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This is no great revelation if you’ve been following car buying trends the past few years. But this story in The Detroit Free Press really drives the point home, talking about what a critical factor ease of entry and exit has become to car design.
Easy entrance and exit will become more and more important as the population ages and huge groups like Gen X move into their 50s and 60s.
Automakers don’t talk about this much. It’s a truism that people want cars that make them look younger, not reminders they’re less limber at 60 than 40. Nonetheless, the incoming tide of small SUVs will fit aging drivers and people with limited mobility like a glove.
“Front-seat access is the No. 1 factor in comfort and safe driving,” said Sherry Kolodziejczak, national coordinator for driving safety at the American Association of Retired Persons, which represents 38 million people over 50. “The small SUVs tend to have wider door openings and lower sills to step over. Step-in heigh...
The ideal seat height is about 21 to 27 inches above the ground, Knudsen said. Other factors include the size of the door opening, from top to bottom and front to rear. Nobody wants to bump their head getting in and out of their vehicle.
It’s an interesting game to play, when you think about it. No automaker wants to be seen as the old people brand—Cadillac and Buick still suffer from that “the car you got from grandma after she died” image today—but they have to make things to accommodate the needs of an increasingly aged population.
But as we’ve noted over and over again, the problem with these new cars is that they’re so damn expensive. The average new car transaction price is around $34,000, the highest it’s ever been, although most Americans’ wages haven’t risen in any meaningful way since the 1970s.
September U.S. sales fell for most major automakers from the post-Hurricane Harvey bump a year ago. But another factor is emerging as a headwind to sales: affordability for some new-vehicle shoppers.
As vehicle transaction prices and interest rates keep rising and automakers reduce incentives, analysts and dealers are signaling that the resulting higher prices for consumers could be hitting a critical point, if they haven’t already.
“We’ve seen more of a shift to leasing because leasing payments tend to be less than buy or purchase monthly payments,” said Wes Lutz, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association and owner of Extreme Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram in Jackson, Mich.
But higher prices are hitting leases, too. Jonathan Banks, vice president of vehicle valuations and analytics at J.D. Power, said customers who leased at the ideal time — three years ago, when interest rates were lower and residual values were higher — are returning to the market at the worst time.
While noting that affordability seems to be talked about “on an almost daily basis,” Jack Hollis, Toyota Division general manager, said key economic factors such as job growth and consumer confidence remain high. More discretionary income seems to be available to buyers, he said, and Toyota has a range of models at a v...
“Affordability is in the eye of the beholder,” Hollis said during a call with reporters after Toyota Motor Sales posted a 10 percent decline in September, led by a 25 percent plunge in car sales.
Just don’t be poor and you won’t have a problem! I suppose.
3rd Gear: Could Cost Be China’s Value Proposition?
Yet that situation could give China’s automakers the edge they need to really break into the much-coveted U.S. market. China’s car market is huge, its homegrown industry is expanding rapidly, and it’s going to be the biggest driver for electric car development.
More than a third of American consumers say they won’t consider buying a Chinese brand vehicle, according to a poll published in July by Autolist.com.
GAC thinks its GS8 is up to snuff. The vehicle boasts such near-luxury trappings as multifunction leather seats, three-zone climate control, a panoramic sunroof and a negative-ion air purifier, not to mention seamless mobile-phone connectivity and wireless gadget charging.
Under the hood is an engine with a turbocharger from BorgWarner and a six-speed automatic transmission from Aisin Seiki, all encased in a high-tensile steel body. Of course, it offers four-wheel drive, replete with six driving modes to handle various types of terrain, and a comprehensive airbag system.
Government-backed GAC counts giants Toyota, Honda, Fiat and Mitsubishi among its joint-venture teammates. But GAC’s Li says his company has grown beyond being the junior partner.
Like the Japanese and Koreans before them, they will duck duties by making vehicles and auto parts in the U.S., said Michael Dunne, CEO of ZoZo Go, an investment advisory firm focused on China’s autonomous and electrified vehicle markets. Chinese EV startup Faraday Future, for example, plans to build its first car at a...
Anyway, that article is a great overview of where China’s auto industry is at in late 2018 and where it’s going. Worth a read in full.
Speaking of China, let’s check in with Faraday Future, the perplexing Chinese-backed electric startup that once promised to revolutionize transportation itself and has been dogged by scandals, cost overruns, production issues, allegations of malfeasance and a “debt blacklist” in China for its founder. Turns out things ...
The latest comes to us from The Verge, which reports that $800 million of a Hail Mary investment late last year from Chinese real estate group Evergrande was burned through by July.
The fire happened hours after the company showed off the car at a “Futurist Day” event for its employees and families. The full extent of the damage is not clear, as the company has made employees sign non-disclosure agreements specifically related to the fire, the former employees say. But it’s viewed as a major setba...
The more pressing trouble, though, may be that some of Faraday Future’s suppliers and vendors have not been paid for weeks. The stopped payments were a direct result of Jia having spent the first $800 million installment by July, which came from Evergrande through a complex structure of offshore companies, the former e...
Emails reviewed by The Verge that date back to the beginning of August show Faraday Future representatives trying to explain this as “delays” in payment processing. Others show repeated promises that checks were being issued, but awaiting signature, or held by the company’s “treasury department” for over a month, which...
Other than that, everything’s fine there!
Regular Morning Shift customers know it’s been a tough year at Ford. New CEO Jim Hackett knows investors aren’t happy with its lackluster stock price, and he and the company are under great pressure by Wall Street to show how it’s prepared for the electrified, mobility-centric future. But nobody has any idea what Ford’...
The reductions are expected to fall under the $11 billion restructuring the company announced last quarter. Ford announced the start of the reorganization internally Thursday.
Details are thin, but the internal announcement made public Friday illustrates the game the 115-year-old automaker is playing with Wall Street analysts and investors. They want answers Ford isn’t ready to give, according to Kristin Dziczek, vice president of Industry, labor and economics at the Center for Automotive Re...
[...] Over the next five years, the automaker plans to trim $12 billion from what it expected to spend on materials for products; $7 billion from its product development and engineering processes; $5 billion from marketing and incentive spending; and $1.3 billion on manufacturing costs.
All of that serves to give the automaker more for its money as it launches a slew of new products through 2023.
Neutral: Can China Succeed In America With The Budget Cars?
If another recession happens and the cheap, easy credit market we’ve had over the past few years dries up, one could see a real opening for Chinese automakers. Or do they have a lot more work to do first before they can appeal to American buyers on a mass scale?
Taking the game by the scuff of the neck is a particularly English phrase but Pablo Hernandez’s performance at Middlesbrough translated it into Spanish. Kalvin Phillips wrote the headlines with his late, late equaliser but Hernandez was the instigator in a second half which danced to his tune.
Marcelo Bielsa needed someone to give Leeds United convincing direction at the interval and Middlesbrough drawing first blood in the 47th minute did not stop Hernandez establishing control. Bielsa said the midfielder brought “calm and serenity” to the pitch. Boro encountered a player who was never off the ball.
Hernandez watched the first half at The Riverside from the bench, only the second time that Bielsa has declined to start him when the 33-year-old was fit to play, but his statistics at full-time were remarkable: more touches than all but three players on the pitch, more passes than all but two and more in both respects...
Leeds benefited from Hernandez’s precision too, with nine of 11 long-distance passes finding a teammate as the former Valencia winger stretched the play cleverly in search of an equaliser. The pressure had the desired effect when Kalvin Phillips nicked a 1-1 draw 10 minutes into injury-time.
Bielsa, who fielded Jack Clarke ahead of Hernandez before replacing Clarke at the break, said: “Pablo makes the game more fluid.
In its entirety, the balance of the game was in keeping with the way Leeds and Middlesbrough have played all season: United controlling 69 per cent of possession and producing 503 passes to Boro’s 232.
Tony Pulis, though, was pleased with his side’s response to a midweek FA Cup defeat at Newport County and a subsequent travel debacle which saw them arrive back on Teesside around 7am on Wednesday morning.
The rain came down hard at 4pm and the volunteers had to move colourful Rangoli art materials, spa screens and chalkboards into the dance theatre.
But their spirits were not dampened, and by 5pm on Sunday, the rain had subsided and people of all ethnicities and ages began to stream in for the Kapor ChatParty, a get-together for residents, patrons and visitors of Little India in the Singai Tamil Sangam Maya Dance Theatre in Kampong Kapor.
A play on the word Chapati (an Indian flatbread), the Kapor ChatParty was organised by the Octopus Residency, a ground-up initiative to foster a closer sense of community in Little India (see sidebar).
It featured do-it-yourself facials and Rangoli artwork, foot massages, and a "Dear Neighbour" initiative.
At the facial and wellness spa, headed by freelance artist Ng Xi Jie, participants were able to stretch out on spa mats and apply homemade facial lotion. Volunteers also gave them foot massages.
Said Ms Ng: "I felt that migrant workers wouldn't really think of giving themselves facials or massages... due to budget constraints. But because their jobs are so tough, they would need it."
In the span of three hours, Ms Ng conducted facials and spa sessions for 11 migrant workers that day.
The Octopus Residency, which started last month, is a community initiative that is aimed at fostering a greater sense of community and belonging in Little India.
It has been organising events like the Kapor ChatParty, which started last month and will culminate in an exhibition and cookout party on July 31.
The group consists of Ms Faye Lim, Ms Yen Goh and Ms Yunn Chee, three friends with a keen interest in community issues in Singapore.
Ms Lim, 33, is an arts practitioner with a focus on communal experience, who founded the Strangeweather Movement Group. Its focus is the creation and performance of dance works.
Ms Goh, 39, an architect, runs community arts practice The People's Atelier, and a design firm.
Ms Chee, 38, is also an architect and an adjunct lecturer at the Singapore Polytechnic.
Both Ms Goh and Ms Chee are co-founders of The People's Atelier.
The Kapor ChatParty is supported by the National Arts Council and the National Integration Council, among others.
Ms Nagamah Jayaramm, a 40-year-old cleaner from Malaysia, said she felt much more relaxed after her foot massage.
"I stand on my feet cleaning six days a week and I get really sore after work," said Ms Nagamah.
"It's really nice for them to do this for us and I really appreciate it."
Art therapist Vijaya Mohan was also present to teach Rangoli making, a form of Indian floor art, with household items like pasta, rice grains, and recycled utensils.
Ms Vijaya, who holds several Singapore Records for Rangoli artwork, said her aim was to teach residents to do art that they could bring home with them.
She said: "Art can be very temporary and, sometimes, people are not able to enjoy the beauty of it.
"But when I show them that it's very easy and they can take back the piece and own it, they feel very happy and want to be involved."
Aside from the activities in the dance theatre, volunteers went around with a chalkboard and a camera. Residents were asked to write what they were thankful for on the chalkboard, and they would have their photo taken with it.
The initiative, called "Dear Neighbour", was organised by non-profit organisation Participate in Design (PiD).
Said Mr Larry Yeung, project associate with PiD: "I think it's a very interesting space. Usually, for other neighbourhoods we work with, it's very Singaporean - a lot of aunties, uncles and schoolkids. But this community is very diverse; we have tourists, foreign workers, residents."
Ms Jenifer Sanchez, 36, a housewife who lives in Little India, expressed her gratefulness for her father and husband, who both support and take care of her and her son.
"I am very thankful for his daddy and granddaddy, because they give us such a good home," said Ms Sanchez with a big smile.
Foreign visitors were just as appreciative of the initiative.
Ms Marie Le Hung, 23, a French student on an internship, said: "I think it's really awesome that there is something like this for the residents and free food for the workers."
She added with a laugh: "It's a great way to involve people in the area. If we had something like this (in France), we would have to pay to take part in it."
Ms Chua Ai Liang, director of arts & communities at the National Arts Council (NAC), said: "The Octopus Project has the potential to inspire meaningful interactions right where people live, work and play, while preserving the rich stories and memories of Kampong Kapor.
"With NAC's support through the Presentation and Participation Grant, I hope this community- based arts project will touch the lives of the residents there.
"It is wonderful to see more artists like Vijaya Mohan and Ng Xi Jie creating content that resonates with specific communities, such as Singapore's lesser-known migrant workers."
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will develop missiles now banned under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty if the United States exits the arms control pact and starts making such weapons, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
The United States delivered Russia a 60-day ultimatum on Tuesday to come clean about what Washington says is a violation of the 1987 nuclear arms control treaty, saying it would be forced to start a six-month process of withdrawal if nothing changes.
Putin, in televised comments, accused the United States of blaming Russia for violations as a pretext for Washington to exit the pact.
Putin noted that many countries produce missiles banned under the INF treaty, but that Moscow and Washington had undertaken to limit themselves with the accord signed in 1987.
“Now it seems our American partners believe that the situation has changed so much that the United States must also have such a weapon. What’s our response? It’s simple: in that case we will also do this,” he said.
Each day, Benzinga takes a look back at a notable market-related moment that occurred on this date.
On this day in 1996, Yahoo! went public.
The Dow finished the day at 5,532.59. The S&P 500 finished at 636.71. Today, the Dow is trading at 26,143 and the S&P 500 is trading at 2,888.
What Else Was Going On In The World?
In 1996, the IBM (NYSE: IBM) computer Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Gary Kasparov. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and partner NBC launched cable news channel MSNBC. Average monthly rent was $554.
Well before Google became the dominant global search engine, Yahoo! was the website that many internet users set as their homepage. Investor enthusiasm for Yahoo! was through the roof. Its IPO priced at just $13 per share, but it opened its first day of trading at $24.50 and never looked back, finishing the day up 154 ...
When the dust settled, Yahoo stock closed the first day at a price of $33 per share, representing a market cap of $848 million.
Yahoo’s stock peaked at $118.75 during the dot-com bubble in 2000. Although the company survived the bursting of the bubble, its share price never made it back to those levels again.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) completed a deal to acquire Yahoo’s core business in 2017. The remainder of Yahoo’s business now trades as Altaba Inc. (NASDAQ: AABA).
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) has released a message for the Hindu festival of Diwali invoking prosperity, tranquility, peace and harmony on all.
India's Catholic Church is joining fellow Indians in the celebration of Diwali or Deepavali, the festival of lights, wishing that the light of love, justice and truthfulness permeate the nation and that the gift of wealth be used to do good.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in the country, on Monday issued a Diwali message, signed by CBCI Secretary-General, Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas.
The Hindu festival, celebrated on Wednesday, November 7, this year in India, recalls the night when Lord Rama returned to his palace in Ayodhya with his wife Sita and brother Laxman after a 14-year exile.
Many people of other faiths also join in the celebration, lighting their homes, yards and streets with oil lamps call diyas , to commemorate the victory of light over darkness and of good over evil.
While evoking the deep spiritual meanings and messages of Diwali, the bishops wished prosperity, tranquility , peace and harmony on all.
The Catholic Bishops 'Conference of India joins millions of our fellow Indians who cutting across religions and regions, traversing cultural and geographical boundaries celebrate Deepavali, or Diwali the festival of lights. Diwali symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignoranc...
In the celebration of Diwali, wealth is celebrated as a gift of the divine. Therefore, wealth and riches also are to be seen as opportunities to do good and to contribute to the welfare of fellow human beings. The exchange of gifts is not simply a material gesture but a manifestation of affection, love and relationship...
Today more than ever before our world and our country needs light: the light of love, the luminosity of justice, the torch of charity, the flame of truthfulness and the proper use of religion enlightened by true faith. Swami Vivekananda gives a clarion call: "Bring all light into the world. Light, bring light! Let ligh...
May this Diwali be an occasion for all of us to light up our inner lamps of truth and integrity, justice and peace. May we effuse the light of wisdom, understanding and tolerance. May our hearts kindled with the fire of God's love assist the poor and marginalized, the weak and the afflicted, so that those who are less ...
As we celebrate this great Indian Festival, we pray for our country, our leaders and our people. May God bless us with prosperity, tranquility , peace and harmony.

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