After overtaking the United States in January car sales for the first time, China extended its lead as the world’s largest auto market in the second straight month, Gasgoo reports.
In February, China sold a total of 827,600 vehicles, up 24.72 percent year on year according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM.)
The Freep’s Carol Cain has gone one better on the crazies who suggested that Steve Jobs should take over Detroit, nominating Oprah Winfrey to become Detroit’s cheerleader-in-chief. Noting calls from Senators for GM to declare bankruptcy and falling public support for the Detroit bailout, Cain suggests that desperate times call for desperate gimmicks. “I don’t know what kind of vehicle Oprah owns or if she even drives. I don’t know what she thinks about the auto industry or if she could be convinced to help. I know she likely wouldn’t be in this for the money, glory or stature,” writes Cain. But, “perhaps someone could appeal to her sense of patriotism in helping this industry that has been the bedrock of our nation for generations. Like many Americans, perhaps some family member worked in one of the auto factories. The industry still has dramatic impact on all 50 states and many livelihoods are impacted by it.” And hey, she has experience giving away cars!
The Freep reports that Obama’s Car Czarlet, Steve Rattner, is steering his Presidential Task Force On Autos away from earlier considerations of bankruptcy for GM. “Bankruptcy is not our goal,” Rattner tells the Freep after a week of Kool-Aid sampling in Detroit. “I’ve been in and around bankruptcy for 26 years as part of my private-sector work. It is never a good outcome for any company, and it’s never a first choice.” And by turning away from bankruptcy restructuring, the PTFOA has eliminated the only real possibility for comprehensive, radical changes to Detroit’s business model. The result? Don’t expect a single major turnaround effort to tackle Detroit’s unsustainable posture.
Cities around the country are ignoring state laws designed to curb the financial incentive for private red light camera contractors to generate the greatest number of violations possible. In Texas, for example, the city of College Station signed a deal to allow American Traffic Solutions (ATS) to operate red light cameras and collect fines on the city’s behalf. In return, College Station gives back to ATS a per-ticket fee that is capped at a rate of $4750 per intersection approach per month—in direct conflict with a state law that took effect on September 1, 2007.
Orlando is the unpopular car capital of the world. You name the dying models and brands. The City the Mouse Built has them in abundance. As I was counting the Mitsubishis and Chryslers on my way to a Disney Cruise, my mind began to wander and wonder. What if we avoided all these wasted resources? Surely there must be a few kindly politicians out there who can appreciate the more fiscally conservative amongst us. Somebody? Anybody? Bueller?
DW reports that German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is in the US talking about how best to disentangle/jettison the Opel brand from its “struggling parent company.”
One of the main issues Guttenberg will address is the ownership of patents and other intellectual property Opel requires to continue producing cars. He will also explore GM and the US government’s willingness to let go of Opel.
Chancellor Angela Merkel told public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that Guttenberg needed to “clarify how General Motors would be able to back away in order to give Opel more room to move.”
TTAC commentator Jeevesw reminds us that The Blue Oval Boys also got the Blogging Stocks reality check, and it looks like another case of chew and screw. GM is number 7 on their list of Portfolio Killers. Ford comes in at number eight.
Despite its recent successes at negotiating new contracts and its refusal, so far, to accept government funds, when General Motors (NYSE: GM) goes into Chapter 11, Ford (NYSE:F) will have to do the same to remain competitive.
Given the ferocity of this downturn, if it didn’t accept government handouts, it would probably end up in some form of forced re-organization anyway.
Real shareholder value: zero
Chrysler’s Chief Financial Officer ended last week with an admission that a $5B “loan” from Uncle Sam may not get it through the summer. The AP [via The Detroit News] tells the tale.
Even if Chrysler LLC gets additional government loans, it could face another cash shortage in July when revenue dries up as the company shuts down its factories for two weeks to change from one model year to the next, its chief financial officer said…
Kolka wouldn’t say what would happen if the company doesn’t get further government aid, saying only that he’s not planning to run out of money…
“Following that, the next critical low point in cash is July shutdown,” he said Friday.
As TTAC commentator FredMan points out, Chrysler [via CNNMoney] spent part of this weekend backpedaling. “The $5 billion will help Chrysler work through the crucial July shutdown period when US auto makers traditionally idle their plants for up to two weeks to retool their factories, a company spokeswoman said.” Help? You’re welcome!
The mainstream media has finally discovered that America’s Motown-based automakers are in dire straits. (Was it the bailouts?) The Detroit-based automotive media are in full counter-insurgency mode, scouring the autoblogosphere for stories that say “SEE! They’re in trouble, too!” When Toyota recently secured bank financing, cries of “Bailout! Bailout!” echoed throughout the Motor City. And now Automotive News [sub] seizes on the Automotive Lease Guide’s [ALG] revised depreciation stats for proof that GM and ChryCo are not alone. “Toyota’s residuals take a dive” AN’s headline proclaims. “Not only are Toyota Division’s new-vehicle sales plunging, but so are residual values on its used cars and trucks. That is depriving Toyota of one of its best marketing tools: the healthy residuals the brand long has been able to brag about.” Uh-oh. Hang on. Context?
At least that’s the latest media meme…
Blogging Stocks pulls no punches. The site leaves GM with a black eye, calling the company a “portfolio killer.”
This is a ridiculous company with an even more ridiculous management group. General Motors'(NYSE: GM) cars are mediocre, its union contracts are incredibly extravagant in a brutally competitive industry, and management seems to think we are still in the 1950s.
Recently, the company’s auditors raised even more concerns about the automaker’s ability to survive without more loans from the government.
GM’s own forecast assumes survival based on a car market that is larger in 2013 than it was in 2006. Yeah, right.
True shareholder value: zero
Ultra luxury cars are cheap. Not for folks like you and me, obviously, but the Maybach’s target market, for example, consider their wheels one of their lesser expenses. Especially when you compare the cost of a car—any car—to, say, a Gulfstream IV (which is such a guilty pleasure these days). Not to mention (please!) divorce. For players at this level, a Quattroporte is still small beer. Even so, I reckon Joe Walsh nailed it when he sang, “My Maserati does 185; I lost my license, now I don’t drive.” For those wealthy people legally obliged to sit in the back of the bus, or simply prefer to be driven, LCW Automotive presents a little personal Obama-mania. Tacky? Yes. And?
This time last year, TTAC was paying its writers $25 per blog item and $200 per editorial/review. Compared to “real” websites, it was a pittance. In absolute terms, we were spending some $14k per month feeding the beast. When the ad money started to dry up, I was forced to reduce payments to $5 and $50. Now that money’s too tight to mention, our total editorial budget is zero. Nada. Niente. Aside from and including my work as a salaryman, all the content that you read here is a labor of love. It’s important for you to know because A) Respect to all our contributors, who’ve agreed to carry on because they love writing and believe in this site’s mission and B) Our writers and commentators are, once again, on equal footing. Yes. I realize that you, our Best and Brightest, add value to this site without financial compensation. So I want to formally express my eternal thanks to both writers and commentators for putting food on my table– especially during these dark days for the industry we love. I promise to reinstate our editorial budget as soon as possible. Someday, TTAC will pay top dollar for top talent. Until then, props to all of those who use this website to tell the truth about cars.
We shouldn’t read too much into meetings such as those of the G20. Even G8 confabs usually produce nothing other than nice announcements. Finance ministers of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union met this weekend in Horsham, England.
According to Bloomberg, the meeting produced the not too unexpected pledges of a sustained effort to end the global recession. The U.S. called for more spending. The Europeans called for restraint. The usual solution was a joint decision to monitor further developments closely. But there were undertones that could signal the end of wholesale bailouts.
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