Kelley Blue Book has turned to SAS and its analytics software to help support KBB?s business and reporting, including such tasks as delivering leads to dealers and determining vehicle values. KBB is pushing growth through the partnership for back-end analytics to augment the company?s reporting capabilities.
As retail new vehicle sales are expected to slow down in the next few months, automakers and dealers can turn to fleet sales to meet their goals. Fleet managers could find themselves in a stronger negotiating position for next year?s purchases, says Edmunds.com chief economist Lacey Plache.
Ford's focus for the future is on improved fuel economy which it will achieve by making its vehicles smaller and engines lighter without sacrificing performance, safety or luxury. It also wants to attract upscale customers and new buyers with more product offerings. Most of its North American nameplates will be available with direct-injection turbocharged EcoBoost engines as standard equipment or as an option by 2013. EcoBoost will be offered as an option on five of Ford's 15 North American nameplates by the end of this year.
Bans on texting and hand-held cellphone use are raising awareness of distracted driving, but inconsistent enforcement is a significant barrier to solving the problem. Thirty-four states now ban texting while driving while ten states and the District of Columbia ban all motorists from using hand-held cellphones while driving. Automakers, wireless providers and those creating smartphone applications are trying to set limits so their features are more likely to be used safely. The U.S. Department of Transportation is conducting research on emerging vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure technology that could play a key role in preventing accidents from driver distraction in the future.
General Motors Co. and South Korea's LG Corp. are partnering to develop a new lineup of battery-powered vehicles aimed at cutting the cost and time required to create electric cars. LG will cover half the cost of creating a future portfolio of electric and hybrid vehicles and then become GM's supplier on anything the companies jointly create. The new arrangement increases LG's role to include everything from on-board battery chargers to climate-control and possibly in-vehicle entertainment systems. GM hopes the partnership will help it move past rivals in the race to develop electric and gas-electric hybrid vehicles to meet the new U.S. fuel economy requirements.