Sleuth: The Week of November 2

The electricity is in the air at Audi: A few months ago, the Sleuth shed a little light on the plans for Volkswagen Group’s premium Audi brand to produce an electric car. Now your faithful gumshoe has a bit more meat. The Audi electric vehicle will be based on parent VW’s Up! concept car and would go against the Ford Ka and Fiat 500 in Europe and Chevrolet’s Volt in North America. Engine choices are rumored to be a pair of 0.6-liter two-cylinder turbocharged units, one a diesel and the other fueled by gasoline. Audi’s new small car is rumored to be capable of 95 mpg. An all-electric version has already been given the go-ahead and Audi might test the waters in Canada and then send the car to the United States.

Smart sells to the tune of 20,000 units in the United States: When Smart parent Daimler decided to work with legendary dealer giant (and racing legend) Roger Penske to get the Fortwo model going in the United States, some wondered if Penske could work his magic again. Indeed, it seems he can. Recently a Dallas, Tex., resident took delivery of the 20,000th Smart ForTwo sold in the United States, marking an early milestone for the small car. The sale comes just 10 months after the brand was introduced to U.S. buyers, well ahead of the distributors’ expectations. Of course, the uncertain price of fuel might have more than a little impact on the small car’s chances these days.

Hyundai breaks into a new segment: There has been a growing interest by automakers to offer niche vehicles that are somewhere between sport-utility vehicles and minivans and Hyundai wants a piece of the action. The Sleuth hears that the Korean automaker will launch a vehicle within two years called the Portico that will be more along the lines of a tall wagon. Hyundai first showed the Portico as a concept three years ago with the goal of filling a similar niche to the Mercedes-Benz R-Class and Chrysler’s Pacifica. A flexible layout means three rows of seating for up to six people. While the Portico was slated to be built in Alabama, production has been shifted to Korea and will begin in the third quarter of 2009.

How about $73,000 for V8 Camaro?: Regular production on the assembly line hasn’t even begun for the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, but the third V8-powered Camaro SS that will roll off the line has already been sold for $73,000 via online auction giant eBay (ebaymotors.com). General Motors will donate 100 percent of the sale to the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Mich., as part of the charity auction. With a base price of $30,995 in the United States, the selling price represents a hefty premium for number three, although there will be tax write-off benefits for the new buyer. The winner, who hasn’t been named, will be able to pick the Camaro’s color and factory options before he or she takes delivery.

Toyota poised to overtake General Motors in terms of sales: For 76 years, General Motors stood atop the automotive world without any real competition. But that lead has eroded over the past few years and will likely disappear at the end of 2008. GM already trailed Japan-based Toyota for global sales through the first half of 2008, and that deficit has only grown since the end of the second quarter. According to the Detroit News newspaper, Toyota now has a 351,000-unit sales lead on GM. Through the first nine months of the year, GM has sold 6.7 million vehicles globally, compared to Toyota’s sales of 7.051 million units. About 61 percent of GM’s third-quarter sales came from markets outside of the North America, which is an improvement over last year’s 56 percent mark, but still down from last quarter’s 65 percent. Overall, GM’s third-quarter sales were down 11.4 percent to 2.1 million vehicles.

Market indicators

Tangled companies: General Motors. Renault-Nissan. Volvo. Mazda. When it comes to mergers and acquisitions and changes in the global auto industry, no one is safe from speculation these days. The latest news out of Detroit is that Chrysler and GM might merge if GM can get government aid to get the deal done. But then Renault-Nissan could want part of Chrysler-GM. Then there’s the word that Mazda might also separate from parent Ford, or Volvo might go alone without Ford. One thing is constant these days: change is everywhere.

Zero-percent financing: With a faltering U.S. economy on everyone’s mind these days, a popular option is emerging for automakers who have a solid base of cash and a good credit rating: zero-percent financing. In an attempt to try to get buyers back into their showrooms, Nissan and Toyota (two automakers with a solid base for business) have begun offering zero-percent financing for their vehicles being sold in the United States. Toyota and zero-percent financing? It once was considered unthinkable as demand for the company’s vehicles was high enough without offering purchase incentives. How’s that for a sign of the times?