Dow Jones’ Kathy Shwiff really should read her colleagues’ work. The lead of Schwiff’s morning-after mop-up of September’s auto sales debacle remains oblivious to Sharon Terlep’s conclusion that fleet sales saved GM from a total rout. “The heightening of the credit crunch at the end of the month saw showroom traffic tumble for a number of auto makers, but General Motors Corp.’s (GM) sales decline – half that of rivals Ford Motor Co. (F) and Toyota Motor Corp. ( TM) – showed that the right incentives can work. GM’s results were boosted in late August and last month by the return of an old standby – employee pricing. That helped the auto maker’s sales fall 16%, a less severe decline than many analysts expected.” Speaking of that Ford drop, FoMoCo sales analyst George Pipas got his freak on. I mean, freaked out. George said September sales levels and showroom traffic were “tantamount to a natural disaster” or the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Surprisingly, then, FoMoCo doesn’t share GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s bailout boosterism. “Ford economist Ellen Hughes-Cromwick noted the recent freeze in the short-term credit market affects businesses more than consumers, but marketing chief Jim Farley said he has seen lenders require higher down payments because they want to see more ‘commitment’ from buyers.” Uh, doesn’t Ford Motor Credit handle that stuff?
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GM sales have trailed damn near everyone for the past 3-4 years…and WHOA, all of a sudden(!!) they kick some royal ass???
Hmmmmm…. Sure, *I* believe it!! haha
Re. the photo…too bad you couldn’t capture the mushroom cloud…ooops, I mean, “pancaking” of the twin towers.
That’s ANOTHER one I believe. ;P
When pigs fly, when towers drop, and when GM rises above EVERYONE else…then you really know this world we live in is nothing more than Disneyland on a grand scale.
(PS, can I interest anyone in a “slightly” used GM?? I’ll give you the family discount!!! Was going to offer zero percent financing…but I don’t want to have to cut your fingers off at the knuckles.)
WTC? Really? I put this up there with all of the girlie pictures as stuff I’m embaressed to be seen reading at work.
Please change this photo. What are you thinking?
Sorry Mr. Farago, but I have to say I find the images of the World Trade Center terrorist attack to be inappropriate when discussing something as unimportant as Ford’s September sales results.
That’s a picture of hundreds of people dying. Literally. I respectfully ask that you change the image.
I’m thinking that Ford sales analyst George Pipas compared September’s sales decline to the aftermath of 911.
I didn’t bring it up. Pipas did. He evoked the image. Whether or not you consider such hyperbole appropriate, I simply illustrated his point.
As someone who lost a friend in the attack, I see nothing wrong with using this or any other image of the WTC when the story refers to that fateful day. We should never forget.
That said, I defer to my readers’ wishes in this matter. I will change the image post haste.
I agree about the picture….pretty tasteless I hate to say. Do the right thing and remove it please. I know there are readers that had someone they know die, I am one of them, please don’t diminish there lives.
The RCA Dome in Indy was deflated a week ago, use a clip of that…more taste
http://www.flyawaycafe.com/rca-dome-deflation-changes-indianapolis-landscape/
Picture changed (BTW: people died in the Perfect Storm).
Again, please keep in mind that Mr. Pipas evoked the memory of 911. If you’re unhappy with the idea, focus your anger on his choice of words, not my choice of picture.
The RCA Dome was recently deflated…
http://www.flyawaycafe.com/rca-dome-deflation-changes-indianapolis-landscape/
I’ll risk getting kicked off the site for this one if necessary
You guys don’t get it.
The whole economy is going in the tank, this is just the result. Worldwide recession coming and the $700 billion is only a temporary stop gap measure. The housing industry is kaput, the auto industry is kaput, the rest will follow, government is going to see a huge downturn in revenues due too the lack of capital gains tax, lower income tax receipts and taxes from auto sales and house sales and all those comfy government employees are going to see there easy lifetime guaranteed jobs be not so guaranteed. The west has lived beyond it’s means for years while regulations strangled the industry with the help of the UAW/CAW in the case of the Big 3. Now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Looking at the silver lining, there won’t be billions to waste on stuff like global warming and the UN.
In defense of Mr. Pipas, he didn’t say the drop in sales was like the tragedy of 9/11. He said the current sales situation is like it was after 9/11.
The picture that was up here along with headline made it seem like he was comparing a drop in sales to the events of 9/11 themselves, which is not the case.
bluecon
Since the economy is tanking and industry coming to a standstill, the global warming “crisis” is solved. I am going back to sleep.
Thanks for clarifying that, MattVA.
If you want the actual context of the conversation, I encourage you to listen to Ford’s monthly sales call. Between the general PR that any company engages in, there are tons of great tidbits about how Ford and industry are doing and where things are going. The statement came up in the context of buyers sitting on the fence – even ones who can get credit to buy and may have the money and desire to buy – and he compared it to the effects that a natural disaster or terrorist attack (Katrina, 9/11, respectively) have on buying attitudes generally.
A question came later about a reprise of 0% for 60 months to get people buying again like the companies did after 9/11 (from the press, I might add), and I nearly laughed. Could she not see that the industry is already offering 0%, thousands back, a trip to Fiji and 1c diamond for buying an Aveo?