Driving in P.E.I.: Great roads, shame about the drivers

Just got back from a couple of week’s en famille on Prince Edward Island. Let’s just say, that as a family vacation spot, it’s hard to beat Canada’s smallest province.

The waters of the beaches of the North Shore near where we were hunkered down, just east of Cavendish, were remarkably warm. Thank you global warming. And with a five-and-three-quarter-year-old Anne of Green Gables fan in tow, between the Upper Canada Village-style Avonlea, and the countless former stomping grounds of Anne’s creator, Lucy Maud Montgomery, to explore, nary a day went by were we weren’t happily exhausted by the end of each evening.

Now, the Island’s road system is actually pretty good. It’s a spider’s web network of paved two-laners that makes it easy to get from Point A to Point B fairly efficiently. And in between, the topography is gorgeous. If you’re not looking at a sandy dune beach, you’re looking at lush, fertile fields of the province's trademark produce, potatoes. But as a place to get anywhere quickly, or without an anxious moment, driving—or specifically, the drivers—on P.E.I. leave(s) a lot to be desired.

Let’s start with the tourists. Or as anyone born east of Truro says, the tore-ists.

As you may have guessed, P.E.I. is chock-a-block with those who think driving an RV will save them money, driving in that aching slow, halting, and hesitant, I-know-the-campground-is-around-here-somewhere-style, while ignoring the long line of drivers behind them, the ones who actually have a clue where they are going.

But it’s just not the tore-ists that drive like the road kill foxes that litter P.E.I. The locals have their own brand of what they call “driving,” with three signature moves that if you ever venture on the Island you need to heed.

First, whereas the rest of us treat posted speed limits it as a starting point, P.E.I. is one of the few places on the planet where the speeding limit is just that—the limit. So while the rest of the world applies 80 km/h into 100 km/h, most Islanders rarely waver over the posted speeds.

Second is a phenomenon I’ve never experienced anywhere else: Drivers exiting laneways, but waiting until the last second to do so. They either get in your lane ahead of you (obeying the speed limit—argh!!!) or merrily wave as they cut you off heading in the opposite direction.

Double-arghh!!

As explained to me by an uncle, who lives here back in Ontario during the winter, but summers near Summerside, on the Northumberland Strait side of the Island, this is caused for good reason.

“Well, they want to see who’s coming down the road, to see if they know them or not.”

Riiight…

The third signature P.E.I. driver move is the last second turn signal. Typically, a car ahead, approaching a corner, will slow down. But wait…wait…wait…there it is, a signal, about half way through the turn. Very helpful, indeed.

And it's just not yours truly who feels this way about P.E.I. drivers.

I have a good friend who’s a native Islander. Even he admits that the driving habits of the locals and visitors can be unnerving. Having traveled the world as a marketing executive for the past three decades, he says there are two places you don’t want to drive on this globe, Cairo, Egypt, and Prince Edward Island.

So go to P.E.I. for the beaches, the friendly hospitality and the fresh seafood.

But in regards to driving on the Island, all I can say is, great roads, shame about the drivers.

 

Is China’s latest Buick our next Skyhawk?

Like the debut of the Russian VW Polo, the release of a foreign market car gives away a new model coming our way. In this case, it’s the release of images of the Chinese-market Buick Excelle GT, a compact sedan that the Government Motors demi-luxury brand will sell in North America sometime next year.

Built by GM’s Chinese joint venture—Shanghai GM—the 2011 Buick Excelle GT compact sedan (above) will be available in China with either a 108 hp 1.8-litre four or 181 hp 1.6-litre turbo four. The sedan joins an existing five-door hatchback model.

In regards to meeting Buick’s previous small car standards, the Excelle should be an improvement.

The last Buick compact was the 1989 Skyhawk (left), a badge-engineered Chevy Cavalier that started life as a badge-engineered Chevy Vega in 1974 (right)—two of the hoariest, most dreadful platforms ever to emerge from Detroit, and a big reason why Honda Civics, Toyota Corollas and Mazda3s rule the top of the Canadian sales charts today.

But I digress...

Without a bit of irony, in the U.S., the original Skyhawk replaced the imported Opel Manta. And this latest small Buick, like the majority of the current sedans, shares a lot with its European cousins.

While previous Skyhawks were available in a variety of body styles, from two-door hatchbacks to station wagons, the Excelle is strictly a five-passenger, four-door sedan. Underneath, the Excelle’s nuts and bolts comes from GM’s global compact platform that supports the Opel Astra, as well as the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze sedan coming to Canada this fall.

But here’s the rub: Will GM do enough to differentiate the Excelle—or whatever it’s going to be called here in Canada—from the mainstream Cruze?

Will it offer enough powertrain or feature differentiation over the Chevy to take on the likes of other premium compact sedans like the new 2011 VW Jetta, Acura CSX, or Volvo S40?

Or is the small Buick simply a way to keep all those former Pontiac dealers happy who don’t have a Sunfire to sell anymore?

[Source: CarScoop]

Diesel-loving Canadians to get new 2011 Jetta TDI first

The next, new 2011 Volkswagen Jetta is going to be a big deal for the German automaker in North America. And it needs to be. Along with the new U.S.-made Passat-replacing-yet-to-be-named midsized sedan coming next year, the new Mexican-made Jetta is the first half of VW’s two-sedan attack to more than double its U.S. sales from last year to 450,000 cars.

Working towards an on sale date of the last week of September, Volkswagen Canada is giving us more and more info on the new Jetta, previewed by the New Compact Coupe concept from last year’s Detroit auto show (above.)

VW Canada’s Peter Viney confirmed with The Crank that to go head-to-head with the compact top-sellers like the existing Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Mazda3 and forthcoming Chevrolet Cruze and 2012 Ford Focus, the new Jetta is going to be bigger and offer more engine choice.

Don’t worry diesel fans, one of those mills will be the popular Jetta TDI diesel (TDI sales represented over one-quarter of all Canadian VW sales last month.) And while the U.S. market won’t get the Jetta TDI right away, Canadians will.

“This is a very important model to us. So we want to make sure Canadians get the TDI—along with the other new 2011 Jettas—right at launch,” said Viney.

Hmm…more room, more engine choice and more upscale styling…

Has VW done enough to get you out of your Corolla or Civic?

Is the guard changing in Canadian new car showrooms?

In my weekly Autonews column today, I reported that last month’s Canadian new car sales suggest the market is starting to be divided in to the “haves” and the “have nots.” However, Canadian auto industry analyst, Dennis DesRosiers has taken a longer view back than just a year ago. And he purports a more dramatic is happening in the market.

DesRosiers took a look at sales two years back, to 2008, which he states was a more “normal” May than last month. “Especially for some individual brands like Chrysler and GM who were in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings,” says DesRosiers. For example, Chrysler reported a sales increase this May of 53.5 per cent over May 2009. But when you look at Chrysler’s May sales from two years ago, they are actually down by 23.3 per cent.

DesRosiers also broadened his look to include January to May sales. For 2010, Chrysler's year-to-date sales are up 27.9 per cent from 2009, but still down by 18.3 per cent from 2008. And Chrysler’s not the only automaker that’s taking a long-term dive.

According to DesRosiers’ numbers, General Motors had taken the biggest hit in Canada, down 38 per cent. Honda is second, down 30.4 per cent, and Toyota, third, down 22.9 per cent.

As DesRosiers says, “We had gotten so used to these companies walking on water that we lose track of the fact that they can also stumble from time to time.”

He cites the two biggest big winners over the same period as Ford (up 10.6 per cent) and Hyundai (up 44.3 per cent).

After taking this longer view, do you think this change in the market is permanent?

Do you think former top sellers like GM, Chrysler, Toyota and Honda can regain their form?

[Source: DesRosiers and Associates]

Does Vee-Dub’s Russian Polo hint at coming Canuck version?

We already know as part of German Volkswagen Group's plans to overtake Toyota and General Motors for the title of World’s Largest Automaker, it needs to shore up its small car offerings in North America.

Phase One is the new, Mexican-made 2011 Jetta compact sedan coming this Fall. It will allegedly sell for thousands less than the current model's $18k-and-change base price.

Phase Two is replacing the two-generation-old Golf City (the Jetta City died this year) with a real, honest-to-gawd subcompact to take on the likes of bottom-feeders like the Yaris/Fit/Accent/Fiesta, et al—specifically a Mexican-made Polo, a car that’s been on sale in Europe since 1975.

VW’s been scant on the details of the forthcoming Canadian Polo. But this week’s debut of a new Russian-market version, pictured above, gives us the clearest hint yet of the Polo heading our way in the next year or so.

Yup. It’s a sedan. Not a hatchback, like the über-fun 180 hp Polo GTI, seen right. You can blame our hatchback-hating friends to the South for that for that, I guess. But details from the Russian Polo presser could easily be mistaken for a car heading to the Great White North:

“The specific demands of Russian drivers and the climate and street conditions in Russia have both been carefully taken into account during the new [Polo]’s development: long-term tests were conducted in different climate zones, and the street conditions in the most variegated regions in Russia were examined. Thus the vehicle has been equipped with an up-to-date and reliable engine [a 103 hp 1.6-litre gas four] that is ideally suited to those operating conditions prevailing in Russia, a galvanized, non-corrosive body and a wheel suspension geared to bad roads. Particularly robust paints were used for the car’s paint job, and the chrome parts are also highly resistant to aggressive agents.”

Makes the new Polo sound strong, like Russian bear, nyet?

But unlike Ford, Honda, Mazda, Hyundai, Kia, Fiat, Nissan, Chevrolet and Toyota—which all offer subcompact hatches to Canadian new car buyers—VW has only confirmed a four-door sedan Polo for our shores.

So…do you think VW is missing the boat by not bringing over the hatchback Polos to Canada?

Or are you just grateful that VW is giving us the opportunity to but any Polo at all?

[Source: Volkswagen]

 

More proof pickup trucks are dumb

I’ve never understood North Americans’ fascination with pickup trucks as daily transportation. They’re too big, too thirsty, and, well, they handle like trucks. But what do I know. Just last month here in the Great White North, Ford’s F-series pickup truck was the most popular new vehicle sold—car or truck.

Sure. If you’re a rancher, plumber or candlestick maker—in other words, really need all the capacity a full-size truck to make a living—hey, fill your Kodiak steel-toe boots and drive one of these behemoths. I’m guessing, though, the majority of Canadian new pickup truck buyers could get along quite nicely with a smaller, better driving and more fuel-efficient vehicle as their daily ride.

Of course, automakers love pickups. The relatively stone-age technology needed to meet lower fuel economy and safety regulations than what cars need to pass means little investment on pickup makers’ part, which translates into big profits. And now a report from Forbes shows that not only are trucks lousy cars, they also don’t make much sense financially. Dubbed “Most Overpriced 2010 Cars,” the piece lists the most overpriced (duh!) new cars sold in the U.S. based upon market value price versus MSRP ratio and customer satisfaction data from Consumers Reports.

The result? Surprise, surprise, the three most overpriced new vehicles are a trio of full-size pickups: Ford F250 (worth 25.2 per cent less than its $25,300 U.S. MSRP), Nissan Titan (worth 23.6 per cent less) and Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (worth 23 per cent less).

So there you go. More proof that if you don’t need one to make a living, driving a pickup as your daily ride is a pretty silly proposition.

So riddle me this, Crank readers: Why do Canadians still drive these automotive dinosaurs?

[Source: Forbes]

The Trouble with Toyotas: Should Canada adopt new U.S. Toyota recall crisis laws?

For you glass-half-full crowd out there, at least some good is coming from the ongoing Toyota recall crisis.

This week, U.S. government officials passed new auto-safety regulations in direct response to the Toyota’s troubles with its cars accelerating unintentionally. The installation of brake-override systems and event-data recorders, or black boxes, as well as standards for foot-pedal placement, electronic systems, push-button ignition systems and transmission configuration will now be regulated.

In case you didn’t know, the new laws follow Toyota's worldwide recalls of 10.6 million cars for sudden acceleration. And now, U.S. regulators are investigating reports of 89 deaths in the United States linked to the problem. And Toyota already has paid a record fine of $16.4 million USD.

As of now, we’ve heard boo from Transport Canada if they intend to adopt any of these new U.S. safety regs.

And it may seem like a no-brainer, but do you think Canadians deserve the same level of protection as U.S. new car buyers?

Or do you think that the U.S. government is overreacting to Toyota’s troubles?

[Source: Automotive News]

Should automakers “pay” for car awards?

A recent article at The Truth About Cars highlighted that some auto awards simply wouldn’t happen without the financial generosity of car manufacturers.

The TTAC story via The Wall Street Journal, cites U.S.-based Consumers Digest and its “Best Buy” awards as an example of this questionable practice.

Now please, don’t confuse Consumer Digest with Consumers Reports. The latter is owned by the not-for-profit Consumers Union, purchases all of its test vehicles and refuses to allow its awards to appear in manufacturer advertising.

Similar to CR’s policy, CD has no advertising, relying on subscription income alone. But it does take money directly from automakers via the licensing of its awards for advertising purposes: $35k for the first award; and $25k for each award thereafter.

To further encourage automakers to pony up for the licensing fees,  CD’s award page lists all winners of its “Best Buy” award but only offers links with further information for models that have paid CD licensing fees.

Here in Canada, we have a similar situation with the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada and its annual Canadian Car of the Year Awards, an event financed in part by automakers willing to pay entry fees.

According to AJAC spokesperson Beth Rhind, fees change each year, depending on the number of entries. Last year, AJAC asked manufacturers to pay $6,900 for each of 56 total entries.

AJAC doesn’t charge for the use of its awards in manufacturer advertising, but like CD, allows the practice.

Although AJAC says on its site the purpose of its event is to “provide consumers with sound, comparative information on vehicles that are new to the market,” not all “new” cars are evaluated.

At last year’s event not every "new" car was entered, while brands like Aston Martin, Bentley, Chrysler Group, Ferrari, Maserati, Maybach, Lamborghini, Lotus and Rolls-Royce did not participate at all.

So, the question is: Should there be a clear separation of church (automotive award organizers) and state (automaker PR departments) when it comes to automotive awards?

Or are you just fine with the financial partnership that’s going on at Consumers Digest and AJAC because of the information they provide to new car buyers?

[Source: The Truth About Cars, Wall Street Journal]

 

 

New Car Sales: April’s showers could mean Fall flowers

April’s Canadian new car sales numbers came in this week. And as is the continuing trend, new car customers are dividing up the automakers into roughly three groups: the Haves, the Have-nots and those Treading Water.

While the market was up by only 4.0 per cent compared to April 2009—a number that some industry analysts thinks should have been better—automakers like Government Motors and Toyota were down substantially, while Ford, Chrysler, and Volkswagen saw gains of 25 per cent or greater. Add in the likes of Mazda, Nissan and Honda with numbers at or about the industry average, and you can see how the market in April was broken into three, distinct groups.

Of course, unless you’re a stockholder in one of these automakers (as any Ontario taxpayer is in GM or Fiat-run Chrysler) or own a dealership, most consumers couldn’t care less about monthly sales figures and trends. But Canadian auto industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers sees future deals potentially coming to Canadian new car buyers who can wait until the Fall.

In an electronic newsletter, DesRosiers thinks, given the improving economy and heavy incentives in the market (see Toyota), April’s performance by Canadian automakers was “abysmal.” But he also predicts April’s weak numbers may result in even further price drops later this year:

“The problem is that most [automakers] have planning volumes for a market between 1.5 and 1.6 million units. This means that any individual company is going to have to take market share from others as a way to move their inventory since the size of the pie will not grow fast enough to absorb the product they have on dealer lots (Hyundai and Kia for instance). But if this happens it also means that the others are going to be left with a huge inventory build through the rest of the year.”

Basically, DesRosiers is saying that if sales don’t take off later this year (i.e. more than the 4.0 per cent gain in April), there are going to be too many new cars on dealers lots, with ensuing deals to move them.

So, if you’re in the market for a new car, can you wait until this Fall for potentially even deeper discounts?

Or are the incentives out there right just too good to ignore?

[Source: DesRosiers Automotive Consultants]

 

Can Chrysler count on Canadians buying Fiats?

Canadians love small cars. And Chrysler Canada knows this. While compact cars made up for more than half of all vehicles sold here last year, outside of our borders, the majority of the automaker’s sales are generated from minivans and pickups. Which is why Chrysler Canada CEO Reid Bigland thinks the forthcoming subcompact and compacts from Fiat will only solidify the automaker’s small-car stronghold in Canada.

According to Bigland, the forthcoming  Fiat 500 city car, left, and its performance oriented Abarth model were big hits at last month’s Toronto auto show. As such, he thinks Chrysler partnering with Fiat, "fits like a glove."

As you may know, the  500 is expected to go on sale here early next year. Additional, yet-to-be-announced Fiat models are expected to appear in Canada after the 500's introduction to replace Chrysler’s current Dodge Caliber/Avenger, Chrysler Sebring and Jeep Compass/Patriot starting in 2012.

While most of today’s Chryslers are purchased because of their low pricing or generous incentives, refinement, reliability and quality aren’t part of the package.

In J.D. Power’s latest annual study of how well vehicles hold up after three years of ownership, all three Chrysler Group brands — Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep — fell in rank. Dodge and Jeep finished in the bottom third of the pack. And the 2009 Consumers Reports auto issue had Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep among the industry’s least reliable brands over the past 10 years.

However, based on Fiat’s current rankings, Canadians shouldn’t expect huge improvements. The ol’ Fix-It-Again-Tony joke still rings true for its current European models.

According to U.K.-based Which? (kind of a British Consumers Reports) Fiats and Alfa Romeos are near the bottom in reliability and “need to improve significantly to move way from the foot of table where they have languished for several years.”. While Brit magazine What Car? put Fiat 28th out of 28 brands in its 2008 Customer Satisfaction Index for two-year-old vehicles.

So do you think Chrysler Canada’s optimism for the new Fiat-based small cars is justified?

Will Canadians continue to buy Chryslers based on Fiat nuts and bolts?

[Source: Ward’s Automotive]