TTAC News Round-up: Full-size GM SUVs Making People Sick, 2016 Sales Look Flat, and Millennials Are Buying Everything Now
If you see this Cadillac a-rockin’, you should submit a complaint to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
That, and depressed 2016 sales outlooks, the Federal Reserve rate hike, a Chinese electric vehicle Warrior and CarMax, after the jump.
Toyota predicts a flat 2016, Hyundai even less optimistic
According to two separate reports from Reuters, Toyota and Hyundai have very different outlooks for 2016 — and neither are all that good.
Toyota, who’s seen its main rival for being the world’s largest automaker drop out of the race for some reason, doesn’t expect much, if any, global growth for 2016. The automaker has stated its overall group sales will likely rise by a mere 1 percent to 10.2 million vehicles.
In Korea, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo said next year is “not bright” for the automaker.
Maybe they can make some diesels for North America. I hear those are in short supply these days.
Fed likely to raise rates now that even millennials are buying cars and houses
Again, coming to you from Reuters, is a report on the impending Federal Reserve rate hike. Within it are some very, very interesting little tidbits of information:
• FCA more than doubled its workforce in Kokomo because of a booming automotive sector.
Good work, millennials. Go out and buy all those shiny new things.
NextEV hires a Warrior
Cisco Systems’ former technology chief, Padmasree Warrior, has been scooped up by NextEV, a new electric vehicle company funded by a lot of money from China.
“I really care about solving big global problems,” Warrior said in an interview with Bloomberg (via Automotive News). “It’s not just electric cars. It’s how can you use the mobile Internet era to bring the user much closer to the brand — we call it user enterprise. The vision is not just about technology, but changing the experience.”
The company, which already operates a Formula E Championship team, was founded by Chinese car-pricing website chairman William Li and calls former Maserati and Ford Europe executive Martin Leach its CEO. NextEV plans to debut a fully electric supercar sometime in the later part of 2016.
Full-size Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac SUVs (and their owners) not experiencing good vibrations
According to AutoGuide, the Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade triplets are experiencing some noise, vibration and harshness problems that could be making their owners sick.
Some problems have been reported to NHTSA, with one complaint stating: “Pressure, sound and sensation at low to mid range speeds. Creating headache, dizziness and strain.”
A technical service bulletin for the problem states the roof panels might not be bonded properly and has issued steps to remedy the issue. However, it seems that some owners still have a problem after the fix is complete, according to the report.
CarMax on recalls: Not our responsibility
Consumer advocacy groups believe used car should be responsible for completing recall work on inventory before it’s sold. CarMax, obviously, doesn’t agree.
According to Automotive News, CarMax says it discloses outstanding recalls for vehicles before they are sold, but getting that work done is the responsibility of the buyer. However, a recent buyer of a vehicle at a CarMax store, who also happens to be founder of The Safety Institute, said outstanding recalls were only disclosed after he had asked.
“Why would they let me drive off with fixing it?” Sean Kane said to Automotive News. “Had I not asked about the recalls, I’m pretty sure the salesperson would not have pulled up those recalls to show me.”
More by Mark Stevenson
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I would say a dealer should make sure recalls regarding safety issues. It would definitely be a way to attract customers, and even avoid lawsuits for selling a vehicle with an open recall and forgetting, or just flat out neglecting to disclose that. This is something that gets done for free. If your big, multi-million dollar company can't manage a trek to the dealer for a free repair, I brand thee lazy and greedy. At the VERY least, disclose it.
When I bought the X5 from CarMax, they disclosed all open recalls (none) and showed me where I could find that information in the future, but that didn't happen until we were signing papers. Presumably, this person asked earlier in the process...because their policy is to disclose it for every car. Regarding responsibilities, the logistics of administering or managing every recall there is on a vehicle has to be a nightmare for CarMax and other large used-car dealerships, so I can understand their position on this. I think the healthiest solution is for the NHTSA or whoever administers recalls to setup a rank system, "Dangerous" or "Not Dangerous." Automakers can self-rank the recalls, but they do so at their own peril if they mis-rank something by saying it isn't dangerous when it is. Make the dealerships disclose open recalls that aren't dangerous (like a software fix for iDrive) and make them rectify the ones that are dangerous if there's a fix (like a leak that causes fuel fumes to get into the cabin) before they can sell them.