When it came time to buy their son his first car, Mark and Mimi Harris of Winnetka saw it as a rite of passage — for themselves as much as their son.
“The first thing the kids learn to do is walk, then they walk away from you,” says Ms. Harris, 52. “Then they learn to ride a bike and ride away from you. Then they get a car, and they’re gone.”
Their son, Will, was a junior at New Trier High School, where the student parking lot reflects the affluence of the community. He wanted something cool and stylish. His parents wanted something practical and reasonably priced; his mother in particular was focused on safety.
“You want them to realize that it’s a huge responsibility and to know that they understand that,” Ms. Harris says. “It’s a matter of trust.”
She had to bring her husband, a 52-year-old corporate attorney, around to her

  This week, Toyota recalled 4.2 million cars around the world. As its president admits, they are not pretty cars – so now that its much-vaunted reliability record is in question, what is around the next corner for the company?
Toyota is “grasping for salvation”, according to its president. The prescient comment came not at the end of this torrid week for the car giant, but last October as Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder, greeted the media after taking the helm of the biggest car firm in the world.
He was describing the state of a firm that had seen off the once invincible triad of US auto giants to take top spot in the car industry, but was starting to look like its rapid expansion had been carried out too quickly.
Perhaps he had some inkling of the storm that was to come.
Last week it instigated a global recall of 4.2 million

  Toyota owners could get walloped on their expected resale value over the automaker’s alleged safety lapses, whether they own a vehicle being recalled or not.
That’s the verdict of two carefully watched services, Kelley Blue Book and ALG, that make a business out of estimating the value of used cars. For decades, Toyotas have been among the strongest vehicles for resale value. But now, with safety shortcomings in some of the vehicles laid bare, it may become harder to resell their new cars when they go on the used-car market. Residual values could suffer.
KBB and ALG seem to agree that Toyota’s public-relations nightmare, unless somehow miraculously corrected, could result in about 4% to 5% additional depreciation value on the vehicles it currently has on the streets:
It’s not just about the models being recalled. The bad reputation would permeate the entire line. Safety problems could wind up costing Toyota owners a

  Daimler AG (DAI) said Thursday that sales at its core Mercedes-Benz Cars division were up 17% year-on-year at 72,600 vehicles in January, fueled by rising demand in North America and Asia.”We expect to see significant growth in the first quarter,” Mercedes-Benz sales chief Joachim Schmidt said in a statement.
Demand for luxury cars collapsed towards the end of 2008 in many major markets amid the economic downturn and the market woes spilled over into 2009, causing relatively low comparative figures for last year.
Sales for the Mercedes-Benz brand soared 24% on the year last month to 67,000 cars, which more than offset a 33% slump at the Smart minicar brand to 5,600 vehicles. Daimler said it expects sales at Smart to “get a boost” from the launch of a revamped version of the two-seater vehicle in the third quarter 2010.
The new-generation Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the flagship S-Class sedan are currently driving the

  Spyker Cars NV said it’s aiming for Saab to return to profit by 2012 and that the business plan for the Swedish carmaker requires about $1 billion in “peak funding” to restore earnings.
Saab, which Spyker is buying from General Motors Co. for $400 million in cash and preferred shares, will compete with Volkswagen AG’s Audi and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the Dutch manufacturer said in a statement. Saab can make a profit by selling 100,000 to 125,000 cars annually, and will consider adding a smaller model, the 9-1, to the lineup, Spyker said.
GM agreed on Jan. 26 to sell Trollhaettan-based Saab to Spyker in a transaction that would save the 72-year-old brand from extinction. Saab, which is among four brands GM is shedding after exiting bankruptcy in July, was unprofitable for most of the two decades the Detroit-based carmaker owned it.
“What steps are they going to take to make a

  Owners trying to sell used Toyotas haven’t seen prices fall, but market researchers say values could ease later this winter if the automaker fails to quickly solve its gas pedal problem.
“We think in the short run there will be an impact on Toyota (used) prices, the magnitude of which we’re not exactly sure of,” said pricing consultant Eric Ibara, who tracks auto values for Kelley Blue Book, an authority on used vehicle prices.
Since the 1980s, owners of Toyota and upscale Lexus models never have faced uncertainty about the price of their autos on the used market. Toyota built a stellar reputation for quality that led it to become the No. 1 automaker in the United States. The image lifted prices of used Toyotas and eventually forced Detroit to engineer better cars.
After recalls of 7.1 million autos in November and in recent days, Toyota announced Monday that dealers should get parts

  They say the time to buy real estate is when there’s blood in the streets. I guess the corollary of that for automobiles is that it’s time to buy cars when there are recalls in the news.
The news that Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling eight models on top of an earlier recall it expanded last week to more than 5 million vehicles over concerns about sudden acceleration has some people putting the brakes on plans to sell or trade their used Toyotas.
Even James Bell, an executive market analyst with Kelley Blue Book, the outfit that sets prices for new and used cars, is having trouble moving his used Prius hybrid, normally a very popular model. “It just has the floor mat issue, but I’m not getting a lot of bites on it,” Bell said.
If you’re trying to move out of one of the troubled Toyotas, you may not have any

  China’s vehicle sales will likely grow to about 15 million units this year, a Chinese official predicted, reinforcing expectations of a significant deceleration from the nearly 50% growth in 2009 that enabled China to surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest car market.
Chang Xiaocun, head of the Ministry of Commerce’s market system development office, said Friday he believes rising incomes and the extension of government support for the auto industry will enable sales to hit the 15 million mark. That would suggest growth of slightly more than 10% from the 13.6 million units sold in 2009.
“I believe double-digit growth shouldn’t be difficult, although growth won’t be as high as last year,” Mr. Chang said at a news briefing.
The official’s forecast is in line with projections by many global auto makers, who have forecast sales growth of 10% to 15% for China this year. Sales in 2009 grew 46%, making China

  For area car dealers, economic recovery lies just around the bend – and over a small mountain. After a year in which sales in the four-county Dallas-Fort Worth region fell an astounding 29.9 percent, dealers are confident that 2010 will be better, particularly in the second half.But most figure that it could take years to recover the huge number of new-vehicle sales they have lost since 2007. Even if the economy regains its health in 2010, some dealers say, the area will probably need another burst in population growth to reach sales levels from just a few years ago.
Like other businesses, the auto industry was ripped apart in 2008 and slowly reassembled in ‘09 – with fewer parts. The new industry has fewer factories and workers, and it’s learning to live with lower production and sales.
Adding to those challenges are Toyota’s recent struggles. Once the industry’s sales and market share

  While cognizant of the national auto slowdown, Todd Smith is encouraged by McElveen’s strong sales figures in December and early this month.
He believes the local company is well-positioned with franchises in Berkeley County, east of the Cooper and west of the Ashley selling new General Motors cars and trucks, as well as Hyundai sedans, coupes and sport utilities and dozens of used cars a week.
Yet Smith is at the same time pragmatic, aware that many potential buyers remain on the fence. So once in a while it takes an attraction or two to get people to come out to the showroom, he said.
The place where the company typically debuts its “out-of-the-box” ideas is McElveen Buick Pontiac GMC Hummer in Summerville, he said.
Recent promotions there have included on-site auctions, “sign and drive” events where buyers could take home a car right away, and a Gold Digger campaign with a local radio