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Automobiles

Video: New Chevy Silverado ad aims for the cowgirl market

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By Brandon Turkus

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Chevrolet is continuing its marketing blitz during the launch of the new Chevy Silverado with another ad toting the new truck’s safe towing capacity – even when you’ve got a “a 1200-pound passenger and 355 horses to get there.”

It’s a touching spot that tries to equate the connection someone feels to an animal best friend with the connection one has with a prized vehicle. We like the emotional direction Chevy’s gone in, as it’s quite different from, say, hearing a gravelly Denis Leary talk about the Ford F-150. And clearly, GM sees the need to market its new fullsize pickup to women in addition to men.

Still, this rural Chevy commercial has nothing on the Ram 1500 Super Bowl ad. Click below for the spot.

Continue reading New Chevy Silverado ad aims for the cowgirl market

New Chevy Silverado ad aims for the cowgirl market originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can Toyota's New Tundra Challenge the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado?

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By Adam Levine-Weinberg, The Motley Fool

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Back in February, Toyota Motor unveiled the third generation of its Tundra full-size pickup, which will make its debut in September for the 2014 model year. Let’s take a look at how it might stack up against similar offerings from the big names in Detroit.

While Toyota has become a force to be reckoned with in the U.S. car market over the past few decades, it’s had much more trouble breaking into the full-size pickup segment. Ford has been the segment leader for a long time with its F-150 pickup, and General Motors is a strong second with its Chevy Silverado. (If you include the Silverado’s twin, the GMC Sierra, GM‘s total market share in the segment is similar to Ford’s.) Chrysler Group lags well behind Ford and GM in terms of market share, but its Ram pickups still have the No. 3 market share spot locked up.

The new Tundra makes some modest performance improvements over the previous version, but the interior redesign is far more impressive. However, truck owners are known for being very loyal to their favorite brands, so Toyota faces an uphill battle to grow its market share. Nevertheless, I believe Toyota may offer significant discounts to drive higher volume. In today’s price-conscious world, this strategy could be successful and drive a significant market-share increase for Toyota, at the expense of the Detroit Three.

Tundra’s long road
The full-size pickup segment offers very high margins compared with the auto industry as a whole, which explains why Japanese automakers have tried to break into this business. Toyota opened a new manufacturing plant in San Antonio to produce the second-generation Tundra back in 2007 and hoped to sell 200,000 per year. It was favorably reviewed, won the Motor Trend “Truck of the Year” award, and nearly met its sales goal in 2007. However, the collapse of the housing market shortly thereafter drastically reduced sales; last year, Toyota sold barely 100,000 Tundras. By contrast, Ford sold more than 645,000 F-Series trucks in 2012.

Clearly, the loyalty of longtime Ford, Chevy/GMC, and Dodge/Ram truck owners puts a limit on the Tundra’s market share. Still, Toyota did gain substantial market share back in 2007 when the last-generation Tundra hit the market. Furthermore, while Toyota hasn’t provided a specific sales goal, executives have said they expect the Tundra’s sales growth to outpace overall segment growth this year, even though the new Tundra won’t hit the market until the fall.

Going for luxury
The main area where Toyota has made significant improvements over the previous generation is in the luxury pickup segment. Toyota is offering many more upscale options on the 2014 Tundra, including two different premium grades — the Platinum and 1794 edition. The fastest-growing segment of the pickup market has been for luxury trucks retailing for $40,000 or more, but Toyota hasn’t previously offered that level of luxury. With the new high-end Tundra models, Toyota is using high-quality leather and

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/14/can-toyotas-new-tundra-challenge-the-ford-f-150-an/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

2 Winners and 2 Losers From Cheap Pump Prices

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By Justin Loiseau, The Motley Fool

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Park the Prius: Pump prices are heading lower for the second straight summer. But even as individual drivers get more for less, shifting preferences could sideline some auto investors. I’ll look at the price predictions, and I’ll outline two winners and two losers from this latest trend.

Pump it up
The Energy Information Administration released its 2013 Summer Fuels Outlook report (link opens a PDF) this week, and things are looking up for gas prices to head down. According to the report, summer retail gasoline prices will drop to a national average of $3.63 per gallon, $0.03 below 2012’s summer and $0.08 below 2011’s price tag.

Two winners
Heavyweights win on this latest news. In the game of supply and demand, cheaper gas prices make gas guzzlers more affordable for Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Ford and General Motors are revving up their latest line of pickups, and new sales could pour in with less wear on drivers’ wallets. General Motors announced last week that its new Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra will sport the most fuel-efficient V-8 engines in their market. The Silverado’s 5.3-liter engine will get a whopping 23 mpg, with more pulling power than any of its competitors.

In an ironic twist of fate, Ford’s F-150 could make even more gains than GM. The F-series has been America’s best-selling truck for more than 30 years, and GM‘s efficiency ace-in-the-hole could come up short of toppling the Blue Oval‘s omnipotence. Ford sold 14,000 more trucks than GM in March, and cheap gas could keep this upward trend constant through summer months.

Who killed the electric car?
Innovation drives our economy, but the greatest solutions only emerge from the greatest problems. With high oil supplies and cheap prices, who needs fuel-efficient cars? Tesla Motors is a pure-play electric automaker that could feel a major summer squeeze. Founder and CEO Elon Musk is trying fancy new financing tricks to make his luxury vehicles more affordable, but the price might just not be right for the gas-vs.-electric argument.

Likewise, Toyota Motor‘s fuel-efficient fleet could suffer significantly. The automaker’s Prius has long demanded a price premium for its light consumption and currently controls 68% of the non-plug-in hybrid market. Overall hybrid sales grew 14% in Q1 2013, but Ford’s F-Series and GM‘s Chevy Silverado remain the No. 1 and No. 2 best-selling vehicles in America. Cheap gas prices certainly won’t help lightweights like the Prius topple those top picks.

When macro affects micro
Summer pump prices could put fuel efficiency on the back burner, significantly affecting upcoming sales for your investment. But cheap gas for a few months is no substitute for visionary engineering and innovation. The companies that can consistently create the best vehicle at the best value will win out in the long term, and investors should make their portfolio picks accordingly.

Worried about Ford?
If you’re concerned that Ford’s turnaround has

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/14/2-winners-and-2-losers-from-cheap-pump-prices/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why GM's New Pickups Should Worry Ford

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By John Rosevear, The Motley Fool

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Are General Motors‘ new Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra losers?

A lot of Internet trash talk has been aimed at both full-size pickups since GM unveiled the just-redesigned new models in January. Even my Foolish colleague Daniel Miller has been skeptical, saying that the Silverado “looks to disappoint” when the all-new models hit dealers later this spring.

But I think it’s unlikely that the trucks will “disappoint.” In fact, I think there’s a good chance they’ll turn out to be great trucks once folks get a chance to drive them.

Here’s why.

More improvements than meet the eye
Most observers are keying off the new trucks’ looks — they bear a strong family resemblance to the outgoing versions they’re replacing. (The silver truck is a 2013 Silverado LTZ, and the red one is the all-new 2014 version.)

Image sources: General Motors.

But there appear to be a whole lot of subtle improvements baked into the new truck. GM certainly hasn’t been shy about saying so: The company called a press conference last week to tout its new haulers, pointing out, among other things, that a Silverado with GM‘s new 5.3 liter V8 got slightly better EPA mileage ratings than Ford‘s much-advertised “EcoBoost” V6 truck.

That sounds like a trivial thing, but a lot of full-size pickup buyers would rather have the V8, all things being equal — even if it’s a V8 that runs on just four cylinders much of the time to save gas, as GM‘s new engine will.

GM has been touting a slew of other upgrades, from the new truck’s impressive towing capacity to an upgraded interior. But all automakers do that when they launch new models. Why should we take GM‘s word for it?

Here’s why: Because after years of up and down quality, the company’s latest models have been very good.

Why a Cadillac bodes well for GM’s pickups
In any given month, GM might sell 50,000 pickups or more here in the United States. The combination of high volume and big margins mean that pickups are Ford’s most important single line of business — and they just might be GM‘s, too.

In contrast, GM sold just 15,751 Cadillacs in the U.S. in March — but in its own way, GM‘s ongoing effort to revive Cadillac is nearly as important to GM’s long-range profit goals as its bread-and-butter pickup trucks are.

Why am I bringing up Cadillac? Because GM‘s latest Cadillacs have been home runs. The ATS, a compact sedan launched last year, has turned out to be a genuine, legit competitor to the BMW 3-Series, one of the best-regarded cars in the world.

The ATS, simply put, is really good, proof that GM is doing great vehicles nowadays. Its big brother, the CTS, was just unveiled in New York, and it looks like another home run, a car that will challenge BMW‘s 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz’s E-Class head-on.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

GM Could Be in for a Bumpy Ride

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By Adam Levine-Weinberg, The Motley Fool

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2013 is a critical year for General Motors as the American auto giant tries to overcome the stigma of bankruptcy and retake market share in the U.S. Management has been touting a series of high-profile vehicle launches, but none is more important than the company’s new line of full-size pickups. If successful, the new pickups have the potential to boost GM‘s profitability, but in the meantime GM has to manage a complex transition between the previous architecture and the new one. Analysts and investors have worried that GM may have too much inventory of the old pickup trucks, which could force margin-sapping discounts or crimp sales of the new models. I expect these concerns to weigh on the stock until the transition is more or less complete at the end of the year.

New trucks coming
GM is launching new versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups this spring. On Monday, executives announced that Silverado pricing would remain the same compared to the current generation. Moreover, GM claims that the 5.3-liter EcoTec V8 engine (which will be an $895 option for buyers) will provide better fuel economy than competitors’ V8 engines, and will even edge out Ford‘s V6 EcoBoost by one mile per gallon on the highway.

The risk for GM is that hyping the launch of the new pickups will depress demand for the old ones. With a better version to be available in a few months, customers who can delay their purchases may do so, unless they are drawn in by heavy incentive spending.

Inventory issues?
For investors, uncertainty about the near-term pickup sales trajectory is heightened by the volatility of GM‘s pickup sales pace recently. Weak full-size pickup sales in November led to a spike in inventory worries, but a strong December brought inventories down to from 139 days of supply to 80. January sales were also strong, but inventories increased and days of supply jumped to 117. Strong February sales brought the days of supply number back below 100, but a weaker March caused GM to end the first quarter with 117 days of supply in inventory once again.

Last month’s reversal came as Silverado sales grew 8.4% year over year and Sierra sales were flat compared to 2012. Combined, GM full-size pickup sales were up 6% to 53,378 units. This fell short of the 14.9% gain expected by Kelley Blue Book analyst Alec Gutierrez. By contrast, Ford sold 67,513 F-Series trucks, up more than 16% over the prior year, and Ram pickup trucks were up 25% year over year with 33,831 sold. It is too early to know whether GM‘s underperformance compared to peers last month was a blip or the beginning of a trend caused by anticipation of the new models. Management professes to be very comfortable with the current inventory level of approximately 240,000 full-size pickups. However, if sales slow any further in the spring, GM will need …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Did GM Just Crush Ford's Pickup Advantage?

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By John Rosevear, The Motley Fool

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General Motors said on Monday that its all-new Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full-sized pickups will have the most fuel-efficient V-8 engines in their market segment – so efficient that they would even beat Ford‘s much-touted “EcoBoost” V6 truck engines.

The difference is a tiny one, just one mile per gallon in the EPA‘s highway ratings. It’s unlikely to mean a whole lot in real-world driving. But while the difference may be tiny, consider this: GM didn’t just send out a press release, they held a full-blown press conference to tout the new trucks’ advantage.

Is this just mere Detroit trash talk? No. The truth is, the pickup wars are very serious business for both GM and Ford, and little distinctions like this one can mean a lot.

Why pickups are a huge deal for both GM and Ford
Why are pickups such a big deal? Because they’re a huge source of profits. Ford’s F-Series and GM‘s Chevy Silverado aren’t just the best-selling pickups, they’re the No. 1 and No. 2 best-selling vehicles in America, period, handily outselling cars like Toyota‘s super-popular Camry month after month.

Consider this for context: Tesla Motors has made a big impact with its goal of selling 20,000 of its all-electric Model S sedans in 2013. But Ford sold over 54,000 F-Series pickups just in February — and while that was a decent month for the Blue Oval, it wasn’t a remarkable one. GM‘s total sales of its two pickups, the Silverado and the Sierra, were in the same ballpark.

Long story short, full-sized pickups sell in huge numbers here in the U.S. And they’re high-margin products, especially when they’re “optioned up” with luxury-car-type features or heavy-duty add-ons, as many are nowadays. That adds up to an enormous impact on the bottom line: One top analyst recently estimated that as much as 90% of Ford’s global profit comes from the F-Series.

The impact at GM is likely somewhat less, but it’s still huge.

Why small differences in cost can be a big deal
So why did GM make such a big deal out of its one-MPG victory? Because it might mean a lot of sales. Unlike cars, the vast majority of which are bought by individual consumers, many pickups are purchased by business buyers. Those buyers range from giant utility companies down to tiny three-man contracting firms, but as a general rule, they’re very sensitive to new truck pricing and to cost of ownership differences.

That sensitivity is why Ford has advertised its EcoBoost drivetrain so heavily over the last year, and it’s why GM made a big deal out of a tiny MPG advantage on Monday. It’s an advantage that probably seems trivial to most individual consumers, but to a commercial fleet manager, it might swing an order to Chevrolet that might otherwise go to Ford.

Might, that is, unless Ford responds, which it surely will. Stay tuned.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Is GM Ready to Turn the Corner?

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By Daniel Miller, The Motley Fool

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Detroit’s big three have come a long way since the depths of the recent recession. They’ve improved vehicle quality and management enough for investors like me to root for an American comeback. While consumer perceptions are difficult to turn around, Ford and General Motors have gone to great lengths to convince consumers that domestic vehicles can once again compete. 

That said, in many ways GM still trails behind rival Ford. Its vehicle portfolio is much older, contributing to its market-share losses. The common jab of “Government Motors” highlights the negativity its brand image has battled over the last few years. GM still ranks second in global sales and needs to refresh its vehicles and improve its marketing to become a better investment. Let’s look at a few recent events that might show GM is ready to turn the corner and start fixing its vehicle portfolio and marketing weaknesses.

Enter Mr. Mahoney
Tim Mahoney is Chevrolet’s new global marketing chief. GM hopes he will bring stability and creativity to its often bland marketing strategies. In the past it’s been difficult to create an image that can encompass such a large number of brands and models. The last attempt, “Chevy Runs Deep,” didn’t run very far or very long. It’s remarkable that with the slogan not translating well into other languages, Chevy still represented 54% of GM‘s global sales. Imagine how sales could rise if Chevy finally creates a marketing campaign that consumers can relate with and buy into.

It will be no easy task, as Chevy is about to tackle its wildest vehicle portfolio refresh in the brand’s 102-year history. It will redesign numerous models in the United States this year, including its highly profitable Silverado. The Impala and the buzz-worthy new Corvette will also roll out in new styles. Chevy will then continue its redesigns into early 2014, with the Suburban and Tahoe due to release.

Mahoney’s first job will be to make sure Chevy’s cash cow, the Silverado, is positioned correctly. It has a year’s head start on Ford’s redesigned F-150 and must take advantage of that to secure its market share. Ford and Chrysler both have been touting fuel efficiency, which, in KPMG‘s 2013 survey, is the consumer’s No. 1 factor in purchasing a vehicle. Ford is showing off its popular EcoBoost engine whenever possible, and it’s catching on with consumers. The turbocharged V6 saves fuel while providing equivalent power. GM‘s other rival, Chrysler, has been parading the Dodge Ram in recent commercials as a best-in-class 25 mpg on the highway. Finally, GM has prepared a response to its rivals’ advertisements.

Mahoney is fighting back with a different viewpoint. Rather than arguing fuel efficiency, it says the Chevy Silverado 1500 has the lowest total cost of ownership. That includes transaction prices, operating costs, maintenance, and fuel consumption. It’s the second year in a row it earned the “5-Year Lowest Cost to Own” award. If Chevy can market this idea well, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Automobiles

"World's greenest" Chevy Silverado now ready to order

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By Sebastian Blanco

2014 chevrolet silverado model

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Doesn’t the idea of a big truck that doesn’t use gas, is biodegradable and is 100-percent recyclable sound appealing? The group trying to get you to own one even says, “You can tell all your environmentalist friends that you just happen to have the world’s greenest Chevy Silverado.” Except, well, the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado in question here is made of paper. It’s a pretty sweet model, but it’s not exactly the zero-emission truck we’ve been hoping for.

Still, if you’d like to build a detailed toy truck model with nothing but a piece of heavy paper and lots of red ink, head on over to GM Parts Super Store and download the PDF. The site asks for your email address, but you don’t need to fill that part in to get the PDF. You can see a time-lapse video below of someone building the truck and in the video you can also see paper models of the Toyota FJ Cruiser, Jeep Mighty FC concept and the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.

Yes, big, boxy vehicles make the best models over at Paper Cruiser, it appears. As for the Silverado, word is, “As of February 2013, this paper version of the 2014 Silverado is probably as close as you’re going to get to the real thing. Might as well enjoy it.” If you do build one, feel free to share pics with us on Facebook.

Continue reading “World’s greenest” Chevy Silverado now ready to order

“World’s greenest” Chevy Silverado now ready to order originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Automobiles

Nissan Titan

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For more information on the current model, including pricing with options, see our full review on the 2013 Nissan Titan. The Nissan Titan is a full-size pickup, sized to compete with the best-selling trucks on sale today–the Ford F-150, the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra, the Ram 1500, and the Toyota Tundra. It’s a class larger than the Nissan…
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The Car Connection