Car news and more FUH2!

It's over; Drivers' once-passionate love affair with SUVs has fizzled out

For Phyllis Attrill, trading in a sport utility vehicle was hardly an earth-shattering decision. But when hundreds of thousands of Canadians and Americans made a similar move last year, the shock waves battered Detroit. The ramifications of those actions by individual drivers are on display at the North American International Auto Show in the Motor City this week, where so-called crossover utility vehicles -- the next step in the evolution of the SUV -- are grabbing centre stage. Toyota will unveil the next generation of the Camry at the show, but much of the attention of the thousands of reporters and auto-industry executives from around the globe will be focused on crossovers from Ford and General Motors. Crossovers offer the functionality and most of the space of a traditional SUV, but ride like a car because they don't sit on a truck frame the way their forebears do.

Last night, however, it was the turn of GM's biggest SUVs to take centre stage at the show. The redesign of the Chevrolet Suburban, Cadillac Escalade and GMC Yukon SUVs, plus the company's full-sized pickups, represents about half the volume of new or redesigned vehicles GM will introduce in the next two years. It's a calculated gamble by GM. “This poses a substantial risk if fuel prices surge again or if consumers continue to move toward the crossover segment,” Michael Bruynesteyn, who follows the industry for Prudential Equity Group said in a note to clients last week. Moving up the launch of these vehicles means the redesign of other cars and trucks has been pushed back, Bruynesteyn said, which could also be a problem for GM. GM is expecting the new vehicles to do well, said Paul Ballew, the company's executive director of market and industry analysis. None of the plants that makes full-sized SUVs or pickups will be closed, which means by 2008, the GMT900 program -- the internal code-name for the vehicles -- will represent fully 36% of GM's total production in North America.
(Globe and Mail 060109)

Yes, stick with the program, Detroit. It's sort of sad that now we're only watching for GM and Ford to inevitably shoot themselves in the foot/head.
..And here come the competitors, kicking and biting...

Record rollout by Japanese automakers

Toyota, Nissan and Honda are poised to sell at least 19 new and redesigned vehicle models in the US this year, their biggest-ever rollout, according to estimates by industry analysts. Toyota, with 70 models on its worldwide catalogue and a record 13.3% of 2005 US sales, may release nine cars and light trucks, said Credit Suisse First Boston's analyst Koji Endo. Honda may release six models, while Nissan unveils four, he said. Four of the models will be compact cars, on display this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. "This is the year when the three Japanese carmakers raise sales, profits and US market to another level" because 15 of the 19 models slated for sale are "high-volume, high-profit" designs, Endo said. Japan-based carmakers raised their combined US market share by 1.7 points to a record 32.2% last year, a pace that makes it harder for General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler to regain their lost market share, which fell 2.9 points to 55.2%.

Toyota, Nissan and Honda, which earn up to three-quarters of operating profit from the US, are building more factories there - as well as in Cambridge, ON, in Toyota's case - and adding models as GM and Ford pare production. At least four of 19 new designs planned by Japan's three largest carmakers are compact models with engines smaller than 1.8-litre capacity. They are releasing their smallest designs as cars gained market share in 2005 against sport-utility vehicles and other trucks for the first time in 25 years. The rush of new models could stretch the three companies' US factories to their limit, said Norihito Kanai, analyst at Dresdner Asset Management. "We expect the new models to do well in the US in 2006, which will lead to a lack of production capacity," said Kanai. Toyota's new and redesigned models will account for 30% of its total sales in the US in 2006, up from about 20% in 2005, Credit Suisse's Endo said. The ratio will be 36% for Honda and 25% for Nissan.
(National Post 060109)

BK, Reid and I took some great pics on the TCH from Canmore yesterday for the FUH2 site. I'll post them tonight.

Here they are!!!









Here is some inspired poetry from the FUH2 site:

Untitled by Vanilla Bean

Your wallet’s fat, your car is rank
Fuck you and your H2!
Each burst of speed costs half a tank
Fuck you and your H2!
At each stop sign and traffic light
Regardless if it’s day or night
They’ll mutter “asshole” and they’re right
Fuck you and your H2!

You can’t drive mud, you can’t clear rocks
Fuck you and your H2!
With Chevy Tahoe frame and shocks
Fuck you and your H2!
What illness do you suffer from?
Are your aesthetic senses numb?
How does it feel to be so dumb?
Fuck you and your H2!

If I gave you what you deserve
Fuck you and your H2!
I’d cut you off and make you swerve
Fuck you and your H2!
I’d follow you across the land
I’d top your gas tank off with sand
And flip the bird with my free hand
Fuck you and your H2!

It’s true you are the Tax-break winner
Fuck you and your H2!
You spent it on ‘roo-bars and Spinners
Fuck you and your H2!
Full fifty-grand you can omit,
But what remains to show for it?
A four-point-three-ton pile of shit.
Fuck you and your H2!

Despite my venomous complaint
Fuck you and your H2!
I’ve got an atom of restraint
Fuck you and your H2!
I hope this point you haven’t missed
Your car selection makes me pissed
In spite of that I can resist
Fuck you and your H2!

For 3 or more: the carpool lane
Fuck you and your H2!
But what if you have half a brain?
Fuck you and your H2!
You solo drive each day to work
That’s why your friends all joke and smirk
Come Humm on THIS, you fucking jerk!
Fuck you and your H2!

Haiku by Tim

Hulking black Hummer
Purchased in rank atonement
small peckered driver