Automobile Retailers

With a shift in customer demand from automakers, states like Alabama will need to adapt their car-making sector.

Why am I picking on Alabama? Do I harbour any particular dislike to the Yellowhammer State? No. But the reality is that Alabama contains factories and automakers that create some of the largest gas-guzzling clunkers in the entire US of A. And something will need to change with those factories quickly in order to keep up with new demands for economical and environmentally-friendly cars.

Luckily, Alabama’s car-makers are listening to Alabama’s consumers.

The three automakers with plants in Alabama are already adjusting their production line to meet the new demands. Honda, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz normally produced a realm of SUVs, crossovers, and light trucks in the state. But with new production demands, the shift is towards more economical cars that focus on protecting the environment and the consumer from immensely high gas prices.

Sam Addy, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, said the state’s auto industry has been a great windfall for the economy and predicted that it would continue to develop and progress in the right direction. “I think the auto industry in Alabama is not yet mature,” he said. “I think we have a chance of landing more plants and of expanding current plants.”

Alabama benefits from having automakers from Asian and European markets, where adaptability is considered a virtue. With a major emphasis on flexibility and adapting to market changes, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, and Hyundai have continued to roll out profits while other domestic companies stubbornly refuse to keep up to changing demands.

This spells trouble for some domestic car-making facilities, but may not spell trouble for automakers with a desire and ability to change and change quickly. Because Alabama boasts an automobile field based around such evolving car companies, it’s looking like the state will have no problem adapting to new customer needs and desires.

Gas prices are hurting car dealerships, but most are still finding a way to get people through the doors and to take a test drive. Gas cards are being used to pull customers in and most dealerships say it’s working.

Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge dealerships across the country are using a program called “Let’s Refuel America” at their 3,511 dealerships. The program provides customers with a $3-a-gallon gas card for three years. With gas prices at $4-a-gallon at the moment, that’s a pretty sweet deal. Chrysler initially rolled out the offer earlier this month and was going to end it June 2, but it has recently been extended through July 7. This follows the report that sales last month were down 23 percent from April 2007.

Based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s mileage figures for each model purchased, the gas cards have a top-end limit of 12,000 miles per year. Some car models do not come with standard rebates if the customer selects the gas card. Vehicles requiring more than 87-octane gas carry extra costs to get in on the gas card promotion, too.

Toyota’s in on the act, too. Dealerships are providing customers who purchase four new specified brands of tires before June 30 a gas card worth $50. Toyota Scion dealers like Jeff Belzer is seeing a change because of the program. “It’s been going pretty well,” Belzer said. “I don’t know if we’re setting the world on fire or anything. People need tires, so this is a bonus.”

With the constant battle for car sales raging between dealerships, it’ll be interesting to see how many more dealerships use gas cards as incentives in the coming months. The gas prices show no signs of falling anytime soon and giving away free gas or a great deal on gas will be a considerable incentive to get people to purchase a car from a dealership offering the promotion.

If you’re like me, you love muscle cars. You love the sound they make, the way they look and what they represent. The Pontiac GTO is one of the first cars that was marketed as a muscle car and it still lives in the minds of car lovers everywhere.

The GTO was actually born out of one man’s fight against the establishment. John Z. Delorean, a chief engineer at the Pontiac company, wanted to create a “mild-mannered mid-sized sedan” with a big V8 engine. That sounds simple enough to me.

Delorean began making his creation in 1963 with some other engineers. They used the previous year’s model – the Tempest – for their basic shell. Since it had a four-cylinder engine with a V8 mount, they figured it shouldn’t be a problem to install a larger engine into this vehicle. After some experimentation, the engineers completed a prototype that was ready for the finishing touches.

Delorean, of course, had the honor of naming the car. He named it the Gran Turismo Omologato. In English, that translates into Grand Touring Homologated, or simply GTO for short.

At the time an exotic car company was using the same initials for one of its models, too. But since you can’t copyright initials, Pontiac still used the GTO moniker for its new muscle car. It started out as a car with 325 horsepower, dual exhausts, three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty suspension and other features you’d expect from a fast muscle car.

Today, you can get a new or used GTO at your local Pontiac dealer. Drive a piece of history down the highway and appreciate what the muscle car represents in American culture before the hybrid revolution takes over!