While America Slept. Saturday, December 6, 2008

DC turns on drip for Detroit: Congressional Democrats and the White House have reached agreement on emergency aid for US carmakers of between $15bn and $17bn, two senior congressional aides said to Financial Times. “Congressional Democrats and the White House have reached an agreement,” a senior congressional aide said. Another source said negotiators had “agreed in principle to moving ahead but details have to be worked out.” The amount is far less than the $34bn requested this week by GM, Ford, and Chrysler, but it will keep them going into next year.

Going down? BMW and Daimler plummet: Both Daimler’s Zetsche and BMW’s Reithofer definitely said “it was nice having you” to their 2008 targets, Automobilwoche (sub) reports. BMW’s worldwide November sales dropped 25.4 percent. Mercedes-Banz did even worse: 28 percent down in November. BMW had been doing O.K. for most of the year, Jan-Nov they only lost 1.8 percent. Same at Daimler: Jan-Nov minus 4 percent, then the November shock. Worst markets for Daimler are Japan (minus 46 percent,) USA (minus 30 percent,) Europe West (minus 25 percent.) Even in the Chinese growth market Daimler lost more than 10 percent. The November numbers don’t bode well for 2009.

China’s November car sales dropped 10 percent: That’s the biggest decline in more than three years, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said via Gasgoo. A previous analysis by Nomura had the November fall by 15 percent. They were wrong. With the drop in China, one of the last straws for global auto makers goes down the toilet. CAAM says vehicle deliveries in China will fall short of a 10 million unit forecast this year. 2009 should see growth between 5 and 10 percent.

Wale: GM China not on the block: GM China’s Kevin Wale put on his most optimistic face and said General Motors will not sell its assets in China, the opposite is true: They will increase investment in its China operations, Gasgoo reports. From which money, he didn’t say.

Ghosn takes over at ACEA: ACEA, the club of Europe’s car makers, has a new president. Renault-chief Carlos Ghosn takes over from Peugeot-CEO Christian Streif, says Automobilwoche (sub)

Nipponese parts makers scared: Japan’s parts makers were glued to their TV sets following the DC follies. North American sales of Japanese auto parts firms totaled $36b 2006. GM, Ford and Chrysler alone bought roughly $5b of Japanese parts. Meanwhile, in America, more than one-third of the remaining parts makers are in danger of going down. “A string of bankruptcies among these firms would disrupt production at Japanese automakers, which also rely heavily on North American suppliers,” writes The Nikkei (sub.) Honda already stocks up on parts supplied by companies at risk of bankruptcy.

Keys don’t let friends drive drunk: Siemens developed a new car key that shows you whether you are good to drive or liable to be arrested. All you have to do is blow into your new key, Automobilwoche (sub) reports. If you had one too many, the car won’t start. If this catches on, inebriated drivers will refrain from breathing at their car keys. Actually, the mere act of blowing into your key should be grounds enough for calling a cab.

Movies good, economy bad: When movie theaters are seeing double-digit growth in box office revenue, then it’s the official confirmation that we are officially in a recession. During all the recessions in the past 50 years, movie theaters have done well. True to form and in keeping with past recessions, Americans are flocking to the movies, Reuters reports. If people start taking the bicycle to Sunday matinee, then you know it’s real, real bad.