Want to handicap the bidding war for Opel (and German bailout money)? Then be careful in your choice of news sources.
Germany’s mass-market tabloid BILD today declares that “RHJ is in the lead” for Opel. Magna has only “slim chances” to win. BILD‘s supposed sources are in Berlin’s Ministry of Economics.
Also today, the Wall Street Journal writes: “Germany’s government sent a message to General Motors Co. on Wednesday: If GM sells its European car business to anyone other than Magna International Inc., then Germany might withdraw its offer of state aid.”
Wie bitte?(Read More…)
TTAC commentator cc-rider needs some help with his sister’s choice of whips:
Two-and-a-half years ago, my sister bought a 2003 Certified Pre-Owned Volvo XC 70 wagon for $22K, with 55,000 miles on the clock. She now owns the car, out of warranty, knocking on the big rollover (100k). The XC’s dash lights in the gauges and half the instruments don’t work. After charging her $275 for a useless computer reflash, the stealership says it’s the DIM module: a $1200 dash off repair. Oh, and the car needs new lower control arm bushings and sway bar end links. Roughly $2000 all in. Last month, sis spent about $2600 on all new tires, replacing the steering rack and fixing some other front end parts. She has two kids and a large dog, and likes to separate the three (i.e. three rows). She figures she can get $7k for the XC and put another $7k towards her next ride. She’s close to pulling the trigger on a new Acadia out of sheer anger with this Volvo. Should she get in touch with her inner Lang (bring the XC to a local Volvo mechanic and sort it out), buy a New GM appliance or look for a Professional Grade upgrade?
China’s Geely is expected to make a formal offer for Volvo within the next few days, if the Wall Street Journal is not mistaken. The offer “is anticipated to be around $2 billion.”
Geely is one of China’s top 10 passenger-car brands, it is also one of the China’s few independent companies, building cars without foreign joint venture partners. Industry watchers believe that Geely will export its models to the US or Europe within three to five years. To do this successfully, owning a Western brand with Western technology and a stable of safety-tested and homologated cars is indispensable. Geely is keenly aware of this. Says the WSJ: (Read More…)
As those who have followed the Porsche-Piech soaps know, there will be an extraordinary meeting of the Porsche supervisory board next week on July 23. On the agenda: “Will we be saved by the Sheik of Qatar, or by the Sheik of Wolfsburg, or all of the above?” Any guesses? (Read More…)
Facing a House vote tomorrow on legislation that would repeal GM and Chrysler’s dealer cuts, President Obama is urging congress to not interfere with his auto industry restructuring. Automotive News [sub] quotes an Obama statement calling the cull “a critical part of their overall restructuring to achieve long-term viability.” The Obama statement alleges that “it would set a dangerous precedent, potentially raising legal concerns, to intervene into a closed judicial bankruptcy proceeding on behalf of one particular group at this point.” Because intervention on behalf of one particular group may only be done during a bankruptcy, by the government. Rep Steven Latourette, one of the bill’s sponsors, predicted that his legislation would pass the House “by a wide margin.”
The California Supreme Court has entered a ruling allowing motorists accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) to question the reliability of the breathalyzer machinery used to secure convictions. The decision, however, leaves room for the conviction of drivers even when the machine is proved unreliable. The high court recognized that a breath testing machine does not directly measure the alcohol content in a person’s bloodstream. Rather, the device estimates from a sample of breath how much alcohol might be present in the blood using a conversion factor called the “partition ratio.” California’s breathalyzer machines assume that the amount of alcohol in 2100 milliliters of breath is equal to the amount of alcohol in 1 milliliter of blood.
GM’s heads of public relations, Steve Harris, and research and development, Larry Burns, have announced their retirements today. Automotive News [sub] spins the move as a “shakeup,” but notes that Harris was already on a contract extension. Burns, meanwhile, is burned at the stake as a hydrogen advocate. Despite Burns’s $1b hydrogen initiative of 2002, “the goal of an economically viable fuel cell vehicle by 2010 foundered on the lack of a national hydrogen fueling system,” notes AN. And as goes the political system, so goes GM. Meanwhile, Group Vice President and General Counsel Bob Osborne also announced he was returning to private practice, while former president of North American operations, Troy Clarke, is still at GM with no job title.
Bloomberg has a piece that is chock full of analysts imploring Mitsu and Suzy to pack it up and leave the American market. Both firms rage, rage against the dying of the light, but the numbers are not pretty. Mitsubishi sales are down over 50 percent in the first half-year, continuing a slump that has gone uninterrupted since 2003. Suzuki is down a whopping 6o percent in the first half of 2009, and neither firm seems to have the products to turn the bad news around. Rumors of Suzuki’s Swift coming stateside, the Kizashi and an FWD version of the SX4 hatchback don’t seem to be the “consistent, sustained effort” that analysts say Suzuki needs. Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko says “we will never give up the U.S. market,” but there’s little indication of what’s coming down the pipe, besides a $40k EV. Should these two stay and fight? Merge? Leave? What say you?
You know if The Freep acknowledges that union local desk jobs were “an icon of labor patronage, in which jobs were handed to friends of elected UAW officials,” it’s probably true. Now, over 400 UAW workers are being moved from these low-stress jobs to the factory floor, where their union bretheren will welcome hem back to the real world of auto assembly. “These people had cushy jobs,” says one worker at Chrysler’s Warren Truck Plant. “Some of them could use a taste of life on the floor to remind them we still make trucks around here.” Credit for cutting these “cushy jobs” goes to the PTFOA, which has been putting pressure on the UAW to reduce its costs and complexity. “The UAW had little choice but to agree,” explains a GM spokesperson. The savings from cutting these positions aren’t expected to be large, but the PTFOA and GM seem to agree that the symbolism is important. Certainly the UAW members who were already working the line agree. The only downside? Without the ability to hand out do-nothing desk jobs, being elected President of the local may become more difficult.
I’ve never made any secret of the fact that I’m an auto industry analyst only in the most general sense of the term. In other words, I know what I know and I know some people who know what I don’t know. As they know, I need a good three or four renditions of the same financial information before I can even begin to get a grip on its scope, scale and importance. To wit: one of Our Best and Brightest sent me this little tidbit—Chrysler Financial’s Auto Securitization Trust 2009-A—with some explanatory notes. I’m still not sure what to make of it. You? [thanks to you know who you are]
The key takeway is on Page S-10 where they summarize that the raised $1.263 billion uses $1.641 billion of aggregate principal balance of vehicle purchase receivables owed to ChryslerFinancial (77,730 cars).
Page S-20 is the most interesting… basically it breaks down the $1.641 billion by the APR range and amount of the loans that fall in those APR categories. They smartly left off the average term length conditions, so you cannot calculate the present value of those dollar amounts; and instead just have to take the aggregate principal balance future value.
$8.2m it turns out (yes, sins of omission count). Which is almost as much as the wages of investing in a fraudulent cellulosic ethanol firm. But what about Fritz, Lutz, LaNeve and the rest of the gang that couldn’t shoot straight? If Wagoner gets nearly $10m for overseeing consistent declines in sales and market share, and after being canned for the good of the nation, where’s the motivation for the old, new crowd? Ditto for the cellulosic ethanol industry, if Cello’s fraud leads to increased subsidies to get the Renewable Fuel Mandate back on track. Forget peak oil, it seems we’ve reached peak common sense. A while ago. Now, back to the cars.
Edmunds Inside Line reports that Alabama-based Cello Energy, which was supposed to produce 70 percent of the EPA’s 100m gallon/year cellulosic ethanol goal, has been convicted of fraud. A jury has awarded over $10m in damages to investors after witnesses testified that Cello’s supposedly biomass-derived fuel was actually petroleum based. Furthermore, it turns out that Cello only has the capability to produce 20m gallons of its putative biofuel per year. The EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) had banked on Cello to produce 70m gallons per annum. The downside? If (when) America’s cellulosic ethanol producers fail to meet the 100m gal/year mark inn 2010, the EPA could sell credits which would increase the biofuel’s price to $3/gallon. Current futures place the fuel’s value at $1.77/gallon. Alternatively, the EPA could postpone the ramp-up to 100m gal/year… but who’s expecting that to happen? Meanwhile, so-called “second-generation” biofuels continue to act as a subsidy magnet for an industry that is wholly addicted to feedstock-based fuels and government assistance.
“I don’t think this is what Sir William had in mind.” The sleek and sensuous British Racing Green Jaguar XK 120 roared along the gravel road on the floor of a remote valley in the middle of Nevada. I doubt William Lyons could have imagined the scene fifty-some years before. The XK 120’s speedometer needle waggled vaguely, yet constantly between 60 and 90 MPH—indicating that we had reached ‘ludicrous speed” (given the conditions). A plume of dust streamed out behind the car, the parched solid matter equivalent-yet-antithesis of the liquid rooster-tail following a hydroplane. My co-driver laughed at either my comment or the sheer joy of the moment, it was impossible to tell.
Petitions to place the fate of red light cameras and speed cameras in the hands of voters are circulating across the country. This November, photo enforcement bans are likely to be considered in three Ohio and two Texas cities. Every Arizona jurisdiction may have a chance to vote on a statewide ballot initiative in November 2010. So far, the efforts in Ohio are the most advanced. In April, the group Citizens Against Photo Enforcement succeeded in having an automated ticketing ban certified for the ballot in Chillicothe. We Demand a Vote this week secured more than the required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot in Heath. The group will continue to collect additional signatures before making a formal submission to election officials. A third petition in Toledo has secured half of the required number of signatures.
Dear Sajeev, I have a 2003 Model Honda Civic LX1. It has about 94000 Km (not Miles). I am very disturbed about the continuous chirp chirp sound I hear from my car when I start it. It goes like chrrp chrrp chrrp in continuous motion. Some guy told me to change the belts in my car, all done, even changed the timing belt; still the problem is there. I have no loose or cracked belts. But the problem is still there.
I have noticed that when I gently press my clutch, the sound immediately goes away, when I remove my foot, the chirping sound is back. I don’t like this, is there any easier way to get it fixed? Is the fix worth its price or should I just eat dust and be quiet?
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