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Mixed sales results, but automaker stocks rise on need for cars in Houston

DETROIT — The Big Three Detroit automakers on Friday reported better-than-expected August sales and issued optimistic outlooks for demand as residents of the Houston area replace flood-damaged cars and trucks after Hurricane Harvey, sending their stocks higher. General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler posted mixed August U.S. sales, with GM up 7.5 percent and Ford and Fiat Chrysler down. Japanese automaker Toyota improved sales by nearly 7 percent, while Honda fell 2.4 percent. Still, analysts focused on the potential for Detroit automakers to cut inventories and stabilize used vehicle prices as residents of Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, are forced to replace tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of vehicles after the devastation from Hurricane Harvey. Mark LaNeve, Ford's U.S. sales chief, told analysts on Friday that following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 "we saw a very dramatic snapback" in demand. That said, Ford sales fell 2.1 percent in August. It sold 209,897 vehicles in the United States, compared with 214,482 a year earlier. Sales were down 1.9 percent in the Ford division and off 5.8 percent at Lincoln. Demand was down for cars, crossovers and SUVs. It was not clear how many vehicles in the Houston area will be scrapped, LaNeve said, saying he had seen estimates ranging from 200,000 to 400,000 to 1 million. Ford's Houston dealers may have lost fewer than 5,000 vehicles in inventory, he said. Ford is the No. 1 automaker in the Houston market, with 18 percent share, according to IHS Markit. The company plans to ship used vehicles to Houston dealers and has "every indication we would have to add some production" of new vehicles to meet demand, LaNeve said. Investor concerns about inventories of unsold vehicles and falling used car prices have weighed on Detroit automakers' shares most of this year. Now, automakers can anticipate a jolt of demand from a big market that is a stronghold for Detroit brand trucks and SUVs. "It's got to be a positive for the industry," LaNeve said. Investors appeared to agree. GM shares rose as much as 3.3 percent to their highest since early March. Ford increased 2.8 percent at $11.34, and Fiat Chrysler's U.S.-traded shares were up 5.2 percent $15.91, hitting their highest in more than five years. GM reported a 7.5 percent increase in U.S. auto sales in August, helped by robust sales of crossovers across its four brands.

Fernando Alonso tries out fast motorcycles and Senna's McLaren

Honda closed out its racing year yesterday with its annual Thanks Day at Motegi. The event brought out an array of competition machinery and the drivers and riders who race them. That included Fernando Alonso, but rather than bring his Honda-powered McLaren, the two-time world champ took the opportunity to try out some different equipment. While MotoGP rider Marc Marquez slipped behind the wheel of the NSX Concept GT, his countryman Alonso hopped on his RC213V motorcycle for a couple of laps. Fernando isn't the first racer to swap between F1 and motorcycles: Michael Schumacher tried his hand and motorcycle racing from time to time, Valentino Rossi tested Ferrari grand prix cars on numerous occasions, and of course John Surtees won championships in both spheres – but he remains the only one to have done so. Fernando also had the chance to drive a McLaren-Honda MP4/6, just like the one with which Ayrton Senna successfully defended his title in the 1991 Formula One World Championship. That was the first time McLaren ran a Honda V12, but the last time a V12 – or a manual transmission – won the championship. After the following season, Honda and McLaren parted ways – only to be reunited this year with Alonso and Button behind the wheel. While Alonso was toying around with Senna's car, Takuma Sato – who drove Hondas in Formula One and now in Indy – tried his hand at the 1968 Honda RA301. That machine was also powered by a Honda V12, but at 440 horsepower, was far less potent than the 735+hp version that would later power Senna's. John Surtees drove one just like this in the '68 world championship, retiring from most of the races on the calendar but scoring two podiums from the three that he did finish. Marquez and his teammate Dani Pedrosa also competed in the CBR250 spec race, rode the mid-80s-era NSR500 bikes. They drove in four-wheel spec race as well in modified Honda N-One kei cars. The event served to cap a full year of racing for the Japanese automaker, which competes in a range of racing disciplines including F1, Indy, Super GT, the World Touring Car Championship, and numerous classes of motorcycle racing. Featured Gallery Fernando Alonso at Honda Thanks Day 2015 View 11 Photos News Source: Honda via Autosport Motorsports Honda motogp

Honda accused of not reporting all airbag problems

The Takata airbag recall that has afflicted a number of automakers may have just taken a very bad turn for Honda, which has already recalled over one million vehicles. Clarence Ditlow and the Center for Auto Safety have accused the Japanese manufacturer of failing to report two "injury-and-death" incidents. To determine just what happened, the company has initiated a third-party audit.
According to Bloomberg, CAS claims Honda failed to report fatalities in 2009 and 2013, a point Honda doesn't seem to contest, indicating that it didn't report so-called "verbal claims."
"It is our understanding that some manufacturers choose to include these types of verbal claims, and that these constitute the majority of the injury-and-death claims that they report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration," the company told Bloomberg via email. "We believe this practice accounts for the vast majority of the difference between the total number of injury-and-death claims reported by Honda compared to certain other manufacturers."