An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.
Nissan sees red: Nissan cut its earnings outlook, saying it now expects a consolidated net loss of 265 billion yen for the year ending March 31, the Nikkei [sub] writes. The automaker earlier forecast a net profit of 160 billion yen, down 67 percent from the previous term. Nissan downgraded its sales outlook to a 23 percent fall. The carmaker also projects an operating loss of 180 billion yen, tumbling into the red for the first time in 14 years, in a sharp reversal from the 270 billion yen profit, down 66 percent. Nissan will cut 20,000 jobs in Japan and abroad by the end of March 2010, bringing the total payroll down to 215,000 employees. This is the first loss since fiscal 1999 when current President Carlos Ghosn became chief operating officer after Nissan formed an alliance with France’s Renault.
India keeps going down: India’s domestic car sales fell for the fourth straight month in January. Sales fell 3.2 percent in January, the Nikkei [sub] reports. They were down 7 percent in December, 19 percent in November, 6.6 percent in October, 4.4 percent in August, and 1.7 percent in July. Only in September 2008, sales rose 2.8 percent. (Read More…)
Last Thanksgiving, I took my step-daughter to the GM “Test Track” at Disney World. When we walked up to the heavy steel door, the ride was “temporarily closed” for “technical reasons.” We waited. The ride reopened twenty minutes later. We were cattle herded through a chain link channel, passing various displays designed to educate guests about automotive development: air bags, door longevity, etc. The ten-year-old displays were worn, dated and dusty. There was no branding anywhere; no mention of Buick, Chevrolet, Pontiac, GMC, Saturn, Saab, Cadillac or HUMMER. When we got to the acoustic chamber, the ride broke. Not good: the chamber lacked ventilation. People started leaving the line after 20 minutes. Just before the ride, a short video (on a small TV) extolled the joys of ABS—for a Chevy Trailblazer.
TTAC proof reader and Editor Jeff Puthoff has been helping me chase down the Chrysler – Cerberus story, trying to identify the automaker’s secret co-investors. In the midst of that pursuit, Jeff has unearthed this heretofore unreported document: “U.S. Motor Vehicle Industry: Federal Financial Assistance and Restructuring” Dec. 3. 2008 (Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress).” The Congressional Research Service (CRS) drafted the report for elected representatives contemplating whether or not to loan Chrysler and GM money to prevent their bankruptcy. The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives eventually failed to create a bill to fund the loans (though not for lack of trying). Then-president Bush stepped in at the eleventh hour and provided $17.4 worth of federal loans, by stretching the provisions of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). There are some startling– and not so startling– insights.
The Baltimore Sun reports on a car that exceeded 210mph on a track in Ohio.
What goes 0-60mph in 1 second, has 2,400 horsepower, and gets 10mpg on regular pump fuel? The world’s fastest-to-sixty, street-legal car: a Chevy Corvette Sting Ray.
It pays to have friends in high places. Just as politicians have favored constituents, the automotive auctioneer almost always has a good memory for those who help them during the sale. More than anything else, the auctioneer wants to generate a market and get his own share of greenbacks. Some are easily corruptible. Others less so. But supporting him at times when the bidders that are ‘working the sale’ (a.k.a. colluding) can be worth far more to the auctioneer than the occasional greenback. Doing it the right way, at the right moment, can create a very nice win/win situation that goes straight to the bottom line.
Rolls-Royce used to advertise the fact that their cars were so quiet that the loudest sound you heard was the [analog] clock ticking on the dash. Who said the British don’t do hyperbole? As a quiet car connoisseur, I’d have to say a Clinton-era Cadillac provided the quietest ride I’d ever experienced; if the time was one of peace and prosperity, then so was the car. Nowadays, automakers are telling us that their cars are quiet, or at least quieter than ever before. I’m not buying it. A number of recent drives have been notable for their aural uncouthness. So I set out to find the truth about automotive sonic signatures. Has nostalgia dimmed my memory (if not my hearing)? Is progress on the noise suppression front been less impressive than industry propaganda would have you believe?
The “barn find” of a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, that was thought to fetch $8.7m, finally went under the hammer at Bonham’s in Paris. According to the BBC, “it eventually sold for 3,417,500 euros.” At today’s rate, that’s $4.4m . . . about half. Even barn finds don’t keep their residual value as much as they used to.
Say I order a pickup truck from the Chrysler mothership: an ’09 Dodge Mega Cab Cummins 4×4. MSRP: $59k. Invoice: $53k. Hold back: $2,400. Chrysler bills my bank for invoice ($53k). My bank gets the title and pays for truck. [ED: this is also known as floor-planning or flooring.] I take delivery of the truck, I sell the truck. Two weeks later, my floor-planning bank transfers the funds to Chrysler. First, I have to pay off the flooring liability: the Ram’s invoice price ($53k). Then I wait for the factory rebate money. That’s why it costs so much to operate a franchise dealership: the operating capital requirment is huge. We are fronting the manufacturer’s cash flow by overpaying for the units when we (the dealer) buy them from factory.
Just kidding. It’s a safety car thingie used to test collision avoidance without having to repair hundreds of rear bumpers. Although that would certainly give a bunch of Ford’s idled UAW workers something constructive to do. You do know I mean the car on the right, yes? Good. Quick! What’s the name of the one on the left, MKS, MKZ, MKT, MKWTF, MKLOL or MKF? Other than that, I got nothing. Hat-wearing Detroit News cheerleader Scott Burgess, on the other hand, has a whole article on FoMoCo’s new, automatic, stop-you-from-crashing-into-shit-when-you-get-old-enough-to-mistake-a-blinged-out-Fusion-for-a-genuine-luxury-car technology. And a video! The fact that we’ve already seen this techno-geekfest via Volvo seems to have slipped his mind. That’s understandable. Volvo has fallen off just about everybody’s radar these days. Still, its sad to see The Blue Oval Boys usurp the Swedes’ unique selling point for a car as sad as the MK… wait, don’t tell me…
As regular readers know, The Truth About Cars is working hard to try to find out who owns Chrysler—now that [ex] President Bush has provided $3b worth of no to low-interest loans to the technically bankrupt automaker. And now that this selfsame beneficiary of our government’s largess is looking for another $4b loan. And the rest. In our pursuit of this information, we are aided by members of our Best and Brightest who also believe that we should know exactly whom we are subsidizing. Are they the “retirees, teachers, municipal workers and ordinary citizens” that Cerberus claims? Or are the 100 or so unnamed investors members of hedge funds, perhaps from abroad?
An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Tokyo this week. There will be no WAS on Sunday while we re-locate to Beijing.
Isuzu sees red: Isuzu posted net losses for the October-December quarter due to weak domestic truck sales, a stronger yen and higher material costs, the Nikkei [sub] reports. Net losses were ¥11.7b in the three months ended Dec. 31, down from a profit of ¥24.4b a year earlier. Sales dropped 21 percent to ¥340.4b in the quarter, down from ¥430b a year ago. On an operating basis, Isuzu lost ¥1.6b, compared with a ¥28b profit in the quarter a year before. For the full fiscal year ending March, Isuzu lowered its outlook to a loss of ¥15b.
Yen for govt. yen: Japanese auto makers are scrambling to raise cash before the end of the fiscal year in March, the Nikkei [sub] says. Nissan is considering applying for the low-interest funds, Isuzu said Friday that it may do the same to raise several tens of billions of yen. Mitsubishi Motors is also considering tapping the Japanese government program. (Read More…)
Cerberus owns Chrysler. OK, perhaps “controls” is a better word. Cerberus bought Chrysler from Daimler by convincing a group of investors that the ailing American automaker was, one way or another, a money spinner. Well, it sure didn’t turn out that way. The U.S. taxpayer is now keeping ChryCo in business. Or not. On Monday, nine days before its next visit to the federal bailout buffet, Chrysler will close its Conner Ave. plant (MI) and “idle” Sterling Heights, MI; Brampton, ON; and Belvidere, IL. “The shutdowns will last for at least a week,” wxyz.com reports. “With the company evaluating whether or not to reopen them on a weekly basis.” Flip a coin? Meanwhile, we, the people footing the bill, don’t know whose investment we’re protecting with our tax dollars. Foreign nationals? Bailout banks? Former government officials? Current government officials? Other, more profitable automakers? I’ve made dozens of phone calls. Nothing. Not a word. So I’ve called Senator Corker’s office for help. Nothing. Not a word. [E-mail here.] Meanwhile, Cerberus may yet be forced into the open, thanks to a new exec pay limitation clause on the next round of bailout bucks (not retroactive for some reason). So, how much does CEO Bob Nardelli make?
“442,241 vehicles were built last month, compared with 1,170,816 in January 2008. The previous smallest month took place during a UAW strike at Delphi Automotive Systems Corp. in July 1998. That month, North American automakers produced 667,074 vehicles. Total U.S. vehicle output plunged 65.6 percent; Canada fell 58.0 percent; and Mexico shriveled by 49.8 percent.” What else do you need to know?
An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.
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