Did you miss us Feb 8th?

Utah Car Cents on 1280 The Zone  February 8, 2014

 

Have you Seen This? Corvette Museum Sink Hole!

Historic Corvettes Swallowed by Sink Hole! 

  

The following cars were involved in the incident:
1962 black Corvette
1984 PPG pace car
1992 white 1 millionth Corvette
1993 ruby red 40th anniversary Corvette
1993 ZR-1 Spyder on loan from General Motors
2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette
2009 white 1.5 millionth Corvette
2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" on loan from General Motors

Check out Corvette Musuem's Website for more info! Sinkhole Collapses in Skydome

Auto News: GM Hits Sales Record - But Not Where You Might Think

General Motors has hit a new sales record. In China.

GM made it to a total sales record of 348,061 units in China during January. According to Autonews Buick's monthly deliveries gained 16 percent to surpass 100,000 units for the first time. 

General Motors plans to spend $11 billion through 2016 to expand it's reach to consumers worldwide. Their best selling vehicle is the premium Cadillac brand which has tripled to 5,741 vehicles. Last April, GM announced that it would be introducing 9 SUV models in china over the next five years in order to keep up with demand.

It's great to hear about all of the new international sales and success for GM, but some may find it a bit ironic considering the events of the recession and  that GM cancelled it's monthly U.S. sales conference call saying they had nothing to say to reporters and Wall Street analysts about it's January sales.

On another note; Volkswagen houses it's only non-union assembly plant in Chattanooga Tennessee, but that may be changing.  In the days to come, 1500 VW Factory employees will be voting whether to unionize or not Feb 12-14. If voted in, Chattanooga's plant will be the first in the US under German-style council system. Basically, blue collar and white collar workers will work together to negotiate factory issues with management.

The only problem is that the State's Republican lawmakers have made it very clear, that if the plant is unionized VW will have a difficult time receiving future incentives and tax subsidies.  Without the help from government, VW may be forced to move to Mexico.
Autoblog.

This Month's Trends are as Follows

Toyota's FT-1 The New Supra?

The Toyota FT-1 Concept 

Just when we were starting to think Toyota was losing it's edge, they give us a sneak peek of something new, something to hope for.

Toyota's starting to hop back on the performance bracket with the new release of the Toyota FT-1 Concept.  In a sense, this could be mind blowing and hard to wrap around, seeing that as of late, Toyota really hasn't been going for the performance enthusiast demographic.  It's been all about the Hybrids and Fuel cells.  But this new monster, Toyota is aiming at 60,000.00 MSRP

Back in 2007 we were teased, and given false hope over the FT-HS concept seen above.  Something that died off in the middle of the 2008 recession like a neglected gold fish that had the potential to grow into a gold sparkling monster. Ok, maybe I'm going for the wrong visual here, but you get the point.

 

Alex Shen, Studio Chief Designer for Toyota's Calty Design Research in Newport Beach California pitched the idea of the FT-1 to Akio Toyota after he made his popular quote "Toyota's are fun to drive again".   The Supra has been long overdue for a comeback.  The Toyota Mark I Supra was released in 1978 in Japan and was also known as the Celica XX. Shown below.

People got excited in 1991 when the 150hp 3.0L 6 Cyl was introduced to the American Market. From there, things got serious! Toyota then released the beast from the cage and came out with the 204hp Turbo Charged Inline 6 Mark IV in 1992! But they didn't stop there!! Oh no they didn't,  In 1993 Godzilla himself was introduced as a 276hp Twin Turbo Inline 6 with 268 ft lb of Torque.  It's like they couldn't stop increasing the power and the cool factor.  Then, in August of 2002 the excitement disappeared and somehow the new cool car was the Toyota Prius.  Pffft* all downhill from there. 

 

But there's hope! This new F1 inspired machine from Calty Design is popping up out of the mist. The interior was inspired by designers who spent hours hanging out at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, north of San Diego.  Studying head-up displays in the Jet simulators, and hitting the racetrack realizing what's really important when your going 150mph.

 The interior alone is worth getting giddy over, Aerodynamic engineering led to the display and cockpit seating. The steering wheel even has it's own display.

 

 As far as what's under the hood. It's under lock and key, maybe it's a Lexus inspired LFA? Or maybe even a Tesla inspired Electric system.  Word on the street is the car may be a joint venture with a particular company in Munich Germany... hmmm.

Toyota's last team up wasn't so bad, as they reinvented the 86' known as the Scion FR s and Subaru BRZ Roadster. 50/50 weight distribution and handling from hell.  Just a little underpowered... 

Did You Miss Us Saturday Feb 1, 2014

Saturday Radio Show Feb 1, 2014

Rick Votaw from Votaw Enterprises joins Jeff Miller & Tom Barberi.  Rick lets Jeff drive his Tesla and gives a full bumper to bumper break down on the new car and goes over...

• Tesla Purchase Process
• Maintenance
• Elon Musk and Fuel Cell vs. Electric
• Hydrogen infrastructure

  Part 1
  Part 2

Special Guest Mark Takahashi joins Jeff and Tom and tells about his experience with the new 2015 Subaru WRX, what it's like to work for Edmunds.com and gives a breakdown on Edmunds no hassle dealership pricing.



Download the PODCAST Episodes on Itunes

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/utah-car-cents/id800871964?mt=2

Hyundai's Superbowl Ad Goes Viral

Hyundai's Elantra  Superbowl Ad Goes Viral

Big Bang theory's Johnny Galecki sporting the new 2014 Elantra in this year's Superbowl commercial has gone viral.

Ranking in  #1 at 12,621,509 Views.

# 2 is Volkswagen's angel wings ad at 12,099,740 views.

# 3 is Audi and the Doberhuahua at 9,763,620 views. 

This year's Superbowl ads weren't necessarily the best we've ever seen. But nonetheless a few of the auto manufacturers have gone viral.   

For a complete list from Autonews, click here. 

 

Do Celebrities Really Sell Cars?

Automaker's Teaming up with Celebrities- Does it Work?

2/3/2014

Despite what thoughts may be arising over this years Superbowl,  it's obvious to see that Automakers and Marketing agencies are choosing to follow a niche` filled with emotion and celebrities. Ford teamed up with James Franco and Rob Riggle, double the celebrities for double the gas mileage on their new Hybrid Ford Fusion.

Chrysler teamed up with Bob Dylan for an all out American heritage style commercial; riddled with Detroit history and made in America patriotism, "Let Asia assemble your phone, we will build your car."

Hyundai chose to go with Laurence Fishburne and recreate a Matrix experience with their new K900. "Do you take the Red Key, or the Blue Key? Hyundai also teamed up with Big Bang theory's Johnny Galecki sporting the new 2014 Elantra.

Tom Hiddleston, Ben Kingsley, and Mark Strong star for Jaguar; the car of villain's choice, or at least that of British actors playing the best supervillains.  Hash-tagging #Goodtobebad

Bruce Willis and Fred Armisen representing Honda. Honda, who is known for choosing celeb's to port their brand, Nick Cannon and Michael Bolton.

Audi Teamed up with Sarah McLachlan for their Doberhuahua commercial; Don't Compromise.

The big question is... Do celebrities really help sell cars?

Is it the memorable quirk of the advertisement that sells? To keep the corporation's brand in the back of the consumer's mind, to stand out?  Today's advertising is becoming harder and harder for corporations and ad agencies to successfully pull off. Fluid Drive Media states that we are exposed to about "247 messages a day, and probably don't even notice half of them." In some instances we can be exposed to over "3000 visual attacks in a day".

 These 30 second ads can be replaced just as fast as they're delivered.  Ads are becoming more bold, objective and designed to be memorable and create a buzz.  Most manufacturers will agree there is no direct link for star to car purchases, but if the buzz sticks, they've won half the battle.  The rest is all about branding, strategy, and embedding their messages into our brains. Either way, as long as they are entertaining and help create a good conversation, I don't think anyone will be complaining to soon. So in short, do celebrities sell cars? Yes, err... No, well,  we don't know...