Your faithful blogger is suffering this morning. A night of birthday celebration is currently proving that knowledge of moderation (and the mysteries of escrow) do not simply come with age. But compared to the hangover caused by a decade-long cheap credit binge, my suffering seems downright tolerable. Just ask GMAC. The Detroit News reports that GM’s once-captive lender has delayed the delivery date for debt swap deliveries for the fifth time, as it desperately attempts to round up enough capital to achieve bank holding status. Despite improving its offer last week, GMAC still says it needs “significant additional participation” from bondholders to make its goal of $30b in regulatory capital. Luckily the DetN is happy to sugar-coat the pain by headlining the story in as optimistic terms as possible (GMAC closer to raising enough capital to become bank holding company). And though technically true, there’s devils in them thar details.
Category: News Blog
I know it’s a bit early in the day for a quote of the day, but I have to go test drive a XXXXXX for the TTAC Ten Worst Awards. Hopefully, Eddy will wake up from his birthday celebrations soon, equipped with enough functional brain cells to continue to feed the beast (that’s you) with fresh autoinfotainment. So before I leave my garret to drive a POS on your behalf, I’d like to leave you with this thought: “the Tesla is really just another example of why gasoline is still king.” These words of wisdom come to us via Ralph Kinney Bennett, who pens paen to petrol for The American. “A gallon of gas weighs about 6.3 pounds and produces roughly 35 kilowatt hours of energy. That’s enough to burn a 100-watt light bulb continuously for more than two weeks. A lead-acid battery could do the same thing without needing a recharge—if it were the size of a desk and weighed a ton. Energy density is the point. We just haven’t come up with a fuel or a device that will safely and economically offer the same calorific value in such a small space as an automobile’s gasoline tank.” OK, lithium ion batteries. OK, range. Specifically, a 911 vs. a Tesla Roadster…
Conservative talk show host Bill “I swear the nuns didn’t beat me” O’Reilly likes to rail on (and on and on) about America’s cultural degradation. In fact, it’s one of our country’s greatest strengths. Rappers who started by singing (well, shouting) the praises of capping cops end-up in Bentley-and-bling filled videos that make unbridled consumerism seem like the ultimate revenge against The Man. Hell, there ain’t nothin‘ we can’t assimilate! For profit, obviously. And the people who profit most are always the distributors. I’m not sure what Karl Marx had to say on the subject– I’ve got “How To Make a Killing off of Karl Marx” on my night table– but he who controls the distribution owns the gold. So along comes Zipcar. Nice idea: rent a car by the hour. Here’s your card. Pick up a car, swipe ‘n go. After eight long years, they get a bit of traction: 5,500 cars in 13 cities. Rad dude! I guess we’re showing those big rental companies how it should be done! Problem: Hertz.
Hi Robert, I saw this letter to the editor in December 15th Automotive news and thought it might be of interest. – Glenn
To the Editor:
Hey, Chrysler, remember me? I’m the dealer who sold your K cars, your Omni Misers (that got in excess of 35 mpg – where are they now?). I stocked and sold your minivans with air and transmission problems. I sold your 2.7-liter sludged engines and then had to tell my customers it was their lack of maintenance that caused the $6,000 problem. I sat on your dealer councils and advertising boards for years.
Autocar [UK] reports that Honda CEO Takeo Fukui slipped this little nugget into his end of year speech: the new NSX is toast. While the fact that Honda has also deep-sixed their plans to introduce the Acura brand to Japan in 2010 (reported by Bertel this morning), the death of the NSX will likely catch the eye of the enthusiast press. It’s something of a climb-down for the HoMoCo CEO, who told Autocar last year that “The new supercar is necessary for Honda.” Of course, that’s so last year, what with Marketwatch reporting that Honda cash flow isn’t. More specifically, Bloomberg tells us “Sales are forecast to drop 13% to 10.4 trillion yen, down from the previous estimate of a 3% drop to 11.6 trillion yen. Operating profit will likely drop 81% to 180 billion yen, worse than the 42% decline to 550 billion yen that had been expected.” In other words, this is Honda’s second revised fiscal outlook in two months. In case you missed that, “The situation is worsening by the day and shows no sign of recovery,” Fukui pronounced at a press conference in Tokyo Wednesday. And this is a business in which we want Uncle Sam to invest?
From egmcartech.com: “For the record: Thanks to The Stig’s impressive turn behind the wheel, the Tesla Roadster gets a higher ranking in Top Gear’s performance board than a Porsche 911 GT3. Jeremy Clarkson, a die-hard ‘petrol head’ with a clear bias against green cars generally, said that it must be ‘snowing in hell’ because he had such a great time driving the Roadster and now considers himself a “volt head” thanks to the Roadster’s amazing performance. This is amazingly high praise from Clarkson, whose entire schtick is to savage even his most beloved petrol-guzzling sports cars.
Two weeks ago, Chrysler terminated its joint venture talks with Chery. This doesn’t stop Chrysler from talking to the Chinese. The talks go in two directions: One, Chrysler needs low cost cars, and the Chinese have them. Two, Chrysler is looking for a buyer, and a Chinese company may just have mercy and cash and take Chrysler off the sweaty hands of Cerberus. Hell, you never know. Now, Chrysler has been spotted chatting up Great Wall Motors, Gasgoo reports. Great Wall is known for its large portfolio of SUVs and MPVs. They also got into hot legal waters with Fiat who claimed that Great Wall’s Peri (called Jing Ling in China) is a copy of Fiat’s Panda. A court in Turin said Fiat is right and Great Wall is wrong. A copyright claim in China is slowly grinding through the wheels of the Chinese courts.
According to Gasgoo, Philip Murtaugh, Chrysler Asia CEO, went to inspect Great Wall Motor’s facility last week to look into the code-named CH041 model and CH031 hatchback, which could be the A-class model Chrysler needs. Murtaugh was supposedly satisfied with the two models. Great Wall Motor said the two parties will launch “CH031” first if the projects fare well. The two automakers are still in talks and nothing is definite yet, said Great Wall Motor. If the models see the light of mass production, they will go on sale in overseas markets with the Chrysler label. A Chrysler China executive said Chrysler was in – duh – “a transitional period.” They might need Great Wall, one way or the other.
Volvo is Latin for “I turn” (as in “revolving credit” of lore, or as in “revolver” for people who can’t get one.) Nomen est omen: Never has the word been truer than now, as the formerly glorious Swedish brand is being offered-up for a gang-bang.
From day one, TTAC chronicled the trials and tribulations of the D2.8 to sell as many brands a possible to the highest bidder. The news cycle on that is predictable. We report it. They deny it. Pom-pom waving bloggers drop their cheer-leading acoutrements for a second, wave the denials, and call us idiots. Shortly thereafter, The Truth About Cars offered to India and China comes out, usually by way of the Indians saying that they don’t have the money, or the Chinese saying that they looked and lost interest. All while Detroit denies that anything of that nature may be going on.
China has a 60 percent local content law for cars. If local content falls below that mark, the car is treated as an import, even if it’s Made in China. That means a 25 percent duty. “Unfair!” said the US, EU and Canada, and filed a complaint with the WTO in March 2006. In July, the WTO ruled that China is wrong. China appealed. The WTO now rejected the appeal, and China has to come into compliance. “WTO’s final ruling marks the first time the country has lost a legal trade dispute since joining the global trade body in 2001,” China Daily regrets. However, the Chinese parts industry’s fear of a flood of cheap imports from the EU and NA is unwarranted, China Daily says: “Analysts say that the effect on the domestic auto industry would be minimal since many multinationals would still prefer using local car parts to imported ones even if the Chinese government lowers the tariff over some auto parts.” According to a report by China Galaxy Securities, most multinational carmakers have already started making more car parts in China to cut costs. Honda and Volkswagen, for instance, make over 80 percent of their components in China. And China doesn’t have to change tomorrow: “China now has a reasonable period of time to bring its measures into compliance with WTO law,” the European Commission said in a statement. “This period of time will be negotiated or determined by arbitration.” Time is on China’s side.
A short overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off.
D2.8 may get unexpected break – strength from weakness: The money-losing automakers made at least some money in some foreign markets. However, the recent strength of the greenback wasn’t in their favor. In July, a profit of one Euro translated into a $1.6. But what counts is when the books are closed, and that usually happens at year end. The recent strength of the dollar made foreign profits look less juicy. In October, that one Euro profit was worth only $1.23 – ever since, the Euro bounced around in the $1.25 to $1.29 range, which worried CFOs with foreign profits to no end. In the last few days, a miracle happed: The dollar got weaker. In the last few days, the Euro shot up into the $1.40 range, and it may even climb some more. With a little luck, and some end of year central bank machinations, a profit of one Euro could translate into a $1.50 by year’s end. Which will look quite good in the books. The bad news: If you have foreign losses, it will have just the opposite effect.
Nissan cuts output: Nissan wanted to make 1.38m units worldwide in their 2008 fiscal year, which ends in March 2009. That plan is no more: Nissan will end the year with 230,000 units less, a reduction of approximately 17 percent, the Nikkei (sub) reports today. Nissan will also eliminate “all nonpermanent positions” by March, becoming the first major Japanese automaker to ever do so. Starting in January, assembly work will be suspended for several days a month at two factories in Japan. Production speeds will be slowed. By March, all temporary workers will be gone. Any further layoffs, and the (in Japan) sacrosanct permanent workforce will be affected.
“If we’re going to use taxpayer financing to assist the automakers, all stakeholders are going to have to come to the table and be willing to show that they are capable and willing to make really tough decisions about the way forward,” White House Spokesperson Dana Perino said today. “We’re not going to be rushed into it just because there’s pressure from the media… on us to do something rash.” Yeah, hurry up and do something rash, will ya? “We need them to become viable, competitive firms in the future. And in order to do that, concessions are going to have to be made by stakeholders.” Not to mention everything else.
With an ambitious goal and over 100 entries, judging today’s contest wasn’t easy. But a big, beautiful copy of “The Art And Colour Of GM” has to go to someone, so it’s decision time. We saw a broad range of approaches to the challenge, from the nostalgic (Build a time machine so you can undo past mistakes), to the painfully obvious (It can not be explained in 10 words or less), and from the lyrical (Fatten your animal for sacrifice, but keep your muse slender), to the symmetrical (Screw Creditors, Bust Unions, Modular Car Platform, One Truck Platform). We even had a few answers that you just know were mentioned at the Senate Republican caucus meetings (sell everything and give the money back to the shareholders) and GM-UAW strategy sessions (Hold gun to governments head, “BUY GM OR ELSE!”). One comment, however, stood out.
Yesterday was fun. For me at least. Seriously, as someone who thinks about cars all the live long day it is always fascinating to get inside other peoples’ heads and see how they perceive those lovable hunks of steel, cloth and plastic. So, doing Crown Vic vs. Camry was actually interesting and informative, not just petty and vindictive. Today we’re going to focus on two other cars that don’t interest me in the slightest. The first is the very worst new car I’ve ever driven and the second is by far and away the most boring. I ain’t kidding around here people — when Chrysler’s obituary is written, the Sebring should take center stage. Remember, it’s the car they released after the smash success of the 300C. Sad times. But at least the Sebring has a (optional) motor with some guts. The Corolla is like driving chloroform. Snore says I, big time snore. And so if I was forced to choose, I’d actually pick the Chrysler. While holding my nose, of course. You?
“The (2009 PDK) Porsche Carrera covered about 190 kilometres/118 miles of the total route on country roads and 30 kilometres/19 miles in city traffic, with the remaining distance on the Autobahn. The car’s tank was filled up prior to and after the test drive by a certified inspector of the German DEKRA Car Inspection Authority, who also sealed the fuel tank and the engine compartment in the process. Under normal traffic conditions, with the headlights switched on, and with rain from time to time, the driver sought to keep the car’s engine speed between 1,800 and 2,000 rpm, with a road speed between 90 and 130 km/h (56 – 81 mph). The average speed achieved in the process was 84 km/h or 52 mph.”
Recent Comments