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United States drivers buying fewer Mexican-made cars

Crossovers and pickup trucks are not only growing in market share, they're also more profitable than cars. A crossover on the same platform as a sedan retails for thousands more, despite similar components. It's one of the reasons we've seen automakers rapidly shifting production of their sedans and hatchbacks to Mexico, where cheap labor preserves the thin profit margins on these inexpensive vehicles. But as the market continues to shift in the United States, Mexico is getting burned by its lack of product diversity. The country's auto exports, which are heavy on cars, suffered a 16-percent drop last month, Automotive News reports. In total, year-over-year exports fell from 233,515 to 197,020 last month, while year-to-date exports are down by 7.4 percent, from 922,029 to 854,118. The number one culprit? America – which usually accounts for 75 percent of Mexico's exports – and its appetite for crossovers and pickup trucks bolstered by cheap gas prices. While Mexico does build some light truck models – AN specifically calls out the Ram 2500, Honda HR-V, GMC Sierra, and Toyota Tacoma as export leaders – the vast majority of vehicles rolling out of its factories are sedans and hatchbacks. In fact, the three biggest drops in Mexican exports came from companies whose south of the border factories only build cars – Ford (Fusion/Lincoln MKZ and Fiesta), Mazda (Mazda3), and Volkswagen (Golf and Jetta). Mexican Automotive Industry Association President Eduardo Solis told AN the export shortfall will likely be sorted out sooner rather than later, thanks to a pair of new factories – a Kia car factory and an Audi SUV plant – that are coming online by year's end. The two facilities will add around 100,000 vehicles to the country's export totals, which Solis said should leave the industry on the verge of breaking another export record in 2016. But how sustainable will these record-breaking years be? Slapping an "Hecho en Mexico" sticker on a new German SUV won't be enough to change the fact that Mexico's product mix is tilted too heavily towards body styles that are not growing in volume. Mexico's record-breaking export years probably aren't at an end, but we'd argue they're certainly under threat. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Omar Torres / AFP / Getty Images Plants/Manufacturing Ford GMC Honda Mazda RAM Volkswagen Truck Crossover SUV Mexico

GMC doesn't care if it's Mt. McKinley or Denali

GMC is getting a mountain of free publicity from President Obama's decision to rename the former Mt. McKinley back to Denali in Alaska. The truck-and-SUV brand is happy to see the moniker of its high-end trim in the news, but doesn't intend to change any marketing because of the switch. "It had no impact or change on our strategy," a GMC spokesperson told the Detroit Free Press. The brand doesn't expect sales to change, though the frequent use of the word Denali in the news in a positive light amounts to free, albeit temporary, advertising for the company. Denali is the word for the nation's tallest mountain in the Koyukon Athabascan language, and it means "the high one." In 1896 a prospector rechristened the peak Mt. McKinley to support presidential candidate William McKinley. He won the election, but was assassinated in 1901. The title stuck, and the site officially got the name when a national park was created there. Since then, there has been a push to return to the original moniker, and according to the Free Press, the park became Denali in 1980. Now, the peak has followed suit. GMC started using Denali to denote the top models on the 1999 Yukon. Today, it's available as an upmarket alternative on most of the brand's lineup. Related Video: News Source: The Detroit Free PressImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL / GMC Marketing/Advertising Weird Car News GMC Truck SUV Luxury gmc yukon alaska denali gmc denali

WI dealer under fire for selling new GMC to dying, blind 89-year-old WWII vet [w/video]

You know, people, getting through this life from one end to the other in one piece really does require just one rule: don't be a prick. If you ever find yourself in a situation of dubious moral standing, take a step back and ask yourself, "Am I being a prick to any person or thing?" If the answer is "yes," then stop what you're doing, apologize and go home. One dealership in Wisconsin could possibly have benefitted from that course of action when it reportedly helped David McMurray con his elderly and disabled parents into buying a brand-new $42,000 GMC Terrain for his use.
According to local news reports, a representative from Palmen Motors visited Harold and Christen Thomsen's home to collect signatures for a loan agreement three weeks before the 89-year-old, legally blind Harold passed away. The World War II veteran was on morphine and in hospice when he signed for the GMC, and his 90-year-old wife suffers from dementia. Even so, upon being discovered, the dealer initially said everything was done "legally." According to Barb Tinkler, McMurray's sister, the sale was a scam that remained hidden until he was busted for an unrelated criminal charge.