At the Mecum Auctions E.J. Cole Collection sale, this 1907 Harley-Davidson hammered down for $650,000, the highest price ever paid for a Harley at auction. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India’s largest SUV maker, is in talks to buy Italian auto design and engineering company Pininfarina SpA. More at Bloomberg.com.
+ Erroll B. Davis, a member of the board of directors at General Motors since 2009, has announced he will retire at the end of his term this year. More at The Detroit News.
+ Detroit Diesel will invest $208 million and add 245 jobs at its 75 year-old plant in the Detroit suburb of Redford Township. More at Crain’s Detroit Business.
+ McLaren Formula One driver Fernando Alonso says his pre-season testing crash was caused by a steering malfunction, refuting team claims that mechanical failure was not involved. More at BBC Sport.
+ As part of a sweeping overhaul of its development and production methods, Toyota says it plans to cut its tooling costs on new models by half. More at Reuters.
+ A nationwide crackdown on auto dealers has turned up widespread incidents of false ads, deceptive loans, and false odometer readings, the Federal Trade Commission reports. More at ABC News.
+ Kuka Systems North America, maker of robots for automotive and aerospace manufacturers, is planning to add 116 jobs at its Clinton Township, Michigan plant, doubling its workforce there. More at the Detroit Free Press.
+ The Mecum Auctions E.J. Cole Collection sale in Las Vegas featured a number of rare classic motorcycles fetching spectacular prices, including a 1907 Harley-Davidson Strap Tank, a 1915 Cyclone, and a 1942 Crocker. More at Hemmings Daily.
+ Aston Martin Lagonda officials charge that Henrik Fisker’s $400,000 Thunderbolt concept is an unauthorized copy of the Aston Martin Vanquish. More at Bloomberg.com.
+ A.J. Allmendinger, who currently drives the JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet in NASCAR Sprint Cup, says he wants to run the Indy 500/Coca Cola 600 double this May. More at Racer.
For the previous Executive Briefing from March 23, click here.
Looks like Virginia has been lax in the past about policing their auto dealers. Their more than six pages of violations far exceeds any other state.
And those are only the ones they caught. I’ve said for years that the “stealerships” are just that, a bunch of crooks! There may be a lot of them that are honest, but I’d say there are many more that are willing to falsly advertise, manipulate figures, offer things they know they can’t provide, and just generally screw the uninformed customer. So many people go into a dealership without a clue of how the business works and the many ways they are hiding costs and being taking advantage of. Question everything!
A recent Alberta Consumers Protection group check saw 19 of 21 new car dealerships tested in Calgary failed the “buy the advertised car at the advertised price” test. Alberta has an “all in price” law requiring that everything mandatory except the sales tax is included in the advertised price. Doc fees, undercoating, glass etching – you name it – were all foisted on them.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/most-new-car-dealerships-fail-mystery-shopper-test-calgary-survey-1.2300369
“Mandatory extras are much higher and more creative than APA has seen in previous dealer surveys, frequently over $1,000 in total for dubious charges like Vehicle Protection, Tire Security and Post-delivery Inspection”