Nov28
Car dealers, parts makers, union leaders and others hoping to convince lawmakers that the industry is an indispensable piece of the economy are planning a caravan to Washington in early December. The 525-mile drive will occur as auto executives make a second plea for federal assistance. The caravan participants are not asking for money directly, but are among those who would suffer if the industry collapsed.
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Nov26
Spencer Platt, Getty ImagesTrucks from Ford's 2009 F-150 series are parked in a lot in Detroit last week. Analysts said yesterday that any emergency cash for Detroit's Big Three automakers would just be a lifeline until Barack ...
The tens of billions of U. S. taxpayer dollars being asked for by Detroit could be the tip of the iceberg, analysts at JPMorgan said yesterday.
With Congress preparing to hand struggling automakers General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LL...
Nov25
Carbon Motors Corporation has leaped forward and designed the first purpose built police cruiser that addresses all the needs of the police officer. “The world’s first purpose-built law enforcement patrol vehicle, designed by law enforcement, for law enforcement.” Currently over 800,000 law enforcement first responders use retrofitted Crown Victorias, Impalas, Dodge Chargers, light and heavy trucks ect.. While our nation’s other first responders a...
Starting next week the Federal Reserve will buy over $100 Billion in bad dept from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac including the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks in an aggressive bidding process through the central bank's primary securities brokers. Federal Reserve will also contract asset administrators to buy over $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities issued by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and Ginnie Mae. Unlike Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Ginnie Mae has always been under ent controlRead More...
Congress took a sensible step in telling Detroit to come back with a plan before lawmakers consider an auto-industry bailout. Now that the heat is temporarily off, Congress should go the full monty and shut the door.
This may seem callous, and also brutally unfair in the wake of all the help that has been doled out to Wall Street. It may also look self-destructive
It was a dose of tough love that President-elect Barack Obama offered the American auto industry Monday. America shouldn't let the auto makers "vanish," he said at a news conference. But the auto companies should get help, he added, only when they show a better plan for pulling out of their downward slide.
Nov24
NEW YORK (Associated Press) - After being skewered by Congress and lampooned on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," the CEOs of Detroit's three automakers may end up making their return trip to Washington by car as they seek a federal bailout.
The Detroit area's auto industry, whose livelihood depends on the health of Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. spent the weekend e-mailing and discussing how to set up a giant car caravan to seek help from Congress.
Auto executive specifics about how they plan to spend taxpayers' money and crimp their highflying lifestyles if they hope to get aid from the federal government, congressional leaders and key members of the incoming Obama administration said Sunday.
Nov21
JD Power and Associates Rakes Jaguar the highest buyer’s satisfaction award moving up from No. 3 last year in the 2007 SSI rankings. Jaguar held the number one position for the three consecutive years prior to last year. Rounding off the top 5 were HUMMER, Lexus, Cadillac and Mercedes. Low in the study Chrysler LLC brands Dodge and Jeep, Mazda, Nissan and Mitsubishi, with Honda, Toyota, Scion, Subaru, Suzuki and Hyundai also coming in under the industry average.
With two of Detroit's Big Three automakers teetering on the brink of collapse, congressional leaders yesterday refused to advance a proposal for a federal bailout, saying auto industry executives had failed to persuade lawmakers that they would make good use of the money.
Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) ordered General Motors, Chrysler and Ford to submit detailed proposals by Dec. 2 explaining how an emergency infusion o...
Nov20
Ports all across the United States are becoming gigantic parking lots with excess inventory of new cars form Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan’s
The amount of new cars rolling off these huge containerships have not changed due to the ordering process , dealers typically place orders months in advance making it hard for them to modify the order for fewer vehicles . By the time the order is changed it has already hit the dock and now becomes excess inventory for the manufacture.Read More...
Over and over, as I watched Rick Wagoner, Alan Mulally, Bob Nardelli and Ron Gettelfinger stumble and pause their way through two days of erratic questioning by U.S. Senate and House committees in Washington, D.C., I kept thinking the same thought.
These guys don't get it.
They're trying to win a $25-billion lifeline of loans for Detroit's auto industry by appealing to the minds of Americans with logic and dense facts and figures -- but the only shot they've got is to...
Nov19
WASHINGTON – A Democratic Congress, unwilling or unable to approve a $25 billion bailout for Detroit's Big Three, appears ready to punt the automakers' fate to a lame-duck Republican president.
Caught in the middle of a who-blinks-first standoff are countless manufacturing firms and auto dealers — and millions of Americans' jobs.
For now, with the plan headed for a roadblock in the Senate, lawmakers in both parties are engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken, posi...
I am sick and tired of hearing about the Big three Auto Makers begging for money!! I love how the talks went from making better cars for the consumer to begging for handouts from the US Government! I haven’t seen one article on improving operations and changing the type of product they make in the past 5 weeks. It has turned to desperate attempts to get money from daddy! Unless these companies start reinventing themselves they are going to fail. Making prod...
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Proposals to give U.S. automakers $25 billion in funds from the Treasury's financial-market rescue package are "unnecessary and unreasonable," the White House said Tuesday, stiffening its opposition to legislation introduced by top Democrats this week.
"We're going to draw the line at the $25 billion that has already been appropriated," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, referring to the Department of Energy loan program designed to ...
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. auto company executives today will make their plea for government aid for the second straight day, as prospects for a Democratic-backed assistance plan waned.
General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Richard Wagoner, Ford Motor Co.'s Alan Mulally and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler LLC are scheduled to testify today at a House Financial Services Committee hearing after telling a Senate panel yesterday that they need $25 billion to keep operating.
A plan by ...
Nov18
Ford officially releases its control over Mazda by selling off 20% of its shares and putting a little over $540 Million dollars into its pockets. The sale reduces Ford’s share’s from 33.4% to 13.4% The shares are being sold back to Mazda Motor Co. at 7 percent
The 13.4% will still give Ford significant leverage in their joint venture with Mazda. Ford will still remain the largest shareholder of Mazda Motor Co. and will maintain its seat on the Mazda Board of Directors
NEW MUSTANG, IS FORD NUTS!!!
If you have been looking at any of the recent reports of lately you would know that Ford stock is plummeting. As of today you can buy a share of Ford stock for the price of a cup of coffee $1.74
What is FORD thinking, less then 3 years since the last remodeling? I believe the release of the 2009 Chevy Camaro, inspired Ford to come up with a more masculine style of a muscle car. It even has a lot of the Comaro’s style hood lights and rear quar...
Nov17
Like concerned parents should we refuse to enable the US Automakers to receive their quick fix that will ultimately result in failure and or make them dependent like crack addicts begging for Handouts.
Giving money out doesn’t make your company improve; it makes your company improve the way it asks for money (hand outs). Like the US airlines, if haven’t learned our lesson from the airline industry we are crazy, the airline industry isn’t better from government ...
LOS ANGELES — General Motors' (GM) Cadillacs and Hummers may be icons of extravagance, but a cash crunch is forcing frugality on the automaker, from paper clips to auto shows.
GM puts its poverty on center stage by its obvious absence from media events at the Los Angeles Auto Show starting this week. It canceled a multiday series of events, including unveiling of a new Buick and Saab and parties and seminars around the show.
GM also has canceled the lavish, star-studded ...
Nov14
Stiff Republican Resistance Could Force Democrats to Wait for Obama and Their Party's Enlarged Majority to Take Office
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats are scaling back plans for an economic-stimulus package as partisan deadlock clouds chances for passage of either that measure or a proposed bailout of Detroit's auto makers until the party's enlarged majority convenes in January.
Former auto worker Willie Daniel leaves a United Auto Workers hall in Brook Park, Ohio, on We...
Nov13
Having WiFi is a necessity in today’s world, besides the convenience it offers endless applications.
NOW Automobile companies like Ford and Chrysler offer internet access in the car to multiple users at the same time. The WiFi access will allow drivers and passengers to check their email and make reservations and avoid traffic accidents.
But with cutting edge technology there is always a price
President-elect Barack Obama is asking a Congressional lame-duck session to approve $25 billion to $50 billion in rescue aid for Detroit’s crumbling auto industry.
He also wants to appoint a czar or board to oversee the auto industry’s rescue and reconstruction, Bloomberg reported.
Both are steep requests that would require nationwide support – from Michigan state officials all the way up to President George W. Bush. Without 60 seats...
Nov12
The effort by General Motors Corp. to secure a federal bailout faces an overlooked hurdle: skeptical politicians, policy makers and industry analysts who don't think the world's largest auto maker is capable of turning itself around.
"Detroit has had a lot of time to understand what it takes to compete. They wouldn't stand up to the labor-union bosses, and now they're facing the consequences," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a three-term Texas congressman and chairman of a group o...
President-elect Obama suggested to President Bush that the administration immediately provide extra help to struggling U.S. automakers, aides to the Democrat say, in their first face-to-face meeting since Election Day.
Obama's aides said the president-elect brought up the issue with Bush during their two-hour White House talks on Monday, expressing his view that action is needed now, not just to help the U.S. companies but also the broader economy, because of their enormous reach. Oba...
Nov11
DETROIT — The press for a federal bailout of the auto industry increased over the weekend.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the Bush administration should consider expanding the $700 billion financial rescue to include car companies.
"A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability," they wrot...
Nov10
How can I save money? Saving money is easier said then done especially in this economy. How, When and Where do I save the money and what do I do with it after I have it saved it? I have set up a realistic approach with a set of goals to keep your spending in with the Pay Yourself First Philosophy.
Mercedes Benz announced that it will be discontinuing the CLK in order to make room for a larger coupe and convertible based on the E class Mercedes Benz.The E class coupe will be released mid 2009 and the convertible will follow a year later mid 2010.The CLK was based on the previous C class and only sold 9,129 units year to date, October 2008. Significantly down from last year to over 28% loss. Some good news surprisingly the new C class jumped into the biggest volume car sold in the United...
Government Finds It Difficult to Deny Aid to Detroit in Wake of Wall Street Rescue
The auto-industry crisis is forcing a broader debate over how far the government should go to prop up ailing industries, as the Bush administration resists Democrats' request to use part of the $700 billion financial-rescue fund to aid Detroit's three struggling car makers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, in a letter Saturday, formally re...
Nov07
How the little things in life can help conserve energy and save you money in the long run Q: How can I save money? It’s as easy as changing a light bulb The incandescent light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879 scene then a lot of things have changed. We have many shapes and sizes but the new craze is compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). Because the wattage of a CFL bulb is much lower than that of an incandescent, you..
LeaseTrader.com, the nationwide online marketplace for car lease transfers, reported a 24 percent rise in customers listing their vehicle for transfer due to job loss and their desire to downsize into a more affordable car.
With the economy slamming on the brakes, a staggering amount of Americans continue to lose their jobs. Naturally, the first thing they look to do is lower their bills. LeaseTrader.com's vehicle lease transfer program allows consumers to escape a lease they can't...
Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Carlos Ghosn should focus on managing Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. through the worst auto-market slump in years as merger talks between General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC hamper his quest for a U.S. partner, investors say.
``Ghosn needs to concentrate on his companies now, because they're both suffering,'' said Koichi Ogawa, who helps manage $28 billion at Tokyo-based Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. Nissan and France's Renault should tighten the screws at home ra...
Nov06
A top General Motors Corp. (GM) executive on Wednesday said the next 100 days could represent the most crucial time in the history of the troubled company and entire U.S. auto industry.
Troy Clarke, president of GM North America, urged auto industry executives to make the case to Washington leaders that the failure of auto companies would have devastating effects on the economy.
Clarke said GM, expected to release bleak third-quarter results on Friday, is evaluating all its op...
WASHINGTON -- The chief executives of the Detroit's automakers and the UAW president are to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today to discuss the possibility of a second $25-billion loan to the companies, as General Motors Corp. prepares to report financial results Friday that will sound new alarms about the industry's need for aid.
The meeting among Pelosi and industry leaders likely will pave the way for Congress to include new loans and perhaps other aid in a new economic stimu...
Nov05
Princess Cruises Announced Earlier this week that it plans to take the monster movie screen concept fleet wide over the next 2 1/2 years
Princess Cruises pioneered the “Movie Under the Stars” concept back in 2004 with the 300 Square foot screen on top deck. Using state of the art LED screens that can work day and night.
The ships that have them already show sporting events, movies and concerts that are limited broadcasting exclusively for Princess.
As GMAC reports recorded earning losses in their third quarter, over 2.52 Billion
GMAC plans to restructure much of its debt, less than four months after completing a $60 billion refinancing. GMAC plans on become a bank holding company,
This restructuring would allow GMAC to raise needed capital to become a bank holding company, and enable it to participate in the U.S. government's plan to recapitalize banks and buy toxic assets.
It is estimated that GMAC would n...
DETROIT -- Gloom enveloping the U.S. auto industry is translating into some hot deals for car buyers.
While tough-to-get credit and a sinking economy is keeping legions of consumers out of showrooms, those able to buy are in a prime position as car makers take unprecedented steps to halt skidding sales.
"The affordability index for the auto industry is at its best level in 28 years," said Bob Carter, group vice president for Toyota Motor Corp.'s Toyota Division. &quo...
Nov04
Auto finance lenders, which include banks, lending units of auto manufacturers and independent finance companies, are facing mounting delinquencies and charge-offs, higher loss severity due to declining used car prices and rising funding costs due to the ongoing credit crisis.
Charge-offs are loans written off as not being repaid.
Beaudouin did note that ratings actions for large banks, such as Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Capital One Financial Corp. and Cit...
Ford reports a 29% drop for the month compared with last year; General Motors is down 45%. Among imports, Toyota falls 21% and Honda, 26%.
The last time auto sales were this bad, the U.S. had just gone to war in Iraq -- for the first time. Total U.S. automobile sales in October slumped to 838,156 cars and light trucks, a 32% decline from the same month last year. That's the lowest single-month sales figure since January 1991, when Operation Desert Storm began under President Ge...
Nov03
DETROIT (Dow Jones) -- The United Auto Workers union has so far said relatively little about a merger of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, but now appears set to emerge as a key player in the fate of any deal.
The union, people familiar with the matter said, recently retained a former adviser to GM Chairman Rick Wagoner to help "level the playing field" in any discussions about changes in its current contract that could be needed in a tie-up of the two auto makers.
The discussion in Washington about facilitating the merger of Chrysler and General Motors highlights the turmoil plaguing the US automobile sector. But there is also an emerging automotive finance crisis. The credit crash has triggered a precipitous decline in new car sales, caused in part by a rapid reduction in automotive financing. This in turn threatens to spark additional large write-downs in the financial sector. Rather than allow this systemic risk to spread through our entire economy,...