Win a Toyota Camry and Give Another to Friend or Family

To further push the redesigned 2012 Toyota Camry, which has competitors like the Ford Fusion and Hyundai Sonata chomping at the bit, Toyota has decided to give away two new Camrys to a lucky winner who uses the Shazam music service.

For folks who don't know about Shazam, it's a music identification application available on most major smartphone operating systems. Toyota wants you to Shazam its latest commercial, which sentimentally talks about the generations of Toyota Camry owners. By playing along, you'll be entered to win two new 2012 Toyota Camrys, collectively worth $53,280, says the automaker. You can watch the ad online on YouTube and use Shazam to enter. You can circumvent Shazam and just enter the game on Toyota's website.

The sweepstakes ends Sunday. Contestants can enter it once a day until Saturday.

Cars.com News Briefs: Jan. 31, 2012

Here’s what we have our eye on today:

• Analysts expect January’s new-car sales to increase 6% over January 2011, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 13.4 million, Bloomberg News reports. That would fall short of the final months in 2011 — November and December saw a 13.6 million SAAR — but outpace the SAAR for the first 10 months of 2011. Why? Bloomberg cites familiar reasons: pent-up demand, declining unemployment, rising consumer confidence and higher credit availability — in essence, the factors expected to drive car sales through 2012. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect Chrysler and Hyundai-Kia to post the largest sales gains among major automakers, while Honda and GM may see modest declines.

• The consumer-confidence spin doesn’t add up, however. New York’s Conference Board released this month’s widely regarded Consumer Confidence Index, which stands at 61.1. That’s down from December’s 64.5 and January 2011’s 65.6, and it adds more static to this month’s otherwise upbeat economic news. Though unemployment has decreased month-over-month since last August and new-car sales have improved over the same span, new-home sales have also dipped, the Census Bureau reports.

• Honda built fewer than 3 million cars worldwide in 2011, leading the Japanese automaker to slash profit expectations 65% for the fiscal year that ends in March, Automotive News reports. Hammered by natural disasters in Asia and a strengthening Japanese yen, Honda’s profits plunged for the final quarter of 2011. U.S. sales fell 7% in 2011, well below the industry’s 10% sales improvement.

• In a widening investigation among automotive suppliers, Japanese companies Yazaki Corp. and Denso Corp. pleaded guilty for price-fixing on various car parts. Automotive News reports Yazaki will be fined $470 million — the largest criminal fine ever awarded for a Sherman Act antitrust violation — for fixing higher prices on two parts. Denso was fined $78 million.

• Citing a decline in GM stock, the U.S. Treasury increased its loss estimate for its 2009 autos bailout to $23.77 billion, The Detroit News reports. That’s higher than the $23.6 billion forecasted earlier but far lower than previous estimates. The government initially projected losing $44 billion of the $85 billion package.

Why 2012 Could Be the Year of the U.S. Auto Industry

In a world still climbing back from the recession, debt crisis and natural disasters, can the U.S. economy be a beacon of hope?

Many signals globally suggest instability. Traditional growth economies — the oft-cited BRICs, or Brazil, Russia, India and China — are slowing their once-seismic growth; Europe's sovereign debt crisis is anything but resolved and the yen's strength is putting a squeeze on profits for automakers in Japan. Yet the U.S. seems to be trundling along.

The Fed announced last week it will keep interest rates low until late 2014 — a sign the economy isn't growing as quickly as expected — but unemployment has dropped for four straight months. New-home sales are up, and annual auto sales have improved 23% since recession-wracked 2009.

Could the U.S. be poised for a great turnaround on the back of the auto industry? GM's Mustafa Mohatarem thinks so.

Cars.com News Briefs: Jan. 30, 2012

Here’s what we have our eye on today:

• Despite higher fuel-economy standards by 2016 and likely again by 2025, carmakers remain cold on diesel engines in the U.S. Diesel fuel’s higher energy density can render up to 40% better gas mileage versus a same-size gasoline engine, but the fuel remains pricey — $3.87 per gallon compared with $3.43 for regular unleaded, according to AAA. That leads hybrids to outsell diesels by more than two to one, Automotive News reports.

• A restructured Chrysler may report its first annual profit since 1997, The Associated Press reports. The Fiat-owned company will report fourth-quarter results Wednesday, when CEO Sergio Marchionne expects the company to post a $600 million profit, excluding a midyear $551 million refinancing charge. That’s a huge shift from 2010, when Chrysler lost $652 million. The Michigan automaker employs 57,200 people, up 9,400 from 2009.

• Nissan’s midpack performance in J.D. Power and Associates’ latest Sales Satisfaction Survey, which measures customer satisfaction when buying a new car, may not seem like anything to crow about. However, it has company officials celebrating, according to Automotive News. Nissan placed last among major non-luxury brands in the previous study, leading the automaker to commission a task force that orchestrated some 10,000 small improvements across some 1,100 Nissan dealerships.

• Ford’s full-year earnings have each of its 41,600 hourly employees earning $6,200 in profit-sharing bonuses. But the company’s stock price dipped on Friday — and remains depressed this morning — on underperforming fourth-quarter results, plus uncertainty with commodity prices and a debt crisis in Europe, notes The Detroit News.

• A lower-emissions version of the Chevrolet Volt will get carpool-lane access in California, as well as a $1,500 state tax rebate on top of up to $7,500 in federal tax credits, Automotive News reports. GM sold nearly 2,000 Volts in California last year, nearly 25% of national Volt sales. The specialized version goes on sale in March.

Shoppers Say Chevy Volt Expensive, Nissan Leaf Ugly in Study

Despite their small share of total vehicle sales, the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius garner a lot of attention from new-car shoppers, according to J.D. Power and Associates' 2012 Avoider Study.

The study finds that gas mileage is the most important attribute shoppers are looking at now, surpassing older key reasons such as exterior styling, reliability and price.

That puts the Volt, Prius and Leaf in a good position as each are among the most fuel-efficient cars in the country.

Cars.com News Briefs: Jan. 27, 2012

Here’s what we have our eye on today:

• Fourth-quarter profits are trickling in. Ford's pretax profits declined to $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, down from around $1.3 billion in the year-ago quarter. Pretax profits for all of 2011, however, totaled $8.8 billion, up 5.6% over 2010 — the third consecutive year of improving annual profits, Ford says. Meanwhile, Hyundai's fourth-quarter profits climbed 38% to $1.8 billion at current exchange rates, Automotive News reports.

• J.D. Power and Associates' Avoider Study, now in its ninth year, found 43% of new-car shoppers avoid certain brands or models because of perceived quality or reliability issues rather than actual data. Thirty-eight percent of shoppers based avoidance on ratings and reviews, while 14% avoided certain cars because of past ownership experience. The import-domestic wars are taking an interesting turn, too: Fourteen percent of shoppers avoid import brands because of their origin, the highest number since the study began. By contrast, just 6% avoid Detroit brands for the same reason, a "historically low level," J.D. Power says.

• Honda CEO Takanobu Ito predicts a bullish 2012, with full-year profits for the automaker in the fiscal year ending March 2013 recovering to pre-recession levels. Ito told Bloomberg News he expects North American sales to lead the recovery, with U.S. sales for Honda improving 24% in 2012. Ito has high hopes for the redesigned Accord, which hits dealers this fall. Accord sales fell 19% in 2011, but it remains Honda's best-selling model.

• California, the nation's largest auto market, may require almost all automakers in the state to sell enough electric, fuel-cell or plug-in hybrid vehicles so that they make up 15.4% of total sales by 2025, Automotive News reports. The California Air Resources Board's proposal would ramp up starting in 2018. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a group representing much of the auto industry, says the CARB proposal represents "a disconnect with the marketplace."

New Chevrolets Get Ecological Label

Chevrolet says it will start putting new informational labels on its vehicles to help consumers understand the vehicle's ecological impact. But is it just a marketing gimmick?

Starting in March with the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, each new model will have a small label on the rear driver-side window. More Chevrolets will get the label starting with the 2013 model year.

The label helps explain the ecological benefits of choosing a Chevy over competing vehicles, or possibly a used car. Facts on the Sonic's label include that it was produced in the U.S. — thus reducing emissions related to transportation — and that the car is 85% recyclable. An independent third-party sustainability agency verifies the information on the labels.

We don't know of any other manufacturers with labels like this, which actually puts Chevrolet's facts into a bit of a vacuum. How will consumers know if other vehicles don't offer the same green benefits? For instance, a car is one of the most recyclable items on the planet, with about 75% to 80% being reused on average. That makes the Sonic's recyclable figure, while still better, seem less impressive.

If other automakers started printing labels like this and there were more comparative analysis and context, we could see how the labels could benefit car shoppers.

Cars.com News Briefs: Jan. 26, 2012

Here's what we have our eye on today:

• Toyota aims to boost Lexus global sales to around 500,000 cars a year, up from last year's 404,000, Automotive News reports. Sales for the luxury division topped out at 518,000 in 2007, but supply shortages from natural disasters in Asia hampered sales in 2011. Lexus lost the title of best-selling U.S. luxury brand last year — something it had enjoyed for 11 years — as BMW and Mercedes-Benz outpaced its U.S. sales.
• Following comments from CEO Alan Mulally that suggested Ford wants the Fusion to outsell its Toyota Camry rival, Ford executives are throttling back expectations, the Detroit News reports. The Camry, whose redesign hit dealerships in late 2011, retained its longstanding crown of America's best-selling car. The outgoing Fusion placed third. One analyst said Ford may not have the capacity to match Toyota's North American Camry production, and company officials want higher profits per car. That will mean lower incentives on the Fusion, which topped out at $2,500 per car in December 2011, and selling more high-trim cars.
• Automakers and suppliers could add up to 15,000 auto jobs in Michigan this year, the Center for Automotive Research told the Detroit Free Press. That could help the state’s 9.3% unemployment rate versus 8.5% nationally, though it puts just a small dent in the 203,800 auto jobs lost in Michigan from 2000 to 2009, the Free Press reports.
• Citing record sales of nearly 130,000 EcoBoost-equipped cars and trucks in 2011, Ford aims to triple its production of the turbocharged drivetrains this year. The automaker announced it will offer 11 nameplates with EcoBoost, up from seven last year.
• Fiat-Chrysler may build Jeeps in China, the Detroit News reports. The world's largest auto market since 2009, China has enjoyed Jeeps as far back as 1984, but tariffs and shipping costs make foreign-produced autos expensive. Fiat-Chrysler may address that: "Intense negotiations" are taking place with Guangzhou Automobile Group on a joint venture to assemble vehicles in China.

Cars.com News Briefs: Jan. 25, 2012

Here's what we have our eye on today:

• In last night's State of the Union address, President Barack Obama touted bailouts for the auto industry, citing GM's return to No. 1 — with 9.03 million global sales in 2011 — and Chrysler’s U.S. sales increases.
• True to CEO Carlos Ghosn's comments at this month's Detroit auto show, Nissan announced plans to build subcompact cars at a new $2 billion manufacturing complex in Mexico. The automaker currently builds the Versa, Sentra and a handful of international nameplates at two existing Mexico plants.
• In congressional hearings over fires that followed several crash tests on the Chevrolet Volt, GM CEO Dan Akerson said the plug-in hybrid is "a political punching bag," the Detroit News reports. GOP lawmakers hammered the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for waiting until Bloomberg News reported the fires on Nov. 11; NHTSA says it was still sorting through information and would have disclosed the incidents "fairly soon." Following fixes by GM to the battery pack, the agency closed its Volt investigation last Friday.
• In efforts to meet federal fuel economy standards, many carmakers are ditching spare tires — their weight, including related tools, can exceed 40 pounds — for run-flat options or tire sealant kits, AAA says. Tire sealant becomes less effective with age; AAA recommends replacing it every five years.
• The National Automobile Dealers Association remains opposed to stiffer 2025 federal fuel economy standards supported by 13 automakers, the Obama administration, auto unions and the state of California. Seeking market-based solutions to higher fuel economy, NADA says an estimated $3,200-per-car increase in vehicle prices over 2010 levels would price 7 million U.S. consumers out of the new-car market in 2025.

New Safety Tech Takes Decades to Hit Entire Car Market

It typically takes three decades or longer for a new safety technology to spread to 95% of vehicles on the road, and it can take decades more for the technology to trickle down to the remaining 5% because of holdouts who love their vehicles too much to let them go, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute, an offshoot of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

That’s because new safety technologies, such as front airbags or electronic stability control, usually start as an expensive option on luxury vehicles, and over time they become standard equipment on most mainstream models. If a new safety feature were standard from day one, by extrapolating new-car sales (about 10 million new passenger cars a year) it would take at least 24 years to introduce the feature to the whole fleet of some 240 million registered vehicles.