TPT July 2015

77 / 96

Global Marketplace
July 2015 75
SIDE LOADING FOR FAST TOOL
CHANGE AND NO LIFTING REQUIRED
• Infinitely adjustable
expansion & reduction
• High production
capability
• Up to Ø 152mm
• No tube clamping
required
• End form on or
near bends
• High quality build with
practical platforms
• Full 12 month warranty.
• Twin Head Machines
also available
Unit 24, Padgets Lane, South Moons Moat,
Redditch, Worcestershire B98 0RB, England.
T: +44 (0)1527 518520 E:
W:
Germany: Tel: 02150 2500
Netherlands/Belgium: Tel: (04756) 6888 USA: Tel: 708 272 7880
TUBE END FORMING
AV65
their next vehicle. Baby boomers (born between 1946 and
1964) would spend $2,416. Pre-boomers (born before 1946)
averaged $2,067.
› Reviewing the survey results at an Automobile Press
Association lunch in Detroit, Kristin Kolodge, Power’s
executive director of driver interaction research, said that –
despite the heavy advertising and promotion automakers
lavish on their connectivity systems – interest in technologies
that connect a smartphone to a car is evidently “lukewarm”.
To Ms Kolodge this reflected, at least to some extent, the
respondents’ loyalties to the makers of their smartphones.
Apple iPhone users rejected touchscreens based on Android
systems while Android users snubbed touchscreens based on
Apple’s iOS system.
But her summary of the Tech Choice Study findings had
another emphasis altogether: “There is tremendous interest
in collision-protection technologies across all generations.”
Elsewhere in automotive . . .
› Ford Motor Co attributed its disappointing first quarter – in
which revenue fell by 5 per cent, or $2 billion, to $33.9
billion – to the strong US dollar and lower sales of the Edge SUV
and new F-150 pickup, two of the company’s most profitable
vehicles. Ford in late April said the continuing launch of the
F-150, which went on sale late last year, hurt North American
sales because dealers did not yet have a full inventory.
Two plants make the F-150, in Michigan and Missouri, but only
the Michigan plant was fully operational in the first quarter after
a longer than usual changeover to making the truck’s body out
of aluminium instead of steel. Sales of the F-150 were down
40 per cent, or about 60,000 vehicles, for the quarter, and
dealers were not expecting normal levels of trucks on their lots
until the summer. Sales of the Edge were down about 15,000
vehicles as the company changed over to an updated model.
› In contrast to Ford, General Motors Co enjoyed a good
first quarter – its best in North America since it exited
bankruptcy in 2009 – in which it posted a $945 million profit.
Home-market buyers of large pickups, SUVs and crossovers
compensated for the impact of the strong US dollar and weak
sales in Brazil and in Russia, where GM will stop nearly all
manufacturing.
The automaker is considering adding capacity in Arlington,
Texas, to make even more of its highly profitable SUVs at
the plant there. GM is also anticipating pressure to squeeze
more output from its pickup factories in Flint, Michigan, and
Fort Wayne, Indiana, should the shift in preference away
from passenger cars toward crossovers and light trucks prove
steady.
Dorothy Fabian, Features Editor (USA)