Automotive Press Imitates Real Estate Drivel
Have you ever opened a real estate magazine and read “House prices suck. They’re going to get worse. Stay away from real estate”? Obviously not. It’s a perspective problem shared by the American automotive press, whose Panglossian reviews rankle anyone who wants the truth about cars. Yada, yada, yada. Advertising. Unfortunately, the non-critical kudzu is starting to spread. We’ve already blogged the Motown-friendly press’ straw-grasping predictions for a sales recovery. I’d kinda assumed they’d pipe down after December’s debacle. Sigh. “Despite doomsday auto sales forecasts for 2009, promising signs continue to emerge about early January sales in the United States and their potential for growth.” The Detroit Free Press isn’t free, and this is not what I call the press. “Pent-up demand for new vehicles grew to 820,000 new cars and trucks last year, as consumers continued to wait out the dismal economic environment before making a new purchase, according to a report released Monday by CNW Marketing Research. That’s nearly four times as high as pent-up demand was in 2007, CNW said, and the research firm predicted that ‘the bulk of those postponements are slated to return to market in 2009.'” And now, a reality check…
“[GM COO Fritz] Henderson said January auto sales are shaping up no better than last month,” The Wall Street Journal reports, “when GM’s sales fell 31%.”
OK, back to the Gallactica.
“Cars.com, a consumer automotive Web site, is reporting an uptick in traffic that could signal that consumers who were taking a wait-and-see approach to car buying because of the economy might now be coming back to market.
“‘I am having a much better start in January than I thought I would have,’ said Carl Galeana, owner of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Saturn and Kia dealerships. ‘I may have a better January than December.'”
Could. May. How about expect?
“‘We expect to see a recovery start sometime in the second half’ of the year, Lewis Booth, Ford’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in an interview with the Free Press last week.”
The Freep closes the article with a realistically downbeat quote, but the un-damage is not done. Same time next month?
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"I’m just waiting to watch a couple of Land Cruisers drive into Renaissance Center and pull down the statue of Rick Wagoner on CNN." RedStapler, would that be Toyota or Studebaker Land Cruisers?
Investing in anything that devalues has "strings" attached. The government knows how to devalue any monetary possession while holding it. Cars, Houses, Art, etc. Only things in limited supply have constant demand. For instance, cars will never be valuable except to people who find them valuable. Some people could care less about cars and wouldn't pay a nickle for a '69 Corvette...but they might buy gold or real estate and vice-versa. Land doesn't change, gold, silver, precious stones, and items in limited supply. In other words finite commodities. I like what Allen said, buy a house and the price will eventually recover.