The Truth About Cars has come a long way since it had zero readers and zero page views. In the last however many years, we’ve gradually gathered a group of the autoblogosphere’s best and brightest. It is your patronage and engaged, informed and passionate commentary that has kept us honest, and made this site a success. As we prepare for a seminal moment in both the history of this url and the automotive industry, I’d like to offer you some stats on our current status. Not to toot our own horn; but as a thank you to all our “stakeholders.” The readers, writers, editors, investors and techies dedicated to telling the truth about cars. (Not to mention our advertisers.) Suffice it to say, those of us on this side of the WordPress platform will continue to do our level best to stay true to the TTAC brand: providing no-holds-barred automotive news, rants and reviews. [Tweeting all the way.] At the risk of sounding ghoulish, the best is yet to come.
My mother is in her mid 70s. Of course, she drives a 2006 Buick LaCrosse with about 10k miles. It is the first GM car in our family since the 1970s. She planned to remain a loyal Ford customer for life after 20 happy years with a pair of Crown Vics, but she won the Buick in GM’s last Hot Button contest.
I recently learned of this stuff called DexCool that is the factory-fill radiator coolant. From what I have read, I do not much care for this stuff. If it were my car, I would drive quickly to my independent mechanic and flush the system with the old-fashioned green stuff. So what do I tell mom to do? The choices, as I see them, are (in order from my least to most favorite ideas):
Parts maker Visteon’s US operations have filed for bankruptcy. No surprise there. In the nine years since FoMoCo spun off its vehicle climate systems, interior parts, lighting and electronic systems maker, Visteon has never posted an annual profit. After losing $663 million last year, Visteon warned a few weeks ago that they may have to file if the creditors would not agree to concessions. Nobody conceded. Visteon filed along with some of its US subsidiaries in the US bankruptcy court in Delaware. None of its overseas subsidiaries or joint ventures outside the US are part of the filing. Not that they need any help with it: In March Visteon’s main UK subsidiary filed for reorganization.
In its C11 filing, Visteon listed assets of $4.58 billion against debts of $5.3 billion. This as April sales to Ford, Visteon’s biggest customer, fell 40 percent. Automotive News [sub] reports that the company’s creators will be there for their progeny. “Visteon said Ford has committed to ensure long-term continuity of supply and to support debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing for the restructuring efforts. Ford is still Visteon’s biggest customer and accounted for about 31 percent of its $1.35 billion of sales last quarter.” The question is, can Ford afford another mouth to feed? And with all those bailout billions flowing towards all the other local suppliers, can Ford resist dipping-in for Visteon? If Visteon suckles, does that taint Ford’s non-bailout (Ford family control related) political purity?
It was a long meeting that lasted into the wee hours of the Thursday morning. It ended with the German government throwing insults at the US government. Everybody went home or to their presidential suites with a headache and no deal. If there is no further movement, Opel will go down the drain with GM by Friday.
Before the meeting, there were rumblings that wrinkles had to be ironed out in a trustee plan that was supposed to be the basis for bridge financing provided by the German government. The money was supposed to keep the lights on in Rüsselsheim, while the proper groom for Opel is being groomed.
Mice and men impacted with US government greed. Or lack of their usual largess.
The Detroit Bureau reports today that in a bankruptcy court document, CEO Robert Nardelli stated that Chrysler LLC offered for sale the Detroit Viper factory (and presumably the tooling and intellectual property to go along with it) for a mere $10 million dollars. The factory has been up for sale since this past August, but sadly there was “no purchaser interest.” 2008 Dodge Viper sales were 1,172, up 169 percent over the prior year. According to another bankruptcy filing, the operation was previously been slightly profitable, with a net $16 million in 2008 before taxes, interest, depreciation, and amortization. With those kinds of numbers a buyer would need to spend several times the purchase price just to keep the assembly line humming. We all know how challenging it is these days for a sports car manufacturer to stay solvent, SUVs or not.
Or not. The best part? The LF-A, seen burning here at the 24 Hours Nürburgring, has just been re-approved for production, according to Motor Trend. Oy.
Popular Science clears the air (so to speak) about which of America’s favorite intoxicants impairs driving skill the most. And it turns out that the stoned driver is a careful driver. Well, compared to a drunk driver, anyway. Research from a fancy driving simulator at Ben Gurion University’s Laboratory for Human Factors in Road Safety shows that reefer-crazed drivers drove considerably slower than the control group, while drunk drivers drove faster. In addition, “the drinking drivers also tended to be confident and boast a sense of control, while the pot smokers seem to be ‘more aware of their impairment.'” Of course, PopSci and Ben Gurion University don’t exactly condone doobing and driving. “None of the doped-up or drinking drivers were models of safety on the road. They tended to switch lane positions, swerve, and vary their steering,” is the verdict. But that’s just, like, their opinion… man. In honor of TTAC’s recent exploration of the legal grey areas of on-road behavior, we thought we’d ask: what are the five best rules of stoned driving? Entries will be accepted until 6pm Eastern Time. The winner gets the unclaimed (previous contest) Taschenwörterbuch der Kraftfahrzeugtechnik (English-German car technical dictionary). Because compound words are mind blowing after a toke or two. Dude.
Automotive News [sub] is reporting that Beijing Auto’s bid for Opel “came too late for the government to assess it in depth,” according to German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück. Thanks for playing! Now how good did that offer have to be for the German government to have to avoid looking at it all together?
At a National Press Club speech intended to promote the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) stimulus spending initiatives, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood explained how his policies are designed to discourage the ownership and use of automobiles. Although many imagine road building when “shovel-ready” projects are mentioned, the only efforts highlighted by LaHood as worthy of receiving federal taxpayer subsidy included buses, light rail and other forms of multi-modal transit. “We have $8 billion,” LaHood said. “You’re going to see new buses; you’re going to see ability of transit districts to really have the equipment . . . And we’ll begin at DOT to set a standard for our ability to get out of the recession, get people back to work in good-paying jobs.” LaHood says some of those federally funded jobs involve driving buses.
With initial ($5 billion) attempts at bailing out struggling auto suppliers failing miserably, Reuters reports that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is calling for another $8 billion in supplier aid. Granholm says the aid will be especially important if (when) GM files for bankruptcy. “We need to provide the (auto) suppliers with the means to get through the next 60 to 90 days,” says Granholm. And then? Meanwhile, despite reports that (at least some) GM creditors will not be crammed down, MI Rep. Sanders Levin fired a shot over GM investors’ bows at the same press conference. The Chrysler experience proved to lenders that “bankruptcy doesn’t provide any more relief and maybe less,” said Levin. “We’re also hopeful that bondholders of GM have also got that message.”
In sharp contrast to the nasty cramdown of Chrysler bondholders, GM’s secured lenders will receive full recovery on some $6 billion in debt, courtesy of your United States Treasury. According to the WSJ, Treasury will “inject a fresh $50 billion in various financings to back a GM workout,” which would result in a 70 percent equity stake in the “new GM.” Although the plan had been for GM to exit bankruptcy still carrying some $40 billion of its approximately $80 billion in debt, the bank payoff should help trim GM’s debt to a mere $10-$12 billion. To accomplish this, the Treasury will pay Citi, JP Morgan and other financiers of GM’s $4.5 billion revolving line of credit that comes due in 2011 and a $1.5 billion term loan due in 2013. In full. Which beats 29 cents on the dollar any day.
Every day I see a wall. On the outside are tens of millions of consumers who lack the commitment, integrity and responsibility to keep their word. Debt, crime, and fraud are their elixirs and it’s literally destroying this country. It fills the lots and keeps the auctions busy for hours. Then I see the other side of that wall. Hundreds of millions trying to get ahead and do the right thing in their lives. They are my buyers, the lane clerks, the ringmen, the consigners, and all the people outside the auction who choose a better path. Everyone thinks that the auctions are a cut-throat place where only the knowledgeable and careful survive . . . and they’re right.
Does this sound strange to you: Chrysler proposes spending $224 million of your tax money (bailout bucks) to land another $244 million of your tax money (Department of Energy green bucks). They plan on using the money to develop and, yes, build electric vehicles. Volt Envi much? Hang on; is the DOE money a “grant” or a “loan”? I mean, in all this $100 billion bailout excitement, has everyone forgotten about the $25 billion Department of Energy retooling loans? Is this deal part of that deal or the billion dollar battery research thing? Anyway, Reuters doesn’t say from whence cometh this particular part of the feds’ attempt to fix Motown’s meltdown. But they do put quote marks around Chrysler’s “partners” (you and Fiat sitting in a tree?) and parrot the zombie automaker’s enviro-agitprop without question.
In the high states poker for Opel, GM did put the cards on the table, got up and walked.
Automobilwoche [sub] reports that GM handed over “all European plants, patents and access technologies debt free to the Adam Opel GmbH.” It’s official, the supervisory board of Adam Opel GmbH has acknowledged it. What’s more, the supervisory board of the GmbH (in reality, GM) “accepted the trustee model of the German government.” This clears Opel for a new investor, and keeps the company clear of the downdraft caused by the impending bankruptcy of the mother ship.
Tonight, there will be a meeting in Berlin that may decide who will take over Opel—with more than a little help of the German government. It could be a long night.
According to recent reports, the night most likely will be inconclusive. Read More >
Sajeev, a buddy at work paid 26k for a 2006 530ix with 39,000 miles. The seller is a pretty, late 20s heiress who had a new Bentley in the driveway. She wanted 30k but took the cash. My buddy does not know anything about working on cars and hopes that it does not break before 150,000 mile like his parents old 5 series. He left message at local dealer asking about cost of extended warranty. They didn’t call back.
I tell him to go there in person, ask, then offer 2/3 and see what they say for factory CPO deal. Don’t take other than factory warranty – BMW as counter party. He thinks maybe not since its only two years left with any extended warranty, saying “so what, tires wear out, right?”
I say, “Yes. And heads warp and trannies stop shifting too.”
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