The hits keep on coming for Chrysler, which reported a 5-percent sales increase for March over a year earlier. Its Dart compact is selling better; it just wrapped up the successful sale of a limited-edition Detroit Red Wings version of its Ram 1500 pickup; it debuted a revamped Jeep Cherokee at the New York Auto Show; and it's nurturing a boost in interest for the Motown Edition of its Chrysler 300 sedan in the walkup to the April 14 premier of Motown the Musical on Broadway.

Chrysler just reported its best monthly sales since December 2007, before its spiral into bankruptcy and rescue by Fiat and the U.S. taxpayer. Sales of Ram pickups were up 24 percent in March, reflecting the appeal of the new Ram model and an uptick in the housing sector. Jeep sales boomed by 27 percent, while Dodge brand sales rose by 15 percent.Continue reading...

Volkswagen Golf was in some pretty intriguing company at the New York International Auto Show with fellow winners of the World Car of the Year Awards: Porsche Boxster as Performance Car of the Year, Jaguar F-Type as Car Design of the Year and Tesla S as Green Car of the Year.

But Volkswagen executives were more excited about the prospects of the seventh-generation Golf in the US market than about the North American debut of Golf 7 winning the World Car of the Year designation. The New York Auto Show award recognized the Golf, VW's best-selling car worldwide, as the "car for everyman."

Yet in America, Golf—while it's been a workhorse for the Volkswagen brand for decades—isn't accorded nearly the respect that it is globally. Volkswagen has begun a major push toward higher sales volumes in the US, but it has achieved significant gains already with new versions of its three other primary cars: Passat, Jetta and the Beetle.Continue reading...

The stagnation of the U.S. market for all-electric vehicles has automakers thinking more creatively about how to address American consumers' desire for maximum fuel economy without attempting fruitlessly to guilt them into buying EVs.

The evidence of this trend has been abundant this week during the media previews at the New York International Auto Show, and news that the Obama administration is planning to get tougher on car emission standards, with "sweeping rules" expected from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requiring cleaner gasoline and cars.

"I think green has gone mainstream" as automakers employ fuel-efficient technologies across their lineups, not just in electrified vehicles, Consumer Reports director of auto testing Jake Fisher told WWJ-TV in Detroit. "It doesn't matter what you get, you can get green in your car, whether or not it's a sports car or an SUV."

That's why, for example, Dodge is able to claim that the new 8-speed transmission in its 2014 Durango SUV qualifies as a "green" advance: It helps boost fuel economy of the nameplate by close to 10 percent, Reid Bigland, Dodge brand CEO, told the TV station.Continue reading...

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg unveils $12 million ad campaign (above) for Mayors Against Illegal Guns that lobbies for background checks to reduce gun violence, while NYC's municipal data geek squad makes headlines.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz defends same-sex marriage support to shareholders as brand expands loyalty rewards to other retailers.

PepsiCo shares jump on Mondelez merger speculation sparked by Telegraph story which Pepsi "downplays."

Apple acquires indoor GPS startup WiFiSLAM for mapping, patents iPhone drop protection technology and faces EU scrutiny following iPhone and iPad distribution complaints — and may report first quarterly dip since 2003.

FTC "pay for delay" generic drug case, set to go before US Supreme Court on Monday, will be closely watched by pharmaceutical industry and economists.

Below: BlackBerry, Blockbuster, Dell, Diageo and other brands in the news —Continue reading...

From the Detroit auto show in a working person's town in January to the high-end distractions of this week's Geneva auto show, the focus of the auto industry next moves to an annual exhibition whose personality lands somewhere in between those two: the New York International Auto Show.

Scheduled for the Jacob Javits Center in New York from March 29 through April 27, with a press preview beforehand, the New York show mixes the glitz and accessibility of the world's most important media market with the fact that the event is a big and relied-upon marketing boost for Tri-State auto dealers just before the heavy annual selling season begins.Continue reading...

The 2013 Buick Encore is powered by a 1.4L turbocharged engine, has an EPA-estimated 33 mpg highway fuel economy, and standard six-speed automatic transmission with front-wheel drive. It also features personalized technologies well-suited to the desired demo such as Intellilink and QuietTuning with Buick’s first use of Bose Active Noise Cancellation. 

That's all well and good, but it's not very exciting to non-car buffs. So how to excite the social web with those features? Excite bloggers to become inspired by the brand and become social ambassadors, for a start. With 71% of Pinterest’s nearly 25 million users under the age of 45, (50% age 25-44), the “Pinboard to Dashboard” program has generated 17 million plus unique visitors, followers or users across Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blogs.

“Knowing the Encore’s target audience spends a great deal of time online, and on Pinterest, we created a social strategy to reach them where they ‘live’,” said Lloyd Biermann, Buick Crossovers marketing manager. So In October, Buick selected 10 influential design, fashion and food bloggers to create pinboards on Pinterest showcasing how the all-new Encore speaks to their personal style and life passions.Continue reading...

Following a sneak peek at the New York Auto Show in April, the F-TYPE, Jaguar's all-new aluminum two-seater sports car, will make its global debut in production form at the Paris Motor Show on Sept. 27.

Adrian Hallmark, global brand director for Jaguar, said in a press release, "The unveiling of the F-TYPE in Paris will be a truly significant day in Jaguar's history as it will mark the company's return to the sports car market, a market it originally helped to create."

See more teasers from Jaguar below.Continue reading...

Jaguar has been letting its cars out to play, so to speak, in its latest marketing campaign, dubbed "Alive." The extensive brand makeover features, among other things, significant changes to Jaguar's iconic "leaper" and "growler" logos.

But so far, no number of feline stunts have moved American consumers. They haven't been all that responsive to "Alive" or to Jaguar's global aims to rise again under ownership of India's Tata Motors group: Sales in June were down 26 percent for Jaguar in the American market, and for the year to date they're only flat.

Now, Jaguar is going further to try to stir up interest among luxury buyers in the U.S. and beyond with new teaser videos of its new F-Type roadster.Continue reading...