AD #1559 – Mercedes Stretches the S-Class, PSA Profitable, Buick’s New Ad Goes to the Dogs
February 18th, 2015 at 12:00pm
Runtime: 7:54
- That’s O-Kei with Me
- Mercedes Stretches the S-Class
- Peugeot-Citroen Profitable
- Executive Changes at Infiniti, Ford, Fiat-Chrysler
- A Pain in the UAW’s ACE
- New IndyCar Can Really Break Wind
- Bark for Buick
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On today’s show…..we look at some of the cheapest cars in the world and one of the most expensive….Indy cars get aerodynamic styling…and Buick’s advertising goes to the dogs. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily for February 18th, 2015.
THAT’S O-KEI WITH ME
Japanese kei-car makers are in an all-out war for market share, and that’s led to amazing discounts. Bloomberg reports you can pick up an unused 2014 Suzuki Alto Lapin Chocolat that sells for about $8,400. That’s 25% off the sticker price. Suzuki sells more kei cars in Japan than anyone else. Kei cars are largely a Japanese phenomenon. The dinky cars are powered by 660 cc engines and are taxed at a much lower rate than larger cars. They account for half the sales in the Japanese market.
ALL ABOARD!
At the other end of the spectrum, Mercedes is getting ready to unveil this gigantic stretch job of the S-class that it’s calling the Maybach Pullman. The wheelbase alone is over 14 feet long. It’s so big that Mercedes doesn’t refer to the passenger cabin, it calls it a “generously-sized and tastefully-appointed club lounge.” Power comes from a bi-turbo V12 with 530 horsepower. The base price is a mere $570,000. Let’s see, you could buy 67 Suzuki Altos for the price of one Pullman.
PSA PROFITABLE
Almost two years ago Carlos Tavares shocked the automotive industry when he announced he wanted to be the CEO of a car company. That didn’t sit too well with his boss, Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault-Nissan. So Mr. Tavares was invited to leave the company. He landed at Peugeot, which was bleeding red ink at the time. But it’s easy to see why Tavares wanted his hands on the reins. He’s pretty good at this stuff. Peugeot just reported that sales hit nearly 3 million vehicles last year and it reported an operating profit of a billion dollars. Those results are still not healthy enough, but it shows that Peugeot has made some amazing improvements.
Still to come…Chevy unveils its aerodynamic package for Indy cars….we see more musical chairs with automotive executives….and Buick’s advertising goes to the dogs.
EXECUTIVE CHANGES
There were a number of moves amongst the executive ranks yesterday. Infiniti announced that Randy Parker, who is currently VP of Nissan’s West Region in the U.S., will replace Michael Bartsch as VP of Infiniti Americas effective immediately. Ford announced that it just hired auto analyst and investment banker John Casesa to become the head of Global Strategy. He will be in charge of improving existing business strategies and finding new opportunities for growth. And finally Fiat-Chrysler announced that in addition to his current role as President and CEO of Chrysler, Al Gardner will take over as VP of Dealer Network Development. We recently interviewed Al on Autoline This Week and he had a lot of interesting things to say about his vision for the Chrysler brand. Just click the link in today’s transcript to watch that show.
A PAIN IN THE UAW’S ACE
The battle to unionize Volkswagen’s plant in Tennessee just got more interesting. The Detroit News reports that an anti-UAW group, called the American Council of Employees, has enough support to represent workers at the plant. It can now hold meetings on-site, post announcements in designated areas and participate in monthly meetings with VW’s Human Resources. The UAW has those same privileges plus more because it has support from 45% of the workforce, compared to 15% for ACE. But the UAW can’t be happy that it’s going to be forced to share representation of those workers.
NEW INDYCAR CAN REALLY BREAK WIND
Chevrolet helped power 5 of the top 7 positions in last year’s Verizon IndyCar Series, including champion Will Power. The automaker is looking to continue that success with the new 2015 road course and short oval car it unveiled yesterday. This is all part of IndyCar’s efforts to provide more visible differences between the different teams. The most noticeable changes come in the form of new front wing elements, sculpted side pods as well as a new rear wing. A new aero kit designed for high-speed ovals will be introduced in May. Honda will be unveiling its aero package any day now.
Coming up next, everybody likes doggies and Buick is using that to sell cars.
BARK FOR BUICK
Miss P the beagle wasn’t the only big winner at the Westminster Dog show last night. Buick scored high marks with dog lovers watching the two-night broadcast with a customized “That’s Not a Buick” commercial featuring a variety of furry four-legged actors all “woofing” — with subtitles of course — about the all-new Buick Enclave. Take a look…
But this wasn’t just a “one-and-done” for Buick. During the spot, the automaker unveiled its “Make Your Dog A Star” campaign inviting dog owners everywhere to upload audition videos of their pooch to appear in the next batch of commercials.
With so many dog lovers out there, clearly, Buick is not barking up the wrong tree. So if you believe your dog has star power we’ll put the link to the Buick campaign in today’s show notes. Woof!
Don’t forget to join us tomorrow night for Autoline After Hours. If you have any questions about the future of powertrains, here’s your chance to get them answered. Our guest is Oliver Schmidt, now based in the US, but soon being reassigned to Germany to run powertrain development for the VW Group. Join me and Gary Vasilash for some of the best insider insights in the business.
And that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching.
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Comments (20)
February 18th, 2015 at 12:36 pm
I happened to see a Mercedes 600 the other day. In it’s time, probably roughly equivalent to the new Pullman. The 600 is so complicated, the owner tells me that at this point it is effectively impractical to repair/restore.
February 18th, 2015 at 1:36 pm
I thought Subaru had a lot of dog commercials lately that were really cool. Dog tested…dog approved.
That IndyCar at least dumps the ungainly hump ahead of the rear wheels…but wow that is a LOT of aero aids on that thing. Looks like an open Swiss Army Knife.
February 18th, 2015 at 1:40 pm
Honda used dog ads for the Element, and I remember them having a “dog package,” or something similar. I guess the ads weren’t too effective, though.
February 18th, 2015 at 1:55 pm
In reference to aerodynamic efficiency , I would prefer the term “slice” to “break”
February 18th, 2015 at 2:36 pm
You know, I’ve always wondered how much actual business gets conducted in the passenger cabin, scratch that, “generously-sized and tastefully-appointed club lounge” of any given stretch sedan that could not be conducted in your average extended wheelbase sedan. Is the ride in the from the country estate to the office THAT long that it affords one time to conduct an amount of business that justifies the added expense of such a purchase?
Not that I have a problem with this type purchase. If you have it to spend, why not? But I guess I’m just wondering how many owners actually NEED this level of appointments for conducting business, versus those for which it is more of a power trip.
February 18th, 2015 at 2:51 pm
5 No one needs cars like that. It’s just that some people still have a lot of spare money, even after buying their McMansion, their condo overlooking Central Park, their 300 foot yacht, and the political system.
I doubt if anyone buys such a car to drive themselves, though. I can’t imagine that it would be much fun, even though it would have plenty of power.
February 18th, 2015 at 3:04 pm
That Merc is meant to be enjoyed by its owner in the back “lounge” not be driven. Should do well in China where the money is and rich folk like to be driven.
February 18th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
6.
Ahh, I must correct you, dear sir. At the level of income necessary to own a Maybach, a “McMansion” is but lodging for the help.
Pass the grey Poupon, please…
(McMansions are the 3,000 to 5,000sq.ft. dwellings of the upper middle class and lower upper class folk with mansion-like architecture and appointments)
February 18th, 2015 at 4:14 pm
8 Yeah, the buyers of that car would have a real mansion, not a McMansion, unless they wanted to avoid being too conspicuous in their housing, but didn’t mind riding around in something quite conspicuous. I think Pedro is right, though, in that most of these machines will go to China.
February 18th, 2015 at 4:53 pm
I looked through the Mercedes 600 article on Wikipedia. Benz made them for 18 years including a “Pullman” version. 2700 made over that time. Seems like the 600 was very popular with assorted dictators and heads of State, rock stars and the Pope. I guess their taxpayers were good for the $30K+ cost in the early 60′s. Pbly $400K plus in today’s money; maybe more. MB has been making this type of product for a very long time.
February 18th, 2015 at 5:02 pm
I guess it wouldn’t be a good idea to take a Pullman to take a drivers test.
February 18th, 2015 at 5:22 pm
The Pullman is only about 3 feet longer than the L version of the last Lincoln Town Car, so maybe it will be a nimble driver’s car.
February 18th, 2015 at 5:31 pm
#11 you can always bribe the DMV examiner by letting him ride in the back and sip some champagne.
February 18th, 2015 at 10:59 pm
#3 The Element was a perfect size box to carry/drive your dog around.
Now,how dare you mention or compare the Luxurious Buick Enclave to the aforementioned Honda box?
February 19th, 2015 at 6:14 am
I guess the ‘news’ with the stretch “S” is that it is being ‘made from the factory’, though even that is probably going to be sub-contracted to a specialty shop (my speculation). But hardly new; they’ve been making stretch limos (forever). Just my “two-cents”, and maybe not worth even that.
Nice to see a little variation in the Indy League; nice to be able to tell the difference in cars without having to just look a different colors.
February 19th, 2015 at 8:05 am
No one compared the Buick to the Honda, it was a mention of how dogs have been used in ads before.
February 19th, 2015 at 9:32 am
This won’t be the first time Buick has gone to the dogs. At least the dogs are in the ads, not coming off the production line.
February 19th, 2015 at 11:11 am
When the ‘General’ was putting out, let’s say, non-stellar vehicles (going back to the ’90′s), Buick was receiving accolades for reliability and value. Okay, agreed that perhaps they got a little lazy in the styling (for a while), but “to the dogs”, I don’t think so.
February 19th, 2015 at 11:17 am
#18 Agree, Buick built what was at the time, a state of the art factory that was putting out good stuff, plus remember they were mostly driven by elderly drivers who pampered their pooch.
February 19th, 2015 at 7:09 pm
19 I still see quite a few 90′s Buick LeSabres on the road. Those 3800 engines were very reliable, as were the 4 speed transaxles used with them. A couple friends had water pumps fail on 3800′s, though.