Bloomberg reports that GMAC has sent “Dear John” letters to an unspecified number of GM dealers. One of the missives informs GM stores that the captive financier will no longer provide them with financing to buy vehicles. “Turbulence in the markets reduced our access to funds and increased the cost of funds where available,” GMAC Chief Executive Officer Al de Molina explains. “In response, we adjusted our credit policy to reflect the reduced level of funding availability.” GMAC has also sent notification to other dealers– which could include some of the previously mentioned ones– that the franchisees will have to start repaying their loans after financed vehicles have been on lots for 180 days. Hang on; is this part of a conspiracy by GMAC’s majority owners– Chrysler-owners Cerberus Capital– to force GM to buy ChyrCo? No se. Meanwhile, more details on the changes after the jump. Meanwhile, bye-bye GM dealers. “You’re increasing their payments or you’re taking away financing altogether for a lot of dealers, which basically has the effect of shutting many of them down,” said Denny Fitzpatrick, chairman of the California New Car Dealers Association and Fitzpatrick Chevrolet Hummer in Concord, California. “Dealers just don’t have that cash lying around.”

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Here’s a press release which assumes, I suppose, that I have at least one wife who qualifies as a minority. Actually, Sam’s an African American, originating as she does from the RSA. Anyway, AutoBrag.com‘s playing the “HERE’S A STARTLING SURVEY, BUT DON’T WORRY ABOUT OUR METHODOLOGY” PR game, and playing it well. And here’s how they did it! “We sent out 87 pairs of observations [sic] to compare how the best price difference between the White Males, verse [sic] White Females, Minority Males and Minority Females to 35 Southern California new car dealerships to keep track of how each pair with different race and gender only would be treated by the salesperson. The results are astonished. [sic] The race, gender, and car make affect the price American consumers pay for their new car significantly. And, again, the differences of the best price between different race and gender are even greater if one considers the long-term financing and opportunity costs throughout the lifetime of the new car purchase.” How’s that for statistical control? Does that fact they were all “college kids” influence your opinion? Those of you who wish to get a closer look at the race card in Autobraggadoccio Danny Chan’s hand can make the jump for the results.

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Wired magazine has mailed its real world subs a “Wired How To” mini-magazine. Within its pages, they’ll discover a section entitled “Get 50 mpg in a Buick.” To achieve this remarkable gas-miserly feat, the mag recommends that hyper-mileage seeking missiles (that’s you) turn the key off when you’re coasting. There’s no warning that turning the key off will lock the steering and kill the power brakes. Admittedly, the eds suggest you “turn the key back a notch so the engine shuts down.” But I’m sure some naif will either accidentally or purposely turn the key all the way off. And even if they do it correctly, they’ll still lose power steering, which can come as a shock to a 100-pound woman (naif waif?). Wired also advises motorists looking for mythical mileage to “inch up behind an 18-wheeler and kill the engine as you enter its slipstream. You’re drafting now, getting pulled along by the truck’s gas instead of your own.” Yes, they admit it’s “dangerous.” Especially when the truck driver gets pissed and taps his brakes. And as your own binders have lost power assist with the engine off, that could be something of a problem. So, anyway, how do you change your own oil?

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Faced with one of the tightest budget crunches in its history, the state of Arizona is wasting no time in deploying its newly authorized freeway speed cameras. Redflex Traffic Systems runs the photo radar program in return for an expected cut of $20,361,300. In Phoenix, the Australian company has activated a number of fixed camera systems in the past week. Seven cameras are now active on Interstate 10, seven on the 101 and three on 51. In Mesa, three cameras are ready to begin ticketing on 60. In total, Redflex expects to deploy 100 fixed and mobile cameras. Each camera can generate thousands of $181 tickets for the state’s general fund. The state estimates that fiscal 2009 will see 428,839 citations worth $77.6 million. In the following year, the number will grow to 571,785 tickets worth $103,493,085. The state’s contract with Redflex provides an option to double the revenue by increasing the total number of cameras to 200.

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Chrysler is dead. Look for a Chapter 7 filing soon; that’s a liquidation plan, not reorganization. The judge will part-out and sell ChryCo’s few valuable assets to the highest bidders. There will be no “Hail Mary” pass to General Motors, no government rescue, no money from Cerberus to keep its corpse from the grave. Yes, the mythical three-headed dog of Hades does keep souls from escaping Hell, try as they might.

We can’t emphasize enough the importance of cupholders when choosing or enjoying you daily transportation. For one thing, they provide enormous health benefits. In terms of avoiding avoiding dehydration, cupholders are literally life-saving. Before cupholders, thousands of American motorists died of heat prostration. Many a family road trip turned to tragedy, as sweating children nodded off and expired; their parents, grateful for the silence, oblivious to their progeny’s distress. And then there’s cupholders’ positive effects on caffeination, a proven boon to overall driver alertness and ability. The preventative effects of cupholders regarding third degree burns from the aforementioned caffeinated beverages are legendary. Although the auto detailing industry has suffered from a huge decrease in spillage since the advent of the cupholder, we believe that the cupholder is landmark of human engineering and ingenuity, making our lives safer, more comfortable and convenient one Big Gulp– or Clover Burundi– at a time. In that spirit of celebration, we present to you TTAC’s top ten cupholders, as chosen by our readers in a highly scientific and entirely non-democratic process. [NB: due to programming, er, stuff, please leave your comments on this, the post's main page. Unless you feel compelled to do otherwise.]

In addition to my day job, I’m also a jazz pianist. Recently, after playing an hour of cocktail music for a swank black-tie occasion, I spied an automotive anomaly while walking to my car. The familiar face of a 1968 Mustang broke up the row of elite (or elitist?) German and Japanese iron in the valet lot. “Ah,” I thought poetically, “an oasis of sincerity in a desert of automotive pretense.” But then I noticed the rectangular grill-mounted fog lamps and the lack of a pony emblem. Drawing closer, I realized that I stood before the height of Sixties automotive fluff: a 1968 Mustang GT California Special. The “sincerity” part of my previous thought immediately sprouted hooves and sauntered away.

VeeDub in Germany has just issued their numbers for the past nine months of 2008. Viewed through the prevailing “the world is coming to an end” perspective, VW’s financial results are financial pornography, performing better than the male lead in a Russ Meyer movie. We’re talking a 15 percent gain, a money shot of more than $6b pretax. From January to September 2008, VW moved 4.8m units and grabbed a 10.1 percent share of the world market, according to the usually reliable Automobilwoche [sub]. Despite of what’s happening elsewhere in the piston business, Volkswagen’s CFO Hans-Dieter Pötsch stands by his bullish guidance for 2008: the predicted numbers will come true. Elsewhere, China’s automakers have also released profit reports for the third quarter.

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“A bankruptcy of any of the Big Three could be even worse, a harsh reality considered unthinkable a year ago.” So says Detroit Columnist Daniel Howes in his latest column– despite having discussed (and dismissed) GM’s C11 with me two years ago. As proof that a year is an eon in politics, presidential candidate Barack Obama is promising personal intervention in Detroit’s downfall, telling a TV interviewer that he would meet with all the parties concerned, without preconditions. “Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said in a TV interview that if he were elected president, he would meet immediately with the heads of Detroit’s automakers and the UAW to discuss a strategy to make the industry globally competitive. ‘The notion that we can’t compete in an industry that we created I think is, you know, unacceptable. And not only that, but you’ve got an entire Midwest, Ohio, Michigan, big chunks of Indiana, parts of my home state of Illinois, that — the entire fabric of those, those states’ economies are built around the auto industry,’ Obama said, according to a transcript from NBC News.” I wonder what they’ll talk about *cough* bailout *cough*. Meanwhile, the DetN acknowledges our last story: the White House says a GM – Chrysler merger subsidy isn’t on the cards. But the hometown paper claims GM hasn’t given up.

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“Earlier this week, industry sources said GM had asked for roughly $10 billion in an unprecedented government rescue package to support its acquisition of Chrysler from Cerberus Capital Management LP,” Automotive News [sub] reports. Today, we learn that “The U.S. Treasury Department is not negotiating with General Motors and the owners of Chrysler LLC on a request to provide direct government aid to their proposed merger, a Bush administration official said today.” Uncle Sam’s reluctance to grease the deal’s wheels puts it in serious doubt. As in kills it dead. Which raises a familiar question: what the Hell was the point of this merger thing, anyway? There are two main theories. 1) GM viewed Chrysler as a cash grab and 2) GM is/was/wanted to position itself for a massive federal bailout. Proponents of theory two suggested that the feds strongly favored a GM – Chrysler merger so they could then bailout two Dodos with one stone (or something like that), and “save” Chrysler’s jobs. When it became clear that no such jobs rescue was possible, the Treasury balked. Assuming the American Leyland deal doesn’t go down, all that’s left for Chrysler is Chapter 7 liquidation. Yesterday’s Wild Ass Rumor of the Day– which had GM and Renault/Nissan carving-up Chrysler– could well be ChryCo’s pre-C7 valuation process. As for GM, one way or another, they’ll get their own damn bailout. Too big so they failed is still seen in D.C. as too big too fail. At least until the election’s over…