017 model year can start as soon as January 2016 for example. Probably... depends on the exact timing of the launch. The 9 speed FWD auto development is lead by GM so GM models will get first crack at using it. It's rumored that it will debut with the next Buick Lacrosse, which is due in 2017 as well. The 10 speed RWD auto development is lead by Ford so Ford models will get first crack at using it. It's confirmed that it will first be used on the F-150.

Ford Ranger outsold Toyota Hilux in New Zealand last year... first time that happened... ever. I think. Ford Ranger is also Ford Australia's best selling model by a good margin. So a lot is riding on the model... it's a critical part of Ford's drive to remain relevant in a lot of markets in Asia Pacific and Africa.

Maybe Ford can rehab the Towncar name by 2019 for that car...

The previous threads all got derailed by D6 discussion. Not saying this one won't be the same but at least I'm giving it a fresh start. Stay on topic people! We got the first clear photo of the rear end. Also, compare the side profile of the Taurus to the Continental concept car, you can kind of deduce that both cars share the same FWD platform based on the location of the front wheels in relation to the front door and size of front overhang.

TwinForce originally refers to the two technologies - direct injection and turbo - in the 3.5 V6 turbo. Not the number of turbo chargers.

No confirmation from Ford about whether this is D6 or CD4. The car looks bigger than MKS but until we see a shot of the engine, there is no guessing whether it is mounted transverse or longitude. Timing on possible production (supposedly 2017 model year) still suggests CD4.

The article is half baked. The source is unclear but we do know that Mercedes is planning a new G-class, which is available in pickup truck configurations so it could be that they just told suppliers the new G pickup truck is part of the mix. BTW, G glass pickup truck is available in normal utility version or crazy middle east oil money versions. So Mercedes won't be making the world's first luxury pickup truck. They will just be making another one.

Production starts in 2016 (for 2017 model year) so that still points to CD4. But we may be in for a surprise... who knows exactly how long Ford was working on D6. We inferred the timing of 2018 calendar year intro for D6 based on the first media leak of the D6 SUV program earlier this year. We figured the Explorer mid cycle update (2015 model year) will have at least 3.5 model year shelf life with a short final year, typical of Ford's model cycles, which means the earliest we could see D6 Explorer (or Aviator) was 2018.5 or early 2019 model year.

And that's just the top 70 brands. Missing from that list are smaller foreign brands (e.g. Porsche, Bentley, Rolls Royce etc) and a host of fly-by-night outfits out in the provinces. The list also does not include makers of commercial vehicles.

Mark Fields is clearly not including Dongfeng Kia in Hyundai's column. Hyundai's target in China this year is 2 million units - http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/24/us-hyundai-china-sales-idUSKBN0KX03O20150124 Chang'an Ford + Jinagling Ford will have more production capacity than BAIC Hyundai. It's a significant achievement for Ford but Hyundai-Kia is still bigger in China. The bigger news here is Ford appears to be on pace to pass Toyota in 2015... 2014 Passenger Vehicle Sales by Brand in China Rank Brand Manufacturer(s) Sales in 2014 1 Volkswagen FAW Volkswagen, Shanghai Volkswagen 2,710,504 2 Wuling SAIC-GM-Wuling 1,404,797 3 Hyundai Beijing Hyundai 1,120,048 4 Changan Changan 975,431 5 Toyota FAW Toyota, GAC Toyota 956,282 6 Buick Shanghai GM 917,017 7 Nissan Dongfeng Nissan, Zhengzhou Nissan 859,490 8 Ford Changan Ford 801,603 9 Honda GAC Honda, Dongfeng Honda, Honda China 795,408 10 Chevrolet Shanghai GM 767,001 11 Kia Dongfeng Yueda Kia 646,036 12 Dongfeng Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng Liuzhou, Dongfeng Sokon, Zhengzhou Nissan 555,390 13 Audi FAW Volkswagen 513,000 14 Chery Chery 476,162 15 BYD BYD 437,857 16 Haval Great Wall 429,328 17 Geely Geely 425,773 18 Peugeot Dongfeng PSA 384,005 19 Citroen Dongfeng PSA 320,011 20 BAIC BAIC 299,184 21 Skoda Shanghai Volkswagen 282,390 22 BMW BMW Brilliance 278,195 23 Suzuki Changan Suzuki, Changhe Suzuki 263,232 24 Mazda Changan Mazda, FAW Mazda 204,652 25 JAC JAC 195,799 26 Great Wall Great Wall 183,158 27 Baojun SAIC-GM-Wuling 181,586 28 Haima FAW Haima, Haima Car 180,843 29 Besturn FAW Car 178,047 30 Lifan Lifan 174,013 31 Zotye Zotye 166,252 32 Mercedes -Benz Beijing Benz, Fujian Benz 139,508 33 Zhonghua (Brilliance) Brilliance 137,939 34 Roewe SAIC 127,801 35 Trumpchi GAC 116,758 36 Venucia Dongfeng Nissan 114,035 37 Huansu BAIC Yinxiang 84,696 38 Mitsubishi GAC Mitsubishi, Soueast Mitsubishi 73,257 39 Fiat GAC Fiat 68,090 40 Youngman Lotus Youngman Lotus 64,311 41 JMC JMC 60,857 42 Gonow GAC Gonow 57,002 43 Soueast Soueast 55,551 44 FAW FAW Tianjin, FAW Jilin 53,894 45 Xiali FAW Tianjin 53,857 46 Hawtai Hawtai 53,017 47 MG SAIC 52,217 48 Luxgen Dongfeng Yulon 52,203 49 Cadillac Shanghai GM 39,922 50 Volvo Volvo Asia Pacific, Changan Ford 37,285 51 Citroen DS Changan PSA 26,008 52 Changhe Changhe 22,182 53 Changfeng Changfeng 21,160 54 Jinbei Brilliance 15,729 55 Yema Sichuan Auto 12,326 56 Ciimo Dongfeng Honda 11,014 57 Zhongxing Zhongxing (ZXAUTO) 10,670 58 Beijing BAW 9,884 59 Huanghai Huanghai 7,616 60 Foton Foton 7,197 61 Jonway Jonway 7,106 62 Qoros Qoros 6,967 63 BAIC Electric Vehicle BAIC Electric Vehicle 5,234 64 Everus GAC Honda 4,547 65 Oley FAW Car 4,260 66 Maxus SAIC Maxus 3,380 67 Infiniti Dongfeng Infiniti 2,440 68 Hongqi (Red Flag) FAW Car 2,341 69 Hafei Hafei 1,971 70 Meiya Tianjin Meiya 101

I wouldn't read too much into this. The Ramos Arizpe, Mexico plant is making Captiva and SRX now and is losing both to Spring Hills Tennessee. The production musical chair probably has to do with the fact that GM wants to get rid of the tooling/production line at both the Tennessee and Mexico plant which is from the old Theta platform architecture and not compatible with GM's the current Gamma/Delta/Epsilon universe. So it is staggering the down time to retool the plant. Shut down Spring Hills for extended retooling --> SRX move in --> Shut down Mexico for extended tooling --> Cruze move in --> ? Presumably, GM will eventually shot down Lordstown for extended retooling for something else. Alternatively, it is a good bargaining chip with UAW and GM will keep the old Cruze there until another round of wage or benefit concession.

Ford is taking a long term view of things in Russia. GM is cutting bait. You can only judge these things in hindsight. There is no point to debate the merits of these decisions now. It depends on your view on geopolitical issues that is beyond the control of Ford or GM. One thing is for sure... car companies with lots of production investments in Russia (e.g. Ford, Renault-Nissan) cannot exit as easily as ones with only minimal manufacturing footprint (e.g. GM, VW, Toyota).

And here is a comparison test of Escort vs. Cruze Classic... It's in Chinese so just look at the photos and take my word that they like the Escort better Basically, Escort was much better equipped and had more storage and space inside the cabin. It also a fresh design which they liked. Cruze has slightly bigger trunk but the back seat doesn't fold down. http://www.autohome.com.cn/advice/201502/860850-all.html?pvareaid=101380

Chinese car website autohome has a comprehensive review of the new Escort. Lots of photos. http://www.autohome.com.cn/advice/201503/863489-all.html?pvareaid=101380

Yes, of course... Ford is the largest player so it stands that when the #2 player exits, the #1 is probably going to suck up most of the market share. GM is still in the 2500 and 3500 van market, as well as cab chassis. But the lack of 1500 van will make it a tough sell on a big part of the fleet market. But more importantly, Transit and Transit Connect sales have demonstrated where the market is headed... fleets want something modern and much more fuel efficient than the dinosaur vans with V8 engine. And Ford's eventual E350/450 replacement will kill off GM's cab chassis sales too. But consider the SWOT analysis from VW or Hyundai's standpoint... GM's exist is once in a lifetime opportunity to try to enter the market. At no other time in my lifetime memory, has there been such an opportunity for a new comer to try to establish some volume in the van market in the US.

It's a very difficult market to crack for sure. Ford is the 500lb gorilla in the fleet market and dominates the van market. It won't walk away without a fight. But I think the reason why Hyundai and VW (as well as Mercedes) smells blood is because GM is exiting the fullsize van business... that creates an opportunity to be a viable #2 in the market after Ford. Here is my analysis of each of the players: Mercedes has carved a small niche for Sprinter, mostly by catering to fleets that demanded diesel powertrain (e.g. FedEx) but Ford is now in that space now with diesel Transit so Mercedes is diversifying into gasoline with the new midsize Metris. I remain a little skeptical about the midsize van market (does it exist? Chevy Astro van didn't exactly set the market on fire when it was around). Nissan is basically buying market share so long term, I'm not sure they are a viable player in the van market. GM's exit from fullsize market hasn't really helped Nissan that much. FCA is leveraging the Ram pickup fleet business to prop up the vans. The fullsize ProMaster is so so... FWD has been met with some push back from the fleet market. The midsize C/V is lackluster and will actually compete with its compact ProMaster City sibling (C/V is heavily discounted). The compact ProMaster City is just coming out now but hard to see it will be able to compete with Transit Connect which is well established, and NV200/Chevy City Express, which are positioned as low cost alternative. GM is existing the 1500 van market as we speak and buying rebadged Nissan NV200 just to have something in the compact segment so it lacks any coherent long term strategy here. This is probably the main reason why everyone wants in. Hyundai is seeking to enter the fullsize market with RWD Sprinter/Transit like model. It will be tough for them because they have no existing commercial fleet business in the US and they have little history of selling light commercial vehicles outside of Korea. VW Commercial is a credible player in Europe and South America (unlike Hyundai) and it is Ford's biggest competitor outside the US so they know each other intimately. Given that Ford has already shown the blueprint on what to sell in the US market, I expect VW to bring over the compact Caddy and fullsize Crafter and skip the midsize Transporter. But like Hyundai, VW lacks commercial fleet accounts so it will have to buy its way in with steep discounts. But it probably helps that GM is retreating from the space.

Following the footstep of Hyundai, VW says it is looking at re-entering the van market in the US. It also says pickup trucks are back on the table but I think that's just wishful thinking because there is no way to skirt the chicken tax on pickup trucks. The new MQB platform Caddy van can be imported as a passenger vehicle, or assembled in Mexico. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-18/vw-explores-vans-and-pickups-to-broaden-u-s-customer-appeal

The bottom line is this: If GM's projected demand for the new Malibu is equal or greater than their production capacity will allow, they will not be keeping the "classic" version around. The "classic" version is being maintained because of plant utilization (GM just doesn't want to pay its workers to do nothing). Fleeting the "classic" version is a byproduct of the decision to keep the production level higher than organic demand can support.

Richard already hinted at it... it's about capacity utilization. The justification from GM maybe that they are trying to "protect" residual value of the new model by keeping it out of fleet but that doesn't really stand up to logic test. The reason residual value goes up or down depends on projected demand for used car 3 years from now. Selling a mid or high trim level popular equipped car to fleet doesn't spike demand for that car 3 years from now. Fusion (or Camry for that matter) has a healthy reputation in the used market... people are willing to pay good money for a used one. The reason Malibu has poor residual is because no one wants them... not new, and definitely not 3 years from now, so therefore GM has to fleet dump them. So this brings us to the final conclusion of GM's decision making tree... If demand for Malibu is low, a normal company will just make less of it. But GM sees this as an opportunity to compartmentalize its losses. They think they can meet retail demand with just 50% of the Malibu output (I'm making up the % for the sake of argument) so 50% of the plant output will be making new Malibu. But they don't want to layoff workers or idle plant for a long time, so they keep cranking out the old Malibu to sell to fleets. But as I point out before, projected residual is based on demand for used Malibu, not how many new ones GM can sell. Restricting supply won't affect residual if no one wants the car to begin with. It's like dividing by zero...

It sure looks like an early attribute test mule for the 7th gen Fiesta. But of course magazine hacks think it is a Fiesta RS... Sure, a RS with 15" wheels and skinny high profile tires... why not The other car is definitely a RS... a Focus RS, probably doing some type of final calibration. http://www.autoblog.com/2015/03/16/ford-fiesta-rs-spy-shots/

3 row Edge exists because: Shared platform with S-Max/Galaxy means there was budget to do a proper rear subframe for 3 row accommodation. Ford doesn't have the capacity to build Explorer in China, yet. Ford's China operation consist of 6 plants right now: Chang'an Ford Chongqing 1: Focus, Escort Chang'an Ford Chongqing 2: Mondeo, Kuga Chang'an Ford Nanjing: Fiesta, EcoSport Chang'an Ford Hangzhou: New CD4 Taurus and Edge Jiangling Ford Nanchang 1: Transit Jiangling Ford Nanchang 2: Everest Notice how the products are arranged according to platform architecture... there is no room for the existing D3 Explorer. So in order for Ford to get in the market for 3 row CUVs now (vs. Toyota Highlander, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Honda Pilot, all three are assembled in China), they had to make a 3 row Edge and not wait for D6 Explorer. Timing wise, it is also very interesting to note that both Ford dealers in China will be selling a 3-row utility starting this year with Edge and Everest coming out at the same time.

Didn't we discuss this topic last week? There is really no point for FCA to combine with Ford or GM because all three companies have extensive market penetration in the same areas: North America, South America, Europe. The only upside to combine with Ford or GM is to catch up in China and India where FCA lags far far behind every major car company. FCA really needs an Asian partner but there are very few options and all of them bad: FCA-Hyundai is a powerful combination on paper but the Koreans will not take a back seat to Sergio. There will be ego clash of epic proportions. FCA-Mitsubishi makes a lot of sense because Mitsubishi is a strong player in Southeast Asia, one of the few growth markets that FCA has no presence. However, this is pretty one-sided in favor of Mitsubishi, which needs a lifeline. FCA has very little immediate gain (no cash to raid). This will be a long term strategic play, which is not a Sergio thing. FCA-Mazda could be good, but Mazda is probably not very interested beyond the current model-specific cooperation on Mazda MX-5/Fiat Spyder. I think there is some potential here for expanding the model-specific cooperation beyond just sports car... for example Mazda desperately needs a new midsize SUV and FCA has plenty of SUV options. FCA-Suzuki is an interesting option. There is cash, lots of it in fact. Suzuki also has a grip on the only relevant part of the Japanese auto market (kei cars), and a large emerging markets in India. The issue is likely again, a cultural fit... Suzuki is Japanese to its core and doesn't play well with others. Sergio is the consummate snake oil salesman that tends to not work very well with consensus forming management style of Japanese companies.

Make room for big ass floral arrangements that sits on top of the casket. For reals

Or the eastern bloc plumbers driving a diesel Mercedes van...

FCA needs an Asian partner. It doesn't need any more coverage in North America, South America, or Europe, which is where GM and Ford is has large operations/investments. FCA-Hyundai combination will be gangbusters but I doubt the Koreans are interested. Can you imagine the ego clash? It would be epic. FCA-Mitsubishi combination will toss the Japanese a lifeboat but does very little for Sergio (no piggy bank to raid). FCA-Suzuki combination makes a lot of sense but Suzuki is very committed to its strategy of holding on to Japan's kei car market and expanding in India. It doesn't really need the large car expertise from Chrysler. FCA-Mazda combination is the enthusiasts' dream come true but Mazda doesn't offer enough volume and leverage for FCA.