“Orlando car dealers eagerly await these 5 models - Orlando Sentinel” plus 4 more

Orlando car dealers eagerly await these 5 models - Orlando Sentinel
Brambleton Auto: Despite the recession, on the upshift - Roanoke Times
Japanese automakers' hydrogen car drive - Himalayan Times
Timothy Peters wins first career NCWTS race - Rotoworld.com
Failed trade-ins wreak havoc on credit scores - Detroit Free Press

Orlando car dealers eagerly await these 5 models - Orlando Sentinel

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 07:25 AM PDT

Steven Cole Smith AUTOMOTIVE

October 25, 2009

Long gone are the days when Central Florida car and truck dealers zealously guarded their new models until that day in the fall, where customers lined up to see what was behind the curtain.

A lot of the 2010 car and truck models are already out — and have been for months. Still, there are some vehicles that haven't made their formal 2010 debuts. Here are five that might qualify as happy surprises, especially to Orlando area dealerships eager for new products. "This is going to be a difficult year for everyone," said Ian Riding, a sales manager for Sun State Ford in Orlando. "But the manufacturers have done their jobs, and now it's our job to make sure our customers see them."

2010 Honda Crosstour

Mark Cubarubbia, general manager of Classic Honda in Orlando, expects the average Crosstour buyer to be in his or her 40s, possibly buying it as a second vehicle for weekend travel or carpooling.

"I think it could bring some new buyers to Honda," he said.

Such as? "Well," Cubarubbia says, "do they still use the word 'yuppie?' Because that, I think, is the Crosstour's demographic."

Honda claims the Crosstour is part of the Accord line, but it's unlike any Accord you've seen before. Its big, wagonish design, familiar on some other recent vehicles such as the BMW X6, is sort of a cross between an SUV and a station wagon.

Look for the Crosstour next month, starting in the mid- to high-$20,000 range.

2010 Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon

European brands, such as Volkswagen, Audi and BMW, never gave up on the station wagon market, but with the advent of minivans and SUVs in the U.S., wagons fell out of favor. The CTS Sport Wagon from Cadillac hopes to reverse that trend.

"I think it's going to be a major hit," said Jack Starling, general manager of Starling Chevrolet-Cadillac in DeLand. "I believe it's going to be much more than a niche vehicle."

It's offered with a choice of two V-6 engines, with a starting price of about $41,000. Will there be a hot-rod, V-8-powered CTS-V wagon? GM is considering it. The CTS Sport Wagon is just now reaching dealers.

2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor

Just a few years ago, SVT, Ford's Special Vehicle Team, was busy building high-performance versions of Ford vehicles like the Focus, Contour, Mustang and F-150 Lightning. Ford neutered the SVT program for financial reasons, but the new SVT Raptor shows that there is at least a little life left in the team.

"It's a fantastic vehicle," said Riding of Sun State Ford. "The technology is there, it's bold, it's a bit outrageous. We've had one in and it sold immediately."

The Raptor is an extended-cab, four-wheel-drive pickup that SVT has turned into a genuine high-performance off-road truck, with an improved suspension, huge tires, an in-your-face grille and bright orange paint.

Unlike past SVT products, the engine remains a stock 5.4-liter V-8 with 310 horsepower, but a 400-horse engine is coming soon. Ford will build only 1,500 this year, with prices starting at about $39,000.

2010 Hyundai Equus

Hard to imagine that it was only in the mid-1980s when Hyundai had only one vehicle to sell, the little Excel. Now, the company is venturing into true luxury territory with the Equus, a sedan that, said Hyundai spokesman Chris Hosford, takes on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class head-to-head, but at a substantially lower price.

Hyundai dipped a toe into the premium market with the Azera, then with the larger, more expensive Genesis, and when it arrives next year, the Equus will undoubtedly be the nicest car ever from a Korean manufacturer. Powered by the same V-8 engine as the Genesis, Hyundai is hoping to sell only about 2,000 copies of the Equus a year, as the company seeks to establish itself further as not just a company that builds inexpensive vehicles.

Expect a price of under $60,000, but how much under remains to be seen.

2010 Suzuki Kizashi

Two years ago, Suzuki unveiled a sleek passenger car as an auto show concept called the Kizashi. When a toned-down version of the concept made it to production, many of us thought Suzuki might change the name, but they've stuck with Kizashi, which apparently translates to something akin to "good omen."

The Kizashi "is targeted at the same buyer who might purchase a Honda Accord," said David Boldt, a Suzuki spokesman. "The company has worked very hard to get it right, and I think we have." Suzuki's most recent mid-sized sedan, the Verona, was actually built in Korea by Daewoo, and it was not a big success.

Suzuki, which has suffered troubling sales declines this past year, desperately needs the handsome Kizashi to be a success. Power is from a 2.4-liter four-cylinder, and prices should start at about $20,000 when it goes on sale in December.

Sentinel Automotive Editor Steven Cole Smith can be reached at scsmith@orlandosentinel.com, at 407-420-5699, or through his blog at Enginehead.com

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Brambleton Auto: Despite the recession, on the upshift - Roanoke Times

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 05:02 AM PDT

Photos by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Second-generation mechanic/owner Keith Foutz begins a brake job on a Chevy Malibu at Brambleton Auto Service.

Don Foutz, 78, has owned Brambleton Auto Service since 1965. Semi-retired, he now owns the business with his son, Keith, 53 (right). Keith's 29-year-old son, Jared Foutz (center) also works on cars at the shop.

STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

With a 20 percent to 30 percent increase in business over the summer, "We've survived pretty good," says Brambleton Auto Service owner Don Foutz.

Recession? What recession?

The men of Brambleton Auto Service in Roanoke County aren't worried about the economy.

The garage is doing more work and bringing in more revenue than before the recession. Brambleton Auto had 20 percent to 30 percent more business than usual over the summer, and it's seen the same amount increase in monthly sales, owner Don Foutz said.

"I'm tickled to death," he said. "In the last three months it's been real good." The 78-year-old man, with bright blue eyes and matching shirt, flashed a smile and a thumbs up.

Mary Henley, a three-year customer having her Jeep Cherokee inspected, said she chose to give Brambleton Auto her business because a co-worker recommended it.

The garage is fair to its customers, she said. Henley, 42, from Roanoke, said she's never felt taken advantage of.

One of the ripple effects of the recession and the steep decline in new vehicle sales has been an increase in demand for car repairs.

Auto owners aren't buying new cars and are keeping their old ones longer, AAA spokeswoman Martha Meade said.

The roadside assistance service in the mid-Atlantic has received 4 percent more calls this year through August compared with last year.

"They can't afford the new ones, so they're fixing the old cars, which makes sense. Instead of a $30,000 car, they're spending $300 or $400 on their old ones," Foutz said.

Roanoke-based Advance Auto Parts Inc., which sells parts to commercial shops like Foutz's, reported third-quarter revenue in July up 7 percent from the same period a year earlier.

"Cars are too complex, they can't work on them themselves," Advance spokeswoman Shelly Whitaker said. "In that case, they do go to those mom-and-pop garages."

Brambleton Auto isn't exactly a mom-and-pop operation -- it's brother-and-brother, or father-son-and-grandson.

The garage opened as a partnership in 1965 between Foutz and his brother, Rodney, who has since died. The original shop stood less than a half block away on Brambleton Avenue, set back from the road, and it moved to its present location at 3323 Brambleton Ave. -- on the "main runway," as Foutz calls it -- in 1975.

One red toolbox on a table near the office has survived the years.

"We've actually been here 43 years, so I guess we've got so many good customers, regular customers who won't go anywhere else," he said. "We've survived pretty good."

Foutz retired last year. He doesn't work on cars anymore; his hands and fingernails are clean. His son Keith, 53, and grandson Jared, 29, do the dirty work now, along with two part-time employees.

Foutz still drives to work -- sometimes in his '77 Ford Ranger, though he doesn't want to put too many miles on it, he said -- almost every day at 8:30 a.m. to manage the business, a task he calls a headache. A half hour earlier, the servicemen start working on cars: repairing vehicles jacked up near the ceiling in the shop, towing some and selling parts.

They've had so much work recently that, among the five of them, they can't take any more business per day, Foutz said. The shop brings in about $300,000 in annual sales, he said, and he expects this year to end the same or better.

Although the amount of business fluctuates from month to month, the changing seasons don't affect sales much.

In the summer, shops work on air conditioning systems, and in the winter that work is replaced with fixing heaters, Foutz said.

Bernie's Auto & Truck Repair in Roanoke was hurt this summer because of a decline in air conditioner work. The shop typically does 80 percent of its business working on the cooling units, said owner Bernie Hall. This summer it was down to 10 percent, because drivers can choose to roll down the windows and live without working air, he said.

"This is the worst summer I've ever had in business," Hall said. "Even people that are well to do, I'm seeing them being much more money conscious than ever before."

Brambleton Auto didn't see much change in air conditioner work, though it has upped the number of oil changes it performs a day. The shop performed one or two a day on average before the recession, and now does five or six each day.

"They claim it gives you better gas mileage," he said. An oil change rings up at about $30, far less than the charge for Brambleton Auto's most expensive services. Replacing brakes or rotors can cost as much as $700.

Foutz has spent his four decades in business working to earn his customers' trust by "being good people, not robbing them," he said. The people who've gone to the shop from its early days have children who go there now as well. Customers' loyalty is another reason Brambleton Auto's business hasn't dropped off, Foutz said.

"They'll say, 'Don, fix my car,'" he said. "'If there are any problems, just fix it.'"

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Japanese automakers' hydrogen car drive - Himalayan Times

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 03:29 AM PDT

AFP

TOKYO: Imagine a car that can be refuelled in minutes but emits only water. Sounds like science fiction? In fact it already exists Hollywood star Jamie Lee Curtis has one. So does Honda president Takanobu Ito.

Yet while some see them as the ultimate environmentally-friendly automobiles, the high production cost means that affordable hydrogen-powered fuel-cell cars are still more of a dream than reality.

Manufacturers such as Honda, however, are making a renewed push behind the vehicles, which run on electricity generated by a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, belching out nothing more harmful than water vapour.

"We believe that the fuel-cell electric vehicle will be the ultimate form for automobiles in the future," Ito said at the Tokyo Motor Show which opened Wednesday.

"It has advantages such as zero CO2 emissions in use, can travel considerable distances without refuelling and can be quickly refuelled," he said.

Honda last year began delivering about 200 FCX Clarity hydrogen-powered cars on lease to US and Japanese customers, including some Hollywood celebrities.

Other automakers have also been pouring money into the technology, invented in the 19th century by the Welsh scientist William Robert Grove.

Toyota, pioneer of hybrids powered by a petrol engine and an electric motor, has said it plans to launch a fuel-cell car by 2015. It is applying its hybrid technology to the vehicles, swapping the petrol engine for a fuel-cell stack.

"We can't concentrate on just one technology," said Takeshi Uchiyamada, the chief engineer of the first-generation Prius hybrid.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda says he expects that eventually electric cars will be used for short distances and fuel-cell hybrids for long journeys.

Nissan and Mazda have developed their own fuel-cell vehicles and leased them to governments and corporate clients, while Suzuki Motor is showcasing a car, a wheelchair and scooter -- all powered by fuel cells -- at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The big challenge for manufacturers is to reduce the production cost of hydrogen-powered vehicles -- currently several hundred thousand dollars each.

"There is a feeling that by 2050 fuel cells will eventually surpass electric cars," said Ashvin Chotai, managing director of Intelligence Automotive Asia.

"In a lot of countries where electricity is generated with fossil fuels electric cars are still not an ideal solution, especially in places like China and India where a lot of the energy is produced using dirty coal," he said.

The goal of carmakers is for hydrogen for cars to be produced by electrolysing water using renewable energy such as solar power.

Fuel cells have long been seen as an eco-friendly alternative to petrol, but for now most automakers are focusing their attention on hybrids and plug-in electric cars.

Supporters, however, see hydrogen-powered cars as the natural next step because they also use electricity but can be refuelled more quickly than plug-in cars and can travel further before the power runs out.

Some industry experts see a day when compact electric cars are used for short distances and fuel cells for bigger vehicles such as trucks, because hydrogen tanks require a lot of space.

As well as the high cost, the lack of filling stations and the size and weight of the fuel-cell vehicles also present hurdles.

Last month, Toyota, Honda, Renault-Nissan, Hyundai, Ford, General Motors, Daimler and Kia issued a joint plea for a sufficient hydrogen infrastructure network to be built by 2015, from when they believe "a few hundred thousand" of the cars could be commercialised worldwide.

The cause got a vital boost last week when the US Congress approved 187 million dollars in funding for research into fuel cells, seen by supporters as the ultimate zero-emission solution.

"There's no way around it. A fuel-cell car gives you power, distance... It gives you short refuelling time," said George Hansen, GM's head of fuel-cell commercialisation in the Asia-Pacific.

"The technology is there and ready to be used. Now it depends on whether governments are willing to put in place the infrastructure, and whether volume production will bring costs down," he told AFP.

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Timothy Peters wins first career NCWTS race - Rotoworld.com

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 02:24 AM PDT

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Failed trade-ins wreak havoc on credit scores - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 25 Oct 2009 12:01 AM PDT

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Zarb said she called Flagstar Bank and was surprised to learn that Michal hadn't paid off the $179,700 balance on the couple's trade-in. She said Michal's staff told her he was making periodic payments on the trade-in note and not to worry.

Eventually, Michal sent the couple a letter apologizing for the delay, blamed it on financial problems and personally guaranteed that he would pay off the loan as soon as possible.

But he never did.

Last fall, Michal's lenders seized the inventory at his 32-acre lot on I-94 in Belleville, effectively shutting him down.

A former Michal's staffer said the dealership was done in by soaring gas prices and the credit crunch that prevented potential buyers from getting loans.

Michal had continued paying the monthly installments on about 10 trade-ins and got eight of them paid off by the time his business crashed, the former staffer said, leaving the Zarbs and Thomas and Sally Quehl of Ypsilanti in the lurch. The Quehls owed $113,266 on their trade-in.

The Zarbs and the Quehls are suing Michal in Wayne County Circuit Court. The Quehls wouldn't comment on their suit.

Michal wouldn't talk. He sent letters to both couples promising to pay off the vehicles when he could and told a Michigan Secretary of State representative the same thing, an agency spokeswoman said.

One of his lawyers, Stanley Bershad of Southfield, said: "We're working out the problems, and it won't help anybody to talk about it."

"In essence, Walt Michal stole their vehicles," said Birmingham consumer lawyer Dani Liblang, who is suing on behalf of both couples. She said their trade-in vehicles are gone.

The Zarbs, who have stopped paying the trade-in note, said Michal damaged their credit.

According to Rosemary Shahan of the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety group in California, when a dealer fails to honor a pledge to pay off a trade-in, the dealer creates two victims: The purchasers wind up being legally responsible for cars they traded in, and anyone who buys the trade-in soon discovers that they can't get title for the vehicle, which usually is repossessed to satisfy the original note.

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