Autochannel (press release) |
Volkswagen cuts prices on China-made cars Reuters.uk, UK - 17 hours ago Shanghai Volkswagen, the auto maker’s car manufacturing venture with Shanghai Automotive Co. (600104.SS: Quote, Profile , Research), has reduced prices for … Shanghai Automotive Volkswagen JV cuts Passat car prices by 7000 … Forbes Volkswagen cuts prices in China China Knowledge Online Shanghai Volkswagen drops the price of their Passat Lingyu TechWhack all 15 news articles |
A recent article I found on Google News.
•August 7, 2007 • No CommentsNew Yahoo Group, Wise_Car_Tuning
•August 6, 2007 • No Comments
I have recently started
a new place for people to gather and discuss their car, their warranties, their car projects and post pictures.
Come check it out! Join my new one called: Wise_Car_Tuning. This will be a great place for people to post questions, show off their cars with pictures, share stories. I hope to make this a community for us all to share and help eachother. I will only be the moderator it is your group. I might post a question or picture myself just to help people along and give everyone something else to consider.
Also look for me in Yahoo Answers. Its a fun place to hang out and help people. I found it a few weeks ago and there are all kinds of categories in and out of the automotive world. It too is a community for people to post and answer questions. The person who asked the question, then gets to rate which one was the most help. I so far have an 18% best answer rating, meaning the people have rated 18% of my answers as the best they received from all the other responses, not half bad!
Go check it out, Its really kind of fun. Maybe someone there can help you with something you have always wondered about.
Good Luck and Godd Driving!
The New Look
•July 24, 2007 • No CommentsOne thing I have learned about the web is that it changes faster than car companies change their car models. So in putting what I’ve learned into practice I want to invite everybody to www.thewisetuner.com to take a look at my updated site. It is all a work in progress but I feel its coming along. Stop by and take a look and let me know what you think.
Good Luck and Good Driving!
We could all be so lucky
•July 20, 2007 • 1 CommentLook at the index, first!!
A couple came across a farm in Portugal for sale and bought it without looking what the barn contained. As the property was “sold as seen” they became the owners of everything within the barn …. see what you think ….. the barn doors were welded together, but look what they found when they gained access…..Click the link below
warranty survey
•July 20, 2007 • No CommentsI have a few questions for everyone with a car warranty. I would love to hear some feedback from my readers on this one. just leave a comment back to me to answer as best as you can or you can email me directly at either www.scottm@thewisetuner.com or www.thewisetuner@yahoo.com.
1) Have you ever been turned down for a warranty repair because of modifications?
2) If you were turned down, did you fight it?
3) If you fought it, did you ever get a face to face meeting with someone from the factory?
4) When you modified your car, did you realize it might void your warranty?
5) Were you ever given advice from anyone at the dealer on how to modify?
6) If you were given advice, did they warn you mods could void your warranty?
7) Did you knowingly modify your car and just hope you wouldn’t need the warranty?
Did you knowingly modify your car with plans of covering it up if you needed the warranty?
9) Were you ever turned down for warranty because of “abuse”?
10) Were you ever turned down for warranty because of “lack of maintenance?
I would love to hear from as many people as possible. Even these questions don’t apply directly to you, maybe they have sparked a question or possibly you know of someone elses story. I want to know. If you are currently going through a situation similar to this, I can probably help.
I am not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice, but I am a car guy with years of experience in this area and I can tell you how and what the factory thinks.
Send me your answers either in a comment on this blog or email me at www.scottm@thewisetuner.com or
feel free just to write the number of the questions 1-10 with your answer next to it.
Good Luck and Good Driving!
Scott Mathew
Ford looking to Sell Volvo
•July 15, 2007 • No CommentsJust sharing some information from the AP wire just in case some of you weren’t paying attention on Sunday. Ford is looking to get rid of Volvo, could Jaguar be next?
AP
Report: Ford Preparing to Sell Volvo
Sunday July 15, 10:28 am ET
Report: Ford Preparing to Sell Volvo in Deal That Could Be Worth Up to $8 Billion
LONDON (AP) — Ford Motor Co. is preparing to sell Volvo, a British newspaper reported Sunday.The Sunday Times, citing unnamed sources in London, said the decision to sell Volvo, which is part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, was made in the past two weeks, but that the timing of the sale had yet to be decided.
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No bank had been appointed to handle the transaction, the newspaper said, adding the deal could be worth $8 billion.
Messages seeking comment on the report were left Sunday with Ford spokesmen.
Ford acquired Volvo from Sweden’s Volvo AB in 1999 for $6.45 billion.
Last month, Ford said it was reviewing its position on Jaguar and Land Rover, fueling speculation that company was getting closer to selling the fellow Premier Automotive Group brands.
Ford sold Aston Martin, another part of the Premier Automotive Group, for $848 million in March, with some analysts saying the luxury brand did not fit into Ford’s long-term survival plan. That plan includes cost savings by developing multiple models worldwide on the same underpinnings.
The possible sale of Volvo comes as the company is struggling to return to profitability in the face of fierce competition from Asian automakers and developing tastes for more fuel-efficient models in its key North American market. It is slashing thousands of jobs and plans to close plants to cut costs.
Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford posted a narrower loss of $282 million for the first quarter. The Premier Automotive Group reported a record pretax profit of $402 million for the quarter, due largely to Volvo.
And Ford has been relying on Volvo, an analyst has said, as it tries to globalize its engineering, design and manufacturing systems.
Ford Motor Co.: http://www.ford.com
The Wisetuner is gettin around!
•July 14, 2007 • No Commentshey I just want to update everyone on how things are going. As I told everyone previously, my website, www.thewisetuner.com is up and running and it is growing! I appreciate all the support and the nu mber of people coming to visit. I am also getting a lot of other companies interested in what I am doing. I have been contacted by parts suppliers, extended warranty companies and even loan companies wanting to be connected with me. It is very exciting and tempting to accept everyone of them, but I am trying to be selective and only choose the ones I think you might be interested in. I have even been able to negotiate special deals for members of my site. If you go to my site, there are links to companies offering discounts and advice. Links to places like the www.tirerack.com, www.partsamerica.com, and www.edmunds.com . to name a few. this is growing faster than I expected and I am thrilled. Come be a part of it. The aftermarket companies are paying attention to what I am trying to do. the business side is growing but unfortunately the people I want to help, you the tuner, the response is somewhat lower than I expected. Come see me and drop me an email and let me know what you would like to see added to the site or pose a question to me through an email. I have been giving advice through a service that Yahoo offers called Yahoo answers, where people can post questions for experts like myself to answer and in a very short time I have been getting rave revues for my help and praise from the people at yahoo.
I will soon be releasing a new maintenance log for everyone to keep track of all thier mainenance records. This will be invaluable for people in any kind of warranty dispute with thier car dealer. Also think about having that available to show when it comes time to sell your baby for something else.
Good luck and good driving!
come be a part of it. www.thewisetuner.com
Keep up the good work all you car bloggers!
•July 10, 2007 • No CommentsThe wisetuner was visiting one of his clients today, an import car dealer. and more than once during my consultation visit he and his service manager bragged about the number of positive comments about his store and the work that his service department and body shop have done.
So keep in mind when you post a blog or comment on a car forum, that the positive comments are noticed just as much as the negative. so lets share some love and let people know about those who are doing it right as much as we all talk about those who aren’t.
Doctor Vs. Technician
•July 8, 2007 • No CommentsWho do you think is the healthier person? The one who exercises, gets regular check-ups, and puts the proper foods, supplements and nutrition in their body? Or the one who sits around, smokes and eats junk and runs himself all out when partying?
Do you think the same could be said for our cars? It has always amazed me over the years how people with car problems are surprised to find out the cause is lack of maintenance or other abusive habits. They are actually more in denial and unwilling to take responsibility.
Since childhood we have all been taught the importance of eating and living healthy. Many of us follow that direction, but still many don’t. But people never show the same shock when someone who lives an unhealthy lifestyle become ill or have a heart attack.
Why is it then that people are so unwilling to see that unhealthy maintenance or driving habits can do the same to a car.?
It never stops amazing me that we hold Doctors in such high esteem when they make us wait in their offices for endless, costly minutes. When they make a small mistake in their diagnosis, they just prescribe a different medicine, and we let them get away with it. When they make a bigger mistake, its really no big deal to them either because they all have costly insurance to protect themselves.
Now lets compare it to the car dealer or even the independent garage. The general public thinks of them as blue collar, too dumb to get a real job mechanics. When in reality they are highly educated technicians with continuous training, a huge investment in themselves and their tools. Most of the public is unaware that the tools mechanics use were purchased with their own money and just the tool boxes they own run up into the thousands of dollars. And with that all said, if they make even the simplest misdiagnosis that causes us to make more than one visit to have it cured, everyone is convinced they are being lied to and cheated and want to take anyone and everyone that has ever looked at or touched their car to court. How come when we have to go back to the Doctor for a different prescription that doesn’t happen? And the car dealers and shops don’t have Mal-practice policies to protect them.
The automobile is a complex machine. Did you know that since the early 1990’s the modern car has more computer power in it than the Apollo spacecrafts from N.A.S.A did?
Next time you take your car in for a check-up, if you ever do, and it still doesn’t seem to be feeling well, don’t be so quick to judge or want to see a judge. Go talk to the technician or Professional Adviser and let them know your concerns or continued issues and let them prescribe a different treatment for what is ailing your car.
Would life be boring if we all just drove the way the cars were oroiginally designed?
•July 6, 2007 • No CommentsLets admis it. We all love our cars or we wouldn’t be doing gthe things we do. My question above is a serious one. How boring would life be if we just took the car out of the box and made no changes and drove the speed limit every day on every road. Could you do it? do you think the companies like Subaru, Mitsubishi, Honda or Nissan expect us to? If they did why would they all sell performance parts and support racing teams and use it in their advertising?
OK, here are the big questions. why would we put these modifications on our cars if we didnt intend to drive them hard? Also why should any of us be surprised when we take a car into a dealer with race stickers and modifications and the dealer wants to ask us a bunch of questions and bring in the factory rep to make the decision?
In my research, I found an old thread and the comment below from someone identifying himself as a judge on another blog.
”Even though SOA’s customer service sucks, it’s still a good to great car. If you and others hadn’t been illegally modifying it, it PROBABLY wouldn’t break. So leave us who still like the car alone so we can continue to enjoy it.”
I have to say I agree with his over all thought, but I also go back to my question about why do the manufacturers build and advertise these cars this way if
