Automotive Space

THE CASE OF SAAB AUTOMOBILE AB – From core capabilities into core rigidities – A trajectory towards demise (Second Part)

Lorenzo Rondelli — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 06:10:52 +0000

THE FIRST PART
GM‘s decision to develop products for a wider market (thus losing appeal in the eyes of historical customers) and inconsistent industrial choices (“sometimes it seemed that everything had to be produced in Rüsselsheim, other times in Trollhättan, even Opel cars”) lead to an inevitable decline in sales.
Only the collapse recorded in 1996 (90,000 cars) convinced the Americans to change course, focusing on volume growth (abandoning the attention on cost reduction and efficiency) and leaving more autonomy to Saab; which achieved its best result ever in 1999, with 131,240 cars produced.
Even for the second generation of the 9-3 Sport Sedan launched in 2003 more autonomy was left to Saab, which was paid dearly: costs increased (by 23% for purchased components) also because too much money was… Read the rest

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THE CASE OF SAAB AUTOMOBILE AB – From core capabilities into core rigidities – A trajectory towards demise (Part First)

Lorenzo Rondelli — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 06:10:12 +0000

Let’s leave for a post the flow of memories of managers, mechanics, racers, designers and specialized journalists to deal with how the academic world has recreated and explained an event that has left enthusiasts from all over the world and an entire nation stunned: the bankruptcy from Saab in 2011.
Giacomo Buzzoni and Magnus Eklund, students of the University of Gothenburg, analysed without biases the history of the Swedish company and the dramatic events happened in the last years of the Trollhättan manufacturer’s life, trying to understand the reasons that led the second Scandinavian car manufacturer to bankruptcy.
The couple’s strategy is simple: bringing to light the responsibilities of General Motors and the Swedish managers through interviews with the protagonists (the former heads of engineering and IT, some industry experts,… Read the rest

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Gilles Villeneuve 40 years later

Lorenzo Rondelli — Sun, 08 May 2022 06:10:31 +0000

To pay homage to Gilles Villeneuve, this post comes out exceptionally on Sunday; in the occasion of 40th anniversary of the demise of the talented Ferrari driver.
Saturday 8 May 1982, during the tests of the Belgian Gran Prix, Gilles Villeneuve had an accident with Jochen Mass’ March; the Canadian’s Ferrari flew in the air, the seat belt attachments failed, the driver suffered very serious injuries that would have led to his death in hospital.
In this way it ended the ride of a driver who made thousands of automotive sportsmen from all over the world jump out of their seats (the writer still remembers when, as a teenager, he witnessed the duel with Arnoux in Dijon in 1979) and made Enzo Ferrari younger by several years, who saw again… Read the rest

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2021, the list of the most read posts on Automotive Space

Pietro Montagna — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 06:10:18 +0000

11 Years of AUTOMOTIVE SPACE and also this year we publish the list of most read posts!
I chose to publish the 10 most read posts to understand what is more interesting for our readers and give a list of posts, to the readers, that the Community deem worthy of being read.
Automotive Space is on line since 11 years (with about 290 posts issued); please, contact us (redazione@automotivespace.eu) if you are interested to publish your point of view on automotive field.
We are always searching international contacts to have different approach, also if you are only interested to make Personal Branding, and you have a deep knowledge of Automotive Field, please contact us.
In while….

Mercedes-Benz and the ‘OM651 case’ (8 Comments)
This new motor has expressed several failures… Read the rest

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Hybrid and electric cars and the return to… the past

Giuseppe Capirone — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 05:10:53 +0000

We now have got used to reading about hybrid and electric cars.
We also begin to know more about it, about the declared potential and also the real ones.
We are told that the future of mobility is the electric car, the hybrid car is the transition and having doubts about this means being a retrograde polluter.
Notwithstanding reading about hybrid and electric cars and their performance it really seems like a throwback to the… past.
One hundred and twenty-five years ago – 1896 – the first examples of the Krieger were already on sale in France, a small car powered by two electric motors that boasted a range of about 60 kilometres.
Practically contemporary to the tricycles and quadricycles of De Dion Bouton, the Krieger was competitive with the… Read the rest

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Do we ask the customer for leading feedback or a specific consultancy?

Pietro Montagna — Mon, 24 May 2021 05:10:49 +0000

The more structured dealers, with or without the support of the companies they work for, have set up monitoring systems for their activities through the release of feedback from customers since years. It is not often an “autonomous” job, but it derives by the fact that car manufacturers recognize a reward when this feedback is above a certain percentage.
Not all customers are contacted for sales, and this aspect already opens a world of variables; there are those who consider only privates and not companies, others only new and not used. Then others make a distinction between the various sales channels- whether funded or not, only above a certain value or if there were certain margins.
For the After Sales, the sectorization of the feedback may depends on the brand,… Read the rest

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Customer Experience has become the key point of sales during the Covid

Benedetto Carella — Mon, 17 May 2021 05:10:02 +0000

The SARS-Cov 2 pandemic and the related lockdown that was generated in a first phase and, today in a second one, have brought to light several problems left open over the years and above all they have accelerated various processes that would have had longer development and application times.
In particular the adoption of the home working, which maybe isn’t yet so smart, has widely spread due to the pandemic and lockdown period, even if not in all sectors.
Another further boost, as consequence of the obligation to be forced at home and the relative increase in the use of online contents, led to the generation of a “new customer“, lot more careful about the “customer experience” than in the past and even more sensible to the quality of the… Read the rest

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There will be a “disruptive” change for car dealers as well?

Benedetto Carella — Mon, 10 May 2021 05:10:26 +0000

Will this pandemic actually be the acceleration of changes in every production sector, and therefore also in the automotive field? Will the car no longer be the same as we known it?
Maybe yes, and probably the car is at the moment in the same phase which the typewriter or the Kodak paper experienced in the 80s, that is, we are trying to perfect an old model to the maximum, but we aren’t actually realizing that something completely different is emerging, as digital photography was for Kodak.
The “digital photography” in the automotive field will be self-driving cars, which will probably change radically the concept of buying a car and moving around.

The car will no longer be, perhaps, an eager object of possession, but it will be a mean… Read the rest

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FIAT Electric cars (the ones from the old days)

Giuseppe Capirone — Mon, 03 May 2021 05:10:41 +0000

It is said that Fiat falls behind in programs of models’ innovation, specially about electric and hybrid vehicles.
It is said that this is one of the reasons, which led the company – for a long time now known as FCA, the name Fiat only refers to the brand – to the fusion with the PSA group.
It’s possible. Fiat has faced tumultuous events since 2000 and the choices taken under the Marchionne management were focused on other areas.
There was a time, however, in which Fiat was at the forefront in the study of sustainable mobility.
It was the first, among the car manufacturers, which launched in 1972 a city car – Fiat X 1/23 – powered by an electric engine.
Fiat X 1/23, designed by Research Centre, was… Read the rest

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2020, the list of the most read posts on Automotive Space

Pietro Montagna — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 06:10:43 +0000

Also this year we like to publish the list of most read posts, from begin (about 10 years), of Automotive Space!
I chose to publish the 10 most read posts to understand what is more interesting for our readers and give a list of posts, to the readers, that the Community deem worthy of being read.
Automotive Space is on line since 10 years (with about 280 posts issued) at this moment we haven’t abroad correspondents and we write from professional to professional, of course in automotive sector.
We are always searching international reporter to have a more independent and large vision of our professional sector.
If you interested to make Personal Branding, and you have a deep knowledge of Automotive Field, Please contact us.
In while….

Mercedes-Benz and the… Read the rest

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What do Toyoda, Fehrenbach and Vettel have in common? The good sense!

Giuseppe Capirone — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 06:10:35 +0000

In recent weeks, the statements of three people considered – rightly – serious and followed have gone almost unnoticed.

Akyo Toyoda is President of Toyota and also President of the Association of Japanese Automobile Manufacturers
Franz Fehrenbach is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bosch, one of the leading manufacturers of automotive components.
Sebastian Vettel needs no introduction

It is certain that all three are entitled to talk about cars.
Toyoda and Fehhrenbach have bluntly stated that the race for the electric car is full of contradictions and misjudgements, a stretch desired by politicians and governments.
This is not new. In the name of sustainable mobility, a real crusade is in place against endothermic engines and in favour of electrification at any cost.
Manufacturers have quietly adapted, looking at an… Read the rest

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Covid 19. At the recovery, will the transport system be the same?

Giuseppe Capirone — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 06:10:27 +0000

I don’t want to be one of those, too many, who pontificate how the Covid 19 will change the world.
Allow me, however, to express a couple of considerations about how, at the end of this stage of restrictions, our behaviour and those around us will change.
Let’s start from the car and its use.
Until yesterday, the general policy of governments and local administrators was to discourage the use of cars in urban centres, especially in big cities, to reduce traffic and pollution.
They pushed us towards a greater use of public transport and other forms of mobility such as car sharing, shared cars on the same route, bike sharing and even electric scooters.
Everything to avoid us using our own car.

But tomorrow, in a few weeks or… Read the rest

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Coronavirus and the three points of no return for the automotive

Pietro Montagna — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 06:10:53 +0000

One of the fields, which will be more affected from the Coronavirus, is, with any doubt, the heavy industry and, among them, in Europe the automotive.
The whole supply chain is suffering the consequences of a sudden collapse in the final demand; the recovery won’t be immediate at all simply because the EU market is a substitutional one and therefore the demand curve is very elastic to negative external factors.
If we consider that only in Italy the automotive field is worth circa 11% of the GDP we are well aware of what we are talking about and the impact on the entire economy; a well-known fact, which clearly explains the meaning of these words, is the drop in sales of new cars of -85% (-50% in Europe) and of… Read the rest

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The world in electric is revolutionizing the nautical too

Giuseppe Capirone — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 06:10:58 +0000

It seems there is no doubt, they way we’ll move in the future must be electric; convinced or not, everyone is going in this direction.
Legislators, media, car dealers and marketing offices have started down a road, which seems with no return but, if you think it involves the automotive field only, you are wrong.
It seems the yachting sector and the commercial shipping have made the same choice.
Autonomy and energy self-sufficiency are fundamental for those who sail; endothermic engines, with the possibility to charge batteries using the alternators, guarantee both the things.
We have to say that who sails, specially those who use a sailboat, generally pays more attention to the environment sustainability. This is one of the reasons why the market has developed non-polluting solutions for the… Read the rest

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Covid 19 and the famous nautical victim: Evinrude

Giuseppe Capirone — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 06:12:27 +0000

It is certain that Covid 19 will have a heavy impact worldwide on the single habits and on the economy of companies. It is early to delineate its boundaries and consequences but the first effects are emerging in all sectors.
In the world of the nautical industry, the first victim of Covid 19 has been announced, and it isn’t an insignificant name.
The Evinrude brand of outboard motors – the first one which began producing outboard motors in 1907 – will close down.
A historical brand so disappears, the one which wrote the history of the outboard boat and is perhaps the best known even to those who are inexperienced in boating.
And it is also known by the youngest: who doesn’t remember the Evirunde dragonfly from Walt Disney’s “The… Read the rest

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JIT and JIS, how the Covid is changing the Automotive Industry

Pietro Montagna — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 06:10:06 +0000

It has been talking a lot (specially on every social Network) about the COVID-19 impact on everyday life; but it’s interesting to me looking at the effects on the OEM and their organization.
For some decades, the automotive has been “merely” an assembly industry.
No generalist OEM produces, but is limited to designing and participating in the industrialization of the project; the final production phase of the car is reduced to the material supply to be assembled at the most propitious moment for the assembly itself.
ASSEMBLY AND GLOBALIZATION
Let’s start with a basic concept; the whole assembly industry is focused on the Just in Time policy and, where possible, it is implemented by the Just in Sequence.

JIT is the put into practise the coordination of the actual need… Read the rest

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Service and CRM lesson from dentists, gas station attendants and tyre dealers

Pietro Montagna — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 06:10:02 +0000

About twenty years ago, as I started my carrier in the automotive field, I was clearly told that Dealers, would have always done more business on the After Sales and on mortgages.
More in general the “Service” would have been the real key point of incomes in a medium and long term.
From the simple inspection to the MOT, the tire change, the insurance, the second handed car for the young driver, the bodywork repairs or the installation of a new surveillance system.
As you can imagine, we go far from the After Sales concept and we enter in the Service field at 100%.
Not few years are gone now and that idea is now a reality: everyone knows that incomes on the “Metal” are hilarious and don’t repay not… Read the rest

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Safety of Vehicles in the European Union

Benedetto Carella — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 06:10:56 +0000

After 10 years from the first introduction of the regulations about General Safety and Pedestrian Safety, the European Union introduces a new one about the General Safety of Motor Vehicles and their Occupiers and safety of vulnerable road users (like pedestrians and riders).
The new rule updates the existing directions of vehicles safety described in the regulation (CE) 661/2009 about the General Safety, in the regulation (CE) 78/2009 about pedestrian safety and in the regulation (CE) 79/2009 about the safety of hydrogen-powered vehicles.
The main purpose is to significantly decrease the number of road deaths.
It has a noble intention, that is to “reduce the number of road accident victims or road fatalities” but, unfortunately, the regulation will come into force in the second half of 2022; that is in… Read the rest

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Turin and the art of coachbuilders (1946-1980)

Giuseppe Capirone — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 06:10:40 +0000

First of all Massimo Porta is an “old” friend: I met him during the army service – 45 year ago more or less – and we did many things together.
For this reason, I can talk about his book “Turin and the art of coachbuilders (1946-1980)” without any fear of being biased.
Massimo Porta is neither a writer nor a designer and he has never worked in an automotive company.
In the everyday life he is a doctor, professor at the Turin University and Head of Internal Medicine at an hospital in Turin.
He is an enthusiast of classic cars, collectors and specially a proud knower of his city, he rediscovered and evokes a world that kids like us, grown up in Turin during the period 1950-1970, had missed.
The… Read the rest

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Self-driving even at sea

Giuseppe Capirone — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 05:10:24 +0000

While the route of cars with self-driving proceeds towards trials, agreements and insurance and legislative formulations, nautical and commercial shipping fields move in the direction of Self-navigation.
The boost, again, comes from the Northern Europe, in the specific from Norway, the same country which sees the market of electric cars goes up of 31% for registrations in 2018 (over 40% if we include hybrid cars) mainly due even to strong government incentives.
Vard shipyard, from Fincantieri group, is building up a container ship with a totally electric propulsion and with self-navigation systems.
“Yara Birkeland“, this is the name of the ship – 80 meters long and large 15 – will be able to bring approx. 120 containers.

The introduction of this ship will lead to a reduction of the road… Read the rest

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