I’ll leave the editorializing to others, since my held-close-to-my-vest opinions run against the grain here. But despite the naysayers that said it would never happen, or at a lower price, it did; or will very soon. And at a price that values GM roughly the same or more (depending on final price) in total market capitalization as Ford. The short-version details: GM will sell about $10 billion in common stock and $3.45 billion in preferred shares. The US Treasury will sell 263.5 million shares, which comes out to about $7 billion. That will reduce its stake in GM to 43%. The UAW will sell 71 million shares, and the Canadian and Ontario governments will sell 30.5 million shares. GM press release here. Now the really big question: Are you going to buy? Here’s my answer: (Read More…)
It’s time four our annual non-SEMA non-coverage post. You know where to go and find it, but this tastefully customized Prius refuses to be ignored. Shall we guess what those front end scoops do to the Prius’ carefully refined aerodynamics. Ah, but that carbon fiber hood will offset enough weight to mitigate any loss of efficiency from the body work. Admittedly, the Prius C&A Custom Concept had a strong challenger for TTAC’s annual SEMA non-coverage winner: (Read More…)
Automotive News [sub] hasn’t received the memo that EVs need good news, badly. Instead, AN hammers the last nail into the electric vehicle’s coffin. If range anxiety, the lack of 220V outlets at your curbside parking spot, and high prices aren’t enough to keep you away from an electric car, how about “an Orwellian future where faceless international corporations track your every move. Drop by the bar after work, call in sick to go to the beach, visit your mistress’ house. The all-seeing eye of Big Brother knows where you’ve been.”
If you’re a driving enthusiast with a family and a sub-$20k budget, then a four-door sport compact tends to be the way to go. Unfortunately, you don’t have as many choices lately. Nissan’s, Honda’s, Suzuki’s, and VW’s suitably sporting offerings are priced out of reach. Mitsubishi is barely hanging on with the Lancer GTS. Toyota […]
GM October sales beat analyst forecasts, with total sales up 4%, and YTD sales up 6%. As GM would have you prefer, it would rather you focus on the four core brands, which are up 13%, and 22% YTD. As the General’s dead brands fall away (Pontiac as of this past Sunday), comparisons to their former volumes do become increasingly irrelevant. A key component of GM’s October success? A higher number of new 2011 models to sell, which also brought down incentives. Details: (Read More…)
In Part 1, we found that, despite its large overall sample size, Consumer Reports’ has serious gaps in its coverage. But what about the reliability ratings they can provide? An FAQ asserts CR’s ability to split results by engines, drive types, and so forth. At first glance, this appears valuable, as CR’s reliability scores often differ from powertrain to powertrain. But are these differences valid? Should you avoid the V6 in the Camry or insist that your Flex be EcoBoosted?
Having won the Automotive X-Prize (if only in the “Alternative” class), Li-ion Motors was all set to become the next big thing in alt-energy auto startups. And, based on its winning X-Prize entry, the Wave II, it seemed that Li-ion was focused on small, practical electric cars. Not so. Li-ion has showed up at the annual SEMA tuner-fest with its first production-intent vehicle, the Inizio… and it’s essentially a slightly faster but more expensive (and uglier) Tesla Roadster. It barely beats the Tesla’s 3.7 second 0-60 time (at 3.4 seconds), and can achieve 170 mph compared to the Tesla’s 125 (for those times you want a big speeding ticket and a run-down battery). Li-ion also expects it to cost 140,000 to the Tesla’s $110,000… and it won’t be ready for two years anyway, by which time Audi will already be eating Tesla’s lunch.
Oh, and if you think that Tesla’s on financially shaky ground, consider that Li-ion has been accused of being a shell game (or, a “bunch of thieves”), has run afoul of the SEC, and reportedly has to spend $75k of its X-Prize money settling a lawsuit. Even the most ardent Tesla-basher has to admit that, compared to this latest EV sportscar pretender, the Silicon Valley startup looks pretty darn good.
A friend of mine and I were talking about my last Piston Slap question, in particular several people’s dislike of Jiffy Lube. My perspective is that unless you have cars in the shop all of the time or live in one place for a long time, it is difficult to find a trustworthy mechanic. I also believe in general that a good process is less likely to harm a vehicle than trusting to individual diligence. At Jiffy Lube they really only do one or two things and they have a system. They always go for the upsell, but unlike some mechanics they are not likely to recommend any truly expensive unnecessary work (or deliberately break something) simply because they don’t offer it.
Chryslers sales in October of last year amounted to a miserable 65,803 units, so the firm’s 37 percent year-over-year sales increase in October of 2010 is not really all that surprising. And despite the uptick, Chrysler is still coming up short of its monthly “survival volume” sales goal of 95k units, coming in at just 90,137. A 79 percent increase in 300 sales (5,211 units) was the sole bright spot for the Chrysler brand last month (although T&C kept volume up with an 18 percent gain). Jeep’s new Grand Cherokee is heating up nicely, with volume hitting 12,721 units, and leading Jeep to a 111 percent increase. And the new JGC brought the whole Jeep brand up with it, as only Commander failed to record a sales increase (all other Jeep nameplates were up at least 46%). Dodge saw a slight three percent increase on the month, as low-volume nameplates gained large percentages for small volume increases, and bigger nameplates like Caravan (-8%) saw small percentage decreases. The Ram brand was up 37 percent, with volume at 18,090 units. But really, the big news here (other than the usual not-quite-enough-volume story) is the JGC and its apparent beneficial effects on the Jeep brand. Full press release here.
Perhaps one of the least-covered elements of the auto industry restructuring has been the numerous tax advantages GM has earned as a government-owned automaker. Unlike most bankruptcies, GM was allowed to hold onto some $16b of net operating loss credits (tax-loss carry-forwards), which can be used to offset future tax bills. Typically, companies that restructure in bankruptcy lose existing carry-forwards as the price of wiping out debt, but because the government is invested in GM, it decided to allow old tax losses to flow into the new company even as debt was left behind. In the latest update on this story, The Wall Street Journal notes that some $18.9b of GM’s carry-forwards were from the old company, and that the firm has a whopping $45.4b in future tax savings. And because carry-forwards can be banked up to 20 years before they are spent, GM will have to make massive profits before it starts actually paying taxes to the federal government. The government’s position:
the profit-shielding tax credit makes the bailed-out companies more attractive to investors, and that the value of the benefit is greater than the lost tax payments, especially since the tax payments would not exist if the companies fail
Which is all well and good, but the reality is also that this practically doubles the taxpayers’ cost of bailing out GM. As a policy this makes sense for the reasons given (assuming the bailout was a foregone conclusion), but it would be nice if this “hidden charge” were at least noted on the bill.
The public rejected the use of photo enforcement in five more municipal referendum elections Tuesday. America’s fourth-largest city, Houston, Texas, was home to the most hotly contested vote. The group Citizens Against Red Light Cameras, run by brothers Paul and Randy Kubosh, gathered enough signatures to force the issue onto the ballot against the wishes of the city council and in spite of a legal attack from camera operator American Traffic Solutions (ATS).
My local Porsche dealer, Midwestern Auto Group, doesn’t bother to offer an oil-change special. Why should they? We all line up to pay $249 or more to have it done, since only a fool would give Porsche Cars North America a chance to deny warranty coverage. The 15,000-mile service on my Boxster S was $789, and from what I hear, that’s a reasonable price. The 60,000-mile service on my 993 was $2420, but since the old airboxer is out of warranty I had it done at an independent shop and saved a grand.
This newest special, pictured above, has me concerned, because it implies that someone is a bit fuzzy on how these German wundercars actually work. Does brake fluid really have anything to do with the engine? It could be a system like the one found in the Citroen SM. If the headlamps in your SM stop auto-leveling on your way down the road, it’s the first and last warning you might get that you’re about to involuntarily lower your ride height from now until the moment you end up in the Armco.
Most of the smaller makers reported October sales yesterday as the nation went to go vote. The big ones decided to wait until today: The Detroit 3, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. (Read More…)
After the Abwrackprämien-high in 2009 (which saved the auto industry from damnation and got rid of a lot of old cars), and the short hangover that followed, Germany is definitely back to normal. For the second month in a row, German new car sales are at 2008 levels. According to the official data of the German Kraftfahrtbundesamt, October sales were 20 percent below October 2009, but only 0.8 percent below October 2008. The graph above tells a better story. (Read More…)
U.S. car sales had peaked in 2000 at 17.4m, and it’s been downhill from there. Especially lately. This year, we might see between 11 and 12 million in the U.S. But wait, we might see the +17m again this year. In China.
“Industry experts are now saying China is on path to surpass that record,” reports Gasgoo. And that’s just the beginning. (Read More…)
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