The Senate Banking Committee set its hearing for a proposed auto-industry bailout for Dec. 4. The Senate hearing is parallel to a similar hearing on Dec.5 before the House Financial Services Committee. The House committee scheduled its hearing previously. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate committee, simply called the hearing, “The State of the Domestic Automobile Industry:...
Auto Industry Archive
November 2008
Nissan North America changed its mind about having a display at the Chicago Auto Show in February. According to a spokesman for the Chicago Auto Trade Association, which produces the show, Nissan decided late on Nov. 26 to have a Chicago display, after all. The trade association cited this statement from Nissan: “At the national level, Nissan North America decided to withdraw from both...
The Wall Street Journal characterized the fresh dispute between Daimler and Cerberus over Chrysler as “open warfare.” That’s overstating the case, but the fight has the makings of a nasty dispute, with roots dating back to the first days of the turnover of Chrysler from Daimler to Cerberus. Cerberus bought 80.1 percent of Chrysler for about $7.2 billion in August 2007. In...
Top Ten Reasons to be Thankful, U.S. Auto Industry Version: 1. Gas prices are down: According to AAA, the national average for regular unleaded was about $1.85 per gallon on Thanksgiving Day, down from about $3.01 a year earlier. True, it may not last, but just imagine for a moment if it had kept climbing after it hit $4. 2. The election is over, and Obama won: The uncertainty surrounding...
The downturn in U.S. auto sales has evolved to the point where many consumers are simply sitting on their wallets. At first, gas prices were the big problem. Consumption fell slightly, and gas prices have fallen a lot. Yet overall, people still aren’t buying cars. Scarce credit was, and to a great extent still is, the big problem. Even the most credit-worthy customers are finding it...
Daimler AG went public today with what sounds like a potentially ugly dispute with Cerberus over Chrysler. Cerberus bought 80.1 percent of Chrysler for about $7.2 billion in August 2007, undoing the DaimlerChrysler merger, which took place back in 1998. In September, the two companies disclosed they were in negotiations for Cerberus to acquire the remaining 19.9 percent of Chrysler. Meanwhile,...
The House Financial Services Committee set a Dec. 5 hearing to review revised turnaround plans from Ford, GM and Chrysler. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., called the hearing, “Review of Industry Plans to Stabilize the Financial Condition of the American Automobile Industry.” That at least narrows the scope of the hearing. Last week, the Detroit Big Three ran into severe criticism on a...
Luxury automotive brands have a reputation for being “last-in, first-out,” of a recession. That’s not quite the same as being recession-proof, as Porsche AG illustrated in a Nov. 25 announcement that it is cutting eight days worth of production through the end of January, on top of normal holidays. “Even Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, cannot escape the current...
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded Ford Motor Co. recently to the same “CCC+” rating as General Motors and Chrysler, despite Ford’s recent efforts to play up the fact that it is in better shape financially than it crosstown rivals. To an extent, Standard & Poor’s agrees that Ford’s greater liquidity is an advantage, said credit analyst...
Chinese automakers are coming to the Detroit auto show in January, but reflecting hard times in the U.S. market, Nissan Motor Co. and some other brands are going to skip it, according to published reports. Before the current crisis, it would have been unthinkable to skip the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, without at least a token presence. Automakers have scaled back their...
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