Auto industry recovery: Detroit Auto Show reflects a reversal of fortunes
- 4-9% expected increase in U.S. auto sales in 2012 source
» Pulling out the big guns: This week’s Detroit Auto Show is a giant coming-out party for an auto industry that was struggling to keep the engine running just a couple of years ago. But, while those times are certainly not gone entirely, they’ve certainly improved in recent years, which reflects in the boldness of this year’s models. In fact Chrysler, the weakest of the the three auto companies, is actually looking like a bright spot for Fiat, whose Chief Executive, Sergio Marchionne, invested in the company at its weakest point. ”He entered Chrysler at rock bottom and will now capitalize on a U.S. recovery — the timing was perfect,” said automotive analyst Philippe Barrier. But maybe you’re like us and you don’t care about the specifics of the recovery and just want to see cool new cars. Well, the Detroit Free Press has you covered.
Cars: Current Short Term Dynamics
Today, I came across an article on Time, written by Brad Tuttle. He makes a note about why automakers may have an advantage selling compact economic fuel efficient cars than costly, luxury cars which could return high profits (per sale). Sellers seem to prefer selling economic cars. Why?
The fuel efficiency of many typical compact cars attracts customers in the current scenario where the fuel prices continue to be rising. The nuclear disaster in Japan is partly a reason for low supplies of automobile parts and components. Sellers are using the demand thus created to test how far the buyers are willing to pay. Therefore, they have significantly reduced the incentives they offer to the buyers thus, getting more profits out of these cars.
At least for the short term, sellers would prefer selling those fuel efficient economic cars with significant reduction in incentives provided (the buyers should wait!).
(I got interested in this article as I had recently thought about photographers and the business models with which they attract customers and sell their photos.)
Carooba - A social marketplace for buying, selling and swapping cars (or automobiles)
This is our first blog post and is a brief hello to the world!!
Behind the scenes we are busily working away building a brand new site where we can all buy, sell and swap cars online. It’ll make life easier for us all whether we have a car to sell, are looking for a car to buy or if we are car dealers looking to sell more cars.
We hope you will be impressed by what we have to offer. Please visit www.carooba.com and leave us your email address. We’ll be in touch to get some valuable feedback once we have a beta version of our site to launch.
We love you all :-)
Like your weekend? Thank a Union Member: 75th Anniversary of the Flint Sit-Down Strike
Background
The UAW had only been formed in 1935 and held its first convention in 1936. Shortly thereafter the union decided that it could not survive by piecemeal organizing campaigns at smaller plants, as it had in the past, but that it could organize the automobile industry only by going after its biggest and most powerful employer, General Motors Corporation, focusing on GM’s production complex in Flint, Michigan.
Organizing Flint was a difficult and dangerous plan. GM controlled city politics in Flint and kept a close eye on outsiders. As Wyndham Mortimer, the UAW officer put in charge of the organizing campaign in Flint, recalled, when he visited Flint in 1936 he received a telephone call within a few minutes of checking into his hotel from an anonymous caller telling him to get back where he came from if he didn’t “want to be carried out in a wooden box.”
GM also maintained an extensive network of spies throughout its plants. Mortimer concluded after talking to Flint autoworkers that the existing locals, which had only 122 members out of 45,000 autoworkers in Flint, were riddled with spies. Accordingly, he decided that the only safe way to organize Flint was simply to bypass those locals. Mortimer, Eric Branoff, Roy Reuther, Henry Kraus and Ralph Dale began meeting with Flint autoworkers in their homes, keeping the names of new members a closely guarded secret from others in Flint and in UAW headquarters.
As the UAW studied its target it discovered that GM had only two factories that produced the dies from which car body components were stamped: one in Flint that produced the parts for Buicks, Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles and another in Cleveland that produced Chevrolet parts. The union planned to strike these plants after the New Year, when Frank Murphy would become Governor of Michigan.
The Strike
Young striker off sentry duty sleeping on assembly line of auto seats
Events forced the union to accelerate its plans, however, when the workers at Cleveland’s Fisher body plant went on strike on December 30, 1936. The UAW immediately announced that it would not settle the Cleveland strike until it reached a national agreement with GM covering all of its plants. At the same time the union made plans to shut down Fisher # 1 in Flint.
On December 30, 1936 the Union learned that GM was planning to move the dies out of Fisher # 1. Travis immediately called a meeting at lunchtime at the union hall across the street from the plant, explained the situation, then sent the members across the street to occupy the plant. The Flint sit-down strike began.
In a conventional strike the union takes its members outside the plant and attempts to prevent the employer from operating by discouraging other employees from entering. In a sit-down strike, the workers physically occupy the plant, keeping management and others out.
The Flint sit-down strikers did just that, electing their own “Mayor” and other civic officials and maintaining the plant throughout the strike. The union kept up a regular supply of food to the strikers inside while sympathizers marched in support outside.
A state court judge issued an injunction ordering the strikers to leave the plant. The UAW investigated, and they discovered that the judge held roughly $200,000 in GM stock, which disqualified him from hearing any case involving GM.
Resistance
National Guardsmen with machine gun overlooking Chevrolet factories number nine and number four
The police attempted to enter the plant on January 11, 1937. The strikers inside the plant turned the fire hoses on the police while pelting them with car parts and other miscellany as members of the women’s auxiliary broke windows in the plant to give strikers some relief from the tear gas the police were using against them. The police made several charges, but withdrew after six hours. The strikers dubbed this “The Battle of Bulls Run,” a mocking reference to the police (“bulls”).
At the time, Vice President John Nance Garner supported federal intervention to break up the Flint Strike, but this idea was rejected by President Franklin Roosevelt.
GM obtained a second injunction against the strike on February 1, 1937. The union not only ignored the order, but spread the strike to Chevrolet Plant # 4. To avoid tipping its hand, the union let it be known in the hours before the move that it intended to go after another plant in the complex, only changing directions at the last minute. GM, tipped off by an informant within the UAW, was ready and waiting for the union at the other plant and caught completely off guard at Plant # 4.
That development forced GM to bargain with the union. John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers and founder and leader of the CIO, spoke for the UAW in those negotiations, while the UAW sent its President Homer Martin on a speaking tour to keep him out of the way. GM’s representatives refused to be in the same room as the UAW’s, so Governor Frank Murphy acted as courier and intermediary between the two groups. Governor Murphy sent in the US National Guard, not to evict the strikers, but rather to protect them from the police and corporate strike-breakers. The parties finally reached agreement on February 11, 1937 on a one page agreement that recognized the UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative for GM’s employees who were members of the union for the next six months.
As short as this agreement was, it gave the UAW instant legitimacy. The UAW capitalized on that opportunity, signing up 100,000 GM employees and building the union’s strength through grievance strikes at GM plants throughout the country. Several participants in the strike, including Charles I. Krause, went on to greater prominence within the union. Other notable participants in the sit-down strike were future D-Day hero and Greco-Roman wrestling champion Dean Rockwell, labor leader and future UAW President Walter Reuther and the uncle of filmmaker Michael Moore.
In the next year the UAW saw its membership grow from 30,000 to 500,000 members. As later noted by the BBC, “the strike was heard round the world.
The electronic market scale of the Chinese car tops hundred billion Increases and exceeds forty percent compared with the same period of last year
Recently, the research results of the state of development of electronic market of the car reveal to have a match and guide in Chinese 2007 when a advisor released, the Chinese car electronic product sales amount reaches 121,570 million yuan in 2007, increases and exceeds 40% compared with the same period of last year, but the future market increases and eases up.
In 2007, the Chinese automobile industry develops continuously, the car output increases with higher speed, reaches nearly 8,882,000, and the car is still the most powerful motive force of development of automobile industry, car proportion is further expanded, reach 54.3% of total output. Meanwhile, the staging of the car products is speeding up one’s step constantly too, some of them’s medium-to-high grade car begins their ” made in China ” Process,it is new it accelerate for to put out style, it synchronize with world to list some styles new, meanwhile, the old style is improving the staging of the products too. The position in the whole world of Chinese automobile market growing at top speed is soaring constantly, the ones that make China become every large car manufacturer ” The hotly contested spot ” ,Thereupon high-speed development too of electronic market of the car at the same time.
On June 27, are sponsored with Jilin Province Information Industry Department together by Chinese electronics and information industries Development Research Institute, have a match, guide the intersection of advisor and Co., Ltd., undertake on the fifth ” The electronic industry of the Chinese car develops the forum on the senior level ” Succeed in holding in Changchun as scheduled. This forum Israel ” Hold the business opportunity Win-win cooperation ” Theme, wide to invite from all walks of life honoured guest, new focus, new problem develop on the intersection of Chinese and the intersection of car and electronic industry, organize discussion. On the forum, honoured guests air one’s own views, speak out freely, focus on new developing market and technological front, have discussed professionally and deeply on market prospect, technology moving towards, industry’s environment and competition trend,etc. hot question that everybody cared about together.
The electronic market of the car develops fast
Under the direct push that the Chinese automobile industry develops at a high speed, the electronic market of the Chinese car develops with an increasing tendency in 2007, the growth rate was improved to 2006 to some extent, the electronic product sales amount of the car reached 121,570 million yuan in the whole year, increases and exceeds 40% compared with the same period of last year. After increasing in well blowout type in 2003, since 2004, the electronic market of the Chinese car begins to enter a stable high-speed developing period, the average annual compound growth rate of the sales amount reaches 38.5%.
The electronic market scale of the Chinese car tops hundred billion Increases and exceeds forty percent compared with the same period of last year
Recently, the research results of the state of development of electronic market of the car reveal to have a match and guide in Chinese 2007 when a advisor released, the Chinese car electronic product sales amount reaches 121,570 million yuan in 2007, increases and exceeds 40% compared with the same period of last year, but the future market increases and eases up.
In 2007, the Chinese automobile industry develops continuously, the car output increases with higher speed, reaches nearly 8,882,000, and the car is still the most powerful motive force of development of automobile industry, car proportion is further expanded, reach 54.3% of total output. Meanwhile, the staging of the car products is speeding up one’s step constantly too, some of them’s medium-to-high grade car begins their ” made in China ” Process,it is new it accelerate for to put out style, it synchronize with world to list some styles new, meanwhile, the old style is improving the staging of the products too. The position in the whole world of Chinese automobile market growing at top speed is soaring constantly, the ones that make China become every large car manufacturer ” The hotly contested spot ” ,Thereupon high-speed development too of electronic market of the car at the same time.
On June 27, are sponsored with Jilin Province Information Industry Department together by Chinese electronics and information industries Development Research Institute, have a match, guide the intersection of advisor and Co., Ltd., undertake on the fifth ” The electronic industry of the Chinese car develops the forum on the senior level ” Succeed in holding in Changchun as scheduled. This forum Israel ” Hold the business opportunity Win-win cooperation ” Theme, wide to invite from all walks of life honoured guest, new focus, new problem develop on the intersection of Chinese and the intersection of car and electronic industry, organize discussion. On the forum, honoured guests air one’s own views, speak out freely, focus on new developing market and technological front, have discussed professionally and deeply on market prospect, technology moving towards, industry’s environment and competition trend,etc. hot question that everybody cared about together.
The electronic market of the car develops fast
Under the direct push that the Chinese automobile industry develops at a high speed, the electronic market of the Chinese car develops with an increasing tendency in 2007, the growth rate was improved to 2006 to some extent, the electronic product sales amount of the car reached 121,570 million yuan in the whole year, increases and exceeds 40% compared with the same period of last year. After increasing in well blowout type in 2003, since 2004, the electronic market of the Chinese car begins to enter a stable high-speed developing period, the average annual compound growth rate of the sales amount reaches 38.5%.
The American Government in the Real Estate Business
The American Government in the Real Estate Business
Okay, so just imagine it! Our American Government (who has already gotten into the automobile industry, the banking industry and the list goes on and on…) has started the discussion of rental homes. Ben Bernancke has ‘suggested’ that we start a nationwide government supported “REO” rental program. I’m really trying not to preach politics here, so I’ll just stop at that.
Some proponents suggest the rate of return by renting these homes out for now would be much greater than the prices at which they have been selling on the real estate market right now.
Those against it suggest that home ownership should be promoted during this time and not discouraged as they feel this program would do. Not to mention the fact that the taxpayers, lenders and bond investors would bear the burden of this cost. Another bail out in the making.
Some of the things they don’t ask are, how do you rent an REO where there is major repair work to be done? Who is in charge of that and who pays for it? There are many more questions I can pose here and I’m sure you are thinking of a few yourself.
You can read more about the topic HERE on HousingWire.
If you are interested in buying or selling or simply have questions about real estate, please feel free to contact me. I will be more than happy to assist you!
Warmest Regards,
Linda K. Mayer,
Realtor, Office Manager
License # 01767321
A Realtor you can Trust!
(626) 824-8927 Cell
(909) 670-2711 Direct
LindaKMayer@live.com
It is that the ultimate alternative energy source causes the dispute who car show of Beijing recurs
Several months ago, Renaud - Nissan Motor CEO Carlos’ gon and majestic in Fukui, president of Honda Motor, show in Tokyo, because the lithium battery is making progress in safety and reliability, the development of the whole electric automobile should surpass and mix the motor vehicle with the economic angle in environmental protection. Renaud - Nissan Motor and Honda Motor are devoted to developing the all-electric car, whether they wise to mixing the motor vehicle economically feel doubtful.
However, General Motors and Toyota Motor of the large-scale batch productino mixed dynamic automobile at present do not approve this view, yesterday on the car show of Beijing, the high level of Toyota and GE emphasized whether the electric automobile was the future the terminal of the alternative energy source is still unable to confirm at present.
From sustaining all the time last year to the present, mixing the dispute of motor vehicle and motor vehicle begins the staging on the car show of this Beijing in this dispute.
Ge En represents ” the first finance and economics daily report “, in Europe, 15% of the motorists seldom leave the city where one stays, this is a target market of an all-electric car. Since 2010, Nissan Motor plans to begin to go into operation in environmental protection and the most harsh American California of exhaust emission of the whole world, “introduced the electric automobile in Israel, Denmark in 2011, and provided the electric automobiles that generally used for Japan in 2012. ”
“We think if you really want to reach the technical break-through, the key should be a discharge capacity, but not lower discharge capacity, mixed motive force is a very good technology, but I do not think this is the best solution, our goal is the no emission finally. ” Ge En says, ” with the development of all new developing markets, cars to be driven will be much more than now on the road to the whole world after ten years. If we realize the break-through technically, introduce the car of a discharge capacity and can’t only reduce 10%, 20% of the discharge capacity, the more important thing is, produce zero discharge capacity, at all car without injury to environment, otherwise the automobile industry faces the danger. ”
But and mix dynamic General Motors to disagree with the statement of the leading factor future car industry of motor vehicle in leading hydrogen power at present, General Motors president Wagner shows to ” the first finance and economics daily report “: “We will continue putting into and researching and developing in mixed motive force, hydrogen motive force and motor vehicle, not clear now which kind of technology is the correct choice in the future. ” Adopt Toyota Motor and General Motors of the technological route of mixed motive force of oil or electricity not to have an optimistic view of the whole motor vehicle, and insist on developing oil or electricity and mixing the motor vehicle and participating in the market competition, so on car show and Beijing car show of Geneva, General Motors still adheres to this thinking, and introduce a lot of this kind of mixed motor vehicle products.
No matter Ge En or Wagner, does not lack the backer. Mitsubishi (Shanghai) The intersection of board and field, general manager of limited company, build, manage, show to ” the first finance and economics daily report ” yesterday, on the car show of this Beijing, Mitsubishi Motors has introduced the brand-new motor vehicle I-MIEV too, has ” already begun the pilot project of the motor vehicle in Japan, begin to offer and charge the socket in the car parking of large sales field of a lot of suburbs. The Japanese market will mix and offer more facilities in motor vehicle in the future. ”
However, the car giant does not plan to give up the petrol or oil engine in the near future, the difference between them shows, the focus which competitive technology fights for. The backer of the motor vehicle thinks, feel satisfied in carbon dioxide discharge amount that the regulators will not mix the motor vehicle to oil or electricity. Mix the intersection of motor vehicle and backer, emphasize mixed power to can realize batch productino and win substitute technology of the profit while being only at present.
It is that the ultimate alternative energy source causes the dispute who car show of Beijing recurs
Several months ago, Renaud - Nissan Motor CEO Carlos’ gon and majestic in Fukui, president of Honda Motor, show in Tokyo, because the lithium battery is making progress in safety and reliability, the development of the whole electric automobile should surpass and mix the motor vehicle with the economic angle in environmental protection. Renaud - Nissan Motor and Honda Motor are devoted to developing the all-electric car, whether they wise to mixing the motor vehicle economically feel doubtful.
However, General Motors and Toyota Motor of the large-scale batch productino mixed dynamic automobile at present do not approve this view, yesterday on the car show of Beijing, the high level of Toyota and GE emphasized whether the electric automobile was the future the terminal of the alternative energy source is still unable to confirm at present.
From sustaining all the time last year to the present, mixing the dispute of motor vehicle and motor vehicle begins the staging on the car show of this Beijing in this dispute.
Ge En represents ” the first finance and economics daily report “, in Europe, 15% of the motorists seldom leave the city where one stays, this is a target market of an all-electric car. Since 2010, Nissan Motor plans to begin to go into operation in environmental protection and the most harsh American California of exhaust emission of the whole world, “introduced the electric automobile in Israel, Denmark in 2011, and provided the electric automobiles that generally used for Japan in 2012. ”
“We think if you really want to reach the technical break-through, the key should be a discharge capacity, but not lower discharge capacity, mixed motive force is a very good technology, but I do not think this is the best solution, our goal is the no emission finally. ” Ge En says, ” with the development of all new developing markets, cars to be driven will be much more than now on the road to the whole world after ten years. If we realize the break-through technically, introduce the car of a discharge capacity and can’t only reduce 10%, 20% of the discharge capacity, the more important thing is, produce zero discharge capacity, at all car without injury to environment, otherwise the automobile industry faces the danger. ”
But and mix dynamic General Motors to disagree with the statement of the leading factor future car industry of motor vehicle in leading hydrogen power at present, General Motors president Wagner shows to ” the first finance and economics daily report “: “We will continue putting into and researching and developing in mixed motive force, hydrogen motive force and motor vehicle, not clear now which kind of technology is the correct choice in the future. ” Adopt Toyota Motor and General Motors of the technological route of mixed motive force of oil or electricity not to have an optimistic view of the whole motor vehicle, and insist on developing oil or electricity and mixing the motor vehicle and participating in the market competition, so on car show and Beijing car show of Geneva, General Motors still adheres to this thinking, and introduce a lot of this kind of mixed motor vehicle products.
No matter Ge En or Wagner, does not lack the backer. Mitsubishi (Shanghai) The intersection of board and field, general manager of limited company, build, manage, show to ” the first finance and economics daily report ” yesterday, on the car show of this Beijing, Mitsubishi Motors has introduced the brand-new motor vehicle I-MIEV too, has ” already begun the pilot project of the motor vehicle in Japan, begin to offer and charge the socket in the car parking of large sales field of a lot of suburbs. The Japanese market will mix and offer more facilities in motor vehicle in the future. ”
However, the car giant does not plan to give up the petrol or oil engine in the near future, the difference between them shows, the focus which competitive technology fights for. The backer of the motor vehicle thinks, feel satisfied in carbon dioxide discharge amount that the regulators will not mix the motor vehicle to oil or electricity. Mix the intersection of motor vehicle and backer, emphasize mixed power to can realize batch productino and win substitute technology of the profit while being only at present.
Used Cars-Prices
Matt Small, AP correspondentIt’s the best time in years to sell your car. AP correspondent Matt Small reports.
AdAge Article: How Ford Blew It On Facebook
Apparently Ford spent $2,209 per “like” on their recent Ford Focus Campaign. That’s enough to fuel anyone’s start-up business model- if it weren’t such a tragic failure.
I find this article interesting for several reasons:
- Apparently Ford’s goal was to gain Facebook “likes”- it did so at an eventual cost of $2,209 per “like”
- Both the writer and a commenter on the article struggle to envision how bands can become part of the conversation in a social media context
- The article reinforces my belief that “being part of the conversation” should be a (or THE) core goal of a social media campaign. I leave it to others (including the author) to decide whether social media campaigns are more effective than traditional campaigns.
http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/ford-blew-facebook/230815/
2012.03.03 Weekly Address: Taking Control of Our Energy Future
The President-elect’s Choices
By Leo Brown
[President Obama’s Weekly Address]
In the last decade, the Russian government has expanded their web of gas and oil pipelines to such a degree that domestic production will soon be unable to maintain full export capacity. This problem will worsen as western Siberian oil fields, the wellspring of Russian oil since the 1970s, run dry. But instead of investing in new technology to extract oil from other regions, the government will continue to funnel resources into the state-owned pipeline operator, Transneft, and ambitious expansion projects. Though new pipelines will be born, they might well sit underutilized and decrepit.
The muddy economic rationale for these projects caves under the realities of Russia’s rising energy needs and finite production capacity. These pipelines are built primarily to allow Russia greater geopolitical leverage and flexibility. The idea is that when a ‘transit nation’ hosts a Russian pipeline, that nation profits as Russian energy flows. But if Transneft and the government have options of simply doing business elsewhere and rerouting through a different pipeline, the transit nations have much less political leverage. They have a choice of either not dealing with Russia at all, or doing so according to Russia’s political, economic, and military conditions.
For these strategic reasons, Russia has, and will continue to have, more pipelines than are economically viable. However, it is still possible for Russia, the world’s leading oil producer, to have it both ways.
The Russian economy is quite energy intensive compared to other European nations, and its rapidly expanding auto market is a major contributing factor. Regulation of Russian auto industry standards are lax and, as a result, the potential to fill the new pipelines with oil exports is lost to domestic consumers driving inefficient vehicles. If President-elect Putin sees to fruition President Medvedev’s modernization program, the Russian market might be able to function on significantly less oil and gas, thereby freeing up Russian reserves to be strategically exported.
President Obama notes that American fuel efficiency standards are tighter than ever, and the Big Three auto makers are building vehicles that produce many more miles to the gallon. This may bode well for American efforts to develop energy independence while investing in alternatives to fossil fuels. But if President-elect Putin is serious about growing the Russian economy while maintaining a sophisticated network of energy security, he will make a case to his people that the push for energy efficiency is not a Western plot connected with a global warming hoax, but rather a vital component of national security and geopolitical influence.
~
For a full analysis of Russia’s energy choices, refer to Adnan Vatansever’s Russia’s Oil Exports (or the abstract), published in 2010 by the Energy and Climate Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Budget 2012: Stand against additional duty by Ford, Renault on diesel cars
[[posterous-content:pid___0]]NEW DELHI: Ahead of presentation of Budget for 2012-13, automobile makers like Ford and Renault are raising their voice against imposition of any additional duty on diesel vehicles that has been demanded by many quarters. As the government gets ready with the Budget, there has been speculation that higher taxes could be imposed on diesel passenger vehicles as the subsidised fuel has been diverted for personal use by the affluent.
“How can you justify taxing only one industry? It is not justified. The automobile industry is the one, which is investing heavily in the country. It is going to affect the industry negatively,” Ford India President and MD Michael Boneham said. Ford India, which is investing Rs 4,000 crore in Gujarat to set up a new plant, also supports stand taken by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on the diesel taxation issue, he added. “Only about 1 per cent of the total diesel consumptions are by personal cars. So I think, it is not a revenue generating step,” Boneham said. Expressing similar sentiments, Renault India Managing Director Marc Nassif said the company in association with its alliance Nissan has invested Rs 4,500 crore at its Chennai facility and its investments may be at risk if the government suddenly changes its policy. “A significant part of the product portfolio consists of diesel cars and if the government is to change their policy and increase the excise or levy any other tax, then the subsequent demand may be less than what has been projected. This will lead to a major increase in break even period or even a loss for Renault,” Nassif said. Inconsistent policies or lack of policies will act as deterrent for new players as they cannot anticipate what the playing field will be in the coming years, he added. Similarly, homegrown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra had termed the calls for imposing additional tax on diesel vehicles as “retrograde” as any such move will only impede growth of the industry which has had a difficult year in 2011. Earlier, SIAM had said any move to impose additional duties on diesel vehicles will “stigmatise” diesel technology which will be very unfair to the sector. SIAM had said that out of a total of 61.68 million tonnes of diesel consumed in India across various sectors during 2010-11, diesel personal cars consumed only 1.03 per cent, while for diesel taxi segment it was at 1.82 per cent. Jeeps used for personal purpose accounted for 0.53 per cent and the same category of vehicle used for commercial purpose consumed 3.44 per cent, it had said. However, countering this, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had said as per the government’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) data, which was cited in the Planning Commission’s Kirit Parikh Committee Report of 2010, the total diesel consumption by cars, jeeps, MUVs, taxis and three-wheelers stood at 15 per cent. CSE had demanded an additional duty of up to Rs 1.62 lakh on big diesel cars to prevent the misuse of subsidised diesel for luxury. Expressing similar views, the newly-elected President of the industry chamber Assocham Rajkumar Dhoot had said subsidies on diesel should not be offered to luxury cars, telecom towers and other industries and must be restricted only to agriculture and transport sectors. The government should levy additional duties to luxury players, who are using subsidised diesel, he had said.Automobile NewsIs the car dead? - The Globe and Mail
theglobeandmail.com“Dude A: Dude, where’s my car? Dude B: Like, Dude, who cares? Indeed, the automobile, the essential tool of Dude-dom, is going the way of the horse-drawn carriage, at least for young people. They, increasingly, are not bothering to get driving licences. Those with licences are doing less wheel time. Cars are not as cool, convenient or affordable as they used to be…”
