Auto Industry Archive

As 2009 gets underway, U.S. consumers are feeling like Joe Btfsplk, the character in the “Li’l Abner” cartoon with the perpetual black cloud over his head. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index hit a new low in December, at 38, according to the research organization. (The index uses 1985 = 100 as a reference point.) The index had posted a slight increase in November,...

More...

After winning its own government bailout, GMAC Financial Services repaid a $1.5 billion IOU to GM, for one month’s worth of cars and trucks. On Dec. 15, GM and GMAC disclosed in identical filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that GM would let GMAC defer payment for cars destined for GM dealers, for the month of December. On Dec. 31, the companies said GMAC had repaid the...

More...

Wise and successful automotive brands are doing everything they can to keep customers loyal now that times are tough. The other day, I advocated driving events as a way for brands as diverse as Jeep, Porsche, Ferrari and Land Rover to keep customers engaged and demonstrate value for the money. Well-executed ”lifestyle gear” is another way car companies can spin another little...

More...

South Korean automotive brands Hyundai and Kia continue to pursue an aggressive strategy to sell more cars in more product segments in the United States, and bust into the top ranks in U.S. sales volume. Kia announced Dec. 30 it will have another version of its Kia Soul model at the Detroit auto show next month. That’s fast, considering it just introduced the Kia Soul at the Los Angeles...

More...

Hyundai will have two 30-second commercials for the Genesis Coupe on the Super Bowl in February. The company said on Dec. 29 one ad will feature “precision driving” by a professional racecar driver, with music from classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The car will seem to “dance” to the music, the company said. A second ad will have a different sound track, Hyundai said....

More...

 The recent drop in fuel prices poses a risk to the auto industry’s newfound dedication to smaller, stingier vehicles, assuming people become convinced that gas prices will stay low for a while. That risk goes double for a bunch of new diesel engines becoming available in the U.S. market from German manufacturers, like the diesel-powered BMW 3 Series; Mercedes-Benz diesels in the...

More...

Two terms you don’t normally hear together are “restraint” and “auto show,” but the normally glitzy press preview for the Detroit auto show starting Jan. 11 is shaping up to be a somber affair. That’s appropriate, considering that Chrysler and GM barely avoided bankruptcy earlier this month, winning a token government bailout of the auto industry within...

More...

 Now that GMAC has won approval to become a bank holding company, it should be noted that the idea of auto-lender-as-bank isn’t entirely new. Several auto companies and their captive finance companies, including GMAC, BMW and Toyota already created pseudo-banks, mostly so they could issue credit cards. Until now, the auto lenders never took the trouble to achieve full-blown bank...

More...

The Federal Reserve approved an application from GMAC Financial Services to become a bank holding company, in turn making GMAC eligible for funds from the U.S. Treasury Department bailout of the financial services industry. If GMAC can get back in business, that would remove a big stumbling block for GM. GMAC has cut back drastically in recent months, from financing the bulk of loans and...

More...

Toyota will display a battery powered electric vehicle at the Detroit auto show next month, as well as the third-generation Toyota Prius. The introductions drive home the fact that despite Toyota’s short-term challenges, like an operating loss for the current fiscal year, other car companies wish they had Toyota’s problems. Given a virtually worldwide automotive recession, Toyota so...

More...