The Auto Writer

It is the Fourth of July and, as happens from time to time, the holiday falls on a Friday which means one thing: time to take a longer break!

I’ve closed the cap on my writing pen and have put away the computer keyboard in a bid to enjoy America’s birthday, spend time with family and friends, and take in all of the festivities.

There is a car display/show that will be held in New Hanover County, NC on Saturday, but I know that wherever a parade is being held today, most likely you’ll get a glimspe of some ancient wheels along with a handful of modern rides.

Enjoy the holiday and all that it represents — freedom, fun, and festivities. Yes, ignore the high gas prices for the day and enjoy some motoring too — a beach beckons, cookouts are abounding, and there are too many other reasons for you to sit at home.

Photo Credit: Lori Morris

Attempting to paint a rosy picture of the current automotive slump in the US is akin to trying to put lipstick on a pig — it is almost impossible to do and, if you were successful, you’d still be left with one ugly porker!

GM, Ford, and Chrysler are in a world of hurt with year-to-date sales through June 30th down 16.3, 14.0, and 22.0% respectively (according to AutoData Corp.) There are a few shining lights in each fleet including the Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion, and the Jeep Compass. Beyond that, these three are paying for their over reliance on big trucks and SUVs, fleet mainstays for many years.

It is easy to focus on the three major U.S. manufacturers, while not taking into account the rest of the market. For sure, Honda and Subaru are bucking the trend and seeing sales rise, but there is one manufacturer whose YTD sales drop is making Chrysler’s plight look almost good — Mitsubishi. So far this year Mitsubishi sales have dropped 23.4%, but most notably the company was off by 42.4% in June. This isn’t a company whose fleet is dominated by SUVs although its Endeavor and Outlander have contributed to a slide in truck sales amounting to a near-halving of volume for the year.

The sporty Eclipse, compact Lancer, and the midsize Galant round out the Mitsubishi car line up, but only the Lancer is selling. Which underscores a bigger problem for Mitsubishi: the limited appeal Eclipse and the aged Galant are the only two other vehicles available, unless a rebadged Dodge Dakota (Raider) has some sort of attraction worth noting.

Mitsubishi has one factory in the US, reports Auto Trends, but has cut back on production of the Endeavor and Galant due to slow sales. As recently as 2000, Mitsubishi sold 314,000 vehicles in the US (including some models built for Chrysler), but if trends continue they’ll be hard-pressed to sell 108,000 for the entire year. This isn’t one company you’ll want to bet money on!

When thinking about the Japanese automotive industry, it is often put in the best light possible. Certainly, the glow from Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, and Mazda have contributed to the aura, but Daihatsu and Isuzu are two that have failed with Suzuki still trying to find its footing here.

Will Mitsubishi make its exit one day? Maybe not for awhile, but based on its current sales volume, product offering, and huge shrinkage from 2000, the possibility of that happening looms large.

As expected, the news reports covering automotive sales in the US for June 2008 was gloomy, but with a few surprises.

Perhaps the most surprising bit of information learned thus far is that Toyota dropped a whopping 21%, certainly not as bad as Ford’s 28% shrinkage nor Chrysler’s as yet unreported — but expected — 30% drop for the month, but a surprise nevertheless. Given that the Corolla is selling so well, a drop of this magnitude is stunning. Then again, motorists are fleeing trucks like the Tundra and SUVs like the Sequoia en masse.

General Motors actually beat industry expectations when the company’s sales “only” dropped by 19% for the month. You know that we’re in difficult times when this sort of information is considered to be good news — GM’s stock shares rose by 5% on the basis of that report.

Honda and Volkswagen actually managed to post small gains, thanks to their fleets which are heavily geared toward compact vehicles. Most of the other manufacturers cannot retool their factory lines fast enough to keep up with shifting consumer demands, then again the demand for new vehicles is down to about 12.5 million units annually, well off of its peak pace of 17.5 million.

Expect whatever sales percentages you hear being spouted over the coming days to be adjusted downward. That’s because the number of June selling days were actually fewer in 2008 v. 2007. Thus, Ford will probably change their monthly loss to 19% to account for the difference.

Automotive enthusiasts have been waiting for the release of several new hot car models, perhaps none hotter than the Nissan GT-R sportscar. Based on the heralded Nissan Skyline, the $70K GT-R will be making its debut next Monday, with more than 70% of its first year quota already spoken for.

The 2009 Nissan GT-R has an MSRP of $69,850 for the GT-R and $71,900 for the GT-R Premium model,with an additional destination, handling charge of $1,000 tacked on. Unlike every other Nissan model, the GT-R is available only through officially certified Nissan dealers that have met a number of strict sales, service and facilities commitments, including dedicating a master technician to service the GT-R. Nissan has provided a searchable listing of the 671 GT-R Certified Nissan dealers on its website at nissanusa.com.

“After years of speculation and anticipation, the wait for a U.S.-spec Nissan GT-R is over,” said Al Castignetti, vice president and general manager, Nissan Division, Nissan North America, Inc. “GT-R is one supercar that more than lives up to its promise, with independent testing by the leading auto enthusiasts magazines and online sites producing performance results that only a handful of production cars have ever attained - much less at a $70,000 MSRP.”

The 2009 Nissan GT-R comes equipped with a standard 480-horsepower, twin-turbo 3.8-liter V6 engine and a 6-speed dual clutch automatic transmission. The sportscar set a lap time of 7 minutes 29 seconds at Nurburgring Nordschleife, one of the fastest times achieved by a production-spec vehicle to date on that famous track.

Only 2500 GT-Rs will be available in the US market for its first year of sale stateside.

(Source: Nissan North America, Inc.)