This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place every weekday morning. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?
1st Gear: Ford Plans To Lose 90,000 Sales
Ford truck enthusiasts are already waiting for their chance to buy a 2015 Ford F-150, however, there are less faithful truck buyers who will forego their brand of choice for a great deal, and those buyers seem to be flocking to GM and, especially, to RAM.
From a report in The Detroit News today, we learned that Ford plans to lose 90,000 sales due to the changeover between the models.
That's' a lot of trucks. You can't imagine Subaru saying "Well, we're going to probably lose 90,000 Forester sales in the changeover from 2014 to 2015 models," but that's just how big the truck market is.
Still, you wouldn't think that General Motors or Chrysler would, in any way, try to use this as an opportunity to poach sales. I mean, we all known that the truck divisions of major automakers ar the most pleasant, uncompetitive, and downright charitable people in the automotive world. Oh, no, wait, the opposite of that:
Bob Hegbloom, Ram CEO and president, said the brand will continue to attempt to lure customers from Ford during the changeover: "The analysts are saying we're going to go after their share. Heck yes, we're going to go after their share."
LOL.
Deals are crazy right now so, if you wanted a RAM or a Silverado, it's time to start shopping.
2nd Gear: U.S. Market Should Still Grow In 2015
As we approach the end of the year we're seeing a lot more discussion of what 2015 will bring and, assuming we dont have a massive freakout over ebola that sends the country into turmoil, the consensus is we should grow slightly and then grow a lot more.
LMC Automotive senior vice president Jeff Schuster said at a Standard & Poors auto industry conference that it predicts sales will rise just 2 percent next year to 16.7 million — fueled by 100 new, refreshed and redesigned vehicles being introduced in 2015, including Ford’s new aluminum F-150.
LMC sees U.S. sales rising to 17 million by 2018. LMC predicts the market will rise to 17.5 million in 2020 — which would represent the highest ever U.S. auto sales. Auto sales were above 16 million between 1999 and 2007 — hitting a high of 17.4 million in 2000.
That would be cool.
3rd Gear: Huge Market? Huge Jeep.
Sergio Marchionne gets so much play in TMS because Sergio Marchionne is always saying crazy shit. Lately, he's been repeating his line that he's going to double Jeep sales by 2018 to a whopping 1.9 million vehicles.
As one analyst told Reuters:
"Realistically, he's not going to make the numbers."
Maybe not, but Jeep is probably going to be FCA's largest brand by 2018 because, well, it sure as shit ain't going to be Dodge.
4th Gear: Chrysler Is Recalling 184,215 Grand Cherangos
No bigs, but if you own a 2014 Dodge Durango or Jeep Grand Cherokee then there's a chance it'll tell you the airbag malfunctioned when it didn't.
This is the same issue that impacted about 850,000 Ford vehicles earlier this summer and cost them $500 million according to the Freep.
5th Gear: Toyota Recalls 1.75 Million Cars Worldwide
Now here's a real recall! Toyota has to recall 1.75 million vehicles because of braking/fuel system issues.
The Lexus IS, GS and LS luxury sedans and Toyota Auris compact hatchback are among the 10 models being called back, according to an e-mail from the Toyota City, Japan-based auto maker. The company said that it isn’t aware of any fires, crashes, injuries or fatalities resulting from the defects.
Yep.
Reverse: Morbidly Hilarious
On this day in 2004, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rules that hearse manufacturers no longer have to install anchors for child-safety seats in their vehicles. In 1999, to prevent parents from incorrectly installing the seats using only their cars' seat belts, the agency had required all carmakers to put the standardized anchors on every passenger seat in every vehicle they built. Though it seemed rather odd, most hearse-builders complied with the rule and many thousands of their vehicles incorporated baby-seat latches on their front and back passenger seats.
[ HISTORY]
Neutral: Wait For A New F-150 Or Take The Cash? What kind of truck buyer are you (or would you be)? The dependable brand loyalist or the deal hunter? Which truck would you buy now?
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