#Sub-primeLending

“Mr. Smith?” The Finance and Insurance manager, a genial but tired-looking man, stuck his head outside the door of his office.

“Yes?” Mr. Smith, known more affectionately as “Dad” to his two children, and “John” to his wife and friends, jumped nervously to his feet.

“My name is Andy Marshall. It’s my job to walk our customers through our financing process. Please, come into my office and let’s talk a bit.”

A study of A.T. Kearney Management Consultants (for what such a study is worth) foresees that 13.2 million cars will be sold in the U.S. this year. It could be more, but the consultants reckon that “in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, parts shortages will impact 2011 U.S. new vehicle sales by 200,000 units.” In the disaster, A.T. Kearney sees a golden opportunity: “Given what we know about production downtime, in 2011 we see 328,000 U.S. customers of the affected brands up for grabs, and more if the time to wait for a particular brand begins to extend.”