The big news this week was the meltdown in the US as $4 a gallon continues to bite sales of trucks and SUVs.
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It wasn’t pretty. Ford announced that a small European car – the Fiesta, only previously sold in the US for 2-3 years back end of the 70s (also oil crisis time) would replace F-series trucks in Mexico, a double whammy for US workers who’d hoped they might get to build it.
Next day, General Motors weighed in – four truck plants closing (including one in Canada, shaking up relations with a union with whom a new contract had only just been agreed, months ahead of schedule), Hummer possibly for sale and new European designed I4 engines for the US.
Then the May sales data came out. Oh dear, huge hits for the domestic trucks and SUVs, and a Honda knocking the Ford F-150 off its top-seller perch, though, as we alone seem to have noted, year to date, trucks are still tops.
It wasn’t all bad, though – the latest JD Power report was favourable to domestics and imports alike and the Detroit Three also fared well under Harbor scrutiny, too.
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By GlobalDataHere in the UK, there were signs the diesel bubble is bursting, Magna looks like to have won a new vehicle build contract in Austria and, in India, Renault and Nissan got cracking on their new plant.
After all that, we need a weekend. Enjoy yours.
Graeme Roberts
Deputy Editor
just-auto.com
