There's good news, bad news and - finally - some smart, encouraging news by and for American drivers.
First off, we're planning our road trips to the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas (starts on election day, so we're voting this week) and then the Los Angeles Auto Show's media days, exactly three weeks after SEMA begins.
For those who don't know, SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) is a trade and lobbying group which represents all the major car-makers and literally thousands of supplier firms specializing in performance and appearance upgrades, from fuzzy dice and roof racks to replacement engines and superior electronics of all kinds. At SEMA, a lot of the fun is seeing mom-and-pop operations which make some specific, esoteric race car part sit alongside giants like Edelbrock, Flowtech and retailers like AutoZone. Over 100,000 attend, and it's "to the trade, only." And it's the biggest annual BtoB extravaganza in Las Vegas.
(A Toyota in full SEMA glory; anything that can be bolted-on, screwed-on or glued-on is front-and-center when car-makers and supplier partners forget the meaning of "budget" - SteveParker.com Photo).
We've been going to SEMA Shows for over 20 years, and the past few we've been amazed at the large number of Chinese companies displaying their wares there, both from Taiwan and that other, bigger China (the one with the Olympics), and mostly focused on selling wheels and tires. A lot of them.
Now there may be problems with some of those products. And for anyone who remembers the Ford Explorer/Firestone Tire scandal of some years back, the following might bring back some not-very-fond memories.
NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has opened a preliminary evaluation to "assess the scope, frequency and safety consequences" of an alleged defect in tires on some Ford products. Defect investigations can lead to vehicle recalls.
The investigation concerns more than 1 million Ford vehicles after receiving reports of tires leaking air from faulty valve stems made by a Chinese company. Ford has received some complaints but no reports of crashes or injuries. Eleven complaints said the valves led to lost tire inflation and required the tire to be replaced.
The vehicles with these possibly dangerous valve stems include the Ford F-150, Mustang, Edge, Fusion, Expedition, Explorer, Focus and Escape, and the Mercury Grand Marquis, MKX, MKZ, and Milan. The valves are made by Topseal Automotive, a subsidiary of Shanghai Baolong Automotive Corp.
(Not a show car, but the owner of this PT Cruiser is the target-market for SEMA members; a car owned by someone who spares no expense in making a "statement" with their car, saying, "This is me!" - SteveParker.com Photo).
Another NHTSA investigation involving Chinese tires has been open since May, 2008 (get info at www.nhtsa.dot.gov).
Good news: Similar to SEMA, but smaller in scale, are car and car parts shows staged worldwide by Automechanika. This week their show is running in Frankfurt.
And imagine everyone's surprise in Frankfurt when ... patent attorneys of the Munich firm Prinz & Partner pulled whole bagfuls of counterfeit windshield wipers from hidden corners of the stands of Chinese and Taiwanese exhibitors at that Automechanika show.
Product pirates were presented with final judgments passed by French courts for patent infringement. Since they failed to pay those assessed fines and damages, their stands were searched by customs for counterfeit products and were seized complete with all the bad goods (get it?) a short time later. For these companies, the trade fair was already over on the second day (the press release from the law firm's office fairly gloats).
We'll find out what we can about similar investigations, and knock-off products which might be on-sale in the US, at the SEMA Show next month and post the information on this Blog.
Also not working in Ford's corner is Kirk Kerkorian, multi-zillion dollar investor in Ford, GM (and Chrysler, when it was a public company), friend of Lee Iacocca, airline owner, Las Vegas hotel and casino magnate and all-around successful, rich and very smart gentleman.
Now, Kerkorian has sold part of his 6.5% stake in Ford for a third less than he bought them for just six months ago. Sounds like Daimler's predicament when they sold Chrysler to Cerberus (all reported in this Blog when it happened), taking a huge loss, but also getting out from under what they saw as a sinking ship. Kerkorian is no fool.
His intension to sell for the short term triggered a 4% price plunge for Ford stock. Since Kerkorian bought those 140.8 million shares for around $1 billion, Ford stock has sunk by about 60%. Yesterday, Tuesday, 10-21, Ford stock closed at $2.17, down 6.87%. Apparently, when Kirk Kerkorian talks, people still listen ...
(That's Kirk Kerkorian on the right, with his poorer but good friend and, not incidentally, the majority leader of the US Senate, Nevada's Harry Reid, taking-in a prizefight in Las Vegas; the fellow standing just behind Sen. Reid, glaring at the camera, looks like someone we wouldn't want to mess with. Hey! It's Vegas, baby! But with DC-style security!).
Finally, the good news (wasn't it worth the wait?): Gas prices are getting lower, but Americans, wisely, are not celebrating this price drop with more driving.
Could we, the country burning up 25% of the world's oil when we can claim just 3% of it, finally be learning our lesson?
Gasoline demand levels are down 6.4% from a year ago and were also lower during the summer months.
Gas demand during the work week has stayed relatively steady, up only 0.5% to 1% since prices started to drop.
But weekend driving has shown a dramatic decrease, with demand falling 7% to 10% from a year ago. The great American pastime of "going for a drive" just to, well, to go for a drive, seems over.
(Gas prices as of April 1st are close to today's).
I'd rather see driving during the work week drop dramatically, with people using mass and rapid transit to go to and from their jobs. Then, perhaps a little fun weekend driving would be in order and socially acceptable.
A surge in fuel-efficient cars' popularity and a heightened eco-consciousness are also be contributing to lower gasoline sales. Sales of gas/electric hybrids have actually decreased while demand for them is stronger than ever. Their sales drop is a result of the car-makers having too few factories making them.