Oct31
DETROIT — Fall in this city has always felt a bit like spring elsewhere. It is traditionally the season of fresh starts for the hometown industry, a time when the auto companies get a jump on the calendar and begin shipping next year’s models to dealers.
Workers at a Chrysler plant in Warren, Mich. General Motors and Cerberus, the parent of Chrysler, are in merger talks.
There were some new bright spots this fall, too — or at least brighter ones. The once-gra...
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DEARBORN, Mich. — With United States vehicle sales down nearly 13 percent this year, most car companies have been cutting production rather than increasing it. Workers at Ford’s River Rouge plant were told that 1,000 laid-off employees would be rehired.
But with 1,200 hourly workers cheering them on, top executives of the Ford Motor Company said Thursday at the ceremonial introduction of a new version of Ford’s most important product, the F-150 pickup, that the...
DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six U.S. governors and a group of chief executives on Thursday urged the Bush administration in a letter to aid the embattled auto industry while the White House rebuffed a request for direct support of a merger between GM and Chrysler.
An administration official said the focus instead would be on speeding of $25 billion of low-interest loans for factory retooling, a step the industry's allies say does not go far enough to reverse a deepening industry cr...
Oct30
With car sales across the country slowing to a dead stop, America's carmakers could soon find themselves running on empty, CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports. By some estimates, General Motors is burning through $1 billion a month, and both it and Chrysler could be broke by next summer. How bad is it? So far this year:
Ford's sales are off 19 percent GM's are down 20 percent Chrysler's sales have slid a staggering 26 percent
Oct29
The timeless elegance for long distance Zeppelin’s has come again. A French design firm is bringing back the airship era.
Designer Jean Marie Massaud and the French aerospace design company ONERA have teamed up to create the "Manned Cloud” or “Le Manned Cloud”
The 700 foot long blimp or should we say Zeppelin is shaped like a blue whale that will swim through the sky effortlessly.
The “Le Manned Cloud” Zeppelin will offer two fl...
The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) estimates over 700 new car dealerships will close by the end of 2008, a total of 270 more closers then this time last year. When considering employment loss, about 40,000 jobs will be lost just due to the fact that the retail sales fell over 18% to 568 Billion from 693 Billion. Dealership wages account for 13% of the retail payroll. Read more
Oct28
NEW YORK - Investors are watching what role the U.S. government will play in any merger among automakers as downgrades from credit ratings agencies indicate their financial condition is weakening.
Reports continued to surface Monday over the possibility of a marriage between General Motors Corp. (nyse: GM - news - people ) and Chrysler LLC. The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site that the U.S. Department of Energy is trying to free up $5 billion of a $25 billion federal loan ...
The Bush administration is working to release to General Motors Corp. a portion of the loans Congress approved for the auto industry, according to a person familiar with the matter, a move that could help ease the way for the company's discussed merger with Chrysler LLC.
WSJ Detroit Bureau Chief Neal Boudette and WSJ reporter John Stoll discuss the very real possibility of a General Motors Corp.-Chrysler LLC merger amid increasingly poor sales that could send the automakers to the poo...
Oct27
Obama has also said the loan program should to be doubled to provide $50 billion. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's economic adviser, said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that the funding for the loans "needs to get out the door, and the top priority should be to get it out quickly, not take 18 months." The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Center for Automotive Research has estimated that General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC may need a $15 billion bailout to su...
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. automakers' financing units may qualify for financial aid under the $700 billion financial rescue package enacted Oct. 3, the Bush administration said. A White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, declined to comment on whether other assistance might be available to help General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, and Cerberus Capital Management LP's Chrysler LLC, complete a merger. On this subject, she referred questions to the Treasury Department....
As talks between General Motors Corp. and long-time rival Chrysler LLC continued over the weekend, a harsh reality has emerged: Without a merger and possibly an assist from the federal government, two of Detroit's Big Three auto makers could run out of cash within a year.
Though GM and Chrysler dismiss the notion, analysts and investors have begun to question whether one of the companies -- locked out of the credit markets and burning cash rapidly -- might have to seek bankruptcy prot...
Oct24
Chrysler LLC announced today that it plans to cut 25 percent of its salaried work force beginning next month.
In a letter to employees today it did not specify how many jobs were being cut. But Chrysler‘s spokesman Michael Palese said that, according to his most recent figures Chrysler has around 18,529 salaried workers. So we can predict that at lest 4,632 jobs will be lost in the up in coming months.
Oct23
The Merger between General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC majority owner Cerberus Capital Management LP could be a positive outlook for the automotive market as long as they are committed to reinventing their entire operational philosophy. The People first philosophy has worked for Google and made them the clear market leader in the search category because it delivers results around stronger user satisfaction, whereas its competitor, Yahoo!, is focused on appeasing its own...
MAJOR car makers are falling over each other with announcements of plans to produce zero-emission hybrid vehicles.
Experts agree that demand for such vehicles is so high that the industry will probably not be able to meet it fully in the coming years. All the big car makers had an electric-drive vehicle on show including the French, Japanese, German and US manufacturers, at the recent Paris Motor Show. After spending decades in the backyards of hobby mechanics the electric car...
This year's higher gasoline prices are prompting drivers to switch to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. The trouble is, some of the money they save may be going to higher insurance premiums.
Small cars generally cost more to insure than larger ones because they're involved in more accidents and incur bigger claims, especially for injuries. That's true regardless of the driver profile, though younger and less-experienced drivers tend to buy smaller, cheaper cars.
A 40-year-old...
Oct22
AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. will post its first decline in annual global sales in a decade this year, hit by slowing demand worldwide amid the financial crisis, a Japanese newspaper predicted Wednesday.
Japan's largest automaker will likely sell 8.3 million units in 2008 on the parent level — excluding subsidiaries and affiliates — down from 8.43 million units in 2007, the Nikkei daily said, citing no sources.
Demand has been weak in the United States, Europe an...
Oct21
We are told that the Hamann SLR "Volcano" features six exhaust pipes, rear diffuser, deep dish rims, wheel arch flairs, roof mounted air scoop, smoked lenses and a huge rear wing. Perhaps more noticeable is the black and white paint.
Take a look at the Video Teaser
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Tracinda Corp. an investment firm run by Kirk Kerkorian shook up the auto indistry last summer by escalating their stake in Ford Motor Company by making him the largest single shareholder outside the Ford family. He increased their state by 40 million shares to a total of 140.8 million shares, which accounted for 6.49% of the automaker..
Many won't survive. Almost 600 of the about 20,000 U.S. new car dealers have shut their doors this year, and an additional 2,000 will close within 18 months, predicts Mark Johnson, president of a Seattle consulting firm that helps auto dealers buy, sell or merge operations.
In September alone, 61 dealers — two a day — closed shop or downsized to used car lots, says the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). Wounded by gas prices that killed sales of their most pro...
Oct20
DETROIT — Negotiators hope to finalize a merger agreement between General Motors (GM) and Chrysler before the presidential election and are lobbying for government financial assistance to help clinch the deal, says a source who has been briefed on the talks.
They are pointing to the impact on the U.S. economy if either company were to fail, compared with the viability of a merged colossus that would control 36% of the U.S. auto market. Those are the chief selling points in askin...
Oct16
GMAC LLC, the big home and auto financing company, this week began restricting new loans to the most credit-worthy buyers after an attempt to raise new funds failed. The move threatens to crimpGeneral Motors Corp.'s U.S. sales, forcing the struggling auto maker to push its potential buyers to other lenders.
Like GMAC, GM has struggled to raise $15 billion in cash amid a shutdown in the credit markets. The auto maker hopes to bring in $5 billion through asset sales and secured financin...
Oct15
Recently Hot Vehicles Sport Low-Rate Financing, Rebates And Special Leasing Offers
They're this year's hot vehicles. But as the effects of the financial crisis deepen, even small and midsize cars are seeing declining sales -- and that means better deals for prospective buyers.
Manufacturers had generally pulled back on incentives for smaller vehicles this year, after record-high gas prices spiked demand. And the discounts still aren't as juicy or widespread as those on fuel-th...
DETROIT — October is shaping up to be as miserable a month for automakers as September, according to industry analysts, as lenders tighten financing standards and many consumers steer clear of showrooms because of the weakening economy.
Tom Libby, senior director for industry analysis at J.D. Power & Associates’ Power Information Network, which monitors car sales on a weekly basis, said the first week of October was “very, very weak” for the automakers like...
Oct14
General Motors announced today that it will be closing its Grand Rapids metal and die plant
General Motors Financial Services also announced yesterday that it no longer will lend money to vehicle buyers with credit scores lower than 700 Read more
I don’t know where you can buy one but it looks kind of cool, I can tell you one thing, it is not going to be on my list of must haves this coming holiday season
UR-202 is designed to appeal to sport car fans and is the world’s first watch with the winding rate regulated by fluid dynamics. Its patented Revolving Satellite Complication with telescopic minutes hands make it easy to read. The URWERK 202 also uses air friction to control the rate of winding like 18 Read more
Cerberus’s Role Crucial as G.M.-Chrysler Merger Talks Continue
DETROIT — Merger talks are continuing between General Motors and Chrysler as the companies study possible financial terms of a deal that would combine two of the traditional Big Three automakers.
The chief issues under discussion include how much cash Chrysler’s owner, Cerberus Capital Management, would contribute to the merged entity and how much stock it would get in return, according to people ...
Shares in Detroit's two biggest automakers, beaten down by about half their value last week, rebounded Monday after a weekend of hopeful signs the credit squeeze will begin to ease and of talk about industry consolidation.
General Motors (GM) shares rose 33.1% to close at $6.51 a share, the biggest percentage rise of any stock in the Dow Jones industrial average.
Ford Motor (F) was up 20.1% to close at $2.39 a share. Chrysler is privately held by Cerberus Capital Management.Read More...
Oct13
A merger of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC could save billions of dollars but would surely mean dramatic job cuts, especially in metro Detroit where duplicated operations likely would face elimination, people familiar with discussions about the possibility said Saturday.
The revelation that Chrysler's private equity owner Cerberus Capital Management has been in talks with GM about a historic deal to remake Detroit's struggling a...
Oct10
Diversified conglomerate General Electric Co. (GE: News ) said Friday that third quarter earnings fell 22% from last year, dragged by its struggling financial arm GE Capital. The company's quarterly earnings per share from continuing operations came in line with the company's revised expectations as well as analysts' consensus estimate. Looking forward, the company said it is on track to meet its September 25 revised guidance for the full year, adjusted for dilution. The Fairfield, Con...
Oct08
NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Germany's automaking titans announced production cutbacks on Tuesday, as the global financial crisis rattled unabated across one of Europe's key industries.
BMW, Daimler AG, General Motors Corp. subsidiary Adam Opel AG and the German unit of Ford Motor Co. all announced production cutbacks in Germany, while GM said its other subsidiaries in Europe were also affected.
Opel said it would stop production entirely at its Eisenach plant for three weeks...
WASHINGTON -- The surest way to spur the widespread development of plug-in electric vehicles in the U.S. is to offer the consumer tax credits that have been proposed in Congress, makers of plug-in cars told a Senate committee Tuesday.
The proposed tax incentives would lead to a spike in demand, allowing manufacturers to invest profits for further development of plug-in technology, industry officials told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Volvo Cars to cut some 3,000 more jobs
STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Beleaguered Swedish car maker Volvo, a unit of US auto giant Ford, said Wednesday it planned to cut more than 3,000 jobs in Sweden and abroad in addition to the 2,000 cuts announced earlier this year.
Oct07
Oct06
Oct04
The proposed $700bn bail-out of American banks also caught the eye of senior industry figures. The bank bail-out could make it easier for car buyers to raise finance and thus help revive dire sales.
General Motors chief Rick Wagoner cancelled his scheduled appearance at the Paris show to throw his weight behind it.
European protests
Industry figures in Paris this week see the $25bn loan guarantee as a bail-out package that will give American car compa...
Oct03
PARIS -- Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Alan Mulally said he believes the economic slump in the U.S. will be "deeper and longer" than most people previously expected.
In an interview at the Paris auto show, Mr. Mulally also said the global auto industry is slowing down, a trend likely to crimp auto makers' revenue. Slowing global auto sales "makes it harder for everybody," he said. "It means you have to cont...
DETROIT — For the first time since 1993, automakers sold fewer than a million new cars and trucks in a single month in the United States, as a reeling economy scared people away from showrooms in September, and many eager buyers were unable to get loans.
With industry sales dropping 26.6 percent over all compared with a year ago, car companies are likely to cut more production and jobs to compensate for falling revenues.
The credit crisis contributed heavily to the steep...
Oct02
As I already mentioned in the previous blog released yesterday, it looks like a cross between a Chevy Corvette and a Chevy Camaro in a sedan version. Read More...
DETROIT — After enduring a brutal sales slump caused by high gas prices and a faltering economy, the last thing the American auto industry needed was acredit crisis . Larry Kelly, general manager at the Ritchey dealership in Daytona Beach, Fla., said car buyers — even those with good credit — were paying higher rates for loans.
But with banks tightening up their lending, any hope for a recovery in vehicle sales...
There could be 300 to 400 fewer auto dealerships in America by the end of the year, predicted Paul Taylor, an economist with the National Automobile Dealers Association. In an ordinary year of economic growth, the industry adds 75 to 150 dealers, he said.
Oct01
Within the past decade Mercedes-Benz has come up with some of the most fuel thirsty automobiles on the market. From the AMG lineup that consumes gas faster then a bullet to large SUV's that suck it down just sitting in one position.
They have also pushed forward Read More...