Pundits had prognosticated that the withdrawal from Deutschland’s Dexedrine called Abwrackprämie would cause a serious case of dopesickness, and that the market would crash. They must be disappointed by the numbers released today by Germany’s Kraftfahrtbundesamt. Three months after the last dose of the €5b of cash-for-clunker money had officially been injected into the German market, it’s still powering ahead. In November, Germans bought 19.7 percent more cars than in November of the prior year. In the eleven months of the year, Germans bought 3.59m new cars, that’s 25.4 percent more than in 2008.
Germany won’t close out the year with 4m cars sold, but it will be close. That’s a third more than the usual 3m cars sold a year in Germany.
The car business and the news surrounding it have their seasonality (hence the SAAR.) As far as the news is concerned, we must have reached the “soak” part of the news cycle. It can only spin faster, or we should all take a vacation. Read on if you suffer from insomnia … Read More >
Roland Koch, the premier of Opel’s home state Hesse is pissed. GM’s plans to cut 2,500 jobs there are “completely unacceptable.” Koch said that Nick Reilly had told him just 24 hours earlier that GM’s restructuring plan would “in principle” orient itself on job cuts agreed with Canada’s Magna.
We know what Reilly will say. The Magna plans called for 10,000 cut jobs all over Europe, GM wants to cut only 9000, so “in principle” that’s a better deal. Except for the Germans. Read More >
Last year, Porsche gave Magna an eight-year contract to build the Cayman and Boxster models from 2012 on. Magna engineers immediately went to work and toiled with tricky tasks, such as the stiffening of the Boxter’s body. Which they say wasn’t, well, stiff enough. Then Porsche went to Volkswagen. Then Opel came and went. Finally, Volkswagen bought parts of bankrupt Karmann and needed to use the capacity. Cayman and Boxster will be built in Osnabrück, Instead of the Boxster body, Magna was stiffed and asked to pound sand. Read More >
BS, we said, “there are ways to circumvent this nasty detail.” The best way to avoid taxes are losses. Actually, losses will get you a hefty tax refund. We were sure that VW’s CFO Hans Dieter Poetsch would know how to come up with hefty losses. Poetsch did not disappoint. Read More >
European governments that are lured into propping up GM’s Opel should resist the urge, said former Continental AG Chief Executive Officer Manfred Wennemer to Bloomberg. Why? It will cost them twice. Read More >
GM is no longer in hock with Germany. They paid back all of the €1.5b bridge loan Opel had received from Berlin to keep it afloat until it was taken over by Magna and Sberbank. As we all know, this didn’t happen. Berlin wanted its money back, and got it.
“I can tell you that the last funds for Opel have been paid back by General Motors,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “I expect at least a thank you letter from General Motors in a few years.” There isn’t much love lost between GM and Berlin these days. Read More >
According to the German tabloid Express, Düsseldorf antique car dealer Michael Fröhlich has found Hitler’s car, a blue Mercedes 770K. Fröhlich started searching after a request by a Russian oligarch. He tracked the car to Austria, to where it had been sold for 2000 Reichsmark after the war. From there, the car went to the car museum of the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. It was sent back to Germany into the collection of a loaded owner of a brewery in Munich. It finally ended up with a collector in Bielefeld. The collector had 5 more of the Nazi cars, one of them formerly Joachim von Ribbentrop’s daily driver. Read More >
Fiat is facing a new distraction. While Sergio Marchionne has worldwide plans with zombie Chrysler, Fiat is facing an insurrection at home. Well, close to home. The German dealer council of Fiat has unanimously decided to sue Fiat Germany.
Two actions by Fiat raised the dealers’ ire: Read More >
Nine months ago, German Karmann declared bankruptcy. The maker of the venerable Ghia, and until recently contract manufacturer and specialist for ragtops, fell victim to the sad fact that Fahrvergnügen doesn’t agree with carmageddon.
Now, Volkswagen, one of Karmann’s main customers, picked up the core pieces of the maker. Volkswagen isn’t taking over Karmann (that would mean assuming the liabilities.) Volkswagen is buying assets: Plants, machinery, real estate. Production in Osnabrück will go on. At a much smaller scale than before. Read More >
The Senior Counselor to the U.S. President for Manufacturing Policy; and Leader on the U.S. Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, Ron Bloom, was utterly clueless. He told Reuters that the Obama administration supposedly was just as flabbergasted by GM’s sudden reversal on the Opel deal as Angela Merkel and the rest of Germany was. That they supposedly were not consulted. And that this is just divvy, because it “underscores the independence of a new board put in place to safeguard the U.S. government’s investment in GM.” Isn’t Teflon wonderful?
Reuters reports that Aabar Investments is considering increasing their stake in Daimler AG from 9.1% to 15%. Aabar is already Daimler largest shareholder and this move, should it happen, will further cement this position. The Abu Dhabi investment fund paid $2.7 billion for the 9.1% stake when the share price €20.77. Since then, the share price of Daimler has rocketed 77% and on the news of Aabar mulling a bigger stake, the share price rose by 4.4% to €35.81 per share. Daniel Schwarz, an analyst with Commerzbank AG said “It’s a positive signal that a large shareholder is showing a long term commitment”. But the strength of the fund’s love for Daimler doesn’t just extend to this increased stake.
This week’s chronicle of the Opel saga starts with good news and bad news.
The good news: GM’s European headquarters will move from Zurich, Switzerland, to Opel’s home in Rüsselsheim near Frankfurt, Germany, reports Die Zeit. The paper: “With the move, the company probably wants to collect points to calm down the German government.” Let’s put it this way: Putting the European GM headquarters into a country that is not even part of the EU, that is more known for its tax haven status than for its flourishing auto industry, did not amuse the Germans. Returning to Deutschland, GM can pat itself on the back: The move created 150 jobs in Rüsselsheim, which are lost in Zurich.
The bad news: It’s too late to collect points. Read More >
When Magna was buying Opel (along with German help and alleged Russian mobsters) Volkswagen made noises about dumping them as a supplier. Vergeben und vergessen.
“If Magna doesn’t act like a competitor, we will continue to do business as usual,” a Veedub spokesman told German tabloid BILD (via Reuters.)
Now is not the time for VW to switch suppliers anyway. Read More >
An uncouth interview, given by GM Chairman Ed Whitacre to the German newspaper Muenchner Merkur at the sidelines of an event at the Texas Lutheran University, has shut the doors on any donations Berlin may make to Opel’s cause. Aus. Vorbei. Read More >
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