Chicago, Illinois Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) is counting on a host of new fees and taxes on drivers to balance the city’s 2009 budget. To wit: a new contract took effect on Saturday authorizing private vendor Redflex to more than double the number of red light camera equipped intersections in Chicago to 290. The first phase of the program had already mailed 1.1 million tickets worth $110m using just 136 cameras, thanks to contract provisions that ensure a steady stream of revenue. “The Office of Emergency Management and Communications has developed and executed the industry’s most stringent performance metrics and key performance indicators,” the new contract states. “(These) include citation issuance minimum yields to equal 85 percent or greater and system uptime to equal 95 percent or greater… At a minimum, installed systems must maintain a minimum 85 percent prosecution rate.” So far, the prosecution rate has been 94 percent. Daley rewarded Redflex by approving a no-bid contract extension. Read it and weep…
Category: News Blog
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) plans to release its third quarter 2008 financial results on Friday, November 7, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. ET via PR Newswire and GM Media Online (http://media.gm.com).
In addition, GM Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Ray G. Young will host a conference call at 12:15 p.m. ET. The call will include a review of the company’s third quarter financial results, an updated liquidity analysis and review of its liquidity improvement initiatives, and a question-and-answer session with financial analysts and media. The call is expected to last approximately 90 minutes.
GM Inside News (GMI) is reporting that the next gen Cadillac SRX– an “all new” badge-engineered Saturn Vue if there ever was one (was there?)– and the new Chevy Equinox– a fuel-cell powered CUV if there never was one (was there?)– will both be blessed with GM’s new 3.0-liter direct-injected High-Feature V6. And what’s one of them, you ask? GMI reckons its a 250hp, uh, engine. Although our good friends over at Autoblog are happy to disregard GMI’s info-strictures (“Those were RUMORS though and they are very old rumors”), they’re happy to peg the new motor’s mileage at just under 30mpg (highway?). Should GM make it to that most magical of model years (2010), the Caddy CUV will also have a larger engine option (the CTS’ 3.6-liter V6, not a V8) and the Equinox will have a more CAFE-compliant po-folks 2.3-liter four, good for… moving the CUV from place to place.
In the same press release in which General Motors revealed its 45 percent October sales hit, The General announced that it had brought forward its [now] annual Red Tag Sale. “We’ll do our part to continue fighting against these significant economic headwinds by bringing consumers the highest quality, most fuel efficient and affordable cars, trucks and crossovers that we can,” GM Marketing Maven Mark LaNeve wrote. [How reassuring is that— given GM’s product development freeze.] “To that end, LaNeve announced that GM’s no-haggle Red Tag Event… will provide great deals on most new vehicles in GM’s portfolio by offering a special Red Tag vehicle price and customer cash back. In addition, GM’s recently announced ‘Financing That Fits’ program enables consumers to find financing at affordable rates from GMAC and thousands of other banks, credit unions and financing institutions.” That’s it? No haggle plus the usual blizzard of incentives, special offers, discounts, rebates, trade-in allowance, finance offers and $2k-off coupons? GM must not have read Steven Lang’s “MSRP RIP.” Meanwhile, The Detroit News reports that Toyota’s extended its “Saved by Zero” zero percent finance offers on 11 vehicles ’til December first. Guess who’s gonna win this one? [make the jump for examples of GM Toe Taggers]
BBC Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson better watch out for truck drivers from now on, after making an on-screen joke linking lorry drivers to murdered prostitutes. The Times— the boradsheet that prints JC’s columns– describes the on-screen palaver thus: “The controversial broadcaster made his comment on Sunday night’s programme, on BBC2, as he and fellow presenters James May and Richard Hammond found out what it was like to drive heavy goods vehicles. Bemoaning the constant need to change gear, Clarkson said: “This is a hard job and I’m not just saying that to win favour with lorry drivers, it’s a hard job. Change gear, change gear, change gear, check mirror, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder. That’s a lot of effort in a day.” The BBC responded with their usual combination of condescension and weasel words: ‘The vast majority of Top Gear viewers have clear expectations of Jeremy Clarkson’s long-established and frequently provocative on-screen persona. This particular reference was used to comically exaggerate and make ridiculous an unfair urban myth about the world of lorry driving, and was not intended to cause offence.” Well, fair enough. As the Times points out, “Notorious prostitute killers Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, and Steve Wright, also known as the Suffolk Strangler, were both lorry drivers.” More worryingly, the BBC has “convinced” YouTube to remove the video clip in question from general circulation.
Things must be really, really, really bad if someone goes on strike in China. But striking cabbies striking policemen? Unheard of. Speaking of which: Ever heard of China’s largest municipality? It’s Chongqing, population 31,442,300 (as of 2005, Buddha knows how many today). Yesterday, in Chongqing, the doomsday scenario unfolded. Hundreds of perturbed taxi drivers took to the streets (on foot) and smashed vehicles to protest “shortages of fuel and high fines for traffic violations,” as the official Xinhua News Agency has it. The enraged cabbies gathered on a business street, destroyed 20 vehicles, including three police cars. Scab cab drivers who refused to join the protest were pulled out of their cars, along with the petrified passengers. A spokesman for the Chongqing police bureau confirmed the violence, and said the situation was now “under control.” 800 cab drivers returned to work by Monday afternoon. Downtown Chongqing has 9000 taxis. American car drivers: Don’t try this at home.
Chrysler’s CEO Bob Nardelli wants his troops to know that he made ChyrCo’s cutbacks to batten down the hatches for the current downturn. As opposed to, say, a pre-flip strip. “The difficult actions we have taken in the past, and those that we have just announced, are for one purpose and one purpose only: helping Chrysler survive this economic trough.” Nardelli said in a message to employees [via Reuters]. So… now what? More “down-sizing.” And anyone who suggests that Boot ’em Bob’s hankering for a bailout, buyout, merger or liquidation is a disloyal son of a bitch. “Nardelli said business conditions required a resizing of Chrysler again. ‘Rumors and speculation that these actions are being taken for any other purpose are simply not true.'” Meanwhile… “We don’t think a merger is in the interests of our members,” [Canadian Auto Workers union Ken] Lewenza said on the sidelines of an event at Chrysler’s minivan plant in Windsor. “I don’t see how you can take two sick patients and turn them into a healthy one.” Neither does anyone with a modicum of common sense. And yet, there it is.
Honda’s press release puts the number at 28.4 percent, but that’s using Daily Selling Rate nonsense. In simple terms, Honda sold 25.2 percent fewer units in calendar October 2008 than in the same period last year; which puts them in the same boat as Toyota. Only two models showed sales upsides: the Honda Fit and Acura TL. The Fit has been capacity constrained forever and is still a relatively modest player at 6,478 units for the month. The TL is likewise a niche vehicle which jumped from 3,421 units last year to 4,340 this October thanks to the all new 2009 TL. But, Acura has two disaster products on it’s hands; the forever poor-selling RL range topper and the near luxury mini-ute RDX. RDX sales collapsed from last year’s already low 1,937 to an abysmal 647 units. Back over at the Honda brand, one surprise in the numbers is the collapse of Accord sales, down from 30,936 to only 19,783, a 36 percent drop in Honda’s #1 selling product. The Odyssey, Element and MDX also all posted larger than average declines. However, for some reason the Ridgeline’s fall was a little less than the average falloff. Cash on the hood effect? Year to date, Honda is still up slightly over 2007, but that record seems likely to fall over these next two months. During the first half of 2008 Honda seemed to be playing in a different ballpark than the rest of the US auto business. But from summer on they have regressed to the mean. But hey, there is one fun-fact buried in the numbers: Honda took sales credit for one unit of the FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. I wonder who the lucky customer is?
“The Monday meeting included House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and many committee chairmen, including Reps. George Miller, D-Calif.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Barney Frank, D-Mass.; James Clyburn, D-S.C.; Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.; and Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, took part by phone, as did other members on the campaign trail. Pelosi also discussed the auto issue separately with Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., aides said. Over the weekend, Dingell and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, spoke separately with the CEOs of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, as well as United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger.” No conspiracy there, then. Just our duly elected officials looking to “save” Detroit by doing what they do best: spending your hard-earned tax money. And that of your children’s children’s children. The Detroit News names names, but can’t put a number to their/our pain. It looks like doubling down. For now. “The hourlong meeting focused on whether Congress should move to quickly approve up to $25 billion in ‘bridge financing’ to aid automakers through a mounting fiscal crisis. The money would be in addition to the $25 billion auto loan program funded by Congress in September to help retool factories to build more efficient vehicles. Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, said ‘discussions (are) ongoing,’ but declined to elaborate on Monday’s meeting.”
The Wall Street Journal reports the massive financial hangover of South Dakota’s VeraSun, 2006 IPO darling turned bushel basket case. VeraSun is trying to point the finger at the in vogue financial turmoil excuse, but the real problem is that they are buying high and selling low. Their Greenspan worthy doublespeak goes thus: “‘Worsening capital market conditions and a tightening of trade credit resulted in severe constraints on the Company’s liquidity position.’ It intends to work with lenders to secure ‘additional committed financing to provide adequate liquidity to fund operations in the normal course.'” But the real deal is that VeraSun “lost $63 million to $103 million due to bets on the price of corn that ended up working against it. VeraSun’s current liabilities totaled $312 million at the end of the second quarter, and it had $1.4 billion in long-term debt.” Ah, almost $2b in debt and losing commodities market bets. Now we’re getting closer to the truth. When it came time to get yet another credit card with which to pay the interest on the old credit cards, nobody would play ball. “As the global credit crunch intensified in September, VeraSun was unable to secure the funding it needed to pay interest on its debt, which is due in December.” And guess who has ridden to the rescue with debtor-in-possession financing to fund the Chapter 11 reorganization attempt? Cerberus, I kid you not. Lucky for them, plenty of moonshine is on hand for the deal signing party.
How about this for tell me how you really feel: Volkswagen AG, China’s biggest car maker, told Bloomberg (of all people) that “the worst may yet to come” for China’s car market. This cheerful prediction was uttered by Soh Weiming, Volkswagen Group China’s Executive Vice President. Soh Weiming is no stranger to an uncertain future. The imminent ouster of the cigar-loving VP had been floated for years in Beijing and Wolfsburg. But like the Energizer Bunny, he keeps on going and going. And there he was to say that it would be “too early to estimate” the losses caused by the economic slowdown in China’s auto industry.
Last week was something of a problem for Tesla Motors. After self-appointed CEO Elon Musk announced cutbacks (i.e. fired a bunch of people and closed their Detroit office), Valleywag (amongst others) reported that the Silicon Valley EV maker was down to its last $9m. For a carmaker, that’s like driving on fumes. Well, it turns out that Tesla had a mole in their midst, who fed the Valleywag website inside info. Which is fair enough. God knows TTAC has its spies friends throughout the industry. And the fact that this grass, Principal Thermal Engineer Peng Zhou was outed within the company, is also no big surprise. But the fact that Elon Musk chose to forward Peng’s mea culpa to everyone in the company [full text after the jump], knowing full well someone would leak THAT, is more than slightly worrying. Then again, discretion is not the better part of fanaticism, egomania and old-fashioned cruelty. Or TTAC’s remit, come to think of it. But then we’re in the muckraking business, not EV manufacture. [thanks to you-know-who-you-are]
It’s the same story for Chrysler: another month, another sad sales chart. Saying that, this month was a little different. Unlike many other carmakers, percentagewise, car sales were down (37 percent) more than truck sales (34 percent). Bright spots: a few extra Vipers (87) and discontinued Crossfires (253) bumped sales numbers up to 142 percent and 128 percent respectively. Challenger sales went up over last month despite the general doom and gloom to 3,104. Ram sales, a mix of 2008 and spanking new 2009’s, were down 21 percent, and another few thousand Journeys launched. Everything else was down, mostly well into the double digit percentages. Confirming suspicions of a stillborn launch, there was absolutely no mention of Durango/Aspen Hybrid sales. Zip. Nada. Total year-to-date sales are down to 26 percent. There are a few recent articles here and there about product tweaks, but the cupboard is bare, and the guillotine is looming.
While unnamed sources in undisclosed locations continue pushing rumors about Chrysler’s marriage plans, the fact that Chrysler’s problems are rooted in one of the worst product lineups on the planet goes largely unnoticed. The AP’s Tom Kishner bucks that trend with his piece [via yahoo] No big sellers in sight to save troubled Chrysler. “Of Chrysler’s 26 models on sale in both 2007 and 2008, only four have sold more this year than last, and three of those are small-volume niche vehicles such as the Dodge Viper. The company’s market share has dwindled from 16.2 percent in 1996 to 11 percent this year, according to Ward’s AutoInfoBank.” The main blame for the heaping pile of losers in Chrysler’s showrooms is spoken auf Deutsch. “‘The truth is Daimler did them no favors,'” said Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics of Birmingham, Mich. ‘They approved products that previous Chrysler management wouldn’t have approved if they were completely drunk and beaten crazy.'” Cerberus has done nothing to improve matters, and has given up on any plans to lead the turn around of a Once Proud American Company. The best of Chrysler latest products are the new Ram and recent minivan redesign. Nice try, but the redone Ram remains an also ran in the truck wars. Ford and GM certainly aren’t about the cede any share of the already soft truck market. About that much hyped minivan redesign? It has done nothing to salvage Chrysler’s share of an imploding market segment. Minivan sales peaked at over 1.3 million units in 2000, but are expected to end 2008 at less than 650,000. Outside of the Rams and the Vans, things are even worse! Sebring, Nitro, Commander, Avenger, Caliber … the list of crap products goes on and on. Cerberus-Chrysler has more heads on it’s portfolio of dogs than even hell would sit still for.
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