Diesel automobile sales continue to gain momentum and share in the US market even as hybrids and electric vehicles continue to stall as a segment. Mazda, for instance, just announced that it will offer a diesel beginning late next year. It's Audi, however, that continues to push the clean-diesel proposition more than any other brand.

As the brand unveiled its new offering of its TDI (Turbo Direct Injection) diesel engines across most of its product lineup — now including all of its mainstream models in addition to the A3 and Q7 clean diesel models where the option originated a few years ago — at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Audi of America President Scott Keogh was articulating his company's case for the technology in an unprecedented way.

Fuel-efficient, emission-reduced clean diesel "is the best choice for drivers seeking to save at the pump, for a nation seeking to free itself from the grip of foreign oil, for a society seeking smart ways to cut greenhouse gases, for a world seeking more sustainable mobility," Keogh told journalists assembled in Los Angeles, where the Q7 also received the ALG residual value award.Continue reading...

Looking for early Christmas presents in the form of national and international press kudos and internet buzz, more than 50 automakers have been unveiling sparkling new models and features at the press preview at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week. The exhibition is the traditional kickoff to worldwide auto-show season, which next moves to Detroit in January.

Just about every major — and not so major — automaker has something to brag about at Los Angeles, where the show opens to the public on Nov. 18 and runs through Nov. 27. Here's a look at a handful of the most interesting and significant from the car brands in LA this week:

Ford is touting a completely new version of its venerable Escape, the nameplate that played a huge part in popularizing compact sport utility vehicles during the Nineties. This time around, new smart technology helps Escape owners load or unload gear through the rear hatch without fumbling for a key and parks itself, among many other enhancements and new features. The 2013 Escape also illustrates how Ford has advanced its global vehicle-development strategy, because the vehicle is made from a common set of parts and components that Ford also will use to make a future version of its Focus, two future minivans and at least six other models, reports The Wall Street Journal.Continue reading...

In just three days, a new King will take the throne and be crowned … with a biodegradable, solar-powered, carbon-neutral crown.

Nielsen has announced the finalists for its second annual Automotive Green Marketer of the Year: Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai.

One of them will take the title at the Los Angeles International Auto Show on Nov. 17. “The award recognizes the brand that made the greatest strides in gaining consumer awareness and positively impacting consumer perceptions around the automotive industry’s environmentally friendly initiatives,” a press release states.

According to Nielsen research, 51 percent of consumers say that “green marketing initiatives increased their consideration of the product,” a 24 percent rise from 2010. The company’s research also shows that “social-media discussion about automakers’ green marketing initiatives” has been 44 percent more positive this year than last year.Continue reading...

For decades, the founders and builders of General Motors relied effectively on a brand architecture based on creating lifelong customers by offering them brands and product lines “fit for every purse and purpose.”

So even the new, slimmed-down GM isn’t about to simply cast millions of its owners away as the company terminates its Pontiac and Saturn brands and peddles its Hummer and fate-uncertain Saab marques. Eliminating hundreds of GM dealers even of its surviving brands, such as Chevrolet, will untether even more customers.

After spending the last several years trying to wrest “conquest” sales from import brands, GM doesn’t want to make its hard-won customers easy marks for any competition.

That’s why GM is intensifying its efforts to reach 6.8 million owners of its abandoned brands who are now becoming “free agents,” and whose brand loyalty has become tenuous. It has just launched what Susan Docherty, vice president of U.S. sales, called a “massive initiative” to keep these folks in the fold, beginning with an “extensive” direct-mail campaign last month inviting them back into GM dealer showrooms for an oil change.Continue reading...