June 2009 Archives

This can't be good for sales for a car that was supposed to help put Honda in contention for top hybrid maker with Toyota.

Ouch! Consumer Reports says Honda Insight not as fit as Honda's Fit

It ain't easy being green. Just ask Honda.

Consumer Reports gives a stinging review to Honda's Insight gas-electric hybrid in its August edition out Tuesday. "The Insight is the most disappointing Honda Consumer Reports has tested in a long time," said David Champion, senior director of its auto test center. "The Insight is a noisy, stiff-riding car with clumsy handling that is nothing like the Fit on which it is based."

CR gave Insight a ranking of 21 out of 22 small wagons and hatchbacks it has tested. It scored 54 road test points vs. 86 for the top-ranked Mazda5 Touring. And Pontiac's Vibe, which GM is killing with the rest of the brand, scored 69 points.

Read more on the Insight review.

This came in via Spotbeam California, an e-publication of the California Space Authority. SpaceX founder Elon Musk is an industry rock star.

SpaceX Gets New Financing

(Original Source: PE Hub) Rocket aficionado Steve Jurvetson and his DFJ partners have agreed to lead a major investment in space transportation provider SpaceX. The round could be worth upwards of $60 million, and would include existing SpaceX backer Founders Fund. Jurvetson declined to discuss the specifics of SpaceX's financing. Regulatory filings show the company had raised $15 million toward a proposed $60 million round as recently as March. Jurvetson says that the round has either closed already or will close within the next 14 days. The Hawthorne.-based company has raised $112 million in funding since 2002, according to regulatory filings. Most of that financing has come directly from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who holds the title of CEO, CTO and founder of the company. (6/25)

Will this technology ever be applied to cars? That would be amazing and scary.

Toyota develops wheelchair that can be steered using brain waves

(Daily Mail) Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has developed a way to steer wheelchairs using brain waves alone.

The company says that the new technology enables users to move the chair without needing to move a muscle.

Toyota, which announced the development today, said that it is among the fastest systems in the world for analysing brain signals.

Read more on the magical wheelchair.

North America -- and specifically the U.S. -- is the world's biggest market. So Toyota's move makes sense.

Toyota turns focus on North America

(Detroit News) Toyota Motor Corp., which faces huge challenges in North America, once its most lucrative market, has put two company veterans with years of U.S. experience in charge of the region.

The Japanese automaker also has created a management unit focusing solely on North America as part of a series of organizational changes, including the appointment of new President Akio Toyoda, announced this week.

Read more on Toyota.

This week's Business Casual column explores the idea of being too big to fail.

Is any institution too big to fail?

If true, this would really ease the political tension surrounding this contract.

Murtha: May expand tanker purchases

(POLITICO) The Obama administration may be willing to consider buying aerial refueling tankers from more than one company, the chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee indicated on Wednesday.

If so, it would be a dramatic reversal for Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has vowed to prevent the possibility, saying it would cost the government too much money.

But the powerful subcommittee chairman, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), and other lawmakers have been pushing the idea of buying tankers from several companies, hoping to stave off future challenges to a contract award that have in the past derailed progress on the program. Last summer, Boeing successfully overturned a contract to Northrop Grumman, worth up to $35 billion, and new bidding has yet to begin.

Read more.

He seems to set the right tone on priorities for investors.

Toyota Pres:Aim To Avoid Loss For 3rd Straight Year

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Toyota Motor Corp.'s (7203.TO) newly appointed president, Akio Toyoda, Thursday said the company aims to return to profitability as early as in the next fiscal year.

"We'll take every possible step to avoid three straight years in the red," the new president said at a press conference where the firm's new management, who were named Tuesday, spoke to the media for the first time.

Toyoda, grandson of company founder Kiichiro Toyoda, is taking the helm at a crucial time as the world's biggest car maker by volume struggles to restore its battered operations amid the economic slump.

As the auto industry experiences a major upheaval - contributing to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC filing for court-led restructuring - the Japanese carmaker posted its first net loss in 59 years in the 12 months to March 2009.

The Japanese auto giant projects an even steeper net loss for the current fiscal year, as continued sluggish demand will crimp sales and the yen's strength will keep eating into overseas profits in yen terms.

May's home prices for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale area dropped 19.18% compared to a year ago.

But that's not so bad, considering March's year-over-year decline for this area was 24.94%, according to First American CoreLogic, which tracks housing.

National housing prices fell 10.2% in April compared to a year ago, representing the smallest year-over-year decline recorded in 2009, First American CoreLogic said.

NASA has some footage from the Northrop-built LCROSS satellite as it swung past the moon on Tuesday (South Bay time). Also footage of the launch and other goodies.

Northrop Grumman built LCROSS at its Redondo Beach campus dubbed Space Park.

Tesla was co-founded by Elon Musk, who started SpaceX, the Hawthorne developer of low-cost rockets. Tesla is looking for a industrial space in Southern California for a car factory.

Energy Dept. to lend $8B to Ford, Nissan, Tesla

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- The Energy Department said Tuesday it would lend $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Co. and provide about $2.1 billion in loans to Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors Inc., making the three automakers the first beneficiaries of a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the loan recipients at Ford's Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn. The loans to Ford will help the company upgrade factories in five Midwest states to produce 13 fuel-efficient vehicles.

Nissan was receiving $1.6 billion to retool its plant in Smyrna, Tenn., to build advanced vehicles and build a battery manufacturing facility. Tesla would get $465 million in loans to build electric vehicles and electric drive powertrains in California.

Read more on Tesla.

Let the rebuilding begin. Toyota will bounce back stroner than ever.

You Say Toyota, I Say Toyoda

(Reuters) Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder of Toyota Motor Corp., has officially been handed the reins of his family's auto empire after a 25-year apprenticeship, Reuters reports in an in-depth look at the issues facing Toyota as it tries to find its footing amid the global recession.

The move has long been anticipated--and has been previously explored at length by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal in articles published in the past six month--but upon the handoff actually taking place, analysts interviewed by Reuters expressed doubts about 53-year-old Toyoda's ability to make any real difference.

Read more on Toyota's leadership change.

Car quality isn't the reason Detroit's Big Three fell into so much trouble. It's the kind of cars they sell that's the problem.

Study: Toyota still king. though Detroit gains

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lexus, Toyota Motor Corp.'s luxury line, was the top brand in the J.D. Power and Associates' initial quality study released Monday.

The annual survey of vehicle owners, which measures mechanical and design problems in the first 90 days of ownership, found that Porsche was the No. 2 brand, followed by GM's Cadillac, then Hyundai and Honda.

The study indicated that Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have made strides in vehicle quality over the last year, but they still lag behind their foreign competitors.

Read more on car quality.

Strange, yet so obviously true.

(Kiplinger.com) These off beat barometers of the economy can give you much needed guidance for your portfolio or simply a good laugh.

Read the List.

Will love of reading and writing pay off?

Read the whole Business Casual column.

It's a great coup for Honda, considering the Prius' commercial dominance.

Honda Insight scoops green award

(The Press Association) A family-sized hybrid vehicle - the Honda Insight - has been named green car of the year by the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

The Insight emits just 101 grams of carbon dioxide per one kilometre (101g/k) and beat off the challenge of more than 1,300 other vehicles examined by the ETA.

In contrast, the "dirtiest" car was found to be the 8-litre Dodge SRT-10 sports car which emits 488g/k.

It seems like nearly every article I see on the refueling tanker speculates on splitting the massive contract between rivals Boeing and Northrop.

Northrop Exec: Split Award On Aerial Tanker Would Make Sense

PARIS (Dow Jones)--With $39 billion in the U.S. defense budget for a new fleet of aerial refueling tankers, Paul Meyer, vice president and manager of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s(NOC) tanker program, said he expects in July to get a detailed request for proposals from the Air Force.

In an interview Sunday ahead of a press meeting at the Paris Air Show, Meyer said a split award between Northrop, its partner Airbus, and rival Boeing Co (BA) would make sense. Although it would raise production costs by "one or two billion dollars a year," it would speed up production, Meyer said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is working to accelerate the long-delayed tanker program, but doesn't favor a split deal

Also at an event Sunday sponsored by the Alabama aerospace industry, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), head of the senate subcommittee on defense appropriations, told Dow Jones Newswires: "That's what we're discussing now, whether to have one contractor or two."

I don't know about Toyota, but some people believe the stock market in general is poised to fall again.

Toyota May Rise to $115 as Auto Market Rebounds, Barron's Says

June 14 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. may rise to $115 over the next year if the U.S. automobile market rebounds and as company results improve, Barron's reported, without citing a source.

Toyota is boosting production after May sales rose from those in April, Barron's said. For the rest of the year, the automaker says it will increase by 65,000 units the number of vehicles it builds in the U.S., including the Camry, Corolla, Sienna, RAV4, Tacoma and Tundra models, the weekly newspaper reported in its June 15 edition.

Read more on Toyota stock.

The Toys R Us, at 14705 Ocean Gate Ave. in Hawthorne, has been split up to include a Babies R Us.

In the toy section, I saw a board game called "Fact or Crap: It's Your Call," for ages 12 and up. I also saw "Gassy Gus," a game involving a toy that passes gas for ages 5 and up.

The Breeze print edition has a story on this. Look at the Business page.

To be fair, the DMV is much more efficient than it used to be.

Will government-run companies work better than the DMV?

By Muhammed El-Hasan

Finally, the California Department of Motor Vehicles knows where I live.

I recently renewed my driver's license through the mail, with my new address included.

Read more of this week's Business Casual column.

Strange. Maybe it's cheaper to build the Prius in Japan.

Toyota responds to report on NE Miss. plant

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Toyota Motor Co. responded Thursday to a published report that workers at its northeast Mississippi plant were reassigned to Kentucky and the Prius might not be built there when it opens, but stopped short of calling the report false.

Automotive News on Wednesday quoted Steve St. Angelo, senior vice president of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., as saying the company is entertaining new ideas on other products it could build at the Blue Springs, plant.

Angelo also said he has reassigned the 120 employees at the Mississippi plant to other roles at a Toyota facility in Georgetown, Ky.

Read more on Toyota's manufacturing plans.

Micro cars still are a great bargain to buy and operate compared to larger cars.

Fender-benders in micro cars can be costly

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Even a fender-bender in a fuel-efficient mini car can lead to thousands of dollars worth of repairs, the insurance industry found in new crash tests.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reported Thursday that repairing damage to microcars in low-speed crashes of 3 to 6 miles per hour could cost anywhere from $474 to $3,701.

The Institute conducted low-speed crash tests on the front and back bumpers and the front and rear corners of seven 2009 model year mini cars that have become more widely available with rising fuel costs in recent years.

Read more on the costs of micro cars.

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today reached a settlement with CVS Pharmacy requiring the company to make sure expired products are not sold in its stores and provide customers a $2 coupon if they identify products past their sell-by date.

The settlement also applies to Longs Drug Stores California, which CVS purchased in late 2008.

"CVS Pharmacy routinely sold expired baby formula, over-the-counter medication and dairy products long after the expiration date," Brown said in a statement.

The hybrid market will only heat up even more in coming years as automakers pour more money into the technology.

Toyota working overtime to produce more hybrid Priuses in Japan

(USA Today) Not only did Toyota's redesigned Prius hybrid outsell Honda's Insight hybrid in Japan last month, it was the best-selling vehicle in that nation.

Toyota sold 10,915 Priuses in May in Japan, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, vs. Honda's 8,183 Insights. It was the second-consecutive month that a gasoline-electric hybrid was Japan's top seller. In the U.S., where the new Prius is yet to hit showrooms, Toyota sold 10,091 of the familar version last month, and Honda sold 2,780 Insights. Neither was among the 20 top-selling cars in the U.S. market, according to sales tracker Autodata.

Read more on Toyota's Prius.

Not to be confused with Joe the Plumber.

Toyota Wants New Prius to Be America's Next Top Model

(Washington Post) TOYOTA CITY, Japan -- Memo to the beleaguered U.S. car industry: As the recession eases, torment from Toyota may increase.

Designers of the Prius, the curiously shaped hybrid that since 1997 has allowed up-to-the-minute Americans to advertise their eco-correctness, are going after the Average Joe.

Read more on Toyota's Prius.

The Space and Missile Systems Center, at the Los Angeles Air Force Base, is hosting a Career Fair Tuesday June 9 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Manhattan Beach Marriott,
1400 Parkview Ave., Manhattan Beach.

SMC is looking for experienced and entry-level civilian engineers, program managers, contract specialists and financial managers.

This is on tope of the generally higher inflation that will come from the high national debt.

Fewer but bigger dealerships expected to boost car prices

(Boston Globe) The shakeout in the US auto industry will mean fewer but larger dealerships - decreasing competition among dealers and pushing up consumer prices on some cars by several thousand dollars, according to auto companies and analysts.

Read more about dealerships.

Toyota's mixed feelings over plug-ins are more than matched by environmentalists' enthusiasm for the technology.

Toyota: Plug-in Hybrids Will Have Limited Appeal

(NYT) What does Toyota really think about plug-in hybrid cars? It's probably not a stretch to say the company has mixed feelings. The Japanese automaker was a sponsor of the third annual "Meeting of the Minds" on a broad range of environmental issues in Manhattan last week. Two of its executives made presentations -- one backed up with an extensive PowerPoint -- to demonstrate the major challenges facing the company as it prepares to lease a fleet of 500 Prius-based range-extended hybrids around the world.

Read more on plug-in hybrids.

This is an interesting development. I think Boeing would go for this. And it would take a lot of the political tension out of the equation. Although splitting the contract is the ultimate political compromise.

Northrop paper sees savings from split tanker buy

WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) - Buying aerial refueling tankers from both Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and Boeing Co (BA.N), on a competitive basis, could offer significant long-term savings, according to a report prepared by Northrop.

Northrop said it compiled earlier analyses to answer questions posed by U.S. lawmakers about such a competitive dual procurement approach, which the Pentagon strongly opposes.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says buying two tankers would result in higher development and logistics costs, but some lawmakers say that may be the only way to avert further protests and get new tankers into the Air Force fleet faster.

Read more on Northrop's tanker study.

Bad month, but possibly good news ahead.

Boeing sees orders fall sharply

(BBC) Aircraft giant Boeing has said orders in May were down by more than 70% from a year earlier after airlines cancelled or delayed plans for new planes.

The company said it had received just 20 orders during the month compared with 67 last May. Deliveries, however, were up very slightly on last year.

But orders could be boosted if Boeing secures a deal with United Airlines, which is looking to overhaul its fleet.

Read more on Boeing's plane orders.

That was quick.

GM to Sell Saturn

(AP) NEW YORK -- General Motors Corp. has a tentative deal to sell its Saturn brand to former race car driver and dealership group owner Roger Penske, both companies said today.

Penske has signed a memorandum of understanding that would give his dealership chain, Penske Automotive Group, Saturn's 350 dealerships, the companies said. Penske told reporters that he expects to offer all the dealers new franchise agreements and will retain all 13,000 Saturn employees for the immediate term.

This week's edition of Business Casual.

Auto industry could learn from doughnut makers
By Muhammed El-Hasan Staff Writer

When planning to feast on sausages, avoid stumbling into a sausage factory immediately before the meal.

Otherwise, you may lose your appetite.

Believe it or not, the same goes for doughnuts.

Read the rest of Business Casual.

This may be true, but the reality is that Toyota may be a little nervous about advances by other carmakers in electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Toyota: hybrids best 'green' car for some time

TOYOTA, Japan (AP) -- A Toyota executive overseeing research said Thursday a battery breakthrough is needed for electric vehicles to become mainstream, and hybrids will remain the best "green" car choice for some time.

His comments came just hours after the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Toyota's Prius hybrid was the No. 1 selling vehicle in Japan for May, clinching the top spot for the first time -- even though the latest model had been on sale for only half the month.

Toyota Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto said the hybrid system like the one in the Prius is the "most important of our energy-saving technologies," and reiterated that his company plans to have a hybrid version of its entire lineup of products by 2020.

Read more on Toyota's hybrid comments.

A very, very good sign.

Toyota Boosts U.S. Production Amidst Small Sales Increase

(Motor Trend) Toyota is upping vehicle production for six of its top selling models over the next three months, Automotive News reports.

The automaker has experienced a 25% increase in sales to 135,661 vehicles during May compared to April, general manager of Toyota Division, Bob Carter said. Granted, it's still 39% below the automaker's sales figures posted the year prior, but that was all it took for Carter to quip, "We see a turnaround coming."

Read more on Toyota's production boost.

This has been long awaited. If gas prices are high when this hits, consumer demand should be huge.

Toyota to start leasing plug-in hybrids in Japan, US, Europe

TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota said Wednesday it will start leasing plug-in hybrid cars, that are even greener than its hit Prius, by the end of this year in the U.S., Japan and Europe.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's top automaker, will start leasing 200 plug-ins in Japan, 150 in the U.S. and 150 in Europe, mostly for rental, such as through special government-backed programs, it said in a release.

Read more on Toyota's plug-in hybrids.

Space Exploration Technologies, the Hawthorne-based developer of low-cast rockets, announced a new launch window for the Falcon 1 Flight 5 rocket carrying the RazakSAT satellite to orbit.

The company known as SpaceX said the launch window opens Monday July 13 and lasts through Tuesday July 14.

The launch was delayed in May after SpaceX identified the potential for an "unfavorable interaction between the satellite and the launch vehicle." The problem was solved with a simple vibration isolation system.

The launch site is is about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii on Omelek Island, part of the Reagan Test Site at United States Army Kwajalein Atoll in the Central Pacific.

If true, it would mean even more changes for the El Segund-based company. They've been through so much over the years with the ownership and leadership changes as well as layoffs.

News Corp In Talks With DirecTV CEO To Replace Chernin-Source

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--News Corp. (NWS) is in "serious talks" to bring back long-time veteran Chase Carey, DirecTV Group Inc.'s (DTV) chief executive, as the No. 2 man behind Rupert Murdoch, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

If Carey returns, he would replace outgoing President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin, whose contract expires at the end of June. Carey served in multiple positions within News Corp., including co-chief operating officer and director, before taking the reins of DirecTV.

A sticking point is whether Carey will be able to get out of his DirecTV contract, which runs through the end of 2010.

DirecTV declined to comment. The talks were reported earlier by the entertainment blog The Wrap.

Would Toyota get a stake in GM like the US government did? Doubtful.

Toyota chief: would consider supporting GM if asked

TOKYO (Reuters) - The head of Toyota Motor Corp said on Monday he hoped to continue operations at a California-based joint venture factory with General Motors Corp, and would consider supporting the automaker if asked.

"It's not something we would bring up on our own, and we don't know enough about the restructuring plan," President Katsuaki Watanabe told a small group of reporters.

Read the final quote of story.