2019 Chevrolet SilveradoDerek McNaughton / Driving GM CEO Mary Barra told investors at an event in New York on Thursday her companys first electric pickup will debut in showrooms in late 2021, and it will have a leg up on the competition. General Motors understands truck buyers, she said.Barra made the announcement hours before Tesla CEO Elon Musk was set to reveal that companys new Cybertruck.But other GM executives are confident Teslas pickup wont be in the same league as their electric truck.I suspect price-wise there might be some similarities, but I think in terms of size and capabilities, there might be a difference, Phil Brook, the vice president of marketing for GMs GMC brand, said in an interview. People who buy our trucks, they are very proud of the fact that theyll take their trucks anywhere, theyll get them dirty, then theyll wash them out and go to a five-star restaurant for dinner. So theyre not people who just drive them around and want to look good.Musk told a Tesla enthusiast podcast earlier this year he wants his truck, which is also aiming for a late 2021 market launch, to start at less than $50,000. During an October earnings call, he declared it will be the companys best product ever. But Tesla probably wont have the electric-truck market to itself for long, if at all. Amazon-backed Rivian Automotive plans to launch its R1T pickup late next year. Ford has vowed to start selling hybrid-electric and battery-electric versions of the F-150 starting in 2020, and GM has committed to producing plug-in pickups at a plant it had been planning to shutter in the Detroit area.Perhaps more importantly, Japanese automakers have spent two decades and billions of dollars trying to get in on the big pickup gravy train; 20 years after Toyota first started making the Tundra, they are still getting crushed by the Detroit Three, which control almost 92 per cent of the U.S. half-ton truck segment, according to IHS Markit.Customers who own Ram pickups are more loyal than owners of any other model line in the U.S., the researcher says, and brand loyalty to Ford or General Motors Chevrolet isnt far behind.Check Out Our Latest Auto Show CoverageTeslas Thursday night event bookends the press days for the Los Angeles Auto Show, where Ford generated buzz with the debut of the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV. But seeking attention of his own wasnt the only motivation for Musk to stage his truck reveal now and near the show.When announcing the date and locale, he joked on Twitter they were strangely familiar and shared a link to the opening credits and scene of the 1982 film Blade Runner, which was set in November 2019. He had referenced the movie before as inspiration for the pickups futuristic design.Musk is scheduled to begin making remarks around 8 p.m. local time at Teslas design center in Hawthorne,
Origin: GM’s electric pickup gets a fall 2021 on-sale date
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2021 Subaru WRX STI will arrive next fall with a 315-hp new engine: report
2020 Subaru WRX STI S209 The fourth-generation WRX has been kicking around since 2014, so it’s not too shocking to hear that Subaru is planning the next one for the not-so-distant future. According to reporting by Japan’s Best Car, the fifth-gen WRX will arrive next fall, riding on a new platform and using a new engine. The launch of the next-gen sedan comes alongside remakes of the WRX STI, Japan-only WRX S4 and Levorg wagon. The STI will apparently swap its current turbo flat-four EJ20 (EJ25 in North America) for a direct-injection FA20 four-cylinder good for 315 horsepower. This follows the trail blazed by WRX models in the U.S., which switched to the FA20 in 2014. To clarify, Japan’s WRX STI has a 2.0-litre engine, while North America’s WRX STI runs with a 2.5-litre good for 310 horsepower. The FA20 in the North American WRX, meanwhile, makes 268 horsepower. Whether North America will get the 2.0-litre engine like Japan, or a 2.4-litre FA variant similar to that in the Ascent SUV, is uncertain. The piece also suggests the STI will take aesthetic cues from the Viziv concept and will ride on the new global platform, which fits with Subaru’s previously stated intentions to use it as the base for all vehicles. No word on reveal dates for the WRX, but to paraphrase some TV show we used to know, Tokyo is
Origin: 2021 Subaru WRX STI will arrive next fall with a 315-hp new engine: report
Aston Martin shares fall as uncertainty hits sales
Shares in Aston Martin have dived as the Gaydon-based car maker cut its sales and profit forecasts, attributing the fall to weak markets in the UK and Europe and economic uncertainty. The luxury marque said it was “taking immediate actions to improve efficiency and reduce the costs base as (it) heads into 2020”. Shares fell 22% in early trading, taking them down to around £8, a 55% fall over the £19 price which valued the company at £4.3bn when it first floated in October 2018. Aston Martin’s revised wholesale volumes are now 6300 to 6500 vehicles for the full year, down from the 7100 to 7300 units forecast at the time of its annual results in February. Wholesale car sales fell 22% in the UK and by 28% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while it was a rosier picture elsewhere: in America, now Aston Martin’s biggest market, volumes rose by 20% in the first half of the year. Aston Martin said retail sales grew by 26% in the first six months of 2019 but the poor performance in wholesale – which grew by only 6% globally – prompted a downgrading of full-year financial expectations. Along with a revised outlook on volumes, Aston Martin is expecting full-year figures to see an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margin down 20% and profit margin down 8%. Aston Martin said: “We anticipate that this softness will continue for the remainder of the year and are planning prudently for 2020.” Chief executive Andy Palmer has previously warned of the potential impact a no-deal Brexit could have on the car industry. The marque said that production of its DBX SUV and Valkyrie hypercar “remain on plan”. It added: “During the first half, we have been disciplined, as appropriate for our luxury positioning in maintaining the quality of sales with core wholesales up 9% supporting a continued reduction in dealer inventory as we prepare the network for DBX.” Palmer commented: “Whilst retails have grown by 26% year-to-date, our wholesale performance is adversely impacted by macro-economic uncertainty and enduring weakness in UK and European markets. We are disappointed that short-term wholesales have fallen short of our original expectations, but we are committed to maintaining quality of sales and protecting our brand position first and foremost. “We are today taking decisive action to manage inventory and the Aston Martin Lagonda brands for the long-term. We remain focused on the successful execution of the Second Century Plan and on delivering sustainable long-term
Origin: Aston Martin shares fall as uncertainty hits sales
Canadian auto sales fall for 16th straight month
In this Monday, April 24, 2017, photo, GM pickup trucks are on display at Quirk Auto Dealers in Manchester, N.H.Charles Krupa / Associated PRess The Canadian auto industry posted its sixteenth consecutive deceleration in sales in June, contracting another 7.2 per cent during the month compared to the same period last year.The latest monthly report from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. reveals virtually all the top-selling brands such as Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler reporting lower sales.Year-to-date, auto manufacturers saw sales of roughly 980,000, compared to just over one million during the same period last year.Weve been expecting single-digit declines all year and thats exactly what weve been getting. The auto markets have always been cyclical and were clearly in a correction period, says Dennis DesRosiers, president of the Toronto-based consultancy.According to DesRosiers, most vehicles are built to last for around a decade, or about 300,000 kilometres. Most people bought new vehicles in the early part of the cycle and they continue to hold on to it, leaving the market saturated.DesRosiers expects this downward movement to continue this year and possibly into 2020.What is more puzzling is the decline in sales of luxury vehicles a trend DesRosiers has been noting since January. Luxury vehicles are a more reliable segment, and until recently, had been one of the fastest growing since this century. In 2008, luxury cars held 7.1 per cent of the countrys market share, but by 2018, that share had grown to 12.1 per cent.Luxury cars have a shorter lifespan, and a regular turnover with income levels often not deemed an issue for their buyers. Mercedes-Benz saw a 17.7-per-cent drop year-to-date, with contracting Audi just over 20 per cent and BMW falling 6.6 per cent during the period.We wonder if some of that is pretend luxury buyers, people that got into the luxury market but really werent legitimate luxury buyers, said DesRosiers. Now that vehicle is 8 or 9 years old were back down to a more normal situation and they just cant afford to go in.While overall auto sales may be down, the actual ownership of vehicles has never been higher in Canada. According to DesRosiers, in 2000, 17 million, or two-thirds of the population owned a vehicle that figure now stands at 86 per cent, or 28 million.Were becoming very American-like in our ownership habits and the types of vehicles were driving, said DesRosiers. U.S. Department of Transportation data shows that there were 0.77 cars for every person in America in 2016.In terms of individual brands, Ford led the pack once again with 154,203 units sold in Canada this year to date, marginally lower compared to the same period last year. DesRosiers attributes Fords continued dominance in the market to its F-series and the latest edition of the F-150 heavy pickup truck. General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Toyota followed Ford, respectively.Looking at the glass half full, if sales for the remainder of 2019 track along current levels, we will still have one of the better sales years ever in Canada, David Adams, president of industry association Global Automakers of Canada, said in a separate report.The slowdown in Canada is in sharp contrast to auto sales across the border, which rose nearly 2 per cent to 206,083, driven by a 56 per cent jump in FCAs Ram
Origin: Canadian auto sales fall for 16th straight month
More than 13,000 Mazda3s recalled in Canada over wheels that could fall off
2019 Mazda3 SportBrian Harper Mazda is recalling 13,108 examples of its 2019-model-year Mazda3 in Canada because a manufacturing defect may increase the odds the wheels will fall off.The Japanese automaker says while the lug nuts on the wheels were tightened to the correct specification at the factory, a manufacturing error may mean a gap between the wheel hub bolt and the hub flange was left during assembly.The gap could allow the lug nuts to loosen when the vehicle is in motion, which could in turn result in the wheels falling off completely.Drivers will hear a rattling sound before the wheel completely separates from the car, Mazda suggested.Recalled vehicles will simply have their lug nuts re-torqued to the correct specifications. No incidents of wheels detaching from Mazda3s has yet been reported, nor have any accidents or injuries tied to the
Origin: More than 13,000 Mazda3s recalled in Canada over wheels that could fall off
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