Autos
– Toyota will be the first to market with a fuel-cell vehicle by the end of this year when it offers a hydrogen-powered version of the Highlander sport-utility in limited numbers. Toyota says it plans to lease 20 fuel-cell vehicles to companies, organizations and research facilities in the U.S. and Japan that have access to hydrogen fuel.
– Bill Lovejoy, group vice president of sales and marketing for General Motors, is all smiles because two gambles are paying off. The 2003 Pontiac Vibe hatchback developed with Toyota is GM’s second “fastest selling” vehicle behind the 2003 Cadillac CTS, the entry-level luxury sedan brought out to compete against the Japanese and Europeans. And, Lovejoy notes, about 40 percent of all CTS buyers are trading in a non-GM car.
– To help meet demand and anticipated sales of more than 200,000 units this year, GM has increased production capacity on the midsize Chevrolet Impala sedan by 50 percent.
– Why is Chrysler Goup considering producing two Jeep concepts, the Compass and Willys2? Because, the automaker says, after VW and Honda, Jeep is the third best known brand among 12- to 24-year-olds. And, of course, lots of 12-year-olds buy new Jeeps, don’t they?
– Chrysler says it has developed an engine that can improve fuel efficiency by 14 percent through eight design and engineering changes, including increased compression ratio, which raises efficiency and lowers emissions, and an oil pump redesigned to reduce internal leakage and friction. The standard gasoline-powered, 4.7-liter V-8 engine, which is being tested in a Dodge Durango sport-utility vehicle, achieves the gain at an extra cost of less than $200 per unit.
– Ford Motor Co. says the Lincoln Blackwood luxury pickup will go out of production this summer, after one of the shortest runs for a mass-market vehicle. Confirming a report that first appeared in industry weekly Automotive News, Jeremy Barnes, a spokesman for Ford’s Lincoln division, says “a very, very small quantity” of 2003 models of the four-door truck would be built before production ends in August. Ford had hoped to sell up to 10,000 Blackwoods, priced from $53,000, a year when the vehicle went on sale last November. But only about 900 were expected to have sold through this month.
FYI
– Lumbar-control seats won’t be offered in as many future GM vehicles as they are today. Word is that Vice Chairman Bob Lutz dislikes lumbar-control seats, saying there’s no need for inflatable bladders if seats are designed right.
– Nissan Motor Co. says it will spend $500 million to boost the planned output of a Canton, Miss., plant under construction by 150,000 vehicles, to 400,000, to meet demand for its Altima sedan. The move will let Nissan free capacity for other vehicles at its Smyrna, Tenn., factory where it builds Altimas, to raise U.S. sales by about 40 percent a year.
– BMW plans to continue raising production at its Spartanburg, S.C., plant to keep up with demand in the U.S. Production at the plant, which makes BMW’s roadster and sport-utility vehicle, had doubled by 2001 to 120,000 units per year from 1997’s level. Norbert Reithofer, BMW board member for global production, says output could double again after 2005.
People
– Christopher J. Kersting has been named president of the Specialty Equipment Market Association, succeeding Chuck Blum, who becomes SEMA president emeritus after 22 years as the association’s chief.
