MAY 3, 2017

U.S. Car sales. Editor-in-Chief's Note: It has been a great run, but now it's time to get ready for the Great Auto Sales Slowdown. Neal E. Boudette, writing about it in The New York Times on May 2: "Further production cuts may be coming. Many analysts have forecast that auto sales will suffer a small decline this year — to about 17.2 million vehicles from the record of 17.5 million sold in 2016. But some expect the industry to see larger declines after that. AlixPartners, a consulting firm with a large automotive practice, is predicting that auto sales will decline to 16.6 million vehicles in 2018, and 15.2 million in 2019." A hard rain's a-gonna fall, folks. -PMD

(GM images)
General Motors has opened the restored Durant-Dort Factory One, considered to be the company’s birthplace and epicenter of the global auto industry. Once home to the Flint Road Cart Co., established in 1886 by William Crapo “Billy” Durant and business partner Josiah Dallas Dort, it includes event space and a modern archive where future generations can learn about the innovators and risk takers who reinvented personal transportation. “Factory One sparked the global auto industry and was a catalyst in the formation of General Motors,” said Mark Reuss, GM executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, who championed the project. “It preserves the stories of the early visionaries who built a brand-new industry in this city, within the very walls of where it happened.” Factory One is available to the public by appointment, with event space offered for rent for corporate, community, educational events and more. It can accommodate up to 300 people. Factory One’s archive is free to use and contains about 100,000 historical documents, photos and other artifacts related to carriage-building and early automobile manufacturing in the Flint area, as well as GM history. The new research library relocates extensive archives from nearby Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute). To learn more about using the archive or hosting an event at Factory One, visit www.gmfactoryone.com or contact factory.one@gm.com.

(BMW)
The BMW i8 MemphisStyle edition will make its North American debut at the Frieze New York art fair on May 4, 2017, at Manhattan's Randall's Island Park. For the sixth consecutive year, BMW is a partner of Frieze New York, which will be open to the public from May 5 - 7, 2017.