Ratings agencies and other players in the finance world are beginning to sound the alarm on auto backed securities. Among the most troubling factors for some investors is the growth of smaller issuers who rely on pools of deep subprime loans. And ratings agencies who are being more conservative with their ratings are missing out on the action.
Everybody’s talking about abuse of police power nowadays, but what are you doing about it?
If the answer is not “crush eight cop cars with your tractor then drive away”, you’re not doing as much as Roger Pion.
Edited to congratulate the B&B and to add information
I have a friend who really hates the Nissan LEAF. I mean, he despises it. If it cost $9.50 and had a 1,200-mile range, he would say something like: “Jeez, for nine fifty, you’d think they could make it cross the country.”
Time was, the only time you could see cool cars on TV, outside of reruns of the Rockford Files and Starsky and Hutch, was on Saturday Mornings on The Nashville Network. Those programs, aimed at shade tree mechanics and the average do-it-yourselfer, were about as interesting as a high school auto shop class’ instructional videos. Things have definitely changed and today, thanks to hundreds of cable channels and the advent of Reality TV, car related programming is easy to find. The problem is that Reality TV is character driven and you have to endure colorful personalities in order to see the cars.
Mazda, the favorite car brand of enthusiasts that few seem to actually buy, looks set to become profitable for the first time in five years.
The Feds will get an additional 10,000 hybrids over the 10,672 they already have, lifting the federal hybrid market share from 5.3 percent to over 10 percent, the Detroit News says. (Read More…)
European carmakers, faced with greenhouse gas emission targets much stricter than America’s CAFE rules, can breathe slightly easier. According to Reuters, European politicians backed a compromise deal that keeps stringent targets in place, but that also introduces a loophole: So-called supercredits, gained by making very low emission vehicles, such as electric cars, which nobody actually needs to buy. Quota cars, here we come. (Read More…)
Yesterday, South Korea’s Financial News said Kia is talking to Georgia state officials about constructing a new plant, called “KMMG 2” with an annual output of 150,000 units. This in addition to the plant Kia already has in West Point, GA. Reuters asked around, and received nothing but denials. (Read More…)
News of GM potentially exporting cars from China to the United States in the near future has some wondering if the General will be the first OEM to sell Chinese made cars in the United States. One can have a diverse array of opinions on the political, social and economic impact of such a move, but from a product standpoint, it may not be such a bad thing.
“The coming months will be anything but easy,” Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn told Reuters today at VW’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Nevertheless, he still plans to rule the world. (Read More…)
Congressional Republicans blasted current and former Fisker executives, as well as an official from the Department of Energy over missed milestones for their Department of Energy loans, which saw the company repeatedly fail to meet obligations while continuing to receive taxpayer money.
As part of their campaign against “distracted driving”, NHTSA has released new voluntary guidelines governing the use of in-car infotainment systems.
American consumers may have been robbed of a chance to buy the Mahindra pickup, but how about one from Great Wall?
Sub-prime finance has attracted a bit of interest (no pun intended) over at TTAC lately, and the segment itself has experienced phenomenal growth in the post-bailout era.
Auto lending site www.carfinance.com released a list of the top 10 most popular new and used vehicles as purchased by sub-prime buyers over the last six months. While it’s not the most complete list by any means, it does give us a glimpse into the choices of sub-prime buyers. As far as we know, no such list has ever been compiled prior to this.
The pendulum swings to the U.S.: As expected, Ford turned in higher-than-expected first-quarter profits today, while in Germany, Daimler’s formerly pornographic profits were slashed in half, and Volkswagen stubbornly maintained its outlook despite declining profits. (Read More…)
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