Archive for the ‘automotive news’ Category
Is leasing a car, rather than purchasing a car on time payments a good thing or not. As with questions in life, it all depends on your financial and/ or automotive situation and as well who tells the story.
It is true that business can write off lease costs whereas that is not such an advantage to an individual car user. However this is not necessarily so. First it all depends on your situation and as well you’re negotiating skills. It is always better to be in an informed and prepared manner.
First of all leasing a car is downright attractive due to current low interest rates. Almost every month you will read in the popular news that the “Fed has cut interest rates again”. What this means to you is that in an overall sense that interest rates are less to you. This should mean lower leasing costs to you. If interest rates, in the banking industry and market are lower, so should be the interest rate basis in your lease negotiations and payments.
What are the advantages of leasing a vehicle? You will get a new vehicle to drive. When your leasing agreement term is over – then you hand the car in and walk away.
It may be debated that by leasing the car you will have no equity or asset accumulation left at this point in this automotive transaction. If you had bought the car, with payments, the car would be yours at some point, lock stock and barrel.
However major components and overall costs of running a car are maintenance costs. With a new vehicle – it is unlikely that you will incur these costs. First of all the car is new. Major repairs and costs are unlikely. In addition the car will come with a manufacturer’s warranty which should cover you for the majority if not all of the lease time period.
With modern, newer and especially smaller cars it seems that all repairs seem to be very expensive. After a certain point of time, use and mileage, it is not as if the car “nickel and dimes” you to death. Most of the innards of modern cars seem to be electronic in nature with advanced (read expensive and hard to fix) modules. There are few simple to repair mechanically based, non electronic component, cars. In addition for mechanics to work on cars now “everything is struggle’ “and as well spaces are tight and very hard to work within. In a summary the old “nickels and dimes” are now “five hundreds, thousands and several thousands”. With a leased car arrangement you may not own the car, with its equity. Neither do you have repair costs and heartaches. In addition you have a reliable vehicle to get you to work or to chauffer around your family.
There are several terms and factors to be knowledgeable about in your calculations and comparisons for auto purchase versus lease workup and lease negotiations.
First of all research the leasing tax rules in your jurisdictions. For example in your state you may well only pay sales taxes on monthly payments, not on the cost of the vehicle. It all depends on the negotiations of your payments- which involve the time frame and value of the car at the take back time end of lease.
Next what are the fees? For example the fee at the end of turn in, paperwork fees and fees for “excess miles”. Are these negotiatiable? In the case of the “excess mileage” and “excess mileage fees” are these carved in stone or can the allotment or rates charged be reduced? In the case of the “turn in” fee. If you offer to increase your monthly payment – often this fee will be reduced.
In order to best negotiate you will have to speak the same language and terms as the lease negotiator. Several terms to know, comprehend and understand are “Capitalized Cost”, “Money Factor” and “Residual Value”.
Simply put the cost of the leased vehicle is confusingly described as the “Capitalized Cost”. Just as you would haggle over the cost of buying a new car, you should not accept a stated price or manufacturers suggested retail price (M.S.R.P.) as the price paid.
Haggle and argue over the “Capitalized Cost” just as you would in any car or automotive deal.
Next in line in proper automotive leasing terms is the term “Money Factor”. “Money Factor “is the interest rate upon which the leasing calculations are based upon. The lower the number of the “Money Factor”, the better for you. As a rough guide and estimate multiply the “Money Factor” value by 2550 to get an estimate of the relevant interest rate.
Last in the line of leasing and leasing lingo is the term “Residual Value”. “Residual Value” is the amount that the car, S.U.V. or truck vehicle is said to be worth at the end of the lease period. Simply put, the more the vehicle is deemed to be worth, at this time period, the less will be your total amount due to be paid overall for your lease. Thus the higher the “Residual Value” at the end of your lease, the much lower will be your monthly lease payments.
In the end, your car purchase or lease decision will come down to two factors. Reliability of transportation and the total cash outlay from your personal pocketbook or wallet.
The automotive landscape changes day to day and hour to hour. Every day there is something interesting or depressing happening in the automotive industry. Whether it is new launches, departing models, corporate associations, new alliances, retail incentives, safety advancements, or innovations in technologies, people just love to stay ahead of the curve.
Indian auto industry is progressively racing ahead with host of innovations taking place and new introductions in the market. It has spread its reach far wide in the global arena where people have started recognizing the capabilities and ingenuity of Indian talents. The recent launch of Tata Nano has further added a new spark in industry and has dazzled auto critics and auto manufacturers across the world. This amazing and mind-blowing introduction by Tata Motors has further fostered the Indian auto industry. Car buyers and car enthusiasts around the world are now more keen to learn the Indian industry and stay in pace with the latest happenings in the Indian market.
For such enthusiasts’ Indian auto news play a vital role as they cover in-depth knowledge about the industry and help them stay update with the latest happenings in the Indian market. In India, there are many sources that help auto enthusiasts stay ahead of the automotive landscape in India.
One of the most important and essential source is the auto magazines. Whether it is latest auto news, Indian car news, new car launches, research reports on cars and other automobiles, unbiased comparison of cars, innovations in bikes, crash test carried on certain cars, and news on upcoming models auto magazines cover all these and much more. It is believed to be one of the good sources to keep a track of the auto industry. Some of the most renowned auto magazines in India are Overdrive, Autocar, What Car, and Top Gear.
Further to that automobile news India can also be tracked from various newspapers like Economic Times and Times of India. These newspapers have special sections that are exclusively dedicated to cover latest in the auto industry. Time of India also have a supplement known as Zigwheels that can be tagged as one of the mini weekly auto magazine. It covers all the happenings of the auto industry that takes place in the corresponding week.
Apart from auto magazines and news paper, Indian auto news can also be sourced from various news channel and Indian car portals. These sources are actually of great help to international auto enthusiasts who love to stay informed about the latest updates in the Indian industry. They are keen to know what’s happening and what’s new that Indian talents are coming up with.
News channels like Star News, Aaj Tak, Zee Business, and NDTV India provide a vast pool of information on the auto industry. These channels are anchor driven and some of the anchors really spread the Indian auto news worldwide in a much refined way.
Moreover, with the growing awareness of online media and internet the number of internet savvy people has also increased. This has eventually increased the demand of car portals that also cover the in-depth knowledge about the Indian auto industry and keep everyone updated of the same.
Whatever be the source of auto news India, they are just a perfect medium to help people stay ahead on the Indian automotive landscape.
BMW just like other global automakers is searching for quality and affordable source of auto components and luckily for the German luxury carmaker it has found one in India. BMW will obtain its auto components from India and will set up its international purchasing office also in India to procure its worldwide auto parts requirements.
BMW India President, Peter Kronschnabl said in an interview recently with media persons, “We will be setting up an international purchasing office which will be headed by an expatriate to take care of sourcing components for BMW’s global operations.”
According to Kronschnabl the proposed international purchasing office will become fully operational by August this year and will be completely independent from that of the company’s purchase unit at Chennai, which caters to its India operations.
BMW’s India purchase unit could work in tandem with the international purchasing office or could work individually or together approach vendors depending on products added Kronschnabl. Unfortunately, he refused to answer queries about the quantum of components that BMW was planning to source from India saying that it’s too early to comment on the matter.
Butt he did say that the sourcing team would soon visit India to study and decide what kind of components are to be sourced from this country. He also explained that the company has revised its sales target for this year attributed to the good response that its newly launched 3-Series sedan from its Chennai plant has been getting. The sales figure has been revised from about 1,000 cars to 1,200 units in India for this year. The company is also planning to roll out its 5-Series models from Chennai plant hopefully this coming June.
On the other news…
Bertone heading to US on BMW’s powered Sportscar?—According to reports from the Automotive News, the Italian coachbuilder Bertone is developing a BMW-powered sports car destined for the US market.
Bertone is famous for creating styled cars for Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Ferrari, Fiat, Iso Rivolta, Lancia, Lamborghini, and Volvo cars. But that is not the only thing that the Bertone is famous for. It is no secret that the familial spats occurred within Bertone’s management that forced Barbara Bertone the daughter of Lilli Bertone, who is the company’s Chairman and CEO, to leave the company in March of 2006.
As the saying goes—“Blood is thicker than water”—apparently whatever it was that caused the separation of the mother and daughter professionally has been worked out. And right now Barbara is again taking an active role in their company as the managing director. Her responsibilities will include going out and getting Bertone business especially since it hasn’t had a major job after it stopped producing the Opel/Vauxhall Astra Coupe and the Cabriolet in 2005.
At present the company is working on some minor work building a special run of 2,000 MINIs which is still short for the company. But according to Automotive News Bertone has told its workers that it may produce 400 units of a camper van and a BMW-powered sports car designed for the US market.
Automotive News has also asked BMW about the proposed model unfortunately the Bavarian automaker said that they are not involved in the car’s development but they also didn’t deny its existence.
It can be remembered that Bertone did present a 95th Anniversary Concept at the Geneva Motor Show last March, which was based on the Fiat Panda 100HP. This two-seat roadster concept could threaten the model that was mentioned to in the Automotive News article. And by the way Bertone is also the famous brand of the top-of-the-line Bertone oxygen sensor which is equipped on BMW, Mazda, Honda, Toyota, etc.