Archive for the ‘Pickups’ Category

For a very long time in this country, about 20% of all sales came in the form of trucks.

Not what the industry calls “trucks” (i.e., SUVs), but actual pickups. That figure always astonished me; we simply don’t have that many contractors, painters and plumbers and there are fewer actual “farmers” living here each day.

The only reason for high truck sales was image, and as if to prove this fact, a walloping recession has seen truck sales (as a percentage of all light vehicles) shrink in 2009 to what will be about 10% of the total by year’s end, replaced by the likes of more crossovers that get superior mileage such as the Toyota RAV4 and ...

HUMMER's sale is all but complete--though there are some worrying details left to be handled with the Chinese government--and talk of production resuming in the Shreveport plant where the H3 and H3T are built is already starting to leak out from the company.

Dealers will be glad to hear the news, should it prove true, as many are running so low on inventory that they've had to shutter their showrooms temporarily. They'll still face a bit of a wait, however, as production isn't rumored to restart until November.

Once it does get back underway, the transition back to sales should be smooth, as Tengzhong plans to keep CEO James Taylor and...

The saga of GM's sale of HUMMER has finally come to a close. With the sudden collapse of the Penske-Saturn deal last week, many feared a similar fate would befall HUMMER, but today's announcement of the sale agreement between GM and China's Tengzhong puts those fears to rest, at least for the present. The deal must still secure final financing and pass regulatory approval.

Tengzhong, known formally as Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp., is the Chinese firm that's been the front runner for the purchase of HUMMER for months now. GM's announcement this morning means that 3,000 U.S. jobs will be saved thanks to manufacturing...