Nobody asked me, but . . .

A few years ago, if you asked a car guy to respond with the first word that came to mind when I mentioned Continental, the answer would have been tires.  And the next five words would have been either Conti Contac performance summer tires or Conti Blizzak performance winter tires.

But no longer is the Germany-based Continental synonymous just with tires.  Slowly, and somewhat under the radar screen, Continental has been reinventing itself, not a bad thing in a fast changing automotive environment.  Today Continental is still renowned for its tires, but for those automotive folks who are hardwired into the “parts” sides of the business, Continental has emerged as the world’s third largest automotive supplier company behind Bosch and Magna.  In some segments of the fast food business parts is parts, but not in the automotive business.   Suppliers are the lifeblood of the industry.  Today, every automotive manufacturer—Ford, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, you name it—is highly dependent upon suppliers for much of the hard and software in every one of its vehicles.  Literally hundreds of suppliers, some with well known names such as Lear, Johnson Controls, Bosch and Delphi, and unknowns (except for auto industry insiders making their living designing, engineering, costing and manufacturing vehicles) such as NTN (axle bearings), Brose (electric seat adjustment), and Rehau (rear spoiler) work closely with their auto company partners, helping them create many of the literally hundreds of primary and subsystems required in every vehicle: airbags, brakes, gauge clusters, tires, seats, shock absorbers, steering wheels, transmissions, ECMS . . . the list is endless.  No auto company possesses all of the internal capabilities to design, engineer develop, test and manufacture an automobile today.  Thus the need for specialists such as Continental. (more…)

Nobody asked me but . . .

Bob Lutz showed up in LA recently for an impromptu breakfast with the Motor Press Guild, aka MPG.  Bob is always good for a few juicy quotes so I hustled up the 405 in typical OC-LA rush day traffic to grab an earful.

Bob didn’t disappoint.  He started with a comment about GM needing to make headway in the Smile States and then proceeded to elaborate on some recent successes in California:

• GM’s retail share of market in California for Q4 2009 was 9.3%, up 0.8 percentage points (PP) from Q4 ’08.
• Compact Crossover and large car sales were up 4.7 PP and 2.8 PP, respectively for the same period.
• In a recent design clinic of an upcoming new Cadillac versus its European and Asian competition, the clinic attendees liked the Cadillac more after they found out it was a Cadillac than when they didn’t know it was a Cadillac.  Lutz says this is the first time this has happened. (more…)