GM announced today that Buick-GMC sales manager Brian Sweeney has been promoted to the top spot at Buick-GMC after his predecessor Michael Richards left the position after nine days on the job. According to the Detroit News, Sweeney began his GM career at GMC in 1990 and has served as vice president of sales at Saab Cars USA and sales manager of GM’s north-central region.
The auto industry is a brutally competitive game. GM’s Bob Lutz may have just discovered that Chrome window surrounds are the key to perceived quality, but Audi has already gone one better, cladding the entire C-pillar of its new A1 with chrome. And if that doesn’t scream “upscale” loud enough, they have a former boy-band member on hand to amplify the message. Anspruchsvoll!
The Freep reports that creditors in Visteon’s bankruptcy are investigating Ford’s relationship with its spun-off supplier, implying that the Blue Oval could be responsible for its financial downfall. The creditors have requested the release of documents relating to Ford’s 2000 spin-off of its parts maker, and financial transactions between the two firms since then. They’re hoping to show that Ford forced losses onto the supplier, possibly securing better claims for creditors. The creditor committee motion explains:
Since the spin-off transaction, there has been no semblance of arm’s length bargaining between Visteon and Ford. Ford appears to have utilized its insider status to control Visteon to Visteon’s detriment.
Having wandered with GM through the deserts of poor perceived quality, Bob “The Lizard King” Lutz has broken on through to the other side… of the perception gap. No longer will GM be accused of skimping on quality. No longer will GM struggle to realize its upmarket ambitions. Whence this mystical power? Lutz shares the keys to the the doors of perception with Automotive News [sub]:
Nothing adds perceived value to a car faster than that chrome surround around the side glass because it is a hallmark of German and Japanese luxury products. If you skimp on $50 of chrome, you are reducing the customer’s perceived value of the car by $500 of $600.
Like, wow. Where do these ideas come from?
The Argentinian-produced Volkswagen Amarok pickup might be coming to the US if VW thinks it can sell enough of them. VW of America’s Stephan Jacoby tells pickuptrucks.com “we’d have to sell at least 100,000 Amarok pickups to make it feasible.” But don’t get too excited: the only compact pickup to sell in those numbers is the Toyota Tacoma, which sold 102,327 units year-to-date.
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Automotive News China [sub] reports that Mercedes believes its Chinese-built cars are every bit as good as its German-built models. Ulrich Walker, Chairman and CEO of Daimler Northeast Asia says:
Yes, our cars here are exportable. There is no difference in quality with those made outside China.
But, as Bertel Schmitt reports, demand for luxury cars is strong enough in China that we won’t be seeing “Beijing, China” as the point of assembly on US-market Mercs.
Credit reporting agency TransUnion is forecasting a rise in auto loan delinquencies next year, adding to the list of factors that could slow a turnaround in auto sector sales and profits in 2010. 60-day auto loan delinquency has been rising throughout 2009, reports the WSJ, as tighter lending standards have increased the ratio of delinquencies in outstanding loans. Those tighter standards sill contribute to a slight downturn in delinquencies in the first half of next year TransUnion’s Peter Turek tells Automotive News [sub], but by halfway through the year those numbers should increase again. Nationwide, TransUnion reckons .92 of all auto loans will be in delinquency by the end of 2010, compared to .86 at the end of this year. The average national auto debt is $12,542, and the Freep reports that loan terms are falling and average credit scores for approved loans are rising.
New Aston Martins don’t come around every day. When they do, the entire automotive world holds its breath and watches as a new legend is born. Such a moment has arrived… Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on the Aston Martin Lagonda DB1.8 Gosling Vantage (courtesy: Vincent Maltese). Coming soon.
Normally we’re more than a little skeptical of the Center for Automotive Research’s home-town homerism. But then, the Detroit-funded think tank usually has its rose-colored shades firmly in place. This time around, their findings are surprisingly pessimistic. CAR’s chief economist Sean McAlinden tells Reuters
If [Chrysler’s] market share drops to like 6 percent in the next two years, that’s a 40 percent drop in market share and they only dropped their dealerships by 25 percent
With Chrysler’s sales falling by 20 to 50 percent each month since bankruptcy, this strikes us as a very real possibility. Which means dealers hoping to be reinstated by recently passed arbitration legislation will face an uphill slog. And, according to Automotive News [sub], an expensive one. Reinstatement arbitration will carry a pricetag of between $12k and $100k. If Chrysler’s sales continue to decline in the short term, and with no new product on tap they seem certain to, Chrysler may be forced to re-think a number of elements of its much-vaunted turnaround plan.
“We intend to pay the debt,” GM’s CEO Ed Whitacre told reporters yesterday. “We’ll be finished by June.” Except that nothing has changed since we determined that GM is “taking taxpayers for a ride.” Here’s what he should have said:
By June we intend to return a small percentage of the taxpayer assistance that rescued this company from sure liquidation. GM will need to achieve an unprecedented market cap valuation at an eventual IPO in order to truly repay taxpayers for this second chance, and I will not rest until we clearly and honestly achieve that goal. Until that day comes, please refrain from printing misleading headlines like ‘GM To Repay Loan By June,’ as these imply that we are able to make the taxpayers whole when, as an unprofitable company, we have no such ability. Thank you.
The Aston Martin Cygnet: because the auto industry just isn’t surreal enough these days. For its next trick, the Aston Martin grille will be appearing on a Corolla. Is there a photoshopper in the house?
A person that’s a motivating, inspirational leader that’s familiar with big companies — manufacturing or industrial — would be helpful… We can’t pay people a whole lot of money here
Ed Whitacre offers up the opportunity of a lifetime [via Automotive News [sub]] : a chance to lead General Motors to victory over decades of inertia and sclerosis in a brutal market for a million bucks (if Feinberg likes you). Candidates need not have CEO experience or strong auto credentials, although Whitacre warns that the job takes him 14 hours a day, 5½ or six days a week. And when he does manage to steal away for a relaxing Sunday of rattlesnake extermination, his phone constantly rings. Plus, the RenCen is a freaking maze, y’know?
GM’s CEO and Chairman Ed Whitacre confirmed today that Dutch boutique sportscar firm Spyker is the only bidder for what’s left of Saab after the BAIC deal. Saab insiders insist that the firm can continue without the old tooling and technology sold to BAIC, and they still have their hopes pinned on the new 9-5 model. But, as the WSJ reports, Spyker earned a mere €7.9m in 2008 revenue, and has already endured an €8.7m net loss in the first half of this year. Spyker’s in no position to be saving struggling Swedish automakers. But behind Spyker is Convers Group, a Russian banking group with deep pockets… and a uniquely Russian reputation.
With the intellectual property and tooling for 9-5 and 9-3 models headed for Beijing, there’s less to Saab than ever. Sort of. The BAIC deal actually proved to be less dramatic than previously thought, netting the Swedish GM subsidiary a mere $197m according to Automotive News [sub]. BAIC had just obtained a $2.93b line of credit with Bank of China, so there was nothing stopping them from buying more… except GM’s unwillingness to hand over modern platforms. What BAIC did get out of the deal still isn’t entirely clear, but what is clear is that GM has received nothing from the Saab sale so far. That $197m was deposited into Saab’s Swedish account, according to sources speaking to di.se.
As a kid, I remember playing a little game to help pass the time on road trips: every time something low, wide and red drove past I’d shout “Ferrari!” and laugh as the other kids in the car got whiplash trying to catch a glimpse of the Corvette, Trans-Am, or 3000GT I’d purposefully misidentified. Perhaps Hofele had that game in mind when it designed this R8-alike-ish bodykit for the A5. Of course, it’s also possible that they just though it looks good. You never know with tuners.
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