Last year, Toyota President Akio Toyoda set up the North American Quality Advisory Panel, led by form DOT Secretary Rodney Slater, to advise the automaker on changes following its massive vehicle recalls. Changes need to be made to Toyota?s centralized structure where local authority can speed up response time for quality and safety issues. A global safety chief should be put in place, too.
The ending of the recession has brought used-car buyers back to a market short of product. Owners are keeping vehicles longer, and reduced lease sales from 2009 have made used vehicles scarce. Inventory values are expected to peak shortly and then remain flat or begin to decline. Many buyers are moving to a new vehicle as monthly payments become comparable from new to used.
During the National Alliance of Buy-Here, Pay-Here Dealers conference, FinCo Management, an emerging provider of consumer finance solutions to the used auto industry, announced it is now purchasing subprime and deep subprime consumer contracts. To support its contract purchases, the company obtained a new credit facility led by Metropolitan Equity Partners, as well as additional growth equity investment from current and new investors.
Google is reaching way out past its iconic search engine with smart phones and tablet computers. Making cars more fuel efficient is now on the list through a partnership with Ford. A system based on Google Predictive API "learns" driver's patterns, predicts destinations, and then suggests routes that are energy efficient and tailored to driver and vehicle.