PennyBlogs » Auto & Travel

Volkswagen Concepts at Wörthersee 2009

Penny — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:47:19 +0000

Volkswagen of America, Inc. today kicks off the latest installment of its DAS AUTO brand campaign, this time with a collection of 30-second TV spots entitled “Meet the Volkswagens.” The new spots again feature Max the Beetle but also introduce a brand new character named BUS. Voiced by actor Thomas Haden Church, BUS is a talking ruby red 1963 Volkswagen Micro Bus vans who draws upon Volkswagen’s tradition and heritage while creating clever vignettes that make subtle competitive comparisons in order to highlight key messages like mileage, fuel efficiency, cost of ownership, van hire, and safety. The campaign will run for 8 weeks and will be supported online and at dealerships nationwide. A first for Volkswagen, the TV spots will direct viewers to Facebook where they will experience information and messaging surrounding the campaign and other brand initiatives.
“Meet the Volkswagens” will help to increase the familiarity of our growing product line, while bringing awareness to the true value of owning a Volkswagen,” said Tim Ellis, Vice President of Marketing at Volkswagen of America. “We will build our case by sharing facts about real issues that customers care about, debunking myths and doing it in a tongue-in-cheek and entertaining way that is uniquely Volkswagen.”

The “Meet the Volkswagens” campaign, developed with partner Crispin Porter + Bogusky, is comprised of five 30-second spots set in a neighborhood of modernist homes designed by the late Joseph Eichler. Each stylish spot will showcase a key Volkswagen model along with Max and/or the new BUS having conversations with the neighbors about competitive models as compared to Volkswagens. This is the first time Volkswagen will use a campaign to directly address its competition. Conversations will focus on key models including the clean diesel Jetta TDI, CC, Tiguan and Routan, as well as Volkswagen’s new Carefree Maintenance program offering no-charge scheduled maintenance for three years or 36,000 miles. For an example, check out this You Tube preview.

Actor Thomas Haden Church voices the BUS throughout the campaign series. Best known for roles on the TV sitcom Wings, 2007’s Spiderman 3 and his Academy Award Nomination for the 2004 hit Sideways, Church’s vocal qualities landed him in radio before becoming a success in film and on television. “I was excited by the chance to work with an iconic brand like Volkswagen and to develop my character to help make the campaign fun and irreverent,” said Church.

“Meet the Volkswagens” is the latest extension of Volkswagen’s DAS AUTO brand campaign launched in 2008, which introduced the world to Max, the iconic, quirky, talking 1964 black Beetle. The addition of BUS in the new installment is designed to play on the tradition and feel-good nature of the brand while at the same time, educating consumers.
“We’ve drawn upon more traditional values and imagery for this campaign, particularly in the given economic climate. We want the people to know how well Volkswagen meets the needs of today’s drivers and families, especially when it comes to value, safety and reliability,” added Ellis.

In addition to the “Meet the Volkswagens” ads, Volkswagen also launches today its first true consumer blog forum called TDI Truth & Dare (http://www.tditruthanddare.com/). Through the forum, Volkswagen will educate its visitors on the truth about clean diesel technology for even their used vans and already vans for sale using real facts while also daring them to get involved in the alternative fuel discussion. The site will feature fun videos, blog content on the subject of clean fuel, a high mileage driving competition for Facebook users called “Tank Wars,” and a “diesel finder” and “savings calculator” application.

Ships polluting far more then cars

Penny — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:06:05 +0000

Says James Corbett, professor of marine policy at the University of Delaware: “Ship pollution affects the health of communities in coastal and inland regions around the world, yet pollution from ships remains one of the least regulated parts of our global transportation system.” It sounds serious, but how bad could it be? Staggeringly, if a report by the UK’s Guardian newspaper is to be believed. According to their story, just one of the world’s largest container ships can emit about as much pollution as 50 million cars, public use cars, car hire, car rental, private cars, commercial, everything. Further, the 15 largest ships in the world emit as much nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide as the world’s 760 million cars.

The problem isn’t necessarily with the ships’ 109,000-horsepower engines that endlessly spin away 24 hours a day, 280 days a year. In fact, these powerplants are some of the most fuel efficient units in the world. The real issue lies with the heavy fuel oil the ships run on and the almost complete lack of regulations applied to the giant exhaust stacks of these container ships.

The good news is that pressure is building from various governments around the world, including the United States, which just recently introduced legislation to keep these ships at least 230 miles away from U.S. coastlines. Similar measures are likely to follow in other countries like the United Kingdom.

Industry Fears Americans May Quit New Car Habit

Penny — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:23:27 +0000

For all the drastic cuts and financial overhauls that are meant to secure a future for General Motors and Chrysler, their prospects in coming years will be determined more by the answer to a simple question: Can American drivers live without that new-car smell?

In recent years Americans appeared to be hooked on it and took advantage of home equity loans, easy credit and cheap short-term lease deals to send new-car sales to levels of more than 17 million a year.

Now the market has collapsed by 46 percent to below 10 million, as people are making do with the cars they have, leaving the industry to debate — and worry — about what the new normal will be once the recession ends.

Some say the downturn is temporary and that sales will spring back in a few years. Others believe Americans will rethink whether they need so many cars, particularly new ones.

The answer will be important to the Obama administration as it prepares to put G.M. into bankruptcy on Monday. After the company emerges from bankruptcy, the federal government will own about 70 percent of it, in return for $50 billion in taxpayer aid. G.M. has already received about $20 billion in federal help.

The Treasury Department’s advisers, who initially expected auto sales to pick up late next year, now foresee no jump in demand this year or in 2010. And even five years out, they expect annual sales to be about 15 million, still well below the peaks of this decade.

Making predictions is tricky in this economy. The market has grown more bleak, and worst-case scenarios drafted only months ago are becoming reality.

If sales do not recover, the Treasury will have to provide more financial support for G.M. and for Chrysler, which has received about $10 billion in federal aid, before they can stand on their own and the government can divest its shares.

People like Kate M. Emminger do not offer the carmakers much hope. Ms. Emminger sold her 2006 Toyota Corolla last April because she decided she could not afford her $250 monthly payment, even though she earns about $60,000 a year as a university events planner.

“It just became too expensive to have a car,” Ms. Emminger said. Now, she volunteers at City CarShare, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco, in order to earn free use of its vehicles, which normally rent to members for $5 an hour plus 40 cents a mile. Otherwise, she takes public transit.

But plenty of people in Detroit argue that once the recession is over, buyers will rush back to dealer showrooms.

If sales do pick up, carmakers eventually could be more profitable than they have ever been because of all the costs they have shed, said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

“After you rebound from this artificial low in demand, wow,” Mr. Cole said of the potential for auto sales and profits.

He estimates that pent-up demand for new cars is actually about 4 million vehicles higher than the current selling rate, which in April would translate to 9.3 million a year, according to Autodata Incorporated.

Others, however, point to shifts suggesting that Americans’ desire — and need — for new cars may be cooling.

Baby boomers, the biggest group in the car rental market, are beginning to enter retirement, a stage of life when people typically buy fewer cars. Home values are down sharply, making consumers feel less wealthy, and also cutting off a handy source of money from home-equity loans for new cars.

“We sold to people who purchased cars by refinancing their houses,” said Wilbur Ross, the billionaire financier who has invested in steel mills and auto parts companies.

The housing and financial crisis has taken its toll on reliable customers like Frank Powell, a school administrator in the East Palo Alto school district in California. He moved out of the house he had lived in since 1983 and started renting a few months ago because of his debt burden, which includes auto loans.

“I used to buy cars all the time and took out loans to pay them off,” he said. “As soon as I paid part of one off I’d get another. I’d buy one for my kids, my wife, myself. I can’t do that anymore”

He now has a Cadillac Escalade sport-utility vehicle, but he is thinking about downsizing and driving something much smaller — and for longer.

“Something had to change,” he added. “You just can’t keep going with that many cars.”

Lifestyles have changed, too. As many people move back to cities from suburbs, they are swapping three-car garages for a single parking space. Public transit use is up.

“Too many people are looking at alternatives,” said Scott Griffith, chief executive of Zipcar, the national car-sharing company that has more than 300,000 members, up from about 200,000 a year ago. Mr. Griffith estimates that for every three members, a new car probably goes unsold.

“They’re much smarter about spending money and looking for ways that don’t even involve cars any more,” he added.

Of course, car-sharing services like Zipcar are not available everywhere. They are concentrated in urban areas and college towns, where owning a car can be burdensome and expensive.

Donald Grimes, an economist at the University of Michigan, is forecasting the lowest sales for the driving-age population this year since 1970.

From 1970 to 2001, there were 0.76 vehicles sold per driver in the United States. Now that figure has dropped to 0.4 vehicles per driver, and he does not see much of a rebound in coming years.

The swift decline has spooked the industry. “I don’t think there has ever been a period in our history like this,” Josephine Cooper, Toyota’s group vice president for government and industry affairs, said of her company, which lost $7.1 billion in the first three months of the year. “It is very, very sobering.”

Now Toyota and other carmakers must wait to see if Americans will return to their old car-buying habits — people like Jay S. Allen, owner of a San Francisco consulting firm, and his wife, Jennifer Nicoloff, a product manager at Gap. Over the years, they have owned eight cars between them.

But now they are car hireless, with no plans to buy. When he needs transportation, Mr. Allen either rides his scooter or borrows a car for a few hours from a local car-sharing service.

“The biggest thing right now is fear,” Mr. Allen said. “We don’t know which way the economy is going to go. We don’t want to buy anything that has long-term implications.”

So you want to travel in London

Penny — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:12:51 +0000

My advice, car hire.

Now you might think that this is a bad idea considering that the traffic around most of London is comparable to Mumbai. There’s a reason why Mumbai is always depicted as an impoverished, overcrowded and violent place, that’s because of its traffic.

Once I was sat with a group of Vietnam veterans, they were all recounting their own personal stories of the horrors of the war when someone off handily mentioned that they don’t know what true horror is, they have never had to drive through Mumbai before. All the Nam veterans humbly agreed and quickly moved on. While Mumbai traffic is terrible beyond description, London can still one up it because of one major factor, tourists.

While Mumbai might have 27 million people trying to get out, London has 27 million people trying to get in, every year, just looking to absently wander into speeding traffic.

Please note that this is not an accurate representation of tourists in London as the sun is actually shining in this photo, the sun has not been seen in London since the afternoon of May 22, 1987

However at the end of the day, driving through London is still, the best option compared to the others.

The London Underground

Ah, the world famous underground subway system of London, fast and efficient, also, disgusting, stuffy, loud, expensive, and of course, jammed full of people. Imagine for a moment how dirty your own living space gets with just your or your family there, now imagine the kind of waste of litter, spills, smells, and stains of 2.5 million people, everyday! Never sit in an open seat in underground tubs, something has undoubtedly taken place that you have not been a witness to that is the reason no one is sitting in that particular empty seat. Also I hope you enjoy the smell of the underground because that’s what you will smell like after you use it, forever, it never washes away.

The London Buses

Don’t be fooled into thinking these giant red double decker buses are for actual transportation, they are mobile apartments for bums, drug addicts, and psychiatric patients that have escaped confinement. You should be okay as long as you don’t sit in the top tier and are only on the bus for a few minute long intervals. The backs of these buses don’t actually have doors so you can jump out of the bus while it’s still moving in case the top gets too crowed or if some kind of indescribable liquid starts to sweep down the stairs or corners of the bus. Remember, duck and roll.

Walking

Walking, timeless, what’s a cheaper more interpersonal method of travel then a good walk, it would be an excellent suggestion if walking through London was like the first image, it is however, exactly like this.

It is actually impossible to walk successfully in any given direction on the London sidewalks, attempting to move left, right, forward or backwards will ultimately just lead you back to where you started, or worse, going in the opposite direction. The direction you flow in random, so it’s best to sail the crowd without fighting it and hope you get near something that’s interesting enough to justify being there, but that’s not likely to happen. If you thought the traffic was obnoxious, just wait till you get your head into those London pedestrians. My advice is don’t try to walk around London with other pedestrians until you somehow develop mental powers to float above them.

So, in the end, its always better to travel through London via car, if you don’t own a car, get one through car rental, although you still wont get anywhere, at least you can fortify your car to be your own personal defense against the horrors of the city, and then in 50 years time you can be assured that your grandchildren wont be asking you why you smell like old socks and yacht urine because you happened to catch a ride on the underground.