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Trucks, SUVs drive U.S. October new vehicle sales

DETROIT — Major automakers posted mixed U.S. new vehicle sales in October on Wednesday, though America's love affair with high-margin pickup trucks and SUVs remained in full bloom as larger, pricier vehicles fared better than passenger cars. Auto industry publication WardsAuto put the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for light vehicle sales in October at a robust level of 18 million units. But after a long boom cycle, carmakers are still ill-prepared for the slight decline in sales anticipated for full-year 2017 and have taken too few steps to trim production, said Doug Mehl, a partner in consultancy A.T. Kearney's automotive practice. "When you make a new vehicle, you have volume assumptions tagged to it, and who wants to be the guy who says, 'I'm going to make less of this really cool model'?" Mehl said. "But eventually the market is the reality, and it's going to force companies one way or other here." General Motors GM reported a sales drop of 2.2 percent for the month, with consumer sales down 6.6 percent. But sales of high-margin pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and crossovers all rose. GM also cut its inventory of unsold vehicles — a source of concern for the market — slightly. The automaker has worked to reduce its volume of excess inventory, including through significant production shutdowns in the third quarter. GM had said its inventory would rise in October. "We are heading into the fourth quarter with good momentum, thanks to a strong U.S. economy and very strong pickup and crossover sales," said Kurt McNeil, GM vice president for U.S. sales operations. GM slightly reduced consumer discounts as a percentage of average transaction prices to 13.5 percent, from 13.7 percent in the third quarter. Industry experts believe consumer discounts above 10 percent of the average transaction price are unhealthy as they erode resale values and are unsustainable in the long term. Consultants J.D. Power and LMC said last week that based on preliminary October sales numbers, discounts have exceeded 10 percent in 15 of the past 16 months. Ford The U.S. auto industry posted record sales of 17.55 million vehicles in 2016. New sales received a strong boost in September as consumers replaced vehicles damaged in southeast Texas by Hurricane Harvey the previous month. Full-year 2017 sales are expected to be slightly lower than 2016.

Toyota TRD Pro Chase Trucks are ready to hit the desert at SEMA

Toyota marks the 35th anniversary of its Toyota Racing Development performance arm this year, and the division is celebrating at this year's SEMA Show with a quartet of tuned off-roaders based on on the 4Runner, Tacoma and Tundra that look more than ready to go just about anywhere.
All four of them will take part in this year's Baja 1000 race, but only the Tundra (far left in the above photo) is actually competing. The other three will be there to act as support vehicles.
Inspired by the production TRD Pro Series trucks, the 4Runner, Tacoma and Tundra are prepared by off-road fabricator N-Fab with a mix of TRD and the company's own parts to be able to take whatever the grueling, 1,000-mile can throw at them. The trio is fettled with extra communications equipment, GPS, additional lights and all sorts of body and suspension modifications to help them survive the ordeal.

Toyota FCV puts hydrogen fuel cell twist on ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

You've probably seen your fair share of Ice Bucket Challenge videos online this week, which are meant to raise money to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often called "Lou Gehrig's Disease." Hopefully, you've seen ours. We've watched a lot of these videos, but haven't seen one that makes an alt-fuel point quite like a new video from Toyota. Julie Hamp, the CCO of Toyota North America, lost a sister-in-law to ALS last year, so for her the cause is personal. Instead of just dumping icy-cold water on her head, Hamp uses water from the FCV fuel cell vehicle parked next to her. Because, of course, a hydrogen fuel cell car emits nothing but water vapor. Toyota didn't run a lot of hydrogen through the car to collect water, it just got enough to top off the ice bucket. Using the water emissions from a hydrogen vehicle in a creative way is not a new trick. Two years ago, the California Fuel Cell Partnership made the point that you can drink the emissions (just like Mercedes-Benz did earlier this year), but admitted that "fuel cells produce about the same amount of water as gasoline vehicle – about 1/3 cup for a full day of driving." Still, for a good cause, we'll accept the mix of tap water and "emissions." Check out the video below, if you haven't had enough already. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.