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February 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Battery Technology Breakthrough could bring Electric Cars to All

Envia Systems is a lithium-ion battery materials leader working to fuel the electric &hybrid car revolution

Katie Fehrenbacher, Editor, Earth2Tech A startup working on battery technology says it’s developed a key breakthrough that could one day lead to an electric car that has a 300-mile range and could cost around $25,000 to $30,000. Envia Systems, backed by venture capitalists, General Motors, and the Department of Energy, plans to announce on Monday at the ARPA-E conference that the company has created a lithium ion battery that has an energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram, which Envia CEO Atul Kapadia told me in an interview could be the tipping point for bringing electric cars to mainstream car owner. The secret sauce Energy density is how much energy a battery can store and provide for the car with a given battery size — the more energy dense the battery, the less volume and weight is needed. For electric cars it is particularly important to have a high energy dense … [Read more...]

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February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

U.S. Auto Dealer Count on the Rise

Cadillac-Dealership-300x167

by Joseph Szczesny | The Detroit Bureau It’s become a seeming fact of life that the number of U.S. dealers will steadily decline each year – with massive cuts during the industry’s recent downturn — but 2011 saw an unexpected turnaround with the auto dealer count actually rising for the first time in years. New research also suggests that if the automotive recovery remains on track, 2012 could be the best year on record for American automotive retailers from a sales per showroom standpoint. Research firm Urban Science reports the number of dealerships actually increased last year after two years of significant attrition. As of Dec. 31, 2011, there were 17,767 dealerships in the U.S., a 0.6% increase from 17,659 in 2010. In a “normal” year, there is a 2% decline in the number of dealerships, making the rise quite significant, said Urban Science vice president John … [Read more...]

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January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

‘Tin Whiskers’ and Other Discredited Unintended Acceleration Theories

Toyota at Chicago Auto Show

Tin Whiskers are crystalline metallurgical phenomenon involving the spontaneous growth of tiny, filiform hairs from a metallic surface. The effect is primarily seen on elemental metals but also occurs with alloys. This defination is from my favorite source, Wikipedia These unintended acceleration dust-up seem to cycle through the auto business every few years. Audi was devastated by such a theory a few years ago. This is an article from Toyota: Over the past two years, major government investigations of Toyota vehicles and technologies undertaken by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and engineers at the National Aeronautics and Safety Administration (NASA) have been clear in their conclusions. There are no real-world scenarios in which Toyota electronics can cause unintended acceleration. Last week, a report by the National Academies of Sciences put another … [Read more...]

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January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Three Steps to Great Customer Service

Experience is the Only Product the Customers Care About

Blanchard Leader Chat The 2011 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer reports that 60 percent of U.S. consumer respondents believe that businesses have not increased their focus on providing good customer service. Even more surprising, 26 percent think companies are actually paying less attention to service. Wow—now is your chance to be the one who CAREs about service! Here are three places to start being the one who leads the charge so everyone in the organization has a customer service mindset: Declare “legendary customer service” as an imperative. Put it out there. Say, “We want to be #1 in our space for delivering Legendary Customer Service.” Show any metrics you currently have and set new targets /metrics for success by showing what a good job would look like. Explain the business imperative for service and have a kick-off meeting where senior … [Read more...]

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January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

What to do when you have too many cars and too little pack money

What to do when you have too many cars and too little pack money

Every used car manager on the planet has found themselves in this situation. "What to do when you have too many cars and too little pack money" is from Dale Pollak's blog. Dale is the founder of vAuto, a premier software solution that dealerships nationwide are already using to achieve record results in any market. Here’s an exchange that I recently had with a used car manager. Dale, My name is Josh. I am the used car manager at a Toyota store. At our store, we averaged 46 new and 30 used for 2011. We have had modest growth in used cars the last couple of years until last year we stayed the same. We always tried to keep the used inventory around 60-70 units in stock. I always tried to keep the inventory less than 90 days. Anything over that I marked down and used our pack money to write the cars down. I looked at pricing every couple of months. I realize now that was BIG … [Read more...]

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January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Seth Godin Talks About the Forever Revolution

Seth Godin Talks About the Forever Revolution

Seth Godin has been my favorite author and coach for quite a few years. When Seth Godin writes a book, I buy it and read it. More importantly, when Seth recommends a book from another author, I buy that one and read it. I see a huge number of self proclaimed "thought leaders" on Twitter and Facebook. Seth Godin is the only real thought leader I've found. This video from CBC's The Hour, a Canadian television show where Seth talks about the race to the bottom. Look around and you can see the evidence in retail business' and schools and manufacturing. No one understands what is happening and you have to admit, a quiet un-easyness is on the faces of the people on the street. … [Read more...]

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January 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Shortage of Used Cars Prompts Dealers to go ‘Mining’ for Them

Shortage of used cars prompts dealers to go ‘mining’ for them

By Terry Box | DALLAS MORNING NEWS DALLAS — Every used car in for service at Five Star Ford of Plano, Texas, gets a tantalizing offer. Before they are dispatched for oil changes or repairs, the used cars and trucks are appraised, and a “check” for their value is placed on the dashboard. The check isn’t real, but it is a legitimate offer whether the customer buys a new car or not . . . and just one approach in the growing business of “mining” used cars. A three-year shortage of used vehicles, caused by the collapse of the economy in 2008 and subsequent plunge in new-vehicle sales, is forcing most dealers to look far beyond trade-ins and auto auctions for used cars and trucks. “When cars get easier to obtain, we may not put this much effort into it,” said Brian Huth, general manager of Five Star Ford. “But now you get them any way you can.” Some … [Read more...]

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