GM Pays HUMMER Dealers Big Bucks to Go Away
While some of TTAC's Best and Brightest adopt a "rot in Hell" stance regarding HUMMER's imminent demise, pity the poor dealers. Speaking with Automotive News…
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GM Floats UK CO2 Extortion Scheme
When it comes to government-mandated corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) regs, I'm with GM Car Czar Bob Lutz. It's like forcing a clothing maker to sell sm…
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GM On The Hook for $1b+ in GMAC Lease Losses
From GM's 10k filing… "Under the residual support program, the customers’ contractual residual value is adjusted above GMAC’s standard res…
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Not So Wild-Ass Rumor of the Day: GM to Stop Leasing On Monday
We hear from various sources that GM is about to follow Chrysler's lead and stop leasing its vehicles in the North American market. The move is not entirely…
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Bailout Watch 7: Will Ford Bailout Go Up In a Flash of Genius?
Ignorance is a bankable commodity. When Bear Stearns stepped-up to the federal begging bowl, the average U.S. taxpayer had no idea who the Hell they were, why they needed money, and whether or not they should get it. Still doesn't. But if/when Ford eventually asks Uncle Sam to open your purse, it may not have what you'd call a winning plot line. Ford's good will with the public has often gone up in smoke (Pinto) or rolled over and died (Explorer). There's another PR debacle looming over the horizon: Flash of Genius. The movie paints a bleak moral picture of the artist once known as the inventor of the working class hero-mobile. We'll be sure to explore whether or not it's accurate in future posts. Meanwhile, make no mistake: it doesn't matter. Except that it does. And will. [thanks to katiepuckrick for the tip]
TTAC Called It: Toyota Raises Prices. A Bit.
In General Motors Death Watch 182, I reported on GM's decision to squeeze a little more blood from the stone known as U.S. sales, by raising their product pr…
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GM Offers Non-Employees Employee Discounts
GM's June sales stats were on the catastrophic side of dire. But they would have been a lot worse if not for the automaker's end-of-the-month zero percent fi…
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Ford Loses $8.7b in Q2
And there you have it. The hit from Hell, sucking the life out of FoMoCo. Automotive News brings the noise. "In the financial report, Ford said that it too…
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Ford's Cheerleaders Warming-Up for the Big Defeat
Of The Big 2.8, there's no question that Ford has the best chance of emerging from America's Summer of Shiva, uh, intact. But that doesn't mean they will, or…
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News From the Front: Ford Stops Flex Production, Scales Back Edge
Our contacts at Ford tell us there's big trouble brewing for The Blue Oval Boys. Two independent sources report that FoMoCo is ceasing production of the fres…
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Mercury Lives! Brand to Sell Small Cars. Or Not.
Nestled in a New York Times article about Ford's fight for survival– switching production to small cars, building world cars, reporting epic losses on…
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ChryCo CEO Denies No Free Credit (Report Dot Com Baby)
In an email to the troops [obtained by The Detroit News], Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli's denying The Wall Street Journal report that ChryCo's re-fi of $30b of short-term, car-loan-backed debt may not go down. If that happens– I mean, doesn't happen– Chrysler dealers will find themselves in that special place where they have no attractive deals to offer on their unattractive vehicles. Nardelli said pay no attention to that banker behind that curtain. "As is customary for many auto finance companies, this renewal process takes place every year. We will continue to offer competitive financing and lease options for our customers and dealers." A dealer worries. "We knew something was going on with Chrysler Financial, but we didn't know what," reveals Alan Helfman, owner of Rivers Oaks Chrysler Jeep in Houston. "It's a big-time concern, because there is a copious amount of deals that I can't get done today that last year I could make a phone call and they'd be willing to work with us." Perspective people! "If the demand for your products is there," says George Magliano, automotive analyst with Global Insight Inc. "You don't have to worry as much about offering a great deal." Which is exactly why Helfman and his fellow store owners are scared to death.
GM Secret Branding Team Exposed!
Three years. That's how long an eight-member GM hit squad's been working on defining The General's eight North American brands. Let's start at the end of Th…
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GM: "Have I No Friend Will Rid Me of This Living Fear?"
Ever since GM CEO Rick Wagoner announced his first turnaround plan (turn around while I pocket $100m), Wall Street and the mainstream media have reacted posi…
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Chrysler Retirees Face the Big B
The Detroit News reports that 150 Chrysler white collar retirees attended the first meeting of the National Chrysler Retirement Organization. The meeting co…
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GM Dealers Buy $1m of Stock The Day Before CEO's Press Conference
Automotive News reports that members of GM's national dealer council purchased more than 107k GM shares on July 14. The store owners claim the million dolla…
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Bailout Watch 6: Freddy, Fannie and Detroit
In his most recent GM Deathwatch, RF raised the specter of "Bailout Fatigue." The Detroit News' Gordon Trowbridge agrees. Their man in Washington says to the…
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GM CFO: "It's Fair to Say There's No Crisis Here"
Fair and… mentally balanced? I'm not so sure. But one thing is certain: there's a new spinmeister in town. Speaking with Automotive News , GM Chief F…
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Bailout Watch 5: Obama– "GM Would Thrive Under the Right Policies"
Does that include big-ass tax credits for Chevy's plug-in hybrid electric – gas Volt? Federal loan guarantees? I'm thinking… yes. But Barack ain…
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GM Not Declaring Bankruptcy Tomorrow
GM's given the media a heads-up that CEO Rick Wagoner is about to outline "actions to better align the business to the current market conditions" (i.e. revea…
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Cerberus – Chrysler: Still Sitting in a Tree?
To paraphrase an old expression, it stops being funny when it starts costing you billions. And make no mistake about it: Cerberus' investment in Chrysler has…
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Fleet Queen Chrysler Asks Dealers for Advanced Small Car Warning
As a privately held company, Chrysler doesn't have to tell anyone anything. But in an enterprise as vast and well-charted as the American automobile industry…
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Ford RWD Program "On The Bubble"
The "bubble" is the point in a poker tournament where the next player out will not win any money– but the rest of the players will. A player "on the bu…
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Terry Box Nails GM's Coffin
Even though I disagree with him more often than not, I like Terry Box's writing. If such a thing is rhetorically possible, The Dallas News car correspondent…
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S&P 100 Drops GM, Dow Jones Next?
The S&P 100 is the most widely watched index of large-cap US stocks. It's a bellwether for the U.S. economy, a vital component of the Index of Leading Indica…
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Chrysler, GM Deny Threat of Bankruptcy
If GM and Chrysler were healthy, they wouldn't have anything to deny, would they? But they do. And so they have. In so doing, GM CEO Rick Wagoner provided th…
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NYT: "Bankruptcy is Not Unthinkable for Detroit's Former King"
You'd think we were back in second grade, what with all this "not" stuff. New York Times Op Editorialist Roger Lowenstein joins celebrity stock picker (and f…
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DetN Refutes Denial of GM Brand Termination
So now, without referring ONCE to GM's point blank denial of the Wall Street Journal article claiming the automaker was considering chopping brands and firin…
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Volt Birth Watch 62: "GM Readies Volt Unveiling to Shift Focus From Crisis"
GM wants to have a production version of its plug-in electric – gas hybrid Chevrolet Volt ready in time for its centennial this September. Automotive N…
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GM Denies WSJ Brand Termination Story
Huh. There can only be three explanations. One: The Wall Street Journal was seriously duped by a stock manipulator or a member of one of GM's warring faction…
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Freep's Phelan Picks-Up the Pom-Poms
Last week, we remarked that the Motown media had finally put down the pom-poms. The Detroit Free Press' Mark Phelan seems determined to prove us wrong. First…
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"Hogwash, Absolutely Not Being Considered at All. Absolutely No Relevance. I Don't Even Want to Entertain Those Questions"
Doth Chrysler President and Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda protest a possible C11 filing too much? You be the judge. Meanwhile, step forward JPMorgan auto analyst…
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GM's Not Beat Yet; Launches Disinformation Campaign
Scanning the blogs as we do, Frank and I often sense the cold dead hand of automotive PR. Predictable patterns emerge. For example, GM saves bad news for Fri…
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MLE = "Major Liquidity Event"
I would have gone with Major Investor Liquidity Fuck-Up. But I suppose MILF's already taken. Anyway, The Detroit Free Press is waking-up and smelling the cof…
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GM's Cheerleaders Put Down Their Pom-Poms
"We continue to question whether GM will be able to sustain eight different brands and over 13,000 franchises with less than 20 percent market share." TTAC?…
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Supplier Fallout Continues: Polywheels Is Toast
Ontario's struggling manufacturing sector took another blow yesterday. CNews reports that Oakville, Ont-based automotive supplier Polywheels has shut down in…
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Merrill Lynch: GM Bankruptcy "not Impossible"
Red Sox fans will recognize this "not impossible nightmare" as the inverse of their team's fabled 1967 season. The rest of us will see it as a fancy way for…
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GM's 14-Day 72-Hour Sale Explained
Jalopnik poses a pertinent question– at least for semantically-minded pistonheads. How can GM "extend" a 72-hour sale into a 14-day event? Andrew Stoy…
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GM 72-Hour Giveaway May Prop-Up June Sales
We're getting reports from the front line that GM's 72-hour sale is a success– of sorts. One dealer reports that business was so brisk that both the De…
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E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Ethanol Suppliers Go Belly-Up
While we wait for automaker bankruptcy filings, we have a little schadenfreude from a different (but equally deserving) sector to keep you going. Reuters re…
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Plastech Redux: GM Wants C11 Supplier's Tooling– Or Another Shutdown
In 2001, GM named Progressive Progressive Molded Products supplier of the year. Boston investment firm Thomas H. Lee Partners bought Progressive in 2004. Wit…
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Ford Shopping Volvo To Renault and Dongfeng. Or Not.
Last we heard, Ford tried to shop Volvo to China's SAIC. Now Automotive News reports that The Blue Oval Boys are trying to dump sell its troubled Swedish…
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Connect the Dots: Oil Up; GM and Ford Shares WAY Down
The perfect storm we predicted is rapidly approaching hurricane force. Whether or not you believe Motown's automakers could have predicted the soaring price…
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Plastech Tried to Hide Greed, Nepotism, Expense Account Fraud
You may recall the Plastech debacle. Chrysler's interior supplier got bailouts from ChryCo, then filed for Chapter 11. ChryCo tried to swoop down and take th…
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Ford's Fields: "We Are Reacting Quickly. We Are Reacting More Quickly Than We Ever Had in the Past"
Back in the 70's former TTAC columnist Brock Yates coined the term Grosse Point Myopia: the tendency of Detroit's execs to use each other for their frame of…
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TTAC Called It: Mainstream Media Catches On To Detroit's Cash Burn
We've been sounding the alarm on Detroit's liquidity "challenges" even before the automaker's began their most recent "turnaround" efforts. Before I relate A…
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Wild Ass Rumor of the Day: Chrysler C11 Between July 7 – Aug. 3
“We have a model that is buy, fix and hold,” Timothy Price, managing director of Cerberus, told the Financial Times last Thursday. “It is n…
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J.D. Power on June Sales: GM -26.2% Ford -31.4%, Chrysler -30.1%
Automotive News reports that the Wall Street Journal has got a hold of a J.D. Power report on June's sales stats. As you can see above, it ain't pretty. I…
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Bailout Watch 4: McCain on Detroit Bailout– "I'm Afraid Not"
Whatever else you can say about White House hopeful John McCain– and you're going to say lots– the guy's got a set. Followers of our E85 coverage…
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Chrysler on C11: "We Are Categorically Denying This"
Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan wants the world to know that her employer isn't going to file for bankruptcy. "This rumor is false and without merit whatso…
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TTAC Called It: Toyota to Hike Prices
First, this was an easy call. Commodity costs have jumped significantly in the last year, eating into Toyota's– and everyone else's– profits. Sec…
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Is GM About to Kill Saturn?
GMInsideNews says that the 2010 Saturn Aura, a clone of Opel's new Insignia midsize sedan, is on hold. GM has already shipped much of the tooling to the Kan…
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Ford Burning Through $20b?
Can that be right? The last time we checked it was $16b. If Ford's tearing through $20b though to the end of '09, what do you think GM's conflagration looks…
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Wagoner to Obama: D2.8's "relatively Weak Balance Sheets" Require Federal Assistance
Fresh from their closed door meeting– which included Ford CEO Alan Mulally– presidential hopeful Barack Obama and GM CEO Rick Wagoner took the st…
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Jim Cramer: GM "joins the List of Unthinkables"
From unsinkable to unthinkable. But there it is; stock picking guru Jim Cramer says GM is headed for Chapter 11. Yes, The General "joins the list of unthinka…
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Forbes' Flint: "GM Has Some Great Executives"
Forbes' columnist Jerry Flint is at it again. This time 'round he's saying what he said l ast time 'round: the feds need to give Detroit a holiday from fuel…
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Financial Market Waking-Up to GM Default
Several of TTAC's Best and Brightest sent us links to today's Wall Street Journal article "GM Slates Sweeping Rebates As Toyota Closes In on No. 1." That's b…
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GM Stock Tanks: How the Mighty Hath Fallen
In the latest GM Death Watch, RF points out that GM is dancing on the point of a spear. The LA Times puts it into a different perspective. After the stock ma…
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Warren Brown on Escalade Hybrid: "I Am Questioning Their Sanity — and Mine"
Washington Post columnist Warren Brown shares his thoughts on last week's Escalade Hybrid (EH) press conference. Not suprisingly, Warren's aware that now my…
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Autoblog: "Retail Issues Aside, HUMMER Still Offers Capable Vehicles With a High Level of Style"
Retail issues aside? Like, um, the fact that GM's pulled the plug on the brand, assuring depreciation that would give a Maserati buyer the Willies? While I h…
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