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Your MilePost now comes to you as an email newsletter, and also remains available on the site. For an explanation, see the President's Message below. Click on any of the Contents items to jump to the section you want to read first.
Contents:
Luncheon Presentation
August 11, 2009
Consumer Panel
A Message from the President Aaron Robinson
Coming Events
New Members
Member News
Presidents Past
Kevin Smith
What We Drive
Dave Kunz's BMW Motorcycle
Maintain your online profile
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LUNCHEON / AUGUST 11, 2009: CONSUMER PANEL
Trends in Auto Buying
Bell moderates fellow researchers Miller, Peterson and Wainschel
– photos by Morgan Segal for MPG
What are automotive shoppers looking for? It’s a vital and ever-changing study in our business. Offering answers at our August luncheon was a panel of three expert market researchers: Donna Miller, Senior VP of GfK Custom Research’s Automotive branch; George Peterson, President and Publisher of AutoPacific, Inc.; and Rick Wainschel, Senior VP, Marketing and Analytics, Kelley Blue Book. Moderator was MPG board member James Bell, who is editor and publisher of IntelliChoice.com.
AutoPacific’s Peterson opened by stating, “In my mind, the world ended about 11 months ago.” That’s the day in September he tried to purchase a new Ford, only to learn the dealership was going out of business. “I said, ‘What the heck’s going on?’”
Now, we all know all too well. Among the metrics that Peterson’s company tracks is consumer confidence, which he says “has absolutely cratered.” And even consumers who have no specific reason to be worried about their incomes are holding back from buying. In an interesting anecdote, George told of the school teacher in a focus group who declared, “I have no fear for my job, I’m going to continue to get my salary increases, and I’m not buying a thing. It’s not the right thing for me to do to buy anything.”
Ending on a happier note, his most recent data leads Peterson to feel that “we’re coming out of the doldrums.” As for that Ford, he did manage to buy the Flex he wanted. All in all, he added, “Ford has come out of this smiling.”
KBB’s Wainschel spoke about what online auto shoppers have been doing over the past year. There are signs of renewed interest, he said. Whereas historically kbb.com has gotten about 13 million visits per month, whereby people research cars that interest them, the number has been rising sharply recently. “Last month, in July, we hit an all-time record, 15.9 million visits. So people are very interested in finding out vehicle information.”
Cautiously, he echoed a remark of Peterson’s, saying that some of the interest was generated by the temporary Cash for Clunkers incentive; “whether that sustains itself remains to be seen.” But research suggests that two thirds of those who took advantage of the program were intending to buy a new vehicle anyway, the incentive didn’t make them move any more quickly than they’d planned to.
Another item of kbb study was the effect of bankruptcies on what buyers thought of the automakers involved. “The big story here is, the domestics have been doing quite well ever since the bankruptcy occurred. They’re still very viable in the minds of consumers,” Wainschel said.
GfK Automotive, explained Miller, tracks the intentions of vehicle buyers. Her presentation focused on an overview of the economy as a whole, and she pointed out that the decline began well before the current crisis. “What we see is that automotive demand has been on the decline since 2001.
“It’s not a straight line, but it’s been a slow steady decline, and what we see is that today fewer than 50 percent of U.S. households say they intend to buy a new vehicle — ever.”
But can that be blamed entirely on the sour economy? Miller said there’s been a dearth of really interesting vehicles recently. “There hasn’t been the innovation in product that we had seen in previous decades. While there was wonderful innovation in new models and engine technology, especially hybrids, we hadn’t seen a new segment that boosted sales in excess of a million since minivans in the 80s and SUVs in the 90s."
At least she was able to see a silver lining, not only in economic trends and vehicle sales but in coming vehicles. “Automotive recovery during prior recessions has been very profitable and actually speedier when there’s been significant product innovation,” said Miller, “So we’re very excited about some of the products that actually are coming out this year and next from both the imports as well as the domestics.”
For the full transcript of the latest luncheon presentation, click here (no member login required)
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT/ AARON ROBINSON
Welcome to our new MilePost newsletter, phase two. You may recall that earlier this year we put MilePost online to save trees and the expense of printing and mailing a hard copy. Also, we wanted to take advantage of the benefits of online publishing, namely unlimited space.
The problem: only about a third of you are clicking through to the MPG website to read the newsletter — we have ways of telling that — so we have decided to make it chimpanzee-easy to read MilePost. Everything that was in the old MilePost is now right here in this email.
As for the full transcript and also the audio of last month’s meeting, if you would like to read or hear those, simply click here and you will be taken there.
Unlike before, you won’t have to log onto the MPG website to read the transcript. We have removed that step to make it easier and quicker to access the luncheon transcripts. Meanwhile, we shall endeavor to keep these MilePost mails down to a reasonable kilobyte size so as not to overwhelm your inbox.
Here in the last gasps of summer — especially for people living in the Valley and other smoky areas — let’s take a moment to consider the wonderful concept we know as democracy. In a democracy, the people get to determine their leadership through the ballot box. That is, unless Ayatollahs or lawyers for losing candidates decide that the people need help figuring out which leaders they want.
Well, here at MPG, there are no Ayatollahs and not enough lawyers to cause trouble, but there are elections. And there is a very real need for people to stand for those elections.
Yes, you can wait till somebody like me calls you to personally grovel at your feet in the hope that you’ll lend your invaluable skills and genius intellect a few hours a month to the board of the Motor Press Guild which has given you so much — but why?
Being on the MPG board is cool. There are jovial and spirited meetings, some of which end before 1:00 A.M. There are opportunities to plan fabulous events, such as the annual Track Day and the Dean Batchelor Award banquet. You can help manage a budget of more than $300,000, find interesting speakers for our monthly luncheons, and plot exotic destinations for our periodic Power Trip drives. Best of all, you’ll get to know your fellow automotive journalists and public relations professionals better.
Last year’s ballot had ten candidates, the most MPG has seen in quite a while. I take that as an affirmation of, well, me, because clearly, serving on the MPG board is hot right now. Still, we need able bodies to fill the three vacancies on the board. Contact myself at president@motorpressguild.org or just email MPG with your candidacy at info@motorpressguild.org.
As James Cagney would have said, hurry right away, go today, don’t delay. Make your Daddy glad to have had such a lad (or lass).
Aaron Robinson
MPG President
COMING EVENTS
MPG’s luncheon meetings are on the second Tuesdays of the months January through September, plus November, at the Proud Bird Restaurant near LAX airport. Guest speakers come from every area of the automotive business, and all industry professionals are welcome to attend. Price is $25 for MPG members, $30 for others. Arrive by 11:30 am for networking, with lunch beginning at noon.Check www.motorpressguild.org for latest details and driving directions.
September 8: MPG Luncheon at the Proud Bird. In a “Diesel Panel” moderated by John Stewart, Gale Banks of Gale Banks Engineering and Lars Ullrich, director of diesel marketing for Robert Bosch, will address diesel power as it is today and where it's heading tomorrow.
October 27-28: MPG Track Day at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana. Online registration remains open until October 16. Click here to register.
November 10: MPG Luncheon meeting at the Proud Bird. Guest speaker is Robert Davis, Mazda's senior VP of product development and quality.
December 2: LA Auto Show opening Media Day, with breakfast followed by the MPG Keynote Speaker, GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson. Media registration opens September 14 at www.laautoshow.com/Press.html
December 8: MPG Dean Batchelor Award banquet.
NEW MEMBERS
Steve Bland, Big Logo Advertising, LLC, 1305 Rexford Ave., Pasadena, CA 91107; 310-259-1197; steve@biglogoadvertising.com. Affiliate
Julia LaPalme, Photographer, Motor Trend Magazine, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 91202; 323-782-2015; fax: 323-782-2355; julia.lapalme@motortrend.com. Full-Journalist
Richard Medina, Media Specialist, Kett Engineering, 15530 Texaco Ave., Paramount, CA 90723; 562-634-6087 x103; fax: 562-634-2329; richard.medina@ketteng.com. Affiliate
Morgan J. Segal, Morgan J. Segal Photography, 4190 Duquesne Ave., #3, Culver City, CA 90232; 310-650-3144; morgan@morgansegal.com. Full-Journalist
Elliott L. Shev, AutoMatters, 645 Front St., #812, San Diego, CA 92101; 619-745-1550; impressionbyelliott@cox.net. Full-Journalist
Jan Stoetzer, Manager, Account Services, Kett Engineering, 15530 Texaco Ave., Paramount, CA 90723; 562-634-6087 x101; fax: 562-634-2329; jan.stoetzer@ketteng.com. Affiliate
Eric Stromsborg, President, Kett Engineering, 1550 Erwin St., #1029, Van Nuys, CA 91411; 818-908-5388 x222; fax: 818-908-5323; eric.stromsborg@ketteng.com. Affiliate
MEMBER NEWS
MEMBER NEWS is an MPG resource to advise fellow members of changes in your contact info as well as new business ventures, products, services, requests for assistance, etc. Entries will appear on a one-time basis here in MilePost (send them to milepost@motorpressguild.org), but you may also post them on the website (send them separately to membernews@motorpressguild.org). Please note that our new, self-service website has rendered MilePost’s old “MEMBERS IN MOTION” section obsolete; see “MAINTAIN YOUR PROFILE” at the bottom of this email.
 Holiday Gift Idea! Pete Lyons’ R&T calendar
Road & Track’s 2010 Vintage Memories Calendar, “North American Thunder,” features 14 superb B&W historic racing photos by Pete Lyons and his father, Ozzie Lyons. A very limited edition of numbered copies, each personally autographed by Pete, is available through
www.petelyons.com. Order now for holiday giving — even to yourself!
Price: $27 numbered and autographed (includes shipping in the U.S. and Canada) plus CA sales tax where applicable. Order at www.petelyons.com
.jpg) PRESIDENTS PAST / Kevin Smith, 1993
How long ago was 1993? Chrysler Corporation, enjoying one of those periods when it was not borderline-insolvent, rolled out its all-new and seminal line of sleek sedans, the LHs — the Chrysler Concorde, Dodge Intrepid and Eagle Vision. Remember “cab-forward” design?
Also that year, the last and best generation RX7 was launched by Mazda. This was the fast, stiff, fanatically lightweight version clothed in Tom Matano’s curvaceous aluminum lines.
Personally, I was half way through a stint in one of the truly great postings our business had to offer: West Coast Editor for Car and Driver magazine. I was hooked up with one of the fine motor-publishing brands, yet I lived in Seal Beach, had a down-the-hall commute and could take brief meetings (that is, I took them in my briefs) with the staff in Ann Arbor via phone.
Life was good.
I had also served on the board of MPG for a couple years, faking it as treasurer and vice-president, and they told me president was no tougher, so 1993 was my year. With an enthusiastic and responsible bunch of folks on the board, it was pretty smooth sailing.
To be honest, I had been AWOL for some of MPG’s most critical formative years. I was around in the early-’80s and recall Matt DeLorenzo, George-Ann Rosenberg and Dean Batchelor trying to get an IMPA-West off the ground. But in the fall of 1985, I had answered the call of David E. Davis, Jr., who was starting Automobile Magazine from scratch, with Rupert Murdoch’s money. I’d have gone most anywhere for an opportunity like that, and in this case, it was southeast Michigan. Broken roads, slippery winters, radar traps and ground zero for America’s auto industry.
When I migrated west again in 1990, MPG was rolling. It was still young and growing, but clearly and firmly established. Eric Dahlquist and Chuck Koch and Len Frank and John Rettie had things working. Ilona Shillman was Track Day Queen. We were locked in at the Proud Bird. I know MPG’s first half-decade was a major slog, but it’s a tribute to those pioneering members that the biggest concerns I recall from 1993 were money (of course), membership status (even before the Internet, we wondered how to tell who was really a “journalist”), and keeping people from backing the Viper off the asphalt at Track Day.
Life was good.
I suppose, 16 years on, everything is different. And yet it’s also all the same. There is certainly no shortage of grist for our various mills. We are witnessing truly historic events in the auto industry, which are testing the talents and endurance of good people in both journalism and public relations. There are marvelous automobiles coming to market. And the public needs a lot of help understanding both those cars and those events.
We, all of us, have a duty to perform, and I’m confident the help and support and camaraderie we take from MPG will continue to aid those efforts.
Life is still good. —Kevin Smith, MPG President, 1993
WHAT WE DRIVE
Dave Kunz and his Classic K-Bike
–photos by Pete Lyons for MPG
I always dreamed of someday owning a classic motorcycle. What I didn’t count on was that it would be a bike I bought new. But that’s what’s happened to my 1996 BMW K1100RS, although its somewhat recent age puts it on the fringe of classic designation.
This is my second BMW, and my sixth motorcycle overall. It's the last of the original K-Bike design, which shocked the bike world in 1983 when it debuted as the K100. The idea was to replace the decades-old boxer twins with a completely new and different design, although BMW subsequently updated the boxers and kept them around. The K100’s inline four cylinder engine was laid on its side, lengthwise, and soon garnered the nickname “flying brick.” That didn’t keep me from buying one.
The K-series went through several revisions over the years, spawning the controversial K1 sport bike, then an updated K100 with a 16-valve cylinder head and an improved chassis. The final revision came in 1993 when displacement increased to 1100cc and a full lower fairing was added to the original square-ish upper section. 1996 marked the final year for the K1100RS, supplanted by the 1998 K1200RS which was an all-new design. (There was no 1997 model year.)
 I traded my K100 in on one of the last K1100s in Southern California in the summer of 1997, just before the first batch of 1200s arrived.
I’ve enjoyed the bike over the past dozen years, although the odometer reading is somewhat of en embarrassment in BMW circles, where six-digit mileage is like a badge of honor. To date, I’ve barely racked up 25,000 miles, though every one of them has been a pleasure. The motorcycle has never given me a lick of trouble, and does a good job serving duty as a pseudo sport bike, a commuter, and a tourer.
When I roll up to a bike hangout like the Rock Store or Newcomb’s Ranch, I often get questions, or comments of admiration. It seems that many of the older K-Bikes have either turned into beaters or gone off to the junkyard. I started hearing the term “classic” a few years ago, just as BMW’s third generation of inline-engine liquid-cooled models hit the market.
I occasionally get ideas of buying a newer bike, perhaps even one of the more modern BMWs. But I think I have to keep the K1100 for a long, long time. After all, it’s apparently now a classic.
—Dave Kunz
WHAT’S YOURS? Are you the proud owner of a neat vehicle? Want to share its story? Send us about 400 words along with a few photos. Please include yourself in at least one of the pix — this is about what “we” drive, after all. Cars, race cars, trucks, bikes, bicycles, boats, airplanes, steam traction engines…whatever have you, tell us all about it! Send material to milepost@motorpressguild.org
MAINTAIN YOUR PROFILE
When any of your contact info changes, please go straight to your own online Profile (under “Members” on the MPG website header bar) and “Edit” it to reflect your new data. It is vital that you do this yourself, because next year’s printed “Membership Roster & Media Guide” will draw from this database. Nobody will double-check it for you, so the accuracy of your printed information is now totally your responsibility. Check it now at www.motorpressguild.org.
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