January is renown within the auto industry for being slow for car sales, with dealers trying to shed their last remaining inventory from the previous year and with generally good discounts available for those who want to venture but even these tactics with added incentives hasn’t bolstered the sales. The sale of vehicles in Orange County has already suffered a dramatic drop in 2007 by 9.2% and coming into the new year it was forecast that this year would fair no better with an additional 3.1% decline, that was before the January report.

The dramatic change in sales reported by the Orange County Auto dealers for January 2008 compared to January 2007 goes like this; 12,822 this year, 17,936 in January 2007 and this is not restricted to large SUVs and pickups, it covers the whole spectrum of vehicles. Every segment of the industry has reported a loss, popular vehicles and brand Toyota/Scion a winner in Orange County down by a whopping 35.8% and that’s with the most fuel efficient vehicles in the industry. Luxury brands like Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Cadillac plunging between 28.6% to 42.9% leaving none of the most popular brands unscathed, Chevrolet bottomed out with a 38% loss while Ford fell 22.3%

Is this a true indication of a pending recession, gas prices are on the rise again, my local garage has raised the price 12 cents over the past two days with regular now poised at $3.35 a gallon and the summer months are not upon us yet, does this means we’re in for $4.00 a gallon this summer.

The housing slump is firmly entrenched and with pay rises few and far between little can be had to combat the raising cost of living but out of this mire a few bright stars still managed to eek out a profit. Buick, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Mazda and Infiniti were the only brands to see a sales increase ranging from 42.9% to 0.4% so go figure that one out.

This long anticipated vehicle totally fits the bill and more, making you salivate as you pass your eyes over the sleek body panels and crisp lines with little in distracting from the original concept. The fit and finish was exceptionally good with only minor interference fit between door panel and dash but with seven months to go before full production these small flaws have plenty of time to be ironed out.

A couple of items that did standout to me were a jet black XM satellite antenna that stood proudly at the rear of the roof panel and a couple of rectangular reversing lamps that broke up the rear panel in an otherwise clean, tastefully executed design. This yellow RS version sported 20 inch rims on 245 front and 275 rear rubber together with the V6 six speed 304 horsepower engine good for 26 mpg. For the total enthusiast the high performance SS comes with a 6.2L V8 good for 422 horses manually equipped or 400 horses with a six speed automatic, either way they’re both going to plant your pants decidedly in your seat!

The interior carried the same modern heritage as the concept vehicle but more toned down with dark gray leather with silver bezels, inserts and silver stitching to compliment the seats. Interior space was suitable for a five foot seven person to sit comfortably in the rear seat with their head just touching the headlining but for a vehicle that is typical used as a two seater with occasional rear occupancy this sports car offers the ability to actual have passengers.

You may be thinking with today’s emphasis on better gas mileage one could argue that the timing is a bit off but what we have to realize is people are leaving their SUV’s and pickup trucks in droves with their 14-18 mpg at best so to move to a vehicle that gets 26 mpg or better it’s an instant fifty percent improvement and cool to boot.

Now I ask when considering your next purchase what would you rather have, a Camry or a Camaro?

This February has seen a dramatic drop in sales of SUVs as the bite of high gasoline prices rip into the family budget but Porsche beg to differ with their truck sales exploding to a 109.7% over the same period last year. This anomaly is at the expense of their car division which dropped 40.3% over last year leaving the sportscar company down 12.8% for the month of February.

With every auto manufacturer feeling the economic pinch, total sales in North America for the year are down by a 120,000 units or 5.3% so far, so what does this all mean for us the clay modeler.

As the auto industry continues its downward spiral with less sales and ultimately less profit we could find the purse strings being tightened even further. That means design facilities could well see overtime reduced to save on premium payments but not necessary less work to be done. Programs could be reduced, shelved or even cancelled as the product planning groups rethink their strategy on the best product to pursue whilst indicision on current programs reduces productivity to a crawl. All this negativity on the economy will put a strain on the creative juices especially when a winning design is needed right now to gain maximium traction.

Currently the new product lead time is from 36 to 48 months before it hits the road and for some that may be too late. Take for instance the Chevy Camaro that debut at the NAIAS in January 2006 and is on the fast track to hit showrooms as a 2009 model year. Will this vehicle still have the massive following that it had early on when fuel was only $2.00 a gallon, by the time it does become available that $2.00 could well be doubled.

The new vehicle programs that have just finished, are they the right product? Typically in times of uncertainty studios have ramped up their development programs because the right product is not always clear cut leading to many iterations of a theme, demand is usually greater for sculptors, designers and engineers. Product development cannot afford to go on the back burner in fear of losing even more market share to the competitors, it is a vicious circle, so for the clay modeler I can see boom times ahead once more.

February may have been another bad sales month because of all the underlying problems but development must go on so let’s lighten up and check out some of the fun videos on YouTube.com. A bit of fun and plenty of laughter goes a long way in cheering you up and with the beginnings of a new week just around the corner, who knows, there may even be some good news!

With the aid of Jacques Flynn, a full time Mazda designer she was able to express her needs to capture the essence and vision of a vehicle that could well be the next Mazda3. Design lines that screamed Mazda DNA and yet still fresh enough to capture ones imagination.

Talking to Franz von Holzhausen on the second press day while the model was in full swing, I asked whether the main volume had been modeled at the Mazda main studio. I already new that it had but wanted him to inject his take on this novel approach to car design. He said that the overall basic shape had been put in place purely because the amount of space needed to store the clay and amount of time needed to pack the buck before design could begin. He wanted the time allocated at the motor show purely for design development. This meant that the changes we would see at the motor show would be controlled and materials needed to capture these changes were at a minimum.

A small clay oven and four or five boxes of Faber Clay Light, 3rd Generation would support any changes each day, keeping the modeling area relatively free from clutter.

The measuring equipment to control the dimensional integrity of the model would be supported by two free standing portable Tokyo Boeki CMM machines with digital readouts. Any dimensions taken would have to be hand written co-ordinates to keep the sophistication to a minimum and manually spotted into the clay surface.

These machines can be leveled to any environment and providing these machines are indexed off of a set co-ordinate on the model and are square to the front of the model or parallel to the center axis, data can be transferred from one side to the other, ensuring symmetry and dimensional accuracy.

The initial design of the winning sketch created as a tape drawing ready for converting into a three dimentional model. This is where the dream starts to become a reality, an initial package drawing would help to ensure that people can actually be transported within the form. This is no science fiction vehicle, it has to be able to work in real time.

The third scale model is used to explore a lot of ideas in a relatively short space of time whereas if it were a fullsize model those changes would take that much longer. Considering the motor show runs for ten days the design has to be cemented at third scale level to enable the sculpting staff time to create the idea as a fullsize.

Once the scale model is complete I would imagine that point data would have been pointed off the scale model, I say this because I can’t see how you would create the necessary information in the small enclosure that they have at the motor show without a fullsize tape drawing or first milling in the basic form . This picked data would be easily pointed in and the surface then refined to suit before new data can be picked via the touch probe head on one of the Tokyo Boeki machines.

In essence what we will see as a finished article will be a fullsize clay model covered with dinoc film for the 3PM reveal on November 24th 2007. This will be by no means the end of the development, in fact it will show the general proportions of the scale model that can later be refined behind closed doors and probably changed considerably just to keep the public guessing at what is really to come, afterall this design is for 2018!

The public gets to enjoy what really happens at these highly guarded advanced design studios, watching people like Dennis Baker, the sculptor in the image, as he plied his trade. Unless you are prepared to visit every day it is hard to gauge the amount of work required to meet this sort of time frame and especially under the watchful eyes of the public and the cameras.

I for one thoroughly enjoyed speaking with former colleagues such as Dennis Baker and Franz von Holzhausen, I was impressed how Franz during his press conference expressed that this is how we develop our clay models using the experience of the modelers to bring the model to life. It is that understanding between modeler and designer that creates the best design possible in any giving time frame. In this case a time frame that is to say, a little tight!

Now that this normally covert operating has been made public you can now look at any vehicle on the road and say, “I now know how that was developed!”

This bold move by the Mazda think tank believes this approach will bring a whole new perspective to its already best selling car globally, the Mazda3, by hiring the brightest of the participants. The winner will have the priviledge of working with the Design Director of Mazda North America, Franz Von Holzhausen.

This is no ordinary contest, the competition will be tough, a 150 word description of their vision accompanied by a sketch that will be judged by the Mazda designers to hone the field down to ten semi finalists. The final five finalist will be chosen by the Facebook community who then pair up with in house designers to “perfect” their design, may I add, hopefully not to dilute it! The five finished designs will be judged by the Facebook community over a one week period with the winner traveling to Los Angeles to apply the finishing touches with the Mazda Design Team.

Now this is where it gets interesting, this final design will be executed as a fullsize model over the course of the ten day Greater Los Angeles Auto Show. Now does that mean that the model will be created in house and brought to the auto show on the last day or is it going to be modeled on stage over the course of the ten days. A ten day model will represent merely a proportion model that will only give a hint of what’s to come, even so, very exciting times for the winner who gets to unveil the concept and speak about their vision.

Included in the winning package is travel, accomodation, $1000.00 spending money and a brand new Mazda3 but the biggest benefit is the work experience that many people never have the opportunity to live. The opportunity to work with a professional design team, sculptors and a design director in an environment or cauldron should I say where the product has to be complete in two weeks!

Most of this information has been gathered by my own contacts and frequenting notice boards such as ClayChat for regular updates.

• Clay positions available in Holland, offered by Assystem UK (formerly known as International Automotive Design IAD) please contact Nicola, nrobinson@assystemuk.com Tel: +44 (0) 1903-703221
• Southern California clay modeling positions offered by Phoenix USA. All candidates should submit their Curriculum Vitae to phoenixusa2005@msn.com or phoenixdesigneuro@btinternet.com

  Ideally people with 10 years experience would be preferred. Point of contact Norman Astbury.

• Allegro requires experienced clay modelers for Southern California, immediate openings for the right person, short based contracts in the Long Beach/Torrance, Los Angeles and Orange County. Point of contact John Grafman, please send supporting resume to info@allegro1.com

• Allegro requires clay modelers with 10 years experience for a contract of 6 months in duration for the Southern California area with the possibility of an extention for the selected candidate. Please provide resumes to info@allegro1.com
• Holden Special Vehicles, HSV require experienced clay modelers for their Clayton, Melbourne, Australia design studio. All interested parties should send their up-to-date resume to Julian Quincy, Studio Design Manager at julian.quincy@hsv.com.au

  This is a 6 month contract, include telephone number and eligibility status. Information supplied by Peter Watson of HSV on behalf of HSV.

• Technicon require clay modelers for Germany. For further information contact Janet Noyes at janet.noyes@technicondesign.com or telephone: +44(0)1582 506600
• An independent company is looking for an experienced clay modeller in the California area who can also make the molds. This is for a full conversion kit for a sports car. The right person will be provided with rent and food to relocate especially for non local people. If you are interested please contact Antonio at corvette333@msn.com

  Provide contact information such as email and telephone number.

As you well know with any of these contract positions they will be filled quickly with the right candidate so make sure to provide your latest resume and contact number. For the international traveler an up-to-date passport is a must.

During those years I was working for small independent companies that took on the overspill from the major OEMs, commisioned properties to compete against their in-house models or show vehicles that had to be completed in a short time frame. Years of working long hours with great satisfaction to a sudden uncertainty, then nothing. That was the experience that many tradesmen suffered, being told in no uncertain terms to “get on your bike” to secure work.

During those troubled years, British Leyland, created in 1968 as a nationalized company which incorporated most of the British owned car industry, British Motor Holdings and Leyland Motor Corporation would undergo numerous name changes such as the Rover Group in 1986, then the MG Rover Group, which would eventually go bankrupt in 2005. This essentially ended the reign of mass produced automobiles by a British owned manufacturer. You may well ask, why did this happened and the long and the short of it is, competing against itself at all levels in the same market, badge engineering and craftsmanship that could not compete with other manufacturers.

During the pass few weeks we have been anticipating whether Toyota Motor Corporation would surpass GM as the largest mass producer of automobiles and last week it was realized with headlines on blogs and in business sections of most newspapers across America, making statements like, “Toyota Replaces GM as the World’s Largest Automaker” from The Truth About Cars, “Toyota overtakes GM in global sales” from Automotive News and “Hell freezes over – GM fades to No.2″ from Autoextremist.

OK, the inevitable has happened but is it the end of the world, I don’t think so, in fact it could be a blessing in disguise. With this shift in status, the spotlight is now on the new number one, Toyota, leaving GM the ability to concentrate on it’s own turn-around operation without sweating about when it will lose that coveted crown, it’s already happened. With the reduction of vehicles being off-loaded to rental companies of course the numbers will be down but it also means that the consumer may have a vehicle who’s resale has just risen also.

To be competitive drastic measures have to be taken, emphasis has to be on design to produce vehicles that people want. Quality has to be second to none and attention has to be paid to the voice of the people, especially in times when gas is $3.00+ a gallon. Diversify the product line not badge engineer, seperate the brands so that it means something. The new product that is reaching the road is better but still needs refinement. To make people believe will take time and this can only be achieved with a near flawless product. Toyota have proved that you don’t have to have the best design but a product that is inoffensive, well built and reliable.

I have seen the results of an impasse, that lesson can be had from the mistakes made by the British Auto Indusry, so now is the time to curb egos and put the good of the company first, afterall product is KING.

Many people who are in the position of buying a new vehicle these days have so much more in the way of researching especially when it’s at your finger tips i.e. computers. This instant access to information takes a lot of guess work out of the equation that may have been the norm some thirty years ago, when word of mouth determined the next purchase. Now you can select your top choice of vehicles and see how they stack up against each other and ultimately this may sway any potential purchaser who is sitting on the fence, especially if it comes down to safety.

The unfortunate victim of this one star rating is the 2007 Buick LaCrosse. For me this represents yet another stumbling block on the road to recovery, just when a little momentum is making its way into the ailing juggernaut.

Even though the the manufacture (GM) has been quick to rectify the intruding interior trim on the driver’s side door, the question that comes to mind is. How did it manage to make its way through the production process with all the necessary steps that are in place to avoid these sort of issues? There must be some kind of internal test similiar to the one used by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

What does a one star rating imply you may ask, according to the NHTSA a one star rating equates to a 26% or greater chance of SERIOUS INJURY! Wow, no wonder the changes were made in double quick time but the unfortunate thing is the ratings are up for everyone to see and until a retest is done the star quality cannot be rectified. You may ask how does it compare to the results for the 2006 model year but unfortunately the side impact test was not conducted, only the front and rear crash test, gaining the full five star rating. No wonder the officials are surprised and embarrassed at this years outcome.

Automotive manufacturers are well aware of the consequences that face them in an arena that is vastly competitive. The smallest mistake can allow their rivals to take advantage of a mishap and promote their own vehicle to fill the void. Hopefully, the retest will be conducted soon, gaining a favorable result of three stars or more putting it back in contention with the likes of the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry.

Today we find that Toyota has launched a voluntary recall of its very successful full-size pickup and SUV, the Tundra and Sequoia according to Automotive News. The culprit being the ball joint assemblies in the front suspension. Toyota have said that maybe the surfaces could have been scratched during assembly causing excessive wear resulting in harder steering and excessive noise. Is this because the manufacturing process has been sped up to meet demand?

This follows a similar recall of the popular 4Runners, Tacomas, Tundras and Sequoias in May of 2005 which also had ball-joint problems even though the company denied any problems with the manufacturing process.

To me this signifies the inherent problem that faces all mass production. The higher the demand, the less time allowed for assembly and troubleshooting, after all you have to crank out those vehicles so as not to lose a sale. The numbers we are taking about are significant, 553,000 for this recall on 2004-07 vehicles and 750,000 for the previous 2001-04 recall but will this tarnish the indisputable reputation for quality that everyone has come to expect from Toyota. If it were a domestic manufacturer I’m sure the outcome would be significant, take the tire problems of Ford as an instance, this was the start of a downward spiral.

Hondas woes account for a total of 81,000 vehicles of their popular sedan, the Accord, for model years 2004-05 representing 23% of sales for those years. The problem lies in the faulty wiring of an airbag sensor on the drivers side which can result in full deployment regardless of the seat position. As everyone is well aware, this could be extremely dangerous for smaller drivers causing injuries rather than preventing them.

With every manufacturer trying to squeeze their suppliers to keep operating costs down even the most reliable vendors are going to cut costs, therefore passing any unfortunate mishap on to the consumer. Is this the price of doing business in the 21st century we may well ask and still be competitive?

Nevertheless, much of the component manufacturing is finding its way to cheaper labor forces that are abundant in contries such as India and China but does that mean the quality aspect may be a little off? The expectations that are taken for granted here may take a little more time with a different labor force even though the skill levels are the same, making it even more important that the quality controllers and batch inspectors are vigilant until that playing field is indeed level.

Still, with the ever increasing battle for the manufacturers number one spot, chances will be taken to bring vehicles to market quicker, to gain that edge over the next competitor but in doing so quality of parts must not suffer, neither should passenger safety, after all, it’s mine and your life that is at stake.

That means, vehicles such as the new Camaro due as a 2009 model will obviously be in the mix, the Impala springs to mind and maybe the Colbalt will hang on, as Chevrolets pocket rocket. For me this signifies a belief in bringing quality back to the brand and an end to diluting everything that is good. The SS should stand heads above the regular sports edition signifying that when you purchase that model it is indeed a Super Sport helping it to retain market value and exclusivity.