The Little Hybrid Engine that Could
One of the most impressive cars at last week’s Philadelphia Auto Show doesn’t come from Japan, Germany or Detroit. It came from the auto shop at West Philadelphia High School. The car — designed and built by students in the school’s Academy for Automotive and Mechanical Engineering — delivers more horsepower than some Porsches and gets gas mileage comparable to a Toyota Prius. It runs on fuel made from soybeans.
AMN’s Top Ten Week: Top Ten News Stories
If nothing else has been made clear by the events taking place in the automotive industry over the past 12 months, this much is true: The automotive aftermarket is changing — in dramatic ways. Here, the editorial staffs of Counterman and aftermarketNews takes a month-by-month look at the key events that have shaped this industry’s destiny over the past year.
Study Shows Chinese Auto Industry Expanding, Facing Challenges
A new study released by IBM and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute’s Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation (OSAT) reveals the Chinese automotive industry is facing a number of significant challenges as it continues its expansion. The need to adapt to a market economy, a lack of technology and knowledge transfer from joint ventures, and infrastructure, air quality and oil supply challenges all combine to create an uncertain future for the Chinese automotive industry, according to the study.
R. L. Polk & Co.’s Ask the Industry: Are We Doing Enough to Attract the Next Generation?
For this edition of Ask the Industry, we asked executives representing a number of market segments including manufacturing, service and training: Are we doing enough to attract bright young professionals to this industry? If not, what more needs to be done? And, what are the dealerships doing that we can’t or haven’t?
CCC Information Services Marks 25th Anniversary with $25,000 in Scholarships
CCC Information Services Inc. is offering five schools $25,000 in collision repair training and education scholarships to assist deserving students pursuing a career in the automotive-collision repair industry. The CCC Outstanding Student Technician Scholarship, developed in cooperation with the I-CAR Education Foundation, is now accepting applications for the 2006 program.
Goodyear Achieves Record Sales, Highest Quarterly Net Income in Seven Years
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. today reported net income of $142 million (70 cents per share), the company’s highest quarterly result since the third quarter of 1998, reflecting record net sales and strong operating results in the company’s tire businesses.
Herman Trend Alert: Emerging Class of ‘Skill-Handicapped’
On September 1, the United States Department of Labor issued a report with far-reaching implications for employers, workers and educators. While the pre-Katrina report announced that the unemployment rate had dropped to a four-year low of 4.9 percent, the average time that the 7.4 million unemployed spent searching for work in August was 18.9 weeks — up from an average of 17.6 weeks in July.
Herman Trend Alert: Is Offshoring Waning?
For years, the United States and some other developed countries have been sending jobs to less-developed countries. In most cases, the motivation has been cost-savings, almost always in labor costs. It was assumed that workers in the receiving countries would be able to perform the work at least as effectively as the workers who had held their jobs for years, sometimes for decades.
Adayana Launches Automotive Training Web Site
Adayana Inc. recently announced the launch of its automotive technical skills training system and Web site MyTechCampus (mytechcampus.com). The site provides access to Adayana’s library of automotive service, service management and safety courses developed specifically for the Web.
Automotive Aftermarket Industry Leaders Talk Shop at Industry Conference
Nearly $1.7 billion is spent yearly on automotive service and repair, which accounts for about two thirds of the automotive aftermarket industry revenue. Consumers seeking such services may face slower turn-around times and higher costs due to a shortage of technicians, according to the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA).