2 +2 1990 37,050 Miles on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Race Recap: 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans defines 'endurance'

Commenting on the rush of events that rocked beginning and end of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Paul Truswell of Radio Le Mans said "the race is about the ability to endure, not just the ability of drivers to do what they do for a long time." The entire race machine, all the way down to the pit boards and radios, has to survive the stress and abuse of the entire day. This was the race to prove those words.
There were two Toyotas, two Porsches and three Audis, five of the seven led the race at some point, six of the seven ran in the top three. Toyota will be hugely disappointed that it didn't win when its car and drivers were so, so strong, but they gave Audi the kind of scare we haven't seen since the best of Peugeot's days, and Toyota did a better job of it even in the loss. Porsche blew away everyone's expectations, falling 3.5 hours short of a fairy tale ending that would have made Disney cry.
But Le Mans doesn't really do fairy tales. Well, not that fairy tale. Audi's Twitter handle during the event was #welcomechallenges. As usual, Le Mans answered for the entire field.

Mixed sales results, but automaker stocks rise on need for cars in Houston

DETROIT — The Big Three Detroit automakers on Friday reported better-than-expected August sales and issued optimistic outlooks for demand as residents of the Houston area replace flood-damaged cars and trucks after Hurricane Harvey, sending their stocks higher. General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler posted mixed August U.S. sales, with GM up 7.5 percent and Ford and Fiat Chrysler down. Japanese automaker Toyota improved sales by nearly 7 percent, while Honda fell 2.4 percent. Still, analysts focused on the potential for Detroit automakers to cut inventories and stabilize used vehicle prices as residents of Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, are forced to replace tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of vehicles after the devastation from Hurricane Harvey. Mark LaNeve, Ford's U.S. sales chief, told analysts on Friday that following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 "we saw a very dramatic snapback" in demand. That said, Ford sales fell 2.1 percent in August. It sold 209,897 vehicles in the United States, compared with 214,482 a year earlier. Sales were down 1.9 percent in the Ford division and off 5.8 percent at Lincoln. Demand was down for cars, crossovers and SUVs. It was not clear how many vehicles in the Houston area will be scrapped, LaNeve said, saying he had seen estimates ranging from 200,000 to 400,000 to 1 million. Ford's Houston dealers may have lost fewer than 5,000 vehicles in inventory, he said. Ford is the No. 1 automaker in the Houston market, with 18 percent share, according to IHS Markit. The company plans to ship used vehicles to Houston dealers and has "every indication we would have to add some production" of new vehicles to meet demand, LaNeve said. Investor concerns about inventories of unsold vehicles and falling used car prices have weighed on Detroit automakers' shares most of this year. Now, automakers can anticipate a jolt of demand from a big market that is a stronghold for Detroit brand trucks and SUVs. "It's got to be a positive for the industry," LaNeve said. Investors appeared to agree. GM shares rose as much as 3.3 percent to their highest since early March. Ford increased 2.8 percent at $11.34, and Fiat Chrysler's U.S.-traded shares were up 5.2 percent $15.91, hitting their highest in more than five years. GM reported a 7.5 percent increase in U.S. auto sales in August, helped by robust sales of crossovers across its four brands.

Chevy Volt sales drop in June, Nissan Leaf inches upwards

Different month, same story. That's the gist of the monthly US sales numbers from the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. These were the first two mass-market plug-in vehicles to go on sale in the US and we've been comparing their sales numbers for what seems like ages now. So far, the 2014 tale of the tape shows the all-electric once again trumping the plug-in hybrid. The last time the Volt outsold the Leaf was in October 2013. Chevrolet sold 1,777 Volts in June. That was good enough to be the Volt's best sales month of the year, but it's down 34 percent from the 2,698 units sold in June 2013. In fact, it's on par with the 1,760 Volts sold in June 2012. Given the steady sales, General Motors might need to push up the release of the next-gen Volt to gin up excitement, especially if it also offers some of the things that current Volt drivers say they want improved: more range, a lower price and a fifth seat. GM also said it sold 85 Spark EVs in June, an increase of 215 percent over June 2013 Nissan sold 2,347 Leafs last month. The good news continues for Nissan, which says it sold 2,347 Leafs last month. That's an increase of 5.5 percent over 2013 numbers and makes 2014 the best June ever for Leaf sales. Let's credit Texas. Toby Perry, Nissan's director of EV sales and marketing, said in a statement that, "Since the Texas state incentive went into effect in May, we've seen a big jump in Leaf sales in the Austin, Dallas and Houston markets. Our dealers are telling us that they saw more traffic in their stores, and they had their best Leaf sales performance in the last weekend in June." Even with that increase, Atlanta remains the top Leaf market. Nissan has sold 12,736 Leafs in the US so far this year; Chevy 8,615 Volts. Our detailed monthly sales write-up of green cars in the US, including plug-in vehicles, hybrids and diesel cars, is coming soon. For now, we invite you to discuss these numbers in the Comments. Related Gallery 2013 Nissan Leaf View 55 Photos News Source: GM, Nissan Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric Hybrid PHEV ev sales