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September 23rd, 2010
By ROGER HART
Hankook CEO Seung Hwa Suh says tire makers have a responsibility to educate consumers about the dangers of under-inflated tires.Anyone driving a car today has certainly heard about the dangers of drinking and driving, and the use of a cell phone and texting while driving. Seung Hwa Suh, vice chairman and CEO of Hankook tires, is hoping more drivers will pay attention to the dangers of low tire pressure and driving.
At The Tire Society’s 29th Annual Meeting and Conference on Tire Science and Technology, Suh proposed that all tire manufacturers “jointly develop a global campaign for educating consumers about air pressure and the overwhelming benefits that we can all enjoy if we simply maintain proper inflation,” he said.
Suh, who came from his home in Korea to Akron, Ohio, to deliver the keynote address to the tire group, quoted a June survey by the Rubber Manufacturers Association showing that millions of drivers in the United States alone waste gas and risk tire failures by failing to properly inflate their tires.
“The survey reported that only one in six vehicles had properly inflated tires and 55 percent of all vehicles had at least one under-inflated tire,” Suh said.
“I believe that tire manufacturers share a crucial responsibility in educating consumers about proper care and maintenance of their tires. Low air pressure degrades performance endangers vehicle occupants and harms the environment.”
In a press conference following his address, Suh noted that in Korea, Hankook offers a free service of checking tire pressure and inflating low tires at various places around the country around holidays, where people are taking to the roads in large numbers.
“Proper inflation looks very simple,” he said. “And it is very important for everyone’s safety.”
Suh said his company spends 5 percent of its total revenue on research and development annually, a figure that remained even during the economic downturn. “Our ability to grow has been driven by our continuous investment in the research and development. Performance and quality are the ultimate demonstration of technical competence,” he said.
Hankook Tires, founded in 1941, is the seventh-largest tire manufacturer in the world producing about 80 million tires annually from five factories, employing 15,000 people. The tires are sold in 186 countries worldwide.
Suh has been with Hankook since 1973. He became CEO in 2007 and added the title of vice chairman two years later.
Read more: Click here
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September 21st, 2010
The New York Times reports that the number of deaths attributed to distracted drivers fell 6 percent in 2009 from the previous year, the Transportation Department said in a report released Monday. Ray LaHood, the transportation secretary, said some police departments do not report if distraction played a role in accidents. The report said 5,474 people died in 4,898 crashes linked to distraction last year, down from 5,838 deaths in 5,307 crashes in 2008. Distracted drivers were listed as a contributing factor in 16 percent of crashes and deaths in both years, as the total number of traffic crashes in the United States declined slightly. The number of people injured in distracted-driving crashes fell 4 percent, to 448,000, representing 20 percent of all crash-related injuries. The number of fatalities tied to distracted driving was 22 percent higher last year than in 2005, even though 2009 had 22 percent fewer traffic deaths over all. Just 10 percent of crashes and deaths in 2005 were linked to distractions. “We are not talking about numbers, but about lives being broken and people being killed in crashes that are 100 percent preventable,” the transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, wrote on the agency’s blog. Click here to read his post. Click here for the New York Times’ report on the incidence of distracted driving in the U.S.
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September 1st, 2010
The Wall Street Journals Joseph B. White says that he is planning a road trip this Labor Day weekend, along with as many as 34.4 million of his fellow Americans. He just hopes he can get out of town. Thanks in part to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he will have to dodge orange and white highway construction barrels no matter where he goes. Roads and bridges need to be rebuilt and repaired, and in many parts of the country summer is the best time to get the work done. This year, the normal hassles of dodging construction delays have been exacerbated by some 12,000 or more highway projects funded by the federal stimulus program. Click here to see which metropolitan areas should expect to see the worst congestion due to the number of construction projects on their roads. In addition to the road construction, more travelers will be on the road, too. Compared with 2009, when the recession-era travel buzz word was “staycation,” the number of people taking a significant trip this weekend is expected to be up nearly 10 percent. Planning to roadtrip it this holiday weekend? Click here to check out White’s take on what you can expect from roadway projects across the country.
Tags: Chicago Lexus, Labor Day Road Trip, Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus, McGrath Lexus of Chicago
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August 31st, 2010
Lexus and Scholastic Launch Fourth Annual Environmental Contest with $500,000 in Grants and Scholarships to be Awarded
TORRANCE, Calif., August 31, 2010 – The Lexus Eco Challenge has inspired and empowered more than 15,000 middle and high school students to learn about the environment and take action to improve it. This fall, students are invited to participate in the fourth annual Lexus Eco Challenge for a chance to win part of $500,000 in grants and scholarships. Lexus, the luxury automaker, has once again joined with Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, to create the eco-friendly educational school program.
“The Lexus Eco Challenge has helped change the way I teach,” said Debbie Viertel, a teacher from Lawton Chiles Middle School in Lakeland, Fla. “By giving my students a real-world challenge, they come up with something they care about. Then they learn all the things I want them to learn in math and science, but the difference is that now they care. It’s a wonderful program.”
Last year’s grand-prize-winning high school team set a new standard when they reached beyond the border and focused their project on helping Haiti. Not only did they build a solar-powered biodiesel production system, they worked with representatives from a school in Haiti to plant a Jatropha Farm to grow seeds that generate oil for the biodiesel system. In addition to giving the biodiesel system to the Haitian school, they also arranged for solar panels to be donated and installed at the school.
“The students at Mother McAuley High School really captured the spirit of the Lexus Eco Challenge,” said Mark Templin, Lexus group vice president and general manager. “When we launched this initiative in 2007, we wanted to see it grow and expand to make a positive impact all around the world. Every year, we see more innovation, more creativity and more passion from the students and their teachers. We can’t wait to see what the teams do this year.”
The Challenge has two distinct elements:
Standards-based supplementary educational materials – encourages teachers to integrate creative lesson plans into their classrooms to help teach students about the environment.
Competition to reward environmental action – helps young people apply what they’ve learned in class through the program and empowers them to make improvements in their community by participating in the environmental team challenges.
The Challenges and Rewards
The Lexus Eco Challenge registration opens on Sept. 27, 2010, and will conclude with the announcement of the first-place and grand-prize-winning teams during Earth Month, April 2011. Middle and high school teams, comprised of 5-10 students and one teacher advisor, are invited to participate in one or both of the two initial challenges, each addressing different environmental elements – land/water and air/climate.
For each of the challenges, teams will define an environmental issue that is important to them, develop an action plan to address the issue, implement the plan, and report the results. Submission deadlines are: Challenge #1 (Land/Water) – Nov. 3, 2010 and Challenge #2 (Air/Climate) – Jan. 19, 2011.
Each of the challenges will have 16 winning teams – eight middle school and eight high school teams. The winning teams will each receive a total of $10,000 in scholarships and grants to be shared among the students, teacher and school. In addition, the winning action plans will be featured on a special Web page to inspire other students to take action in their communities. Throughout the challenges, students and teachers can ask questions and compare notes through a new blog featured on the Lexus Eco Challenge website.
In mid-February, the winning teams from the first two challenges will be invited to participate in the Final Challenge. Teams will be asked to reach beyond the local community and inspire environmental action around the world through innovative ideas that are communicated to a wide audience. From the Final Challenge entries, eight first-place teams and two grand-prize-winning teams will be selected. Each of the eight first-place teams will receive a total of $15,000 in grants and scholarships, and the two grand-prize-winning teams will each receive $30,000. The money will be shared by the students, their teacher advisors and their schools.
Judging Criteria
All entries for the initial two challenges will be judged on a variety of criteria, including the overall action plan and team effort, the quality of writing, and supporting materials. A select panel of judges will consider questions such as: does the action plan show the team’s clear understanding of the environmental issue; does the action plan clearly describe the results; does the action plan communicate a persuasive argument; and does the action plan communicate team effort?
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void where prohibited. Full program information including rules and entry details can be viewed at www.scholastic.com/lexus.
Teaching Tools for the Classroom
The Lexus Eco Challenge educational materials developed with Scholastic are designed to align with national teaching standards for science, social studies, civics and language arts.
In addition to providing teachers with the information necessary to participate in the challenges, the website (www.scholastic.com/lexus) also has extensive tools for them to use in their classrooms. For each challenge, the website has lesson plans and teacher instructions including questions to help guide a discussion about the current challenge topic, facts about the topic, and guidelines for a specific classroom project.
Lexus’ Environmental Efforts
Lexus is the leading luxury automotive brand in the United States, both in sales and in environmental stewardship. Lexus was the first luxury brand to sell hybrids and currently offers four low-emission hybrid vehicles with a fifth hybrid debuting in early 2011. When Lexus began selling hybrids in 2005, it helped advance the concept of sustainability without sacrifice. To bring like-minded individuals together, it also developed the Lexus Hybrid Living site (www.lexus.com/hybridliving) that serves as a portal for people seeking a way to incorporate luxury and environmentalism into their lives.
The Lexus Eco Challenge is part of The Lexus Pursuit of Potential, a philanthropic initiative that generates up to $3 million in donations each year for organizations that help build, shape and improve children’s lives.
# # #
Media Contact:
Nancy Hubbell
Lexus Communications
nancy_hubbell@lexus.com
(310) 468-7633
Tags: Chicago Lexus, Lexus Chicago, lexus eco challenge, McGrath Lexus, McGrath Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus of Chicago
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August 28th, 2010
Toyota Motor Corp. said it wants to reach cumulative sales of 5 million hybrid vehicles in the early part of this decade. Automotive News reports that Toyota, the pioneer in gasoline/electric hybrid vehicles, said earlier this month it had sold more than 2.68 million hybrid vehicles globally since it launched the first model in 1997. The best selling Prius and other models have received a boost in Japan especially in the last year thanks to government subsidies that favor hybrids over other fuel-efficient cars. Toyota has a goal of selling at least 1 million hybrid vehicles a year in the early part of this decade, and plans to introduce a hybrid option across its whole lineup as early as possible in the 2020s. Under a five-year environmental action plan to run through 2015 and released on Wednesday, the world’s biggest automaker also said it would improve its vehicles average fuel efficiency in all regions by 25 percent compared with 2005 levels. According to Finchannel.com, the plan is based on Toyota’s environmental principles of contributing to the growth of a sustainable society and earth through manufacturing that is in harmony with the environment, making cars, and offering quality products and services.
Tags: Chicago Lexus, gs hybrid, hs hybrid, hybrid, hybrid technology, Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus, McGrath Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus of Chicago, rx hybrid
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August 20th, 2010
Mark Rechtin
Automotive News — August 16, 2010 – 12:01 am ET
LOS ANGELES — About 20,000 customers have signed up for the Lexus Advisory Board, an initiative launched in spring to survey Lexus owners about the brand and its products.
Lexus is still getting the feel for the research tool, (lexusadvisoryboard.com). So far one questionnaire focused on owners’ interaction with social media and another involved their relationships with technology.
Upcoming surveys will affect product plans, says Deborah Senior, Lexus corporate manager of marketing strategy and communications.
Having just turned 20, and with an aging boomer owner base, Lexus is battling to hold its sales lead over Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Customer feedback may help.
In building its survey base, Lexus wanted a broad range of demographics, psychographics and vehicle ownership. New members will be added as new vehicles are launched, Senior says.
“This is a great way of listening to customers,” she says. Lexus has dangled the carrot of one $500 cash card and two $250 cash cards as monthly prizes for participants.
Of course, some people say there can be too much market research. After all, Giorgio Armani doesn’t ask what kind of suit a customer wants next time around.
Senior doesn’t entirely agree: “We can use this information in combination with information from other resources to develop future plans. Everything from products to the customer’s relationship with the dealer to the ownership experience to how we communicate with them.”
Tags: Chicago Lexus, Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus, McGrath Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus of Chicago
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July 30th, 2010
From extreme heat to sudden downpours, driving during the summer is not without its own special set of challenges. Follow these helpful tips to ensure you have a safe summer driving season.
Check your fluids. Heat can really stress out an engine. To reduce how hard your engine works on hot days, have McGrath Lexus of Chicago change your oil, and check your transmission fluid and engine coolant before the summer heat sets in.
Check your tires. If you use winter tires, switch to summer or all-season tires. Winter tires wear out quickly on hot, dry pavement. Also, make sure your tires are properly inflated, which increases fuel economy and tire longevity.
Watch the temperature gauge. If your car’s temperature gauge starts to rise, turn on the heater. While the passenger compartment may get pretty warm, diverting heat away from the engine can prevent your car from overheating, possibly saving the engine.
Don’t overload your car. When packing for an extended summer road trip, know your vehicle’s weight load limit. An overloaded vehicle can be difficult to stop, especially on wet pavement. In addition, the added stress makes the engine more susceptible to overheating. Refer to your owner’s manual for your vehicle’s weight load limit.
Tags: Chicago Lexus, Lexus Chicago, lexus service, McGrath Lexus, McGrath Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus of Chicago
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July 14th, 2010
The 2010 Lexus IS F remains a sleeper, writes Scott Burgess at The Detroit News. Not because it cannot blow the doors off most sport sedans. It can. But it is a sleeper because it is still very early in its life, and no one associates Toyota Motor Corp. luxury brand with a true performance brand: They should. In fact, it’s an absolute hoot to drive. Click here for a photo. The first performance Lexus, introduced in 2008, is surgical in its precision. Every detail feels exact and plush. For this model year, Lexus has even bumped up its offerings, including things like the first direct shift eight-speed automatic, a Torsen limited slip differential, and connectivity for the driver’s iPod or other personal music device. The additions improve the car’s capabilities and its user friendliness, which make them exactly the kinds of things you want to add. Burgess says his Matador Red test vehicle might as well have come with neon signs that screamed, “Pull me over, officer,” as this car looks almost as fast as it goes. The IS F may be a sleeper right now. But eventually people will learn. They always do. Click here to read Burgess’ entire review of the Lexus IS F.
Tags: Chicago Lexus, IS, IS F, IS F Review, Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus, McGrath Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus of Chicago
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June 19th, 2010
Lexus Ties for Most Segment Awards of Any Nameplate
Production Facilities Earn Top Honors in Asia and North America
TORRANCE, Calif., June 17, 2010 — Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., today announced that its Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands received a combined six segment awards in the 2010 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study (IQS), more than any other manufacturer.
“We are very pleased to have earned the six segment awards and by the strong showing of our Lexus brand in the 2010 IQS,” said Jim Lentz, president and chief operating officer, TMS. “However, the 2010 study was conducted at the height of intense media coverage of Toyota’s and Lexus’ recalls earlier this year, so we anticipated an impact on this specific ranking of these vehicles.”
Lentz continued: “The IQS 90-day feedback is one measurement – along with warranty claims, long-term durability, resale value and buyer loyalty – that helps us gauge the overall quality of our products. We stand behind our strong performance in these and other areas and remain firmly committed to ensuring the superior quality, safety and long-term value of our cars and trucks.”
Lexus LS Shows Fewest Quality Problems in the Industry
Lexus ranked fourth among all nameplates in the 2010 IQS with 88 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100). Among individual models, the Lexus LS earned the distinction of fewest quality problems in the industry, with just 55 PP100.
Lexus also captured three segment awards to tie for the most awards of any nameplate in this year’s study. These include the Lexus GS for Midsize Premium Car, the Lexus GX 460 for Midsize Premium Crossover/SUV, and the Lexus LS 460 for Large Premium Car. This is the third year in a row that the LS had placed first in its segment and the 10th time in 13 years that the LS has been at the top of its segment.
Production Facilities Earn Top Honors
Toyota production facilities once again took the top three honors in the Asia Pacific region for 2010. The Kyushu 2 plant (IS line, ES 350, RX line) earned the Gold Award with 32 PP100; the Tahara 3 plant (GS line, IS sedans, LS 460) earned the Silver Award with 33 PP100; and the Kyushu 1 plant (HS 250h, RX line) earned the bronze award with 37 PP100.
For the North and South America region, the Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, plant (RX 350) earned a Gold Award with 30 PP100.
Toyota Segment Awards Chart
Model IQS Segment Problems per 100
Lexus LS 460 Large Premium Car 55
Lexus GS Midsize Premium Car 75
Lexus GX 460 Midsize Premium Crossover/SUV 84
Tags: Chicago Lexus, GS, GX, JD Power and Associates, JD Power Initial Quality Study, JD Power IQS, Lexus Chicago, LS, McGrath Lexus, McGrath Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus of Chicago, RX
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June 10th, 2010
Edmunds.com, the automotive information service, announced Wednesday that Toyota and Lexus have three vehicles on the Edmunds.com 2010 list of Consumers Top Rated Vehicles. These awards recognize the vehicles that actual owners rate the highest, Edmunds.com noted.
The vehicles honored are the Toyota Highlander and Lexus IS 350C and ES 350.
The Edmunds.com recognition came one day after the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) named three Toyota vehicles – the 2011 Sienna and Avalon and the 2010 Lexus RX – as Top Safety Picks for 2010.
For more information on Edmunds.com’s Consumers’ Top Rated Awards, please visit http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/163527/article.html.
Tags: Chicago Lexus, Consumer Reports Best Car Overall, edmunds, edmunds.com, ES, ES 350, ES350, IS, IS 350 Convertible, IS 350C, IS350C, Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus, McGrath Lexus Chicago, McGrath Lexus of Chicago
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