All Entries in the "Auto News" Category

Gen-Y’s Preference For Imports Spells Trouble For Domestics

There’s a great generational divide when it comes to cars.

If you’re over 30, chances are that you see automobiles as status symbols; under 30 and you’re more likely to see them as sources of air pollution. Generation Y motorists have very different transportation consumption habits than did their Baby Boomer and Generation X predecessors. According to more than a few studies and surveys, Gen Y would rather take public transportation than buy their own cars. What’s more, when gen Y does buy cars, they prefer smaller, foreign, gas-efficient vehicles like Scions, Mitsubishis and Mazdas over familiar American brands like Ford and Chevrolet.

While it’s true that “Generation Y” is really nothing more than a nickname for a large demographic born between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, and that it’s therefore silly to make generalizations about Gen Y, it’s still very interesting to talk about this group of 80 million young people because:

• Gen Y is the largest generational cluster in American history
• Gen Y is the first to “come up” during the Internet age, which is undoubtedly a major event in human history – they will probably be different than generations that have come before
• For the first time in history, marketers have numerous tools and devices they can use to measure the preferences and behaviors of an entire age group.

If the Gen Y studies are to be trusted, there’s some very bad news for Ford, GM, and Chrysler-Fiat: The members of Gen Y don’t like the so-called “domestics.”

Do Seniors Suffer Substantially Different Injuries in an Accident? Toyota Wants To Know

Automobile safety has advanced in leaps and bounds since the early days of motoring, but room for improvement still exists. Studies conducted by large automobile manufacturers such as Toyota continue to search for ways to reduce the risk of injury to drivers and passengers in accidents. A recent study conducted by Japanese researchers found that seniors were more likely to suffer abdominal injuries in an accident.

Toyota has joined up with Virginia Tech University to determine whether seniors suffer different accident injuries.

New Nissan Titan Delayed

For those awaiting the updating of the Nissan Titan truck, it appears your wait is not yet over. Nissan has recently announced that due to the March earthquakes in Japan, the update won’t happen at this time. The earthquakes have caused many problems and damages at facilities there that they have now had to put the plans to update the Nissan Titan on hold for awhile, most likely until the year 2014…meaning the updated Titan could be a 2015 model.

A new Nissan Titan has been delayed due to recent earthquake in Japan.

Prius to compete in Super GT300

“Super” and “Prius” are two words not usually used together, at least when it comes to describing speed or sporty performance, but that hasn’t stopped Toyota from unveiling a Prius Super GT300 car to compete in next year’s Super GT300.

Toyota will beef up its conservative Prius to compete in the Super GT300.

The Prius GT300 will replace Toyota’s Corolla Axio racer and race against traditional coupes such as the Subaru BRZ as well as a hybrid Honda CR-Z racer.

Toyota Exports Expand – It’s All About The Weak Dollar

Recently Toyota announced that it will be adding the Kentucky-built Camry to its growing list of vehicles it will be exporting to South Korea. This growth in exports, fueled by a weak U.S. dollar, means the thousands of American factory workers that Toyota employs will have increased job security and a stable income during a very difficult economy.

Toyota is expanding its list of American Made Cars for export adding the Kentucky built Camry to the list.

All of these exports add up to big growth in U.S. economic sectors like manufacturing, customer service and transportation. and they could even start a hiring boom. SO, the next time someone says that so-called “foreign” automakers are killing America, you can explain to them that not only is Toyota building cars in the USA – they’re exporting cars from the USA to other markets.