Straight from the horse’s mouth:

GM management has noticed the continuing high trading volume in GM’s common stock at prices in excess of $1. GM management continues to remind investors of its strong belief that there will be no value for the common stockholders in the bankruptcy liquidation process, even under the most optimistic of scenarios. Stockholders of a company in chapter 11 generally receive value only if all claims of the company’s secured and unsecured creditors are fully satisfied. In this case, GM management strongly believes all such claims will not be fully satisfied, leading to its conclusion that GM common stock will have no value.

Before the Friends of the Blue Oval get out their Woo-Hoos, it behooves anyone looking at any of June’s new car sales figures to remember that today’s percentages are all stated in relation to June 2008, which was a tremendously crap month for car dealers. Industry-wide, sales fell 18 percent, as gas prices rose and America’s economic bubble popped like a festering . . . you get the idea. If not, clock this factoid: June ’09 marks the 24th year-over-year monthly decline in the last 25 months. Rose tinted glasses crushed under the jackboot of reality, let’s continue . . . “Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales totaled 148,153, down 11 percent versus a year ago, which is believed to be the month’s lowest decline among major auto manufacturers.” Yes, it’s that bad out there that doing less bad than the other guys is considered a major victory. Click here for full results. Jump for instant analysis (just add page views). (Read More…)

The E85 industry is tanking. Despite federal mandates designed to foist the fuel on a suspecting public, and Transportation Secretary Chu’s determination to make all new vehicles Flex-Fuel capable (EPA credits for everyone!), the E85 industry is on the brink of extinction. Consumer demand (such as it wasn’t) is plummeting. Meanwhile, environmentalists threaten to expose the corn-for-fuel process as, gasp, carbon-positive. Evidence of pumps with ten-foot pole marks comes to us from Minnesota, the state with the highest number of E85 outlets in the land. Here’s the Star Tribune’s report, which can’t resist using the boosterrific term “clean burning” whilst charting the corn-based fuel’s demise:

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General Motors is launching a fourth of July sale: “Buy and Say Goodbye.” From July 1 to July 6, the bankrupt automaker’s offering 0% financing for up to 72 months on “most” of its dead brand walking Pontiac models and “some other vehicles.” More specifically, “select 2009 and 2010 vehicles in dealer stock including Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra regular, extended and crew cab light-duty pickups; Chevrolet Suburban and GMC Yukon XL SUVs; Chevrolet Impala; and the Pontiac models: Vibe, G3, G5, G6 and G8.” But wait! There’s more! “Many other vehicles will have reduced rate financing of 0 percent for up to 60 months for well-qualified buyers. A full list of current offers, conditions, and eligible vehicles, is available at: http://www.gm.com/shop/currentoffers/.” Not yet it isn’t. So that’s number six on our list of reasons why this sale is dumber than toast. Counting down . . .

Today’s the day automakers reveal their US new car sales numbers for June. For the last umpteen years, Chrysler has greeted the gloaming with a conference call with jobbing journos and anxious analysts: a spinmeisterfest wherein ChryCo would attempt to explain away their hemorrhaging bottom line with talk of The Next Big Thing (electric minivans!). Ah, but this is NEW Chrysler (a.k.a. Fiatsler). The Italian stallion running the US taxpayer-supported company has decreed the American part of his fiefdom should stay shtum on its stinking, sinking sales. (I guess he missed GM CEO Fritz Henderson’s transparency pledge.) In fact, Ohio.com reports that Chrysler’s  top suits have said anything about anything since the company emerged from bankruptcy. All except the boss, of course, who told Bloomberg that ChryCo’s cash burn is returning to simmer. Oh, Sergio!

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This isn’t just me whingeing [Ed.: That’s “whining” for our non-Brit English speakers] about another Italian stallion that’s inherently qualified for Wrecked Exotics’ Lamborghini section. The “normal” Gallardo is a fairly benign beast. This one . . . maybe not so much. What say you? Meanwhile, here’s a “methinks they doth protest too much” spot-the-euphemisms excerpt from the $219,800 whip’s official press release:

Light-footed yet extremely safe

With this latest version of the Gallardo, Lamborghini is honouring its long-standing test driver in a very special way. The LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni was conceived in line with his own thinking, and it meets many customers’ requests for a model with a unique character, which offers a very special kind of active driving fun. The Balboni model is the only current Lamborghini that delivers its power to the road via its rear wheels alone.

Rear wheel drive has a special appeal to those sports car drivers who enjoy a particular driving style. Thanks to the eminently powerful V10 driveline, controlled oversteer is no problem – naturally always to the extent defined by the driver – because refined road manners and perfectly tuned assistance systems mean that the Gallardo LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni is an exceptionally safe sports car to drive.

I know I’m bit of a dog with a bone on this one. But the President Himself has assured bailout-weary taxpayers, both satirically and earnestly, that he doesn’t want to be GM’s CEO. His Presidential Task Force on Automobiles (PTFOA) has repeated the “hands-off GM” meme ad nauseam—even as they tighten their stranglehold on the bankrupt automaker, fail to fend off Congressional interference and prepare for the company’s nationalization. So when ex-CarConnection TTAC nemesis Paul A. Eisenstein asked GM’s CEO how long it will take the PTFOA to shit-can his ass after New GM’s formation [paraphrasing], I expected Fritz to keep his answer suitably vague. But OH NO. Fritz is so concerned about not appearing to be what he is—a bureaucracy-born GM slacker—that he had to get readers to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. “I have to prove myself. I’m on a short leash, but I’m not worried.” Oxymoron. Which is EXACTLY the problem with GM’s management and the government’s control thereof. [thanks to TMcA for the link]

The LA Times reports that The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted California the right to set its own, independent CO2 standards for car and truck emissions. The controversial waiver comes with a proviso: they can’t toughen the tailpipe regs—de facto mpg requirements—until 2017. Which is no big deal, ’cause the feds have adopted California’s standards until that date. “It preserves California’s role as a leader on clean air policy,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in an interview. “It feels good to know that we are able to move past — address — this issue, responding to the president’s call.” Move past, address now, kick it down the road, satisfy the President’s pre-election pledge, whatever. Meanwhile and in any case, the non-waiver waiver is something of a relief for automakers . . .

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The Washington Post reminds us that Uncle Sam’s chance of recouping taxpayers’ $50 billion “investment” in New GM shares are somewhere between slim and none. To recover the money poured down the GM rathole so far, not including “extraneous” bailouts to lender cum banks, suppliers, dealers and car buyers, the automaker’s stock must rise to the point where it’s worth $68 billion. And remain at the level as the feds attempt to off-load their/our 60 percent share. As we like to say in these parts, good luck with that. Or, as the WaPo puts it, “Even at its recent 2000 peak, GM’s stock was worth only $56 billion.”

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MediaWeek reports that Detroit’s “troubles” have put the hurt on Car and Driver and Road & Track ad bucks. “With auto advertising down 47.5 percent in print in Q1, per Publishers Information Bureau, the car books could use help. Through July, Car and Driver’s ad pages fell 20.7 percent to 451, per the Mediaweek Monitor (rival pub Automobile was down 34.1 percent, to 289). ‘Things have been paralyzed a little bit with what’s been going on in Detroit,’ [chief brand officer John] Driscoll said.” Understatement much?

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À l’impossible nul n’est tenu. The “impossible” that ain’t likely to happen: domestic car makers recapturing the lion’s share of the American new car market. According to Credit Suisse, when the sales figures for June drop, New Chrysler, current Ford and Old GM combined are likely to account for around 45 percent of new car sales in the Land of the Free. Fans of the forthcoming Fiat 500, new Ford Fiesta and Chevrolet Spark note: CS reckons it would be worse if the overall percentage of truck sales (vs. car sales) didn’t increase from 44 to 47 percent. Put that in your EPA and smoke it. Bullet points after the jump.

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We keep racking and stacking the Bailout Watches and Uncle Sam keeps the federal funds flowing. As Eddy reported before the weekend, Congress is looking to send another $25 billion to the Department of Energy to bless upon car companies re-tooling old factories to build more fuel-efficient products. In the form of loans, of course. Twenty-five-year loans. The funds are buried inside the 1200-page American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (a.k.a. climate change bill), currently earmarked for Senate debate (so to speak). Whatever. The new funds will bring the total auto industry bailout ever-closer to the $200 billion mark. Anyway, should the legislation pass muster, the entire electric vehicle industry—from manufacturers to fleet buyers—will feel the love. Click here for the relevant text.

Date: 06/29/2009

Ref. number: Marketing /  Programs and Promotions /  G_0000032412

Subject: Miltary, College and Credit Union Member Discount Program Change

Beginning Monday July 1, 2009, Saturn, Hummer and Saab vehicles will no longer be eligible for the GM Military, College, or Credit Union Member Discount programs.

Dealers will still be able to get approvals for any Saturn, Hummer or Saab vehicles delivered prior to July 1, 2009, but BARS will not pay on deliveries of these vehicles that occur after July 1, 2009.