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<link><![CDATA[http://search.autonews.com/]]></link>
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<title><![CDATA[Old-school Rizza roars into the digital age]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130520/RETAIL07/305209998/old-school-rizza-roars-into-the-digital-age]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130520/RETAIL07/305209998/old-school-rizza-roars-into-the-digital-age</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 20 May 2013 00:01:00 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In an age when auto dealers are plunging into digital tools for marketing, store management and customer retention, Chicago's Rizza Cars has become a star practitioner. The six-store retailer with Ford, Lincoln, Acura, Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Kia and Porsche brands is a case study of a traditional ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Snap-Happy]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130520/RETAIL07/305209988/snap-happy]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130520/RETAIL07/305209988/snap-happy</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 20 May 2013 00:01:00 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Donna Gebers, general manager of East Bay BMW and East Bay Mini in Pleasanton, Calif., makes no apologies for including at least 60 photos of each used vehicle that the dealerships list with online shopping sites. Today's car buyers shop predominantly online and like visual evidence of a vehicle's ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nissan price cuts could boost brand]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130506/RETAIL03/305069954/nissan-price-cuts-could-boost-brand]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130506/RETAIL03/305069954/nissan-price-cuts-could-boost-brand</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 06 May 2013 00:01:00 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[NASHVILLE -- Nissan expects that this month's cuts to suggested retail prices on seven key models will put the brand on more Internet vehicle shopping lists. But the price cuts also could improve a problem that Nissan believes is holding back its U.S. market growth: consumer perceptions of its ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Study: Think python, not buying funnel]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130506/RETAIL03/305069998/study-think-python-not-buying-funnel]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130506/RETAIL03/305069998/study-think-python-not-buying-funnel</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 06 May 2013 00:01:00 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Car shoppers 25 to 39 years old are trashing the traditional path to a vehicle purchase, according to a new study by Incisent Labs. The old funnel theory of buying, in which a shopper continuously narrows his vehicle choices before purchase, doesn't apply to Gen X and Gen Y vehicle buyers, said Pat ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Fisker's funk causes prices to plunge]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130506/RETAIL07/305069964/fiskers-funk-causes-prices-to-plunge]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130506/RETAIL07/305069964/fiskers-funk-causes-prices-to-plunge</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 06 May 2013 00:01:00 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[This isn't just a tough time for Fisker Automotive (a Chapter 11 filing seems likely); it's also rough out there for anyone trying to sell a new or used Karma hybrid luxury sedan. A scan of current and completed auctions on eBay Motors and the classified ads on cars.com shows prices of new and used ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nissan cuts prices on 7 key models to score in Web searches]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130501/RETAIL/130509991/nissan-cuts-prices-on-7-key-models-to-score-in-web-searches]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130501/RETAIL/130509991/nissan-cuts-prices-on-7-key-models-to-score-in-web-searches</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Wed, 01 May 2013 10:48:51 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[NASHVILLE -- Jockeying for better position in Internet shopping sites, Nissan will cut the manufacturer's suggested retail prices on seven key models, effective Friday. The price cuts range from a $580 reduction on the brand's volume leader, the Altima, which was redesigned for 2013 and was the ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Carfax-dealers scuffle spirals into lawsuit]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130429/RETAIL07/304299970/carfax-dealers-scuffle-spirals-into-lawsuit]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130429/RETAIL07/304299970/carfax-dealers-scuffle-spirals-into-lawsuit</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:01:00 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[A scuffle between Carfax Inc., a widely known provider of vehicle history reports, and some dealers who subscribe to the reports, has escalated into a full-blown legal battle. The owners of 120 auto dealerships have filed a federal lawsuit against Carfax, alleging that the company engages in ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Carfax hit with $50 million antitrust lawsuit by 120 dealerships]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130424/RETAIL07/130429941/carfax-hit-with-50-million-antitrust-lawsuit-by-120-dealerships]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130424/RETAIL07/130429941/carfax-hit-with-50-million-antitrust-lawsuit-by-120-dealerships</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:25:03 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The owners of 120 auto dealerships have filed a federal lawsuit against Carfax Inc., alleging that the vehicle history reporting company engages in anti-competitive practices and violates antitrust laws. The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Why dealers should embrace 'the age of transparency']]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130422/RETAIL07/304229957/why-dealers-should-embrace-the-age-of-transparency]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130422/RETAIL07/304229957/why-dealers-should-embrace-the-age-of-transparency</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:01:00 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[When shoppers pull into the dealership lot and immediately whip out their phones as they browse, Charlie Daniel takes that as a clear sign they don't want salespeople hanging over their shoulders. "The consumer is not interested in that face-to-face. They just want information," says Daniel, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Used-car shoppers want it all online]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130415/RETAIL07/304159991/used-car-shoppers-want-it-all-online]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130415/RETAIL07/304159991/used-car-shoppers-want-it-all-online</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:01:00 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Dealers should post rich information online to sell used vehicles, not just new ones, according to respondents in a new study by J.D Power and Associates. The 4,200 auto shoppers who participated in the 2013 Third-Party Automotive Website Evaluation Study said they wanted vehicle information, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The juggernaut that's not: Japan]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130401/OEM01/304019981/the-juggernaut-thats-not-japan]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130401/OEM01/304019981/the-juggernaut-thats-not-japan</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:01:00 EDT]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[SAYAMA, Japan -- Thirty years ago, Japan Inc.'s formidable battery of domestic auto plants seemed ready to conquer the world. A nervous U.S. industry watched as the Japanese export machine devoured American jobs. Consultants trumpeted the supremacy of the Japanese business model. But in a dramatic reversal, the Japanese are tensely witnessing the decline of the auto industry on their own turf. Much of the lost production is moving to North America. Domestic sales are in a downward spiral, and exports continue to sink. The distraught Japanese have even coined a term for the malady: kuudouka , or "hollowing out." Here is the reality of kuudouka in the new Japanese auto industry, where industrial cannibalism has frantic managers fighting each other for work: A year ago, Honda was desperate to use excess capacity at its plants in Japan. Exports were falling, and the yen was near record highs. A long-planned assembly plant was ready to come on line, which would exacerbate the overcapacity problem. So Honda hijacked work from Yachiyo Industry Co., a little-known subsidiary that had built minicars for Honda since 1972. Honda President Takanobu Ito brought minicar production in-house -- a move that shored up utilization rates and ducked the blame for job cuts. But Yachiyo was ravaged. In the fiscal year that ended March 31, output at Yachiyo's Yokkaichi plant was expected to plunge 46 percent to 62,000 vehicles, from 115,000. Toshiro Yoshida, Yachiyo's general manager for corporate planning, calls Honda's move "very inconsiderate." But he knows that the global recession that began in 2008 "changed everything" for Japanese automakers: "They have all started to abandon the production of export cars in Japan." In February 2012 Yachiyo offered buyouts, and 771 of the 2,400 eligible workers accepted -- huge numbers for Japan, where layoffs once were seen as an affliction suffered only by mismanaged Western rivals. Two worlds Japan's automakers inhabit a dichotomous world: global triumphs juxtaposed with grave domestic turmoil. Globally, Japan's automakers have more than recovered from the financial crisis that began in 2008 and the devastating earthquake and tsunami that followed three years later. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. -- Japan's Big 3 -- each had record global sales and production in 2012. And Toyota regained the global sales title. But the past five years have convulsed operations at home, and the outcry in Japan has reached a fever pitch. "How long can we go on like this, trying to cope with the yen's historic strength and other handicaps?" Toyota President Akio Toyoda moaned in a December interview with the Nikkei business daily. "We will not be able to hold on for long." The Nikkei , Japan's equivalent of The Wall Street Journal , is among those chastising Japanese companies for shuttering plants at home and shifting work overseas. "Should corporate growth trump national interest?" it asked in a recent editorial. Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, even has televised a popular drama called "Made in Japan" to channel the national zeitgeist. The series chronicled a fictional company grappling with the very real problem of keeping doors open in Japan. Its tag line: "I am alive in order to produce." Seaside export lots, once filled with autos destined for North America, sit half empty. And more and more good-paying manufacturing jobs erode into low-paying temp jobs filled by a migratory and increasingly desperate work force. Political repercussions Indeed, former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was ousted in December largely for failing to stop the rot. The hysteria has ebbed somewhat since yen hawk Shinzo Abe, Noda's successor, has been in power. So far, Abe has tough-talked the yen down from the record highs that made Japanese products expensive abroad, hurting exports and profits. The Japanese, eager for the pendulum to swing back, have a buzzword for the new prime minister's policies: Abenomics . Today, the yen's rate is more favorable for vehicle and parts exports than it has been in more than two years. In 2011-12, the yen was valued around 85 to the dollar, and at one point was only 75 per dollar -- a valuation that made it difficult for Japanese automakers to profit on exports. More recently it has traded in the mid-90s. But the yen's recent weakening is expected to do little to stop the shift of work to other countries or bring back work already gone. "Yes, it's better," says Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. "The question you're asking is if this is going to change anything. I don't think so because I think most car manufacturers now understand the risk that they have by being too much reliant on one currency. The logical step is localize your production." In the auto industry, Ghosn says, "The plan to localize more capacity will not stop, even if the yen weakens." Much of Japan's hollowing already has occurred. Windfall profits from the yen's retreat likely will be plowed into overseas growth, not expansion at home, analysts say. Japanese automakers have stressed publicly the importance of building vehicles in the markets in which they are sold. And many problems are beyond the industry's control, such as tumbling domestic sales. "I think it will take extraordinary time and effort to bring back what has already been shifted abroad," Toyoda, who also is chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, said at the industry group's February press conference. "The 70 yen level has lasted for too long and has hurt the financial content of the auto industry more than you can imagine." North America is the big winner Japan's pain has largely been North America's gain. Japanese domestic annual output has tumbled 26 percent since its peak in 1990. And exports account for a smaller slice of that production. Shipments to North America have eroded most, falling by nearly half since the late 1980s. Today vehicles bound for North America account for just 36 percent of Japan's exports; back then it was 56 percent -- and more than one in four cars built in Japan. Those exports will keep falling, thanks to the biggest wave of Japanese capacity expansion to hit North America in a decade. Mazda, Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Subaru have committed to enlarging North American factories or building new ones this year and next. Toyota, in addition to adding 50,000 units of Highlander production in Princeton, Ind., plans to have Mazda's new factory in Mexico produce 50,000 Toyota units in 2015. Meanwhile, North American production by Japanese brands rose to a record 5.1 million units last year, from just 296,569 in 1985. "Japanese manufacturers' localization strategy will have a big negative impact on Japanese production over the next few years," says Masatoshi Nishimoto, manager for Japan and Korea forecasts at IHS Automotive. "And it isn't going to stop." The downturn is palpable along the sprawling wharfs of the Port of Mikawa, just south of Nagoya. Massive car lots, built in better times for overseas-bound Suzuki and Mitsubishi vehicles, are half empty. Mikawa is Japan's second-biggest export hub, with cars accounting for 96 percent of its business and the United States gobbling up 70 percent of its shipments. But traffic is down drastically. In 2010, the last normal year before the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Mikawa exports were down 35 percent from their record high in 2007. "I don't think they're going to get back to those levels," says Kazutaka Suzuki, chief examiner at Mikawa Port Authority. The march to North American factories undercuts the country's exports. And American arms of the Japanese automakers now boast about their economic impact on U.S. manufacturing. At Honda, 90 percent of the light vehicles it sold in the United States last year were manufactured in North America. That will climb to 95 percent soon as Honda becomes a net exporter from North America, says Ed Miller, a Honda spokesman in Detroit. "Weren't imports going to kill our industry?" Miller says. "Who would have thought foreign companies would bring manufacturing -- and in our case, manufacturing leadership -- to these shores?" At Toyota, 70 percent of the cars it sold in the United States were built in North America. Last year its exports from the United States surged 45 percent to a record 124,084 vehicles. And for the third straight year, the Toyota Camry sedan topped the Cars.com American Made Index, which ranks vehicles based on the percentage of U.S.-made components and labor. Nissan notched a North American local build rate of 67 percent. And that will increase this year when the company opens an assembly plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico -- its second in that city and its third in Mexico -- with capacity to make 175,000 vehicles a year. Nissan also is moving production of its Rogue crossover to the United States this year, and Murano production will follow in 2014. U.S. production of the Leaf electric vehicle began in January. Perhaps most perverse for the Japanese: Nissan is now Japan's No. 2 import brand, just behind Volkswagen. Last year it shipped 42,422 vehicles to Japan, mainly from Thailand, because it has become too costly to build small cars at home. Imports have always been just a sliver of the Japanese auto market, in part because of the difficulty non-Japanese makers have faced in signing up existing Japanese-brand dealers. But if Japanese makers begin putting their overseas-built cars into their existing retail network, those so-called reverse imports could take share from cars built in Japanese plants. From pull to push What now is an economic incentive to build factories in North America began as a political imperative. Three decades ago, Japan's carmakers begrudgingly started building factories there, pushed by international trade politics and the voluntary export restraints that resulted. Today many factors are pushing them out of Japan. The yen's appreciation has been one, but so are high wages and slumping domestic sales. There is also a new global mind-set among Japanese auto executives. Japan's automakers now see a need to build, design and engineer cars in the markets in which they are sold. Toyota's recall crisis of 2009 and 2010 underscored for everyone the risk of having big markets isolated from engineers and decision makers. Local input also generates products that relate better to the needs of potential customers. "The hollowing out is not done," says Chris Richter, an auto analyst at CLSA Asia Pacific in Tokyo. "What the last four or five years have done is shown what a tremendous risk foreign exchange can be. The yen is a little weaker now, but the makers are keenly aware that this could reverse in a second." The shift overseas buried Japan in a mountain of overcapacity, and the problem is getting worse. In 2008 Japan built 10,769,747 light vehicles, 90 percent of its capacity of 12,029,000 units, says Nishimoto of IHS Automotive. By last year production had plunged 14 percent to 9,253,449 units, but capacity was trimmed by only 11 percent, to 10,695,000 units. That means the plant utilization rate had fallen to 87 percent. And production is expected to shrink to 8 million units by 2019, IHS predicts. To catch up, the Japanese must keep chopping capacity. Nishimoto expects capacity to be culled to 9,988,000 this year. Generally, Japanese plants can break even when they are operating at 85 percent of capacity, Nishimoto says. But as a whole, Japan's utilization rate dropped from 92 percent in 2007 to 69 percent in 2011, when the earthquake and tsunami wiped out production. It is expected to recover to only 84 percent in 2013 before deteriorating to 80 percent in coming years. Alleviating the glut is tough for one reason: Japanese domestic sales have been in perpetual decline since 1990, when they peaked at 7.8 million vehicles. Sales slumped to 4.2 million units in 2011, their lowest since 1978, undercut by that year's March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Sales rebounded 28 percent to 5.4 million in 2012. But the downward spiral is expected to resume this year. Labor's new face These changes have had a profound effect on Japan's manufacturing work force, creating a pervasive anxiety and a new army of low-paid temporary contract workers forced to migrate from job to job. Unemployment in Japan is 4.2 percent -- measured in a way that is widely regarded as an underestimate compared with U.S. calculations. Layoffs are still anathema to the mythos of Japan Inc. But as carmakers cut back, Japan is losing jobs -- in both quantity and quality. Japan's auto and motorcycle manufacturers employed 201,135 workers in 1985, according to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. But by 2010 the work force had plunged to 161,000. The figures include full-time as well as contract workers. Meanwhile, Japan's carmakers have opened 13 assembly plants in the United States since 1982, when Honda became the first Japanese company to assemble cars there. By 2011 they were employing 53,693 Americans at their assembly and parts plants. And that year Japanese brands employed 4,013 Americans in randd and vehicle design, and Japan-brand dealerships employed 315,583 people, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. In addition, many Japanese suppliers have set up U.S. operations to service their longtime customers. Here in Japan, automakers increasingly turn to contract workers, who are hired and fired on short notice and get less pay and fewer benefits than their full-time co-workers. As full-timers gradually retire, Japan's carmakers increasingly replace them with temps, not regular employees. Consider Nissan. In 2000 it had 30,747 full-time employees in Japan and only 138 contract workers. By 2011 the full-time roster had dropped to 24,240, while the number of contract workers rose to 2,943. At Toyota, about 2,100 employees, or 3 percent of the company's 69,148-member work force in Japan, are temps. Toyota even uses these outsiders to represent the company at its global public relations office. "Japanese companies wanted to suppress the hiring of regular employees as much as possible and focus more on using part-time workers," says Motoshige Itoh, the dean of the Graduate School of Economics at the University of Tokyo and a member of Prime Minister Abe's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy. "They have been in a defensive position." Cutting back Big Japanese companies still rarely shutter entire plants. But Toyota and Nissan are among those eliminating lines. Employees often are reassigned to other duties or other plants. But closing or combining lines helps carmakers save on overhead, energy and material costs. To find cheaper help, Nissan and Toyota have shifted some domestic operations to rural areas of Japan, such as the southwestern island of Kyushu. Wages there are estimated to be as much as 20 percent lower than in the Tokyo area. Kyushu has the added benefit of being closer to China, Korea and Thailand, for easy access to cheaper imported auto parts. Honda -- even though it pulled the plug on Yachiyo -- is plowing ahead to open its third Japanese assembly plant, the Yorii factory in Saitama, just north of Tokyo, this year. But Honda is at pains to say the new Yorii plant won't add capacity in Japan; it will simply take some of the load off its nearby Sayama assembly plant, Honda's oldest. It is unclear what will happen to Sayama in coming years, but it appears it will be phased out as the Yorii comes up to speed. "It's a build-and-scrap strategy," says Koji Endo, managing director of Advanced Research Japan, an industry consulting firm. Honda's Ito says it's important for Honda's Japan plants to be cutting-edge so manufacturing processes can be perfected at home, where the engineers are, and then introduced overseas. "The Japan market is shrinking, and there are many competitors," Ito said in an interview. "It is one of the harshest environments you can think of for automobile sales. Surviving here is a key to winning in the global marketplace as well." Yorii may be Japan's last greenfield assembly plant. Toyota, for one, has frozen plant building in Japan for at least three years. "There are no additional plants in the coming three years," Senior Managing Officer Takahiko Ijichi said at the company's Feb. 5 earnings announcement. "We will first and foremost maximize the production capacity and utilization capacity of the existing plants. ... We will get rid of the waste that surrounds us." Nothing sacred It's taboo for Japanese executives to talk about downsizing. Honda and Nissan each has pledged to keep production of 1 million units in Japan. Toyota, the country's biggest automaker, says it will protect local output of at least 3 million units. But those promises may prove impossible to keep. IHS forecasts that Honda production will drop to around 882,000 units by 2019, while Nissan's output falls to about 699,000. Japan's Asahi Shimbun, a national daily newspaper, reported March 6 that Toyota has decided to cut domestic production to 2.7 million vehicles in 2015. Japanese automakers aim to mitigate capacity cuts by boosting domestic sales. But each is counting on a bigger piece of a shrinking pie. "The required capacity in Japan keeps getting lower because sales keep getting lower," says Endo of Advanced Research Japan. Takashi Hata, president of the transmission maker Jatco Ltd., is among the most outspoken about the need to shift production out of Japan, even if it costs jobs. Jatco, which is affiliated with Nissan, makes 80 percent of its products in Japan. But Hata wants to whittle that to 28 percent by 2019. He expects most job cuts to be covered by natural attrition and retirements. Hata says he won't build a plant or raise output here even if the yen declines to the more export-friendly rate of 100 to the dollar. "People always ask me, 'If the Japanese yen comes back to 100 yen, won't you consider expanding Japanese production again?'" Hata said in an interview. "No, because today Japan production covers 80 percent of our total output. But Japan's market itself is shrinking in the long term. "I think it is logical. I am the president and CEO of Jatco, not Jatco Japan. I'm not stuck on Japan." 'Abenomics' One telling statistic is symbolic of Japan's slowing export engine: Japan, which rebuilt itself from the ashes of World War II on the back of huge trade surpluses, booked its biggest-ever trade deficit in 2012. It also logged its lowest current account surplus. The trade surplus or deficit is the simple tally of exports minus imports. The current account is a broader measure of trade which includes income from international investments-for instance profits repatriated by Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. The 2012 figures spurred further soul searching in Tokyo. "The Japanese may have more angst than the U.S. did back in the day," said Clyde Prestowitz, a chief U.S. negotiator for the Reagan administration during the 1980s trade wars. "Japan has long emphasized export-led industrial policy and manufacturing. But that has the side effect of creating overcapacity. "Now Japan must rebalance, even if it means losing industrial capacity," he said. "Japan needs to pull its socks up." Japan's trajectory will be hard to change. Prime Minister Abe is pledging to slow the hollowing, if not reverse it altogether. Since taking office Dec. 26, he has pushed policies aimed at fueling the economy and fanning inflation, some of which also could devalue the yen. And the yen is reacting. Since early December, when his election was widely anticipated, the yen has plunged 13 percent against the dollar, from the 82 yen range to the mid-90s last week. That's still far from the rate of 109.8 yen to the dollar that carmakers enjoyed back in August 2008, but still a significant improvement. U.S. manufacturers and some lawmakers, citing the yen's swing since December, accuse Tokyo of currency manipulation. Abe has repeatedly and vocally supported a weaker yen. A newly installed head of Japan's central bank also is expected to pursue policies that will favor a weaker yen. But proving manipulation isn't easy, barring direct central bank intervention in currency markets. The changes may be having at least a short-term impact. According to published reports, Toyota plans to increase Japan output by 1,000 cars a day in April, to just more than 13,000 vehicles daily. That is partly in response to better profitability on exports. In recent weeks, Toyota, Mazda, Suzuki and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru cars, have lifted profit forecasts for the fiscal year that ended March 31. The yen's retreat was a big reason. But Nissan, fearful of yen fluctuations, left its outlook unchanged, while Mitsubishi and Honda trimmed some forecasts. "We appreciate the recent trends in the weaker yen, but our goal is to localize production as much as possible and to keep exports at about 10 to 2]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google poised for major retail push]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130304/RETAIL07/303049963/google-poised-for-major-retail-push]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130304/RETAIL07/303049963/google-poised-for-major-retail-push</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:01:00 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated how Google handles dealer bids for customer sales leads. LOS ANGELES -- Google is poised to expand its online car-shopping service to dealers throughout California and enter more states, sources say. Dealers in the San Francisco Bay area ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Stressed by growth, group pulls in reins]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130225/RETAIL07/302259999/stressed-by-growth-group-pulls-in-reins]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130225/RETAIL07/302259999/stressed-by-growth-group-pulls-in-reins</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:01:00 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In 2005, West Herr Automotive Group Inc. crafted a used-vehicle strategy that proved highly successful. Almost too successful. Going into 2012, the dealership group in a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y., revised its practices, in part by slashing its used-vehicle inventory. The goal was to keep increasing ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Diverted leads distress dealer]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130218/RETAIL07/302189986/diverted-leads-distress-dealer]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130218/RETAIL07/302189986/diverted-leads-distress-dealer</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:01:00 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Chevrolet dealer Todd Caputo is happy to use Cars.com, the online lead generator, to help him sell cars. But he was upset after discovering that some customers who had looked at his vehicle inventory on Cars.com and had taken time to fill out credit applications had been channeled to other dealers. ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Good times]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130209/RETAIL06/130209818/good-times]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130209/RETAIL06/130209818/good-times</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:26:47 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Dealers received a warm welcome at the Cars.com reception at the House of Blues Orlando. Cars.com President Mitch Golub, left, and Senior Vice President of Sales Alex Vetter, right, are shown with Hyundai of St. Augustine's Andrew DiFeo, second from left, and Joe DiFeo. Andrew DiFeo is general ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Mood swing in Orlando: This year, deals are everywhere]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130209/BLOG06/130209822/mood-swing-in-orlando-this-year-deals-are-everywhere]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130209/BLOG06/130209822/mood-swing-in-orlando-this-year-deals-are-everywhere</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:43:01 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[A lifetime ago -- like, way back in the bad old times of early 2010 -- you could have shot a cannon down one side of the Orange County Convention Center and not hit a soul. This convention's last trip to Orlando was a wake. Deals were being made, but with admittedly hushed tones. General Motors ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Reviews can grease or kill deals]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130208/RETAIL06/302099971/reviews-can-grease-or-kill-deals]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130208/RETAIL06/302099971/reviews-can-grease-or-kill-deals</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:02:00 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Dealers are seeing a steady stream of studies asserting that online consumer reviews influence traffic and sales at dealerships. FordDirect, a vehicle shopping site for Ford buyers, found after surveying 1,124 new- and used-car buyers in December that consumers tend to steer away from dealerships ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Shopping sites to dealers: Show us some love]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130208/RETAIL06/302099975/shopping-sites-to-dealers-show-us-some-love]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130208/RETAIL06/302099975/shopping-sites-to-dealers-show-us-some-love</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:31:57 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[AutoTrader, Edmunds, Cars.com and other online shopping sites are rolling out products to get dealers noticed by car shoppers. Now, if they could only get more credit from dealers for their efforts. A study funded by AutoTrader found that Internet sites tend to play a bigger role in the way car ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Lincoln's Super Bowl sign of the 'alpacalypse']]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130201/BLOG06/130209995/lincolns-super-bowl-sign-of-the-alpacalypse]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130201/BLOG06/130209995/lincolns-super-bowl-sign-of-the-alpacalypse</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:13:03 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Last year, General Motors ran a Super Bowl spot asserting that the Chevrolet Silverado is the only truck strong enough to survive an apocalypse. Now, Ford Motor Co. is showing us what happens when its Lincoln MKZ encounters an "alpacalypse." An alpacalypse, as millions of viewers will learn Sunday, ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Super spots]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130128/RETAIL03/301289965/super-spots]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130128/RETAIL03/301289965/super-spots</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:01:00 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The 2013 Super Bowl next week will be super for automotive advertisers. As of late last week, eight auto industry players had confirmed plans to air 11 commercials during the big game for a total cost of an estimated $60 million. That total excludes Chrysler, which has refused to talk about its ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Cars.com to open 'Why Drama' campaign with Super Bowl spot]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20130121/RETAIL03/130129991/cars-com-to-open-why-drama-campaign-with-super-bowl-spot]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20130121/RETAIL03/130129991/cars-com-to-open-why-drama-campaign-with-super-bowl-spot</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:56:03 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[LOS ANGELES -- Cars.com will return to the Super Bowl next month with a commercial touting how the vehicle shopping Web site takes the drama out of car buying. In a statement, Cars.com says the commercial will be the first of a new ad campaign -- dubbed "Why Drama" -- that the company says will air ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Data companies help automakers reduce digital guessing games]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20121223/RETAIL03/121229955/data-companies-help-automakers-reduce-digital-guessing-games]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20121223/RETAIL03/121229955/data-companies-help-automakers-reduce-digital-guessing-games</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Sun, 23 Dec 2012 09:29:17 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Automakers have fewer reasons to wonder whether online marketing blitzes are translating to sales. With an estimated 90 percent of people starting the car-buying process online, data companies are providing automakers and their advertising/marketing agencies with an arsenal of information to help ...]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Honda dealer takes all ads online]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20121217/RETAIL03/312179987/honda-dealer-takes-all-ads-online]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20121217/RETAIL03/312179987/honda-dealer-takes-all-ads-online</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:01:00 EST]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Car-shopping site execs take aim at Google]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20121217/RETAIL03/312179988/car-shopping-site-execs-take-aim-at-google]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20121217/RETAIL03/312179988/car-shopping-site-execs-take-aim-at-google</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:01:00 EST]]></pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[What works for you? Dealers share used-car strategies]]></title>
<link><![CDATA[http://www.autonews.com/article/20121126/RETAIL07/311269956/what-works-for-you-dealers-share-used-car-strategies]]></link>
<guid>http://www.autonews.com/article/20121126/RETAIL07/311269956/what-works-for-you-dealers-share-used-car-strategies</guid>
<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:01:00 EST]]></pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- In 2005, the West-Herr Automotive Group Inc. decided to create its own used-vehicle brand rather than promote the certified used-vehicle programs offered by the brands it sells. It pulled its used-vehicle listings out of third-party Internet sites and bought newspaper, TV and ...]]></description>
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