Consumer Reports says Ford is slipping

The request channel timed out while waiting for a reply after 00:00:59.2656250. Increase the timeout value passed to the call to Request or increase the SendTimeout value on the Binding. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout.
The request channel timed out while waiting for a reply after 00:00:59.4218750. Increase the timeout value passed to the call to Request or increase the SendTimeout value on the Binding. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

GM recalls SUVs to fix tire pressure monitors

The request channel timed out while waiting for a reply after 00:00:59.5000000. Increase the timeout value passed to the call to Request or increase the SendTimeout value on the Binding. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout.
The request channel timed out while waiting for a reply after 00:00:59.3593750. Increase the timeout value passed to the call to Request or increase the SendTimeout value on the Binding. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Range Rover sheds pounds, aims to gain share

The request channel timed out while waiting for a reply after 00:01:00. Increase the timeout value passed to the call to Request or increase the SendTimeout value on the Binding. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout.
AppId is over the quota
AP

The new Range Rover Evoque is the smallest and lightest model ever to wear the Land Rover nameplate.

Few vehicles can match the off-road capabilities of the typical Land Rover sport-utility vehicle. But when it came time to introduce the new Range Rover Evoque the British maker dug even deeper to reinforce its claims – more than 100 feet beneath the streets of Liverpool.

The media preview – staged in a long-abandoned network of railroad tunnels – was intended to show that the distinctive new Evoque could handle anything the typical buyer would likely run into. But the reality is that few will ever experience anything rougher than a gravel road or un-shoveled driveway. So why design a vehicle carrying all the extra hardware – and weight – of the typical Land Rover? 

While the iconic British brand isn’t likely to abandon the classic SUV that has been its foundation for the last 60 years, Land Rover is planning some major changes, and the Evoque is the first sign of what’s in store.

Apparently, the new crossover-ute has struck the right chord.  It has been named Motor Trend magazine's SUV of the Year and is a semi-finalist for North American Truck of the Year, an award that will be presented at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

The Range Rover Evoque is the first car-based crossover produced by the luxury brand, now owned by India’s Tata Motors, rather than the classic body-on-frame SUV.  With its funky, coupe-like styling, the new model is both the smallest and, at just north of 3,500 pounds in base configuration, the lightest model ever to wear a Rover badge. 

That reflects the reality of today’s automotive market. Motorists are generally downsizing as they struggle to deal with crowded city streets and rising fuel prices. That doesn’t mean they want to give up style, performance, space or functionality, however. 

So while Evoque abandons the low-range gearbox found on the classic Range Rover and other, less expensive Land Rover models, it carries over the Terrain Response Control system that, with the touch of a button, takes the guesswork out of driving on different surfaces, such as mud-and-ruts, gravel, snow-and-ice or standard pavement. 

It does that by revising the settings of all manner of vehicle operations. In one of the off-road modes, Evoque’s ride height increases by several inches. Throttle response changes appropriately. In snow, you’ll start out in second gear. Transmission and brake-intervention systems like ABS and electronic stability control also are reprogrammed for optimum traction and handling.

That dependence on electronic, rather than mechanical, technology will become increasingly apparent in future products, as will the wedge shape of the Evoque, explained Gerry McGovern, the brand’s design director, acknowledging, “Land Rover needs redefining.”

The process began with the unveiling of the LRX concept vehicle in January 2008 at the North American International Auto Show.  Company officials admit they weren’t sure what to expect, but the strong response to the show car convinced them to move forward with the project that became Evoque, which was launched while the brand was still owned by Ford Motor Co., then brought to market by Tata, which acquired both Land Rover and sibling British brand Jaguar in March 2008.

“We knew we had something very special on our hands, something that could change the perception of the brand," said Land Rover managing director Phil Popham

The buzz kept building as the maker carefully doled out details of the project and by the time of the recent media preview there were already 20,000 orders in hand.  Significantly, 80 percent of those buyers have never before owned a Land Rover product.

Considering initial reviews, the new Range Rover Evoque very well could become one of – if not the – best-selling model in the brand’s history.  Long little more than a niche player, Land Rover is aiming to take itself at least a bit more mainstream.  That doesn’t mean it will walk away from classic truck-based SUVs. Quite the contrary. 

It revealed an all-new concept version of the big Defender model at the recent Frankfurt Motor Show, McGovern describing it as a “vision of the 21st Century” SUV. A production version should roll into showrooms in a couple of years.

But even such traditional offerings will undergo some dramatic changes, according to Popham, who revealed a corporate goal of trimming anywhere from 800 to 1,100 pounds of weight off the typical Land Rover product. That will be critical if the marque hopes to meet tough new emissions and mileage requirements going into effect in most of its key markets.

Expect also to see a shift to more high-tech powertrains, he hinted. There’ll be more diesels – and very likely a diesel for the U.S. market.  The Range Rover Evoque, meanwhile, will be the first Land Rover offering to get a hybrid-electric drivetrain.  Even conventional gasoline powertrains will be downsized and turbocharged – like the turbo 2.0-liter direct injection 4-cylinder engine offered in the new crossover.

While rising fuel prices have clearly had an impact on the utility vehicle market, sales have remained surprisingly strong.  But Land Rover officials recognize they can’t keep practicing business as usual. The new Evoque gives a hint of the alternative future they’re mapping out.

A look at how dealers can profit from Land Rover's winning SUV, with Ryan Ambrifi, Land Rover of Milford, CT managing partner.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Ford posts 10th consecutive quarterly profit

The request channel timed out while waiting for a reply after 00:00:59.5937500. Increase the timeout value passed to the call to Request or increase the SendTimeout value on the Binding. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout.
The request channel timed out while waiting for a reply after 00:00:59.6250000. Increase the timeout value passed to the call to Request or increase the SendTimeout value on the Binding. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Girl shot at North Carolina school, prompting lockdown

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina | Mon Oct 24, 2011 7:09pm EDT

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - A high school student was shot in the neck during an outdoor lunch break at a North Carolina school on Monday, prompting a lockdown of two campuses as authorities tried to identify her shooter.

Exactly what happened at Cape Fear High School in Fayetteville to land the 15-year-old girl in the hospital confounded investigators.

"This was probably one of the strangest shootings that we've ever come across," Cumberland County Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Tanna told WRAL News.

"There have been all kinds of scenarios that have been tossed around here today," she said. "We're not (any) closer to knowing right now as we were when this initially happened."

Sheriff Earl "Moose" Butler told reporters that students who were outside for lunch at the high school said they thought they heard a "pop" about the time of the shooting, but no one saw a gun.

The injured student, who is in the 10th grade, fell to the ground, Butler said. Tanna said a school resource officer was standing nearby when the shooting occurred and saw the student get hit, but did not see any "chaos" around her at the time.

The student was in stable condition on Monday evening, according to Theresa Perry, assistant superintendent for Cumberland County Schools. She could not indicate how serious the girl's injuries were.

Officials locked down the high school and a nearby middle school for several hours after the shooting. School buses and students were searched by law enforcement before being released several hours later, officials said.

All after-school activities on both campuses were canceled on Monday, but officials expected the schools to reopen as usual on Tuesday, Perry told Reuters.

Law enforcement and school officials have been more vigilant about the potential for gun violence in schools following the 1999 shooting massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.

At Columbine, students Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher and injured 21 other students before taking their own lives.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Technology

Education Information

Read More

Perry Ups Ante With Flat Tax Plan

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

In his effort to reboot his struggling presidential campaign, Texas Gov. Rick Perry made a statement Tuesday morning with a starkly conservative flat tax proposal. The plan would set personal income and corporate taxes at 20 percent, would eliminate the capital gains and estate tax, and would be paired with a commitment, and eventually a constitutional amendment, to bring federal spending down to 18 percentof gross domestic product. The plan was crafted with the help of magazine publisher Steve Forbes, who used a similar plan in his unsuccessful runs for the White House in 1996 and 2000.

Already, it may have succeeded by drawing a sharp contrast with his chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose 59-point economic plan has been attacked for being too complicated, and for stopping short of a single-rate flat tax. Perry's plan may shore up support from the anti-tax, libertarian-leaning side of the conservative movement. "It's better than anything on the table right now," says Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. Norquist had been critical of businessman Herman Cain's "9-9-9" proposal, which includes a 9 percent flat income tax but would create a new national sales tax. Chris Chocola, a former Indiana representative and current president of the Club for Growth, an anti-tax advocacy group which is a major player in GOP primary politics, praised Perry and blasted Romney for failing to offer up a similar plan. "I continue to be disappointed that Governor Romney has yet to embrace a flat or fair tax," Chocola said in a written statement. "He would be wise to avoid using class warfare when comparing his current proposals to those of Governor Perry or Herman Cain."

[Is Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan a good idea?]

But despite the support from die-hard anti-tax activists, the plan is raising questions from some conservatives. For one thing, like Forbes' plan, it's optional. Taxpayers could opt to keep their current rate, and whatever deductions they enjoy, rather than going into the new plan. "It undermines the claim that he's sweeping away the very complexity of the current code," says Alan Viard, an economist with the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "I was very disappointed to see that feature." Even if taxpayers opt into the new system, if they make less than $500,000 a year they can still keep deductions for charity, for interest on their mortgages, and for local and state tax deductions, annoying those who say that the United States needs to clear away all tax deductions. Daniel Mitchell, an economist with the libertarian Cato Institute, criticized the plan for continuing those deductions, but said it overall was an improvement. "It's no big surprise that it doesn't measure up to my idea of perfection," he says.

[Vote Now: Who Is Your Pick for the Republican Nomination?]

The plan ensures that the government will collect less in revenue than it did before, Viard argued. Even if it weren't optional, the new tax rates would amount to an overall tax cut at a time when the government faces gigantic deficits. But because it is optional, in a way it's more of a series of targeted tax breaks than a total tax overhaul—those who would pay less in taxes would opt for the new system, those who would pay more would stick with the old. While that makes some activists such as Norquist happy—he's long advocated lowering taxes as a way to eventually shrink the size of government—Viard says it's dangerous to cut off government revenue while federal deficits continue to climb. While Perry also laid out some ideas of how to cut the federal budget, including eventually raising the eligibility age of Social Security, it's still not entirely clear how he could reduce spending by enough to cover the difference.

Despite the questions, Perry's flat tax proposal is likely just what his campaign needed, a chance to define himself as the serious conservative alternative to Romney. But he'll have to show he can master the details of complex policy before he wins over skeptics.

aparker@usnews.com

Twitter: @AlexParkerDC

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Romney Campaign Confident in Frontrunner Status

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

A senior Romney aide points out that the former Massachusetts governor has maintained his position in the top tier of Republican presidential candidates for many months, an achievement in itself.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 GOP hopefuls.]

He has done this by minimizing errors, remaining steady when under attack, raising lots of money, and most of all by staying on message. Romney has relentlessly criticized President Obama on the economy rather than getting distracted by other issues such as criticism of Romney's Mormon religion and his healthcare plan in Massachusetts, his advisers say. "We stick to our policies and our own plan," the senior Romney aide told me.

[Read: Democrats Continute to Rip Romney.]

Rommey advisers say it would be wrong to see the current GOP presidential campaign as a repeat of 2008, when the leading candidate, John McCain, faded and then came back to win the nomination (by defeating Romney and others). This time, different candidates have risen to the top in the polls, only to quickly drop back under the weight of their own mistakes, media scrutiny, and the criticism from their rivals. All the while, Romney has held onto from 20 to 25 per cent of the GOP vote in the polls. Politicohas an interesting analysis here.

And the early debates have been key. Many Americans have been paying close attention, and some candidates such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry have harmed themselves with weak performances. Others, including Romney and businessman Herman Cain, have done well. And the debate phase isn't over, with one Romney senior adviser estimating that there could be 13 more such encounters between now and the end of January.

[Vote now: Who is your pick for the 2012 GOP nomination?]

But from now on, the candidates are also expected to increasingly focus on television ads, building their grass-roots organizations, giving major speeches, and retail campaigning in the states with early nominating contests--Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, and Nevada. It's in all these areas that the Romney team expects to shine.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Two accused killers break out of Florida prison

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Fla | Mon Oct 24, 2011 7:08pm EDT

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) - Two accused killers escaped through an air conditioning vent and used blankets to scale razor-wire-topped fences to break out of maximum security at a Florida prison before dawn on Monday, authorities said.

"When all the details come out, you probably won't believe (it)," Indian River Sheriff Deryl Loar said.

The two men had been cellmates for the past five days in the Indian River County Jail and were being held on murder charges for separate incidents.

"It was a very elaborate scheme. We also know that it was very detailed in the way they departed the premises," Loar said at a press conference.

Loar said the inmates made use of the jail's air conditioning system to get out of the jail building and used clothing or blankets to help scale multiple razor-wire-topped fences. Investigators believe the inmates had outside help and fled in a car, he said.

One of the escaped inmates, Rondell H. Reed, who turns 52 on Tuesday, has a history of shooting at police, according to sheriff's records. The other escapee, Leviticus Uriah Taylor, 25, was convicted of first-degree murder within the past month and was due to be sentenced on November 10, Loar said.

Loar said both are considered dangerous and likely have left the immediate Indian River area.

The inmates were discovered missing during a routine hourly head count just before dawn, officials said. During a search of the jail, their red jumpsuits were found in a service area.

According to sheriff's records, Taylor was convicted of a 2009 murder during a home burglary. Reed was awaiting trial in connection with the murder of his sister's boyfriend and theft of the victim's Corvette at an automotive shop.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Greg McCune)

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Police, Wall Street protesters fall into uneasy truce

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

1 of 4. Protesters and members of Occupy Wall Street shout slogans against police next to New York Police Department (NYPD) officers, during an annual demonstration calling for a stop to police brutality in New York October 22, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Eduardo Munoz

By Ben Berkowitz

NEW YORK | Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:50pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After a rough start marked by mass arrests and allegations of heavy-handed behavior, the New York Police Department has settled into an uneasy standoff with the protesters of Occupy Wall Street.

Officers say they are frustrated by people they think are willfully flouting the law -- protesters marching without permits, erecting tents, breaking noise and curfew regulations, publicly defecating and so on. Meanwhile, protesters say the cops should be with them, not against them, in their fight.

Five weeks after the first protest in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, a nervous stalemate has evolved as the movement mushroomed and drew the world's scrutiny.

Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association of the NYPD and a 30-year veteran of the force, finds the mixed messages from above frustrating. "At times we don't have to - or they don't want us to - do things, and at times they do want us to do things. There's no real clear message as to what right and wrong is," he said. "In many ways we are almost the pawns in this situation."

The early days of the protest, which routinely draws at least a few hundred people, were marked by more contentious relations. There was a high-profile incident of an occupier being pepper-sprayed by a senior officer, who has since been disciplined. On October 1, more than 700 people were arrested after a march on the Brooklyn Bridge; many accused the police of entrapping them.

Paul Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman, was widely quoted after those arrests saying the protesters had been given ample warning to get off the bridge's roadway before being detained.

Browne did not return phone calls or emails over the course of a week seeking comment on the police's relations with the protesters or its tactics in dealing with the movement.

But as the Occupy Wall Street protests have grown larger and drawn more attention, the tone of relations has changed.

When a group of protesters was arrested in Washington Square Park in Manhattan early on October 16 for an act of civil disobedience - failing to obey a midnight curfew - the atmosphere, by all accounts, was relatively calm.

A branch movement has even popped up - OccupyPolice - to try and convince officers to join the protests. Its website lists contact information for police departments and attorneys general nationwide to further the effort.

CAUGHT ON FILM

The police are also under pressure because they know they are potentially on film at all times. The overwhelming majority of demonstrators have smartphones, and many have handheld cameras as well, such that anything the police do, day or night, can be captured from multiple angles.

One expert on policing policy said the constant scrutiny by protesters and the media had a clear effect.

"Police departments around the country and the world, and that includes the NYPD ... are very much concerned with visible accountability," said Maki Haberfeld, the chairwoman of the department of law and police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Still, she said that despite the presence of cameras "you cannot demand of police officers that they perform their duties in an emotionless manner."

One officer who has become something of a media darling over the course of the protests said there was an unease between the sides but behind that there was also dialogue.

"There's mistrust on their end, there's mistrust on our end, but we're trying to maintain a relationship," said Detective Rick Lee, a non-uniformed officer who has been dubbed the "hipster cop" by a number of websites for his trendy dress and ongoing dialogue with the protesters.

Some protesters are willing to concede that not all the police guarding them are against them.

"They're asking people questions, they're intrigued, they want to know," said protester Andrew Carbone of Brooklyn. "The cops, you see them a lot of times smiling, laughing at stuff."

RUNNING COUNT

In keeping with the core role social media plays in the Occupy movement, a Twitter account has popped up, @OccupyArrests, to keep a running count of those who have been arrested for participating in some capacity. As of Monday afternoon, the account tallied 2,382 arrests worldwide, though that figure is not independently verified.

Fears of a crackdown have spawned parody. A Facebook page called "Occupy Lego Land," urging peaceful protests by the popular children's' toys, carried pictures of toy police roughing up toy protesters during a "demonstration."

Joke or not, cops chafe at such images.

"If anything rankles a police officer it's that kind of stuff, it's the kind of stuff that makes the cops look like they're out of control," said one retired police official now involved with an association of officers.

The protesters tell police they too are "the 99 percent" -- working and middle-class Americans who struggle to pay bills and chafe at the inequities in the financial system.

For the dozens of cops circling the park, who spend most days doing little more than standing cross-armed and staring at the crowd, there is some financial upside.

"There's so much of this stuff going on, our guys tend to look at it as 'great I'll get some overtime,'" the retired official said.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz, editing by Martin Howell)

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Thousands Plan to Protest Keystone Pipeline

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Home > Politics & Policy > Washington Whispers > Thousands Plan to Protest Keystone Pipeline

October 25, 2011 Print

Thousands of people are gearing up for November 6 when they will encircle the White House in Washington, D.C., to protest the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Their message to President Obama? Tar sands oil is not in the national interest and that he must deny the presidential permit for the 1,700 mile Keystone XL pipeline, which runs from Canada through the United States to Mexico.

[See a collection of political cartoons on energy policy.]

The Sierra Club has said that this is one of the most important environmental issues confronting Obama. The oil, according to environmentalists, is some of the dirtiest, most destructive oil in the world and could threaten drinking water as well as farmers and ranchers. Even some Tea Party activists in Texas have aligned with environmentalists to protest the pipeline. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's State Department, too, has a say in the pipeline. (TransCanada's main lobbyist for the pipeline was deputy manager of Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.)

[Read how global economic problems could mean lower gas prices.]

The clean air advocates plan to highlight this conflict of interest during the rally. More importantly, they say, that this will be a real test for Obama to stand his ground as he is going into the 2012 campaign. The issue affects several heartland states like Nebraska, which Obama barely won in 2008. If he sells them out on this, they may not turn out in 2012 to pull the lever for him. "He needs a big win, not just a bunch of proposed EPA regs that haven't been finalized such as the mercury rule and the ozone rule," says one environmentalist involved in the issue.

Tags:oil, White House 2011: 2010: 2009: 2008: 2007: 2006:

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Brooklyn man accused of butchering boy to plead insanity

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK | Mon Oct 24, 2011 5:56pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for the Brooklyn man accused of butchering an 8-year-old boy on his first walk home alone from an Orthodox Jewish day camp said on Monday they believe his signed confession was coerced and will pursue an insanity defense.

Levi Aron, 35, is charged with kidnapping, suffocating and dismembering Leiby Kletzky in July. His lawyers say he is insane and should therefore be found not guilty.

"My opinion is you could get this guy to admit he shot (John F.) Kennedy if you spent a little bit of time with him," Howard Greenberg, a lawyer defending Aron, told reporters after a brief hearing at the Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York.

Greenberg in a later interview told Reuters that he thought his client was "crazy." Re recounted a meeting in which Aron "sat in a chair and didn't move a muscle for about 30 minutes," and said he found Aron's signed confession dubious, noting it was written in "police Mandarin and lingo."

Aron appeared at Monday's hearing via a video feed, which showed him sitting virtually motionless in jail. He spoke only to confirm that he could hear the audio feed from the courtroom.

Aron was arrested on July 13 after a search by police and members of the local Orthodox community led to his apartment in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, where parts of Kletzky's dismembered body were found in the freezer, according to prosecutors.

He has been charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping, and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation ruled that Aron was fit to stand trial. At the time, Aron's lawyers said they were considering an insanity defense and on Monday, they confirmed that was the defense they would pursue.

Arom has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held without bail.

The Brooklyn District Attorney's office declined to comment on the defense strategy.

Dov Hikind, an assemblyman whose district includes Borough Park and who attended the court hearing, said the Kletzky family was upset at the thought Aron might be found not guilty.

"The message to the family and to everyone else is, 'Don't hold it against Levi Aron, it wasn't him, it was the devil that did it,' -- that kind of thing is extremely painful," he said in an interview.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Debt 'Supercommittee' Taking Small Steps

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Republican head of a special deficit-reduction panel in Congress said on Tuesday he was hopeful that at least some modest steps can be achieved by a November 23 deadline.

There has been growing uncertainty about how much the committee can achieve and there have been few signs of progress so far, raising questions about its ability to reach the minimum target of at least $1.2 trillion in budget savings over 10 years.

"I remain hopeful that the Joint Select Committee can show progress on a bipartisan basis of at least taking a few steps down the road of fiscal sustainability," Republican Representative Jeb Hensarling told Reuters in an interview.

The 12 Democratic and Republican members of the so-called "super committee" have been negotiating behind closed doors since early September in an effort to find ways of slashing huge U.S. deficits amid a stubbornly weak economic recovery.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.]

Investors have been hoping the committee exceeds its minimum requirement of $1.2 trillion and finds more like $2 trillion to $3 trillion in savings. It would take significant political concessions from Democrats and Republicans to strike a multitrillion-dollar deal.

While Hensarling's remarks referred to modest steps, he stressed that much more was needed to reverse huge budget deficits that began during President George W. Bush's administration and widened under President Barack Obama.

"A trillion and a half dollars of deficit reduction over 10 years, although better than a rounding error, is woefully, woefully, inadequate," Hensarling said.

He added that "quality" government healthcare and retirement programs ultimately will have to be set at "a price that doesn't bankrupt our children and mortgage our futures."

At a press briefing following a meeting of House of Representatives Republican leaders, Hensarling was asked whether recent media reports of scant progress within the super committee were accurate and whether its November 23 deadline could still be met.

"Until the stroke of midnight on November 22, we still have plenty of time to reach an agreement," Hensarling answered.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Cain's Running Against the Clock

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Herman Cain, who became a surprising front-runner in the Republican presidential race without running a traditional campaign, is scrambling to assemble a team with just 10 weeks before the first crucial nominating contests in January.

A former fast food executive who has never held public office, Cain has jumped to the top of polls among Republican candidates vying for the nomination to oppose President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the November 2012 election. [See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 GOP hopefuls.]

And he has done it with hardly any organization in states that hold early primaries and caucuses to help determine the nominee.

But to do well in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida -- where the nomination race may be decided -- Cain will need organizations like those that his main rivals Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have been assembling for months. [Rick Newman: 5 Economically Illiterate Campaign Themes]

With a condensed voting schedule that means all four states will hold their nominating contests in January, it is particularly important for Cain to assemble his team quickly.

"In the end, you need the votes in the primary states," said Julian Zelizer, an expert on presidential politics at Princeton University in New Jersey.

"You lose the first four major caucuses and primaries, they will be talking about the front-runner, not you," he added.

Iowa holds its caucuses, the first contest of the Republican nomination process, on January 3, when party members attend meetings to pick their candidates.

Cain and Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, lead polls in the state, as they do nationally. But winning in Iowa takes staff to convince voters to attend long meetings on a cold and possibly snowy night during caucuses voting. [Vote: Is Herman Cain the 'Flavor of the Week'?]

"Cain has almost no presence in Iowa. He doesn't really have a ground game here," said a state Tea Party activist who requested anonymity to speak candidly, adding that Cain could suffer in Iowa because his positions are not well known there. "We're not going to get out the vote for him."

Cain now has four paid staff in Iowa, his campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon said, although he is in the process of hiring more, funded by donations of $1 million a week in October.

"I would say that we're getting there. We're hiring people every day. We're expanding because of the new revenue streams that we have," Gordon said.

Earlier this month, Cain's campaign reported he had some 30 staffers nationally. According to published reports, Romney has about 70 paid staffers. Perry's website has announced the hiring of 94 staffers and "leadership team" members.

Winning in Iowa would be particularly important for Cain, whose base of support is among conservative Republicans who play an out-sized role in the caucuses there.

TOUGH FIGHT WITH ROMNEY

"Cain's path ... has to start in Iowa," veteran Republican campaign operative Matt Mackowiak said. "He's really made clear that he doesn't want to play by traditional rules and he's not investing in the early states to the extent that he probably should or to the extent that candidates in the past have."

Cain trails Romney by an average of 22 percentage points in the more moderate New Hampshire, which holds its primary on January 10, according to polls averaged by RealClearPolitics.

Gordon said he could not provide details on Cain's staffing in the state, which borders Romney's home state Massachusetts and where Romney has a vacation house.

In South Carolina, the third state voting in the nomination race, Perry has been expected to do well. As governor of Texas, he would be popular in a fellow southern state and because evangelical Christians -- another base of Perry's support -- are expected to play a big part in the January 21 primary.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Police forces shrinking amid budget strains

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

A pedestrian walks past a line of New York Police Department (NYPD) cars parked at Times Square in New York, October 18, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Gary Hershorn

WASHINGTON | Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:34pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday warned that financially strained police forces around the country likely will shrink for the first time in the quarter century in which statistics have been tallied.

Holder said that by the end of this year, 12,000 police officers and sheriff's deputies probably will lose their jobs amid government budget shortfalls and cuts in a sluggish economy, citing a new Justice Department report.

"The findings included in this new report show that law enforcement agencies nationwide have nearly 30,000 unfilled vacancies," he said in prepared remarks to U.S. police chiefs.

"In 25 years of collecting data, we are now seeing the first-ever national decrease in law enforcement positions."

The report was done by the Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services office, COPS.

Last month, the COPS office unveiled $240 million in grants to help cities and municipalities hire or retain just over a thousand officers for three years, but budget cuts in Washington threaten to reduce federal aid for hiring.

Holder tried to rally support for President Barack Obama's jobs bill, which has $4 billion for law enforcement hiring but has gone nowhere in Congress.

The Senate has proposed $200 million and none has been allocated in the House of Representatives, he said.

"That is a drastic and unacceptable gap -- one that can't be closed without your immediate attention and assistance," Holder said.

Even with the budget cuts, FBI statistics have shown that violent crime has consistently dropped over the last four years.

The COPS report found that furloughs of sworn officers for 40 hours or more in a year would likely double this year to 6.9 percent from 3.4 percent from 2009.

Law enforcement agencies have been instituting hiring freezes and cutting travel and training to avoid layoffs, furloughs and big cuts to service.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Bill Trott)

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Obama Plans to Lift Veteran Hiring in Lead Up to Iraq Troop Withdrawal

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Obama administration announced fresh steps Tuesday to lift the hiring of military veterans, who face higher levels of unemployment than other Americans as thousands more prepare to return home from Iraq.

President Barack Obama, currently touring electorally vital western states to convince voters he is doing everything he can to cut high U.S. unemployment, has repeatedly emphasized measures to aid veterans that resonate with many Americans.

He has pledged to use the executive powers of his office to work around Republicans in Congress, who oppose a $447 billion jobs plan he laid out last month because it raises some taxes.

The latest aid for veterans did not require a presidential executive order and was rather low-key.

The first initiative will encourage community health centers to hire 8,000 veterans over the next three years. The second will improve training opportunities for military medics to become physician assistants. They follow news last week from First Lady Michelle Obama that private firms had pledged to hire thousands more veterans over the next two years.

[Check out our editorial cartoons on President Obama.]

"This is an important step, but it is part of an overall plan," Matt Flavin, director of the White House task force on veterans, told reporters.

Unemployment among veterans who have served since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States stands at 235,000, or 11.7 percent, versus a national jobless rate 9.1 percent.

More veterans are expected to enter the labor force after Obama announced last week he was pulling the remaining 40,000 U.S. troops home from Iraq by the end of the year.

Obama is seeking to bypass congressional Republicans to show voters he is serious about spurring hiring and employment, key goals to securing his reelection next year.

On Monday in Las Vegas, where the housing market collapse hit hardest, Obama took steps to help homeowners who owe more on their homes than they are worth. On Wednesday, in the swing state of Colorado, he will highlight measures to help students better manage their student loan debt when they graduate.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.]

Tuesday's action to aid veterans was not done through an executive order. Rather, it took the form of a challenge from the Obama administration to healthcare centers to lift veteran hiring and report back on how many are on the payroll.

Republicans complain Obama's western tour is naked election campaigning that shows that the Democratic president is not serious about working with them to lift economic growth and hiring.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Obama Expects Michelle Flack After Wing Joint Dinner

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

This wouldn't be the first time President Obama has gotten in trouble with his wife Michelle for eating junk out on the campaign trail, but this time health conscious Michelle may be upset for an entirely different reason.

When the president stopped by Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles in West L.A. Monday night, he confided to manager David Daviston that he was going to catch flack for it back home. But he didn't expect healthy eater in chief Michelle Obama to be bummed because her husband ordered the distinctly unhealthy "No. 9, 'Country Boy,'" which included three wings and a waffle slathered in butter and syrup. Rather, he thought she'd be irritated that he stopped by the wing joint without her. Even the most diligent health nuts have their guilty pleasures and Roscoe's is one of Michelle's according to Daviston, who says the Obamas have dined with him before. [See photos of the Obamas behind the scenes.]

"Yeah, Obama said he knew he was going to be hearing from his wife and daughters when they found out he'd stopped by without them," restaurant manager David Daviston says.

Obama didn't just hoard the chicken for himself though, he also ordered for aides Valerie Jarrett, Jay Carney, David Plouffe, and Marvin Nicholson.

Daviston didn't let Obama leave without a peace offering. The manager sent Obama on his way with a case of blueberry pomegranate Pit Bull energy drinks knowing that chicken and waffles wouldn't last on a trip back to the White House.

"Obama took the drinks for his family, I don't know who'll end up with 'em maybe Secret Service if they need the extra boost," Daviston says. [See political cartoons about President Obama.]

Obama isn't the first commander and chief to stop by Roscoe's, but Daviston says his visit was one of the most relaxed.

"Usually, when the president comes, his Secret Service is really bossy and you don't get to shake the president's hand or anything. This time, Obama just walked around the restaurant, chatting with people. It was a nice visit." [See photos of Michelle Obama.]

One young guest Obama stopped to shake hands with was so moved by the experience that he swore he'd never wash his hand again.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Consumer Confidence Drops in October

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

NEW YORK (Reuters) — U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped in October to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years, while housing prices were unchanged at anemic levels in August, data showed Tuesday.

Brighter-than-expected manufacturing and jobs data in recent weeks had tempered fears the economy could lapse back into recession, with most expecting a slow pace of growth that should avoid contraction, but the surprising drop in consumer confidence suggests the improvement in third quarter economic growth may not be sustained.

The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of house prices in 20 metropolitan areas was flat compared with the month before on a seasonally adjusted basis, frustrating expectations for a gain of 0.1 percent.

Separately, the Conference Board said its index of consumer attitudes fell to its lowest level since March 2009 as consumers fretted about job and income prospects.

Analysts said the weaker-than-expected home price data was disappointing but not altogether shocking as the market struggles to get out from under a glut of unsold homes and ongoing foreclosures that are holding prices down.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.]

While prices are expected to remain depressed for some time, any further declines are expected to be modest.

"We were looking at sort of a stabilizing picture at these low levels, and we still see that, but we are still at very stressed levels," said Sean Incremona, economist at 4Cast Ltd in New York.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices fell in 14 of 20 cities, with Atlanta and Las Vegas among the biggest losers, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller data.

The annual rate of decline slowed, however, with prices in the 20 cities down 3.8 percent compared with a year-over-year decline of 4.1 percent the month before. That still was a bigger drop than the expected 3.5 percent decline in August.

"The good news is continued improvement in the annual rates of change in home prices," David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor's, said in a statement.

"In spring and summer's seasonally strong period for housing demand, we cautioned that monthly increases in prices had to be paired with improvement in annual rates before anyone could declare that the market might be stabilizing."

The struggling housing market continues to be one of the biggest hurdles for the economic recovery as attempts to bolster the sector have had limited success.

[See a slide show of 6 ways to fix the housing market.]

In the latest efforts, the Obama administration said Monday it would expand a mortgage refinancing program in a step that could help up to 1 million borrowers.

A separate home price index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed prices declined 0.1 percent in August from July.

The index is calculated using purchase prices of houses financed with mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac .

CONSUMERS ON THE ROPES

In financial markets, the day's data was eclipsed by the cancellation of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers that added to doubts about the region's efforts to tackle its debt crisis.

Analysts are hoping to get confirmation of a growing but sluggish U.S. economy from U.S. gross domestic product data for the third quarter later in the week. The advance reading is expected to show the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent after a weak first half of the year, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

October's drop in consumer confidence, however, suggested any improvement in third-quarter economic growth may not be sustained.

The Conference Board's index of consumer attitudes fell to 39.8 from a upwardly revised 46.4 the month before. Analysts had expected a reading of 46.0.

The expectations gauge was also at its lowest level since March 2009, just before the economy officially crawled out of recession.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Poll: GOP Voters Still Undecided

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Home > Politics & Policy > Poll: GOP Voters Still Undecided

October 25, 2011 Print

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The race for the 2012 Republican U.S. presidential nomination remains wide open, with the vast majority of the party's voters undecided about who they will support, a poll released Tuesday showed.

Businessman Herman Cain continued to lead the field with the backing of 25 percent of Republican voters questioned in the New York Times/CBS News poll. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was in second place with 21 percent.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 GOP hopefuls.]

But about four of five of the Republican voters questioned in the survey said it is too early to decide who they will support for the nomination, with only 19 percent saying their minds are made up.

Former front-runner Rick Perry fell to fifth place in the poll, at just 6 percent support. The Texas governor had led a similar poll in mid-September at 23 percent.

Perry now also trails former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich at 10 percent and U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas at 8 percent.

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota had 2 percent, followed by former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman and former Senator Rick Santorum at 1 percent each.

The Republican nominee will face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.

[Check out our editorial cartoons on President Obama.]

The poll involved 1,475 registered voters, including 455 who said they planned to vote in a Republican primary. The poll results have a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Tags:2012 presidential election, republican party, Rick Perry, Barack Obama, Herman Cain

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Consumer Confidence Drop Could Spell Trouble for Incumbents

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The recession is over, jobs are slowly coming back, and third-quarter GDP is expected to climb. Yet one indicator suggests that consumer confidence still sank sharply and unexpectedly this month. While the impetus is unclear, the result could be not only more economic pain, but political troubles for incumbents in Washington.

According to the Conference Board, a nonprofit business membership and research association, consumer confidence tumbled 6.6 points from September to October, to 39.8 (on a 100-point scale, with 100 equaling 1985). This reading defied expectations; economists had predicted the October index would remain flat. However, the dip in consumer confidence is particularly troubling because it is at its lowest point since March 2009, when the economy was still in recession. For President Obama, and perhaps any incumbent, this latest figure should be particularly distressing. It shows that, even with an economy showing signs of renewed vigor, the American public is growing pessimistic, which can easily translate into anti-incumbent fervor come Election Day.

[See how the Obama administration is trying to help homeowners.]

The Conference Board's consumer confidence figure is now slightly lower than it was in August, when lawmakers wrangled over raising the debt ceiling, resulting in ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgrading the U.S. credit rating. That month, the index dropped from 59.2 to 44.5. This month, however, no event appears to have precipitated worsening sentiments. Rather, consumers appear to have lost their optimism; while the measure of future expectations rose by 1.6 points in September, it fell by 6.4 points this month.

At the core, the apparent decrease in consumer confidence shows that sustained high unemployment may have finally caused Americans to lose hope, says Ken Goldstein, economist at the Conference Board. "It's not as if job growth [and] wage growth have dropped significantly. The change is really about consumers...giving up some hope that things are going to get better," he says.

Contributing to that malaise is a pervasive sense that government is unwilling or unable to provide any assistance. "The sideshow in July and August about getting the debt ceiling down shook people's confidence that people in Washington even know what they're doing," says John Cannally, economic strategist at LPL Financial, a Boston-based financial services firm. The president's big push for his American Jobs Act, and its subsequent drawn-out failure, as Congress appears ready to reject it piece by piece, could easily worsen this sentiment.

That spells trouble for incumbents, particularly the president. Some studies have shown a positive correlation between consumer confidence and presidential approval ratings, as well as with other measures of political sentiment, like whether the country is moving in the right direction. Discontent with Washington and the economy drove the 2008 and 2010 "wave" elections and could easily do so again.

The president's latest executive actions to boost the economy—revamping HARP, a refinancing program for troubled homeowners, and a push for helping student loan borrowers to be announced tomorrow—appear to be as much about proving that the White House cares about the economy as boosting growth itself. Reinstating hope in the future, particularly as the election gets closer, could go a long way toward boosting consumer confidence and thus, perhaps, confidence in the president himself.

[See how the recession is affecting young adults in the U.S.]

Consumer confidence is, by nature, a complicated indicator—an attempt to objectively measure a subjective condition. In fact, there is a fundamental disconnect between objective measures of the economy and public perception, says Canally. "All of [the leading consumer confidence indicators]—Rasmussen, [University of] Michigan, Conference Board—are all at 30-year lows," despite an economy that is showing a few signs of strength again, he says, and according to his analysis, "The gap between what consumers are feeling, seeing, and hearing has never been wider."

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

VW recalls 160,000 autos for fuel leaks

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Volkswagen is recalling 168,275 Audis, Golfs and Jettas for problems with the fuel line that could lead to leakage and perhaps ignite a fire, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Thursday.

In documents filed with NHTSA, Volkswagen said the fuel line in the recalled vehicles could develop cracks and leak under certain conditions. Because the leaks could happen near an ignition source, there's the potential for a fire, VW said.

It said the models affected include:

AUDI / A3 2010-2012 VOLKSWAGEN / GOLF 2010-2012 VOLKSWAGEN / JETTA 2009-2012 VOLKSWAGEN / JETTA SPORTWAGEN 2009-2012

The safety recall is expected to begin in November. VW said it will replace the injector line with an improved line.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Volvo system could curb road kill

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
DETROIT — Volvo's City Safety can bring a car to a complete halt to avoid an accident. A variation may be able to spot animals on the road and avoid collisions.

It’s an unpleasant reality on the highway, but the folks at Volvo think they may have a way to cut back on the seemingly ever-present road kill using some of the same high-tech systems that the maker is using to curb inadvertent pedestrian collisions on city streets.

The new animal-friendly system is one way the now Chinese-owned Volvo hopes to build on its traditional reputation as an automotive safety leader.

Wild Wall St. Has the market volatility got you nervous? These cartoons may give you a little comic relief.

Cyber-thieves create fake Kelley Blue Book site US says Reebok toning shoes don't really Can you live on $9 an hour? Play the game

Volvo has already won kudos for its latest active safety technologies, such as City Safety, which uses an infrared laser sensor attached to the windshield to monitor traffic in front of a vehicle. At speeds ranging from 2 to 19 mph – typical on crowded urban and in rush hour traffic – the system will detect a potential collision. If the driver doesn’t react by the time the two cars are 18 feet apart, it will automatically jam on the brakes.

Another version of the system can detect pedestrians and can take steps to avoid an impact. Such collisions make up a significant share of the roughly 35,000 Americans killed in roadway accidents each year.

Volvo engineers then began wondering about animals, who are killed in substantially larger numbers as the result of vehicle impacts each year. And groups like PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, aren’t the only ones bothered by that toll.

According to a study by State Farm, there were 1.09 million deer hit by motor vehicles in the U.S. during the 12 month period ending June 30, those incidents causing $3.5 billion in damage. And such collisions routinely result in a number of deaths and injuries. Such incidents can be even more perilous in a place like Sweden, Volvo’s home, when the collision involves a moose.

The maker is looking to introduce a modified version of City Safety that might use cameras or other systems to expand its capabilities, and the new concept could show up in a couple years on the maker’s SUV models, such as the XC90, notes a Bloomberg report.

How well it will work remains to be seen. It’s hard to predict animal behavior, especially when they might suddenly emerge from hiding in a stand of trees along the roadside. But a recent study of insurance claims by the Highway Loss Data Institute found that Volvo’s City Safe system, in particular, reduced the number of vehicle damage claims resulting from car-to-car collisions by 27%, while insurance claims related to bodily injuries dropped by 51% on vehicles using the technology.

“This is our first real-world look at an advanced crash avoidance technology, and the findings are encouraging,” said Adrian Lund, president of the Highway Loss Data Institute.

Various forms of camera, radar and/or laser collision avoidance systems have been making their way to market and such insurance industry kudos – especially if paired with rate reductions – could encourage even more.

General Motors just announced a new low-cost system using a single camera.

But Volvo appears to be the first maker specifically aiming to use such technology to be kind to animals.

More from The Detroit Bureau:

New service lets enthusiasts drive the vehicles of their dreams
Toyota may be mired in a long-term slump
GM delaying Volt’s 2nd shift — but maker claims sales still on target

Copyright 2011 The Detroit Bureau. All rights reserved.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Volkswagen To Be World's No.1 Automaker In 2011

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By AutoObserver Staff October 24, 2011

Forget the Volkswagen Group’s much-discussed intention to become the world’s the No. 1 global automaker by 2018 – the German automaker is pacing to achieve the goal this year, according to projections from several global analysts. Volkswagen’s ascendancy to the top spot is as much because of Toyota Motor Corp.’s crippled manufacturing base for several months in 2011 and the German automaker’s hold on the crown is likely to be temporary, but Volkswagen’s global sales nonetheless are pacing to surpass both Toyota and General Motors Co. by the end of 2011.

Projections this week from IHS Automotive, J.D. Power and Associates and PwC Autofacts were used by the Bloomberg news service to calculate that Volkswagen should sell around 8 to 8.1 million new vehicles this year, GM about 7.5 million and Toyota just less than 7.3 million. The figures represent a sales increase of about 13 percent for VW, an 8-percent sales gain for GM and a 9-percent decline for Toyota, which has been struggling to recover from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan that for months severely reduced auto production for several Japanese automakers. Much of VW’s recent global sales gains have come from China and other emerging markets, but the German automaker also has been performing better than its rivals in most mature world markets as well.

AutoObserver Staff:  The best in the business.

Technology

Education Information

Read More

Chrysler to stop making Dodge Grand Caravan

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Bill Pugliano / Getty Images file

Chrysler plans to stop production of the Dodge Grand Caravan, according to Automotive News.

The automaker will no longer make the minivan for the 2013 model year. It also plans to do away with the Dodge Avenger, the report said.

Chrysler only plans to offer one minivan in the future — the Chrysler Town & Country. The plan is designed “to end duplication in dealer showrooms and give each of its brands a strong and distinctive lineup,” according to the report.

Chrysler plans to debut a new crossover vehicle in 2013 that will replace both the Caravan and the Avenger, Chrysler’s CEO Sergio Marchionne told Automotive News.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Will GM's Diesel Cruze Usher In New Wave?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Danny King October 24, 2011

General Motors' plans to offer a diesel version of its popular Chevrolet Cruze compact will give diesel advocates a reason to forecast vehicle counts not seen in the U.S. in at least two decades. But it also raises questions about the financial viability of offering a diesel engine in a budget-priced car, and the potential for U.S. customers to embrace a technology that previously had mixed results. GM said in late July that it would start offering a diesel Cruze in 2013. The automaker did not provide details on price, engine specifications or fuel economy, but the model is expected to at least match the EPA-rated 42 miles per gallon highway fuel economy the 1.4-liter Cruze Eco gets. GM hasn't sold diesel-powered cars in the United States since it offered the powertrain on some of its Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Buick sedans in the 1980s.

GM, which started selling its Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in hybrid in the U.S. late last year, said last fall that it may start developing diesel-powered cars, and was considering a "wide variety of offerings," GM spokesman Dan Flores said at the time. GM representatives declined to comment on the automaker's rational for developing the diesel Cruze, and would only say in last month's statement that it would provide additional details about the model "at a later date." GM, which offers a diesel option on heavy duty versions of its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks in the U.S., has also been including smaller diesel-versions of its Ecotec four-cylinder engine for its Europe-based Opel badge, and includes an option of a twin-turbo CDTi Ecotec engine on its Opel Insignia overseas.

Joining Germans
Still, the company's decision to enter into a U.S. diesel-passenger car market that's currently exclusively the domain of German automakers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz may help push diesel vehicle counts to levels not seen domestically since the 1980s, some analysts say. North American passenger-car diesel sales will jump from the approximately 100,000-unit level now to as many as 700,000 vehicles by 2017 or 2108, according to Kaushik Madhavan, global program manager for the research firm Frost & Sullivan's automotive and transportation practice, and those numbers didn't factor in the Cruze decision. Madhavan called GM's decision a "both surprising and a positive move."

The decision also is good news for those people who have touted diesel as a fuel that could cut foreign-oil dependency by providing superior fuel economy to gas-powered cars while being flexible enough to run on fuels such as domestically-produced biodiesel, natural gas and, in some cases, synthetic diesel. "I think they have huge potential in that space," said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of nonprofit diesel education and advocacy group Diesel Technology Forum, in an interview with AutoObserver. Since introducing so-called clean-diesel models to the U.S. market about five years ago, VW and Mercedes-Benz "have all demonstrated convincingly the product success with the new generation clean diesels, and they have plowed a lot of ground in raising general awareness of the new generation of diesel."

GM's decision to mass-produce a Cruze diesel could be a further boost for a U.S. diesel-car market that still represents about 1 percent of total domestic vehicle sales. Volkswagen said earlier this month that diesels accounted for about a quarter of its more than 25,000 vehicles sold in the U.S. in August. Audi sold more than 850 diesel A3s and Q7s. Mercedes-Benz sold 851 diesel vehicles in August while year-to-date diesel sales doubled from a year earlier. BMW didn't break out diesel sales. All told, the German automakers sold almost 8,000 diesel passenger cars and SUVs, or less than 1 percent of the 1.07 million light-duty vehicles sold in the U.S. in August.

Price Sensitive
Granted, for a car whose current base sticker price is $16,525, GM faces the challenge of bringing down the cost of diesel engines enough to still make money on the Cruze, even by using the engine it employs in its European diesel Cruze (left). Frost & Sullivan's Madhavan estimated that diesel engines tend to cost about $4,000 more than their gas-powered counterparts, and relatively low production volumes make it difficult to close that gap. Further complicating the issue is the memory of potential U.S. car buyers who can recall the relatively slow, smoky and clattery diesels GM put out during the Reagan era. All this would be for a model that in August surpassed 20,000 units sold for the fifth straight month and pushed GM's August vehicle sales up 18 percent from a year earlier. "The European diesel is very good and would not hurt the Cruz's reputation and in fact would probably be positive," said David Cole, chairman emeritus at Center for Automotive Research, in an interview with AutoObserver. "The challenge is that the base diesel engine is roughly twice the cost of the gasoline engine."

Some say the higher price is worth it, though. Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business put out a January report funded by Robert Bosch saying car owners who pay extra for diesel variants get paid back within 18 months because of the combination of better fuel economy, lower maintenance costs and a longer average vehicle lifetime. Europeans appear to have taken that information to heart, as diesels account for about half of the passenger cars sold, up from about 20 percent a few years ago.

New Breed
Indeed, the Germans, whose U.S. diesel models include the VW Golf, Jetta and Touareg and Mercedes-Benz's E350, ML350 and R350 "Bluetec" variants, appear to be gradually overcoming the old "slow and smokey" perception in the U.S., albeit at a higher price point than the Cruze. Audi, which sells both four-cylinder gas and diesel engines of its A3 hatchback, originally bet that about 20 percent U.S. customers interested in the A3 may be willing to pay the extra $3,000 for the diesel version that gets about 10 miles per gallon more than the gas version but has about 60 fewer horsepower. The German automaker bet right as the A3 TDI, which beat out hybrids such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight for the 2010 Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal magazine at the Los Angeles International Auto Show in late 2009, outsells its gas-powered counterpart by about a two-to-one margin.

As a result, Audi will likely start selling at least two new clean-diesel models in the U.S. during the next couple years because of success with its turbodiesel-powered A3 and Q7 cars, Audi of America's Brad Stertz said in a Los Angeles panel discussion last October. Even the Japanese, which have steered clear of diesels in favor of hybrid and electric-drive vehicles as a way to boost their fleets' fuel economy, may start jumping into the diesel fray. Mazda, which will debut its more fuel-efficient Sky direct-injection gasoline engine in the Mazda3 by next year, will offer a diesel version about 18 months after the gas version is launched.

What may also push diesel is the 54.5 miles per gallon corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard U.S. regulators and global automakers agreed to enact for 2025. That would be equal to an EPA "window sticker" fuel economy rating of about 40 mpg, or about 78 percent higher than the 22.5 average mpg achieved by automakers for the 2010 model year. "By bringing the Cruze diesel option, GM's confident that clean diesel cars can compete with hybrids and other technology choices," said Diesel Technology Forum's Schaeffer. "With the upcoming fuel economy requirements, this announcement may be the first of many from OEMs who see the inherent efficiencies in the diesel as being an important tool in the toolbox of technology solutions, fortunately one that consumers are taking to quite nicely."

Danny King:  is a frequent contributor to AutoObserver.com.

Technology

Education Information

Read More

BMW aims to maintain dominance with 3-Series

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
ka.plewka

The new BMW 3 Series sedan gains a few inches in length while losing weight on average.

By Paul A. Eisenstein

In an era of product proliferation, few vehicles better define a brand than the BMW 3-Series. It’s not only the best-selling line in the compact luxury segment, it’s also the top seller in the Bavarian maker’s product portfolio.

So there’s good reason for all the attention being paid to the all-new 2012 3-Series that's making its formal debut this month.

With new products also on tap from other key competitors -- notably including the Mercedes-Benz C-Class -- this could be one of the most important launches BMW has had in a number of years.

The sixth-generation model is the direct descendant of the 2002, the car that put BMW on the map and helped justify its corporate tagline as “the ultimate driving machine.”

“We are confident that the new BMW 3 Series will build on the tremendous success of its predecessors,” proclaimed BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer during a premiere in Munich where he described the line as “the world’s most successful premium vehicle.”

The outgoing model rang up 60,000 sales in the U.S. alone through the end of September. By comparison, the second most-popular model in the compact luxury segment, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, has generated 39,000 sales.

But Mercedes is bringing a heavily updated version of its own compact to market for 2012, with a sportier look and a clear goal of delivering a more performance-oriented, BMW-like ride.

And it’s not alone. The compact luxury segment is becoming increasingly crowded with new or recent offerings from an array of automakers from Europe, the U.S., Japan and South Korea.

Complicating matters, the market appears to be shifting, according to analyst Joe Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting.

Even among sporty buyers there’s more interest in mileage. Technology -- especially onboard infotainment systems -- is becoming a defining factor as well.

There BMW positioned itself as an early trendsetter, with the launch of the groundbreaking iDrive system. After taking some initial lumps for its quirky user interface, iDrive has become both easier to use and much more capable, with still more features being added on the new 3-Series.

On the safety side, the new 3-Series picks up a variety of technologies that have migrated down from some of the marque’s higher-end products, including Heads-Up Display and Blind Spot Detection, as well as Lane Departure Warning and Collision Avoidance. 

But there’s plenty of new technology under the hood, as well. For one thing, the maker will launch the ActiveHybrid 3, an all-new gas-electric model, late in the 2012 model-year. But even more conventional versions of the new 3-Series will introduce features like Start/Stop -- which automatically shuts the engine down rather than idling at a light or in a fast-food line then restarts the engine when the driver’s foot lifts off the brake.

Meanwhile, the new 3-Series will bring to the U.S. market the first BMW four-cylinder engine in years. Despite migrating from the old car’s 3.0-liter inline-six to a new 2.0-liter inline-four, the new 328i will make 240 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque.

And although it is expected to deliver better mileage -- final numbers haven’t been released -- it will still launch from 0 to 60 in just 5.7 seconds and hit an electronically limited top speed of 130 mph.

In keeping with another market trend, the new 3-Series will be larger and more luxurious. The 2012 3-Series body grows about 3.7 inches in length, with the wheelbase stretched just under 2 inches. The front track is 1.5 inches wider, the rear 1.85 inches.

BMW claims that will be particularly obvious to rear-seat passengers, although the trunk is also more capacious.

Notably, BMW engineers were able to trim about 88 pounds off the weight of the typical new 3-Series model, which helped maintain performance while delivering that better mileage.

For those putting a premium on performance, the 2012 BMW 335i will maintain its current single-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six, although it will also gain some efficiencies from the Start/Stop system, as well as a new 8-speed automatic and a system call Brake Energy Regeneration, which is a very mild hybrid system for recapturing some energy normally lost during braking to recharge the car’s battery.

Meanwhile, a replacement for the outgoing M3 -- the true definition of BMW’s performance DNA -- is still in the works.

With a more sporty design, better mileage and improved performance, analysts like Phillippi are betting that the new 3-Series will maintain, if not gain, momentum. It won’t hurt that Mercedes’ U.S. sales subsidiary has been knocked off-kilter by the unexpected departure this week of CEO Ernst Lieb. The well-respected Daimler AG veteran had helped move the Mercedes marque steadily more into contention with BMW and Lexus for the lead in the U.S. luxury market. It’s not clear when Mercedes will name a full-time successor but the timing, as the next-gen C-Class debuts, is clearly a setback.

Even if Mercedes’ drive falters, BMW still has to keep a wary eye out for the likes of Cadillac, Audi, Lexus, Infiniti and even Hyundai, the Korean marque now intent on becoming a luxury player.

{"contentId":"8399621","totalVotes":"11147"} Who makes the best luxury cars?

But the 3-Series has always been a tough act to follow, and the new model wasn’t designed to yield any ground.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Hyundai leads in corporate loyalty — study

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
DETROIT — Long ignored by most American auto buyers, and slighted by others due to quality problems, Hyundai is now tops when it comes to corporate loyalty, according to a new study.

But Ford Motor Co. is also making gains in the marketplace, according to the report by Experian Automotive, a data service that tracks vehicle registration data as well as consumer attitudes. The Detroit maker captured the lead in six of the spots in the top 10 product segments.

Wild Wall St. Has the market volatility got you nervous? These cartoons may give you a little comic relief.

Cyber-thieves create fake Kelley Blue Book site US says Reebok toning shoes don't really Can you live on $9 an hour? Play the game

Hyundai had a loyalty rate of 49.6 percent, according to the Experian study, edging out General Motors and Ford – as well as major Japanese makers like Toyota. It was the first time the Korean carmaker led the list, marking a significant turnaround for a brand that was once the butt of jokes, not a marque that won repeat business.

Hyundai’s loyalty – translated as the repurchase rate of its owners – has also helped drive the brand’s market share to record levels, 9.2 percent during the second quarter of this year, up from 7.9 percent a year earlier. The maker’s performance in the study also reflected well on its sibling brand, Kia actually outscoring the Hyundai brand with a 47.9 percent loyalty rate.

General Motors, which came in second in the Experian study, had the second-highest loyalty rate, at 48.1 percent, and also saw its market share grow by 0.5 points – to 19.6 percent during the second quarter of this year.

Ford was third in the latest Experian loyalty study, at 47.6 percent. But it also took six of the Top 10 sports in terms of loyalty to specific products. That included the Ford Fiesta, third at 63 percent, and the Fusion, fourth at 61 percent.

The product with the highest individual loyalty was the Kia Forte, according to Experian, at 68 percent. The maker’s quirky crossover, the Soul, was fifth at 59 percent, with its Forte Koup ranking eighth at 57 percent.

Makers have become increasingly focused on brand loyalty in recent years. Repeat business not only helps prop up sales and market share but also helps hold down marketing costs. Experts say it can cost as much as 11 times more to “conquest” a buyer from a competing brand as opposed to winning back one of your loyal owners.

More from The Detroit Bureau:

State recognizes GM plants for environmental stewardship
GM developing new EN-V
Major automakers agree on new quick-charge EV standard

Copyright 2011 The Detroit Bureau. All rights reserved.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Will Ford restore dividend payments?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
DETROIT — With a key debt rating agency giving it the thumbs-up – and further hikes anticipated – Ford Motor Co. is signaling it may soon restore its dividend, a move that could, in turn, help revive the maker’s flagging stock price.

With Ford now indicating its new contract with the United Auto Workers Union will actually lower its labor costs, Fitch Ratings bumped the carmaker’s credit rating up a notch to “BB+” on Thursday, S&P taking the same step on Friday while also removing Ford from its CreditWatch. Those upgrades fall just one step short of reaching the investment grade targeted by Ford CEO Alan Mulally.

In the past, it had been expected that Ford would wait until getting that investment grade status before restoring the dividend but, during a meeting with investors, Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth indicated the additional upgrade, “is not an absolute necessity to pay dividends.”

Wild Wall St. Has the market volatility got you nervous? These cartoons may give you a little comic relief.

Cyber-thieves create fake Kelley Blue Book site US says Reebok toning shoes don't really Can you live on $9 an hour? Play the game

If anything, analysts say such a move would pay big dividends for Ford. The quarterly payout is a requirement in some investment communities, such as insurance companies and government pension plans, according to Joe Phillippi, chief analyst with AutoTrends Consulting.

“Many can’t own stocks that don’t pay at least some returns,” he noted, adding that, “This would open up a whole new class of investors…and that could drive up the stock price.”

On mid Friday morning, Ford was trading at just over $12 a share, its price up by more than a half dollar since the news of the Fitch upgrade was announced. But while it has bounced back from its 52-week low of just $9.32 a share, Ford is still trading well below the $18.97 peak it hit over the last year.

Whether it can maintain its current momentum remains to be seen. The maker is expected to deliver a slight year-over-year decline in third-quarter revenues, though perhaps not as serious as originally anticipated, with Itay Michaeli, of Citi Investment Research, this week upping his estimate of Ford’s third-quarter earnings from 44 cents to 46 cents a share, reaffirming his “Buy” recommendation.

A consensus of analysts gathered by DailyFinance.com, meanwhile, projects a solid turn upwards during the fourth quarter.

Holding down labor costs clearly will help going forward. Earlier this week, the United Auto Workers Union announced its members had ratified the new 4-year settlement with Ford. The contract contains a few costly provisions, including a $6,000 signing bonus and annual payouts to offset inflation. Those will add up to about $360 million in new costs, according to Mark Fields, Ford’s President of the Americas.

But there were concessions, as well, the union curbing its legal assistance program and agreeing to various steps meant to enhance productivity. And while second-tier workers will wind up making another $3 an hour by the end of the contract the UAW dropped demands to combine all workers in a single, higher tier. Most newly hired hourly workers will now make the lower wages.

“The work practice changes and increased uses of entry-level employees provide the opportunity for substantial cost savings and profit improvement as demand increases,” Fields said during the meeting with investors, the company predicting that an initial 1% hike in labor costs will actually turn into a reduction in costs by the end of the agreement.

That was enough to convince the maker to expand its production in the U.S. after years of transferring operations abroad or shifting to lower-cost U.S. suppliers. In all, Ford committed to an additional $6.4 billion in new investments under the contract, while adding 5,750 UAW jobs. Combined with prior promises, Ford now intends to boost U.S. employment by 12,000.

Fields today will be announcing a $1 billion investment – part of the new contract equation — at a Ford plant in Kansas City. It has been chosen to build the Transit van currently produced in Europe. The move will include the addition of a new stamping plant.

With the maker’s sales outpacing the overall rebound in the U.S. new vehicle market, and earnings expected to keep pace, most observers anticipate further credit rating upgrades by not only Fitch but S&P and Moody’s, the two giants in the field.

Whether Ford will wait or the agencies will act first, “I anticipate the dividend will be restored within the next quarter,” predicted analyst Phillippi.

More from The Detroit Bureau:

Lieb’s ouster underscores ethics crackdown at Daimler
Mercedes adding new model at U.S. plant
Opinion: Volt signals a new attitude at GM

Copyright 2011 The Detroit Bureau. All rights reserved.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Racers pay tribute to Marco Simoncelli

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The world of motorsport is in mourning over the passing of yet another racer. MotoGP star Marco Simoncelli died after a horrific crash during last weekend's race in Malaysia.

The 24-year-old Italian rider was involved in a collision with Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. He lost control of his bike on turn 11 and lost his helmet in the ensuing crash. The race was immediately stopped and Simoncelli was rushed to the local medical centre, where he died from his injuries.

His death comes just one week after the tragic loss of British Indycar driver Dan Wheldon, who crashed at the season finale in Las Vegas.

Tributes poured in via Twitter for the affable young Italian rider, one of the sport's rising stars.

Valentino Rossi, MotoGP rider
"Sic for me was like a youngest brother. so strong on track and so sweet in the normal life. I will miss him a lot."
@ValeYellow46

Cal Crutchlow, British MotoGP rider
"RIP Marco Simoncelli ! A great rider and all round nice guy. My thoughts are with all his family & friends. I will never forget today."
@calcrutchlow

Jorge Lorenzo, MotoGP rider
"Only you will be missed, rest in peace Marco" (translated)
@lorenzo99

Andrea Dovizioso, MotoGP rider
"RIP Marco. My thoughts and my prayers are with Marco's family and friends"
@AndreaDovizioso

Alvaro Bautista, MotoGP rider
"SIC was a great driver and we will all miss him. Much encouragement to family and friends #58
@19Bautista

Nicky Hayden, MotoGP rider
"Sometimes life just don't make sense... RIP #58 you were a star on & off track we all going to miss you..."
@NickyHayden69

MotoGP, official world championship
"MotoGP extends its deepest condolences to Marco's family, friends and team at this tragic loss."
@MotoGP

LCR Honda, MotoGP team
"A great tragedy hits MotoGP world today, we have lost a friend Marco Simoncelli. We cry a friend."
@LCRHondaMotoGP

Lewis Hamilton, F1 driver
"RIP Marco Simoncelli. My thoughts are with his family, friends and team at this extremely sad time. Another tragic loss at such an early age."
@LewisHamilton

Jenson Button, F1 driver
"R.I.P Marco... Such an exciting talent lost. My thoughts are with his family, friends and everyone involved in MotoGP."
@JensonButton

Mark Webber, F1 driver
"R.I.P Marco A special talent that will be missed... Thinking of your loved ones, and all the motogp paddock. mark."
@AussieGrit

Scuderia Ferrari
"Ferrari offers condolences for the death of Simoncelli"
@InsideFerrari

Career Advisor

New Automobile

Read More

Saab Stay-Alive Options Running Out

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By AutoObserver Staff October 20, 2011

Reports from Europe today indicate that an administrator assigned to oversee the reorganization of Swedish Automobile NV’s Saab automaking division planned to make a court application to terminate the reorganization, opening the door for outright bankruptcy at Saab. The automaker has for months been attempting to stave off insolvency and lately had pinned its hopes on bridge loans from Chinese auto-related companies, the promise of which convinced Swedish courts to allow Saab’s current reorganization. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Saab not only plans to continue with its reorganization efforts but also will ask for the plan’s administrator to be replaced.

Saab said it now appears the bulk of the promised loans from China will not come in a timely fashion and on Thursday, the company announced that U.S.-based private-equity firm North Street Capital, pledged a $70-million loan to Saab in exchange for stock in the company and to be securitized by first and second liens on certain Saab assets. North Street Capital, owned by auto enthusiast Albert Mascioli, purchased Swedish Automobile’s Spyker supercar operations last month in a deal for about $44 million.

AutoObserver Staff:  The best in the business.

Technology

Education Information

Read More

Harley recalling more than 308,000 motorcycles

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Harley-Davidson is recalling about 308,000 motorcycles to fix a switch problem that can cause failure of the brake lights and possibly even the rear brakes themselves.

The company says in government documents that brake light switches can be exposed to too much heat from the exhaust system. The brake lights can fail, and the problem also can cause fluid leaks and the loss of rear brakes.

The problem affects Touring, CVO Touring and Trike vehicles from the 2009 through 2012 model years.

Harley says it will notify owners of the recall. Dealers will install a rear brake light switch kit free of charge.

The recall affects about 251,000 motorcycles in the U.S. alone.

The company says it's aware of only one crash from the problem. It was unclear if anyone was hurt.

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Brawl In The B Class: Kia Ready With 2012 Rio

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Paul Seredynski October 24, 2011

A consensus seems to be forming that the 2012 Kia Rio is a handsome car, particularly for a subcompact. Sharp styling can’t hurt as the new Rio enters a U.S. B-class segment suddenly chock full of major-league talent. According to Kia, all the solid new products in the subcompact class – along with America’s continued price struggle with the gas pump – should see U.S. B-class sales jump 91 percent by 2015 (to almost 800,000 units), making it the sixth-largest segment in the United States. Priced smart and loaded with features recently unheard of in the class, the 2012 Rio’s initial share of U.S. B-class sales will likely be constrained only by production availability.

Kia will produce both a 4-door sedan and 5-door hatchback version of the Rio for the U.S., with all production based in Korea. The 5-door Rio is hitting dealerships now, and the 4-door is expected in Kia’s 750-dealer U.S. network in the early part of 2012. Bucking the quickly-fading “hatchbacks don’t sell in the U.S.” mantra, Kia executives noted at the launch event in Austin, Texas, that they expect to sell more hatchbacks than sedans. No one from Kia would go on the record for expected Rio sales volumes, but it’s reasonable to expect a similar boost Kia has enjoyed with the new Optima midsize sedan (doubling monthly sales, a 22-percent boost in transaction pricing, and days to turn plummeting from 121 to 25).

Pricing for the 2012 Kia Rio 5-door starts at $13,600 (plus $750 destination) with a 6-speed manual transmission. The manual tranny is available only on the base LX trim, where adding a 6-speed automatic adds $1,100 for a base price of $14,700. The volume mid-level EX trim checks in at $16,500, while the top-trim Rio SX starts at $17,700. Pricing for the 4-door will be announced closer to launch.

The Hardware
The 2012 Kia Rio has been completely redesigned, its chassis now on a 2-inch longer wheelbase than the previous-generation car. All Rios are powered by an all-aluminum, direct-injected 1.6-liter “Gamma” 4-cylinder, backed by either the 6-speed manual or automatic transmission. The engine produces 138 horsepower and 123 lb-ft of torque, features dual-variable valve timing, and with either tranny hits the magic marketing number of 40 miles per gallon highway (30 mpg city). Low rolling-resistance tires are standard, along with electric power steering. Later next year, a segment-first Idle Stop and Go (ISG) option that shuts off the engine during stops will be available. The $400 feature is expected to add 1 mpg to the Rio’s city rating.

All Rio trims feature the same MacPherson strut front suspension and solid, torsion-beam rear axle, though the top-level SX trim will feature a stiffened setup. Four-wheel disc brakes are also standard on all trims (a rarity in this class), with larger front-brake discs for the SX trim. A number of options should help customers ease any downsizing pain, including leather-trimmed seats, power folding and heated mirrors, heated seats, rearview camera, navigation system, power moonroof and a smart-key setup with pushbutton start. A fully-tarted Rio SX with the optional Premium Package will check-in just under $20K ($19,900) before destination. Kia claims that across all trims, comparably equipped Rio pricing has dropped 2 to 9 percent.

Is the market ripe for B-class cars with leather, nav, power moonroofs and heated seats? “You know, two, three years ago, nobody would’ve expected that,” said Michael Sprague, Kia Motors America (KMA) VP of marketing and communications. “But you see a lot of people who are downsizing either for a lifestyle change or concerns about fuel economy. They’re giving up some pretty nice cars, and when they get into the sub-compact car, they’re looking around saying ‘Where’s all the stuff I had before?’ It will be required to succeed.”

Though ready on the content front, the 2012 Kia Rio will enter a stout B-Class segment reborn by high fuel prices. Beyond its sister model Hyundai Accent, the Rio will battle Ford’s hot-selling Fiesta (with Ford also being Kia’s number one cross-shopped brand). Early reports on General Motors Co.’s new Chevrolet Sonic subcompact have been extremely favorable and Toyota Motor Corp.’s completely revamped Yaris certainly will be a player based on its content, price and brand image. Nissan’s new Versa hasn’t seen much praise from the press, but has enjoyed consistent marketing and brings to the party the industry’s lowest base price. The Honda Fit now is one of the segment’s oldest players – it’s due to be redesigned next year – but is one of Honda’s few models that continues to exhibit the brand’s old spunk (though sales have been hurt due to Japan’s natural disasters).

 

Millenial Marketing
Like most new entries in the segment, the 2012 Kia Rio will be marketed towards Millennials, though unlike the new Yaris, the Rio will not forgo the traditional broadcast space. “My biggest challenge still as a brand is awareness. [Kia is] at 3.9 percent market share.” Sprague said. “A lot of people still just don’t know that Kia is out there or if they do know of Kia, they think of the old Kia. Since the Soul, we’ve been slowly transforming people’s opinion of Kia – so broadcast (advertising) is still a great way we can instill the awareness and consideration. It won’t be huge broadcast but it will still be some. We’ll do a lot in the digital space. If that’s who we’re going after, that’s how they want to be communicated with.”

Kia plans to continue its marketing associations with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and L.A. Clippers star Blake Griffin, though Kia fortunately has a strike clause with the NBA lockout continuing. Kia also will go back to LaCosta in 2012 with the LPGA and golfer Michelle Wie, and will create a spec-racing series around the Rio. The company plans to announce more on the competition series at next month’s SEMA show, where it also will display a number of project cars, including one from West Coast Customs.

The Rio also is targeting new buyers via technology and its new UVO (“YOU-vo”) voice-controlled infotainment system. Kia is only the second manufacturer after Ford (with Sync) to implement the technology developed with Microsoft. “So Ford came out four or five years ago and they had the exclusive agreement with Microsoft and as soon as that expired, we recognized it as a great opportunity,” Sprague said. “Looking at trends, consumers wanted something that could control all of their devices, and it’s a great platform.” Kia claims to have made some significant improvements from a voice-recognition standpoint over the original system. “The Gen Y consumer is the first generation to grow up with technology and so I think you draw attention to yourself if you don’t have it,” said KMA sales vice president Tom Loveless. “UVO serves as a surrogate to let this important Gen Y consumer know that we’re a brand that is relevant.”

On The Road
In the sheetmetal, the Rio is a handsome car, which gives it more physical presence. Particularly with the 17-inch, large-spoke alloy wheels in the SX trim (above), this car is a looker. The interior is also inviting, with soft-touch (or soft-touch-looking) materials and a horizontal dash layout that adds a real sense of width. Passenger space is adequate enough that many will question the need to move up to a C-segment compact car, particularly if adults aren’t often encamped in the back seat. There’s also enough gadgets onboard to make you quickly forget this is a subcompact; the high-content feel of Ford’s Focus kept coming to mind. The Rio’s handling is essentially viceless, and even sure-footed enough to enter the realm of entertaining on some of the more twisty bits of Texas Hill Country.

On the rolling landscape outside of Austin, the new 1.6-liter Gamma engine was just the slightest bit buzzy above 4,000 rpm, but it smoothed out and started to sound better as it approached redline. The new engine is not awash in torque, though making good use of the transparent 6-speed transmissions keeps the Rio easily outpacing traffic. We wouldn’t mind a just little more insulation from road noise, and Kia has more improving to do on the voice-recognition skills of the UVO system – Sync seems far more consistent in recognizing commands and details such as the names of song artists. For a subcompact that comes loaded for less than $20,000, this is currently about as nice as the B-class has ever had it. Almost no reasonably expected feature is glaringly missing.

Finding something to harp on in a subcompact car has never been difficult, so the Rio's few minor foibles demonstrate how much the class has matured in a short time. For the money, customers are likely to find the Rio an alluring prospect inside and out. Running down a checklist of what consumers probably require to accept owning a B-Class car, the 2012 Rio won’t come up short. “People need the forty miles per gallon but they need the creature comforts associated with bigger automobiles,” Loveless said. “And so when you take that and put it in a blender, I think the value equation we have with Rio really fits the bill on either count.” Sprague was even more bullish: “I think we’re going to sell every one we can get. And if we can get more, even better."

 

Paul Seredynski:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.

Technology

Education Information

Read More