Millions of dollars paid by motorists in red light camera and speed camera fines end up in the pockets of a handful of individuals. In the United States, American Traffic Solutions (ATS) is responsible for about 41 percent of the nation’s photo enforcement business, but as a private company its dealings are well concealed from public scrutiny. Based on a review of documents marked “confidential — attorneys’ eyes only,” the ATS leadership team has reaped significant personal profit in a short amount of time.
It was a Friday. At the tender age of 23, I served as the editor-in-chief of a small German weekly, and I hated hectic Fridays when we had to put the new issue to bed.
My friend Harry was on the phone.
“I need your help. Urgent financial matters.” (Read More…)
Toyota launched the second generation of its Ractis subcompact in Japan. Never heard of a Ractis? No wonder: The first generation Ractis, introduced in 2005, was available only in Japan (and maybe a few in Hong Kong.) This one will receive wider distribution. Also, Subaru has been itching for its release. (Read More…)
Motor Trend gets three GM sources to confirm the return of the Pontiac G8 (Holden Commodore) to the North American market… only this time it’s coming as a Chevy. One exec even brags
We have a good name for it…
…and no, it’s not “Impala.” Nor is this simply a civilian version of the Caprice police model, which is based on the long-wheelbase version of the Zeta platform. This will be a limited-numbers affair and V8-only, reports MT, because currency fluctuations have made shipping cars from Australia more expensive. Should GM even be messing around importing the the Antipodean Driving Machine? The numbers might say no, but the fanboys are already screaming “hell yes” (or, more accurately “what about an El Camino ute version?”). Check out Michael Karesh’s reviews of allthreeversions of the Pontiac G8 (you can even read Liebermann’s Take Two on the GT if you must), and let us know what you think of the return of the G8.
Well, let’s not totally forget the CC Clue. Reshuffled priorities means that the Clue will appear more randomly than like clockwork. But here it is, so let’s recognize our winner from the Imperial Clue…oops, there wasn’t one. But Zykotec gets honorable mention for his “Imperial, maybe a 61” guess. Damn close indeed. On to the next one here…
It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first generation ethanol. First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small… One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president
Al Gore reveals [via MSNBC] that politics, not science, made an ethanol believer out of him. More than anything else, the admission underlines how badly ethanol can lose the war of ideas and still be heavily subsidized without fear of political attack. After all, what Presidential hopeful (read:every member of Congress) wants to shut down the biggest pork trough in Iowa, a state that just happens to be the first primary of the race for the White House? Heck, Al Gore probably had to lose his favorite weedwhacker to ethanol gum before he came out against the stuff. But just because your representative won’t vote against ethanol, doesn’t mean you can’t… surf over to pure-gas.org for a list of ethanol-free gas pumps near you.
NHTSA Investigation Action Number AQ10001, opened November 18, 2010 notes:
The agency, particularly in recent months, has been informed of incidents involving allegations of personal injury and death claimed to have been caused by safety defects and failures to conform to minimum Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) on rental car vehicles for which a safety recall to remedy the safety defect or noncompliance had allegedly not been performed prior to the rental car company’s lease of the vehicle. NHTSA understands that there is presently a petition before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeking to prohibit at least one rental car company from renting vehicles on which safety recall campaign remedies remain outstanding. The purpose of this audit query (AQ) is to investigate recall remedy completion by rental car companies on the above-listed safety recall campaigns. These campaigns were chosen due to their inclusion of vehicles used in the rental market. This information is expected to provide the agency an indication of how completely and how quickly rental car fleets, in general or individually, perform necessary recall-related repairs or other remedies on the vehicles owned and then leased for use on the roadways.
But rental companies wouldn’t risk the safety of their customers for a buck would they? The Enterprise/Alamo/National syndicate tells Bloomberg it grounds cars upon receiving recalls… Hertz and Avis have yet to chime in. The weirdest part of it all: only vehicles made by GM, Ford and Chrysler are being investigated. Why are the Accents and Rios receiving recall repairs while Avengers and Malibus are left to be investigated for “failures to conform to minimum Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards”? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? A list of vehicles under investigation can be found below the fold.
Ten years ago I would never have considered comparing a Lincoln to a Lexus, but times change and with Lincoln heading up market with their latest product refreshes and Lexus searching for their soul in the mass market, the stars have finally aligned. And nothing out of Detroit strikes so closely the heart of the […]
Well, it depends on the car being sold, doesn’t it? TTAC commenter and Hyundai salesman dwford writes in with a prime example too get the conversation started: the 201;0 Hyundai Elantra (sold at full MSRP).
From that, the dealer pays: My commission: $100, a portion of my weekly salary and related taxes, the cost of the detailing for delivery, any floorplan expenses if the car has been here longer than 90 days, and then a percentage of the costs of running the store – electric, heat, rent, phone, etc. Couldn’t tell you what that all adds up to.
The dealer could potentially earn extra profit from the sale of financing, extended warranties etc., but let’s keep it simple and talk about front end profit.
Ever since the auto bailout began, the majority of Americans have opposed the government’s efforts to fund and restructure the auto industry. As recently as July, polls showed that 56 percent opposed the bailout, according to the Detroit News. But now a new Rasmussen poll shows that opposition has fallen to 46 percent with 38 percent in favor and 16 percent unopposed, the first time a poll has found less than 50 percent opposition to the auto bailouts. 70 percent of Americans now believe GM will still be in business a decade from now, and 50 percent believe the government is either “somewhat” or “very” likely to be repaid by GM and Chrysler. Of course, the Treasury still believes that it will lose some $17b on the auto bailout, but then you don’t exactly hear that trumpeted by the White House.
What you do hear about the auto bailout is an increasing tone of triumphalism, an endless repetition of the phrase “the critics were wrong.” And yes, the auto bailout has certainly progressed better than some of its harshest critics here a TTAC might have imagined. But if, over a year after the bailout ended, some 46 percent of America still opposes the government’s intervention in GM and Chrysler, marketers for both of these companies (not to mention the politicians) should sit up and take notice. After all, the “success” purchased with that $80b still depends on the goodwill of the American people, and if the bailout-haters never drop their grudge, GM and Chrysler’s already-overblown “success” won’t last. And for all the “Mission Accomplished” moments since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy, we still haven’t heard a compelling pitch to the resilient anti-bailout plurality.
Legendary GM CEO Alfred P. Sloan long ago came up with the formula for success in the automotive industry: a family of brands that could sell “a car for every purse and purpose.” Starting with Chevrolet, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac (in ascending order), Sloan oversaw the expansion of GM’s brand ladder to include such intermediate steps as Pontiac, Viking, Marquette and LaSalle. And though Sloan create a dizzying (and ultimately unsustainable) stable of brands, he never changed the top and bottom rungs of the ladder: Chevrolet was always the cheapest GM car available, and Cadillac was always the most expensive. But fast forward to 2010 and, though many of Sloan’s brands are long gone, the burgeoning Chinese market has given way to the unthinkable: a GM brand that slots in below Chevrolet
The Nissan Murano may start at a reasonable $28,500, but stepping up to the recently-announced CrossCabriolet version will set you back a healthy $46,390 (before $800 destination charge) according to Nissan ‘s website. That makes it the second most-expensive Nissan after the GTR, and it comes in only one trim level (with navigation, heated everything, a Bose system, HID headlights and more). So, why wasn’t the CrossCabrio released as an Infiniti again?
Because success in the auto industry depends upon both the buildup of industrial might and deft maneuvering on the winds of fashion, analysts often struggle to determine how business decisions impact consumer choice. For example, GM and Chrysler long resisted the pressing need to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because their leaders believed that Americans would not buy a car from a bankrupt firm, and that sales would go into an irrecoverable tailspin if they filed. Needless to say, that assumption proved to be deeply flawed, and sales during the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies barely dipped (if only compared to the miserable months preceding bankruptcy). In any case, the rating agency Moody’s is taking on the challenge of translating good business news into sales by arguing [via Bloomberg]
U.S. consumers who don’t know anything about over- allocation options or the need for strong liquidity in a cyclical industry knew that something exceptionally good happened to GM last week. That knowledge makes it more likely that they will consider buying a GM vehicle and possibly buy one. That’s good for the company’s credit quality.
But does the general air of positivity surrounding the IPO actually make a difference with consumers?
“…hopefully, than to arrive.” Or so the saying goes. This past weekend, however, I found myself with too much travel, too much work, and too little time. The question I had to answer: Fly, drive, or… something else?
If you love data almost as much as you love cars, you’re in for a real treat. The EPA has issued a report [PDF here] on the last 35 years of light-duty vehicle efficiency trends, and it’s jam-packed full of fun graphs detailing the evolution of America’s car market. For example, the fuel-efficiency record of the major US-market players is laid bare in one particularly compelling collection of graphs (above). More detail on by-manufacturer efficiency over the last three years can be found here. Other fun graphs: production breakdowns by vehicle size and type, a comparison of performance and efficiency by vehicle type, and a distribution of vehicles by weight for 1975, 1988 and 2010 (weights dropped from ’75 to ’88, and are now back to nearly 1975 levels). You can also check out production share by weight to find out that the sub-2,750 lb died sometime after the year 2000. You can even see the breakdown of FWD-RWD-AWD by vehicle type and pinpoint the moment that Subaru started making an impact on the market. All told, it’s an automotive data-gasm that will leave you a lot better informed about the state of the US market. And the perfect opportunity to make sweeping generalizations about the American car market. Enjoy!
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