500 All Electric BMW Mini's to be leased next year...

BMW has just announced that it will be test piloting a program which will lease 500 All Electric Mini vehicles called the Mini E in California, New Jersey, New York.

The vehicles will be powered by lithium-ion batteries that have a range of 150 miles with a maximum speed of 95 mph and will go 0-60 in 8.5 seconds.

The vehicles will have the ability to be charged overnight or a special high speed wall box charger will be able to charge the batteries in 2.5 hours. The initial test vehicles will be two seaters because of the space that is needed to house the battery pack.

The vehicles will be leased for $850.00 per month which will include all maintenance.
BMW has committed itself to producing energy efficient vehicles and reducing emissions on the road.

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That Car Guy

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BYD Hybrid Vehicle... Warren Buffet invest $230 million dollars into company...

Warren Buffet just dropped $230 million dollars for ten percent of BYD a Chinese Battery maker and Hybrid powertrain manufacturer.

It looks as if BYD is making a push to bring a dual mode hybrid vehicle to market much sooner than expected. BYD has had a launch date of 2010 for its vehicles and have not announced plans for the U.S. market. However it has been reported that it has had some of the most extensive testing of it's batteries and vehicles in China.

The batteries have a range of 62 miles and will last 300,000 miles before needing replaced, the company claims.

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That Car Guy

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Thomas Jefferson quote from 1802...

Quote of the Week: "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

~Thomas Jefferson 1802

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That Car Guy

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Who is running this financial mess... The people want to know...

My Thought and Opinions!

The automotive news stories are flying fast and furious, whether its auto manufacturer news, auto retailing news, auto dealership news, auto consumer news, auto financing news, how gas prices are effecting the sale of trucks, hybrid electric vehicle news and the list goes on and on.

But this financial crisis is gripping everyone in this great nation of ours. I cannot remember a point in history where so much is riding on our U.S. Treasury Department to get this credit crisis right, but my gut is telling me its going to get it wrong and someone else down the line of elected officials will have to get it right or the market will make the adjustments after a slow painful period of time. I hope I am wrong.

I have watched the national media outlets and the Internet to try and discern what is going on and I have reached the conclusion that our Government has not figured out that business is the driving force of America and the millions of wage earners who work for those businesses.

When I see our U.S. Government bailing out the financial markets who have fleeced its shareholders and now the taxpayers because they have duped everyone into believing that there balance sheets were fine by packaging bad loans (not just mortgages) into AAA rated securities that our U.S. Government had lax regulations over, it makes no sense to me without providing incentives for businesses whose life's blood is having access to credit to purchase goods, inventories, provide credit for there customers and it goes on. As these lenders who have been bailed out and who did not practice good lending policies are now not lending to credit worthy businesses and ordinary citizens is nothing short of preposterous. And for our government to think that by not enforcing a more stringent requirement for these lenders to make loans to those credit worthy businesses is tragic not only for the business but for there employees who are the very men and women who will be bailing out these financial institutions with there tax payments.

Who is running this mess, it appears that our government has had to hire the same Wall Street financiers who created the mess, because they are the only ones who understand it. Wouldn't it have made since for the Treasury Department at some point in time check out those securities and balance sheets more thoroughly particularly with all the newly developed security instruments that these large finance, insurance and banking institutions were putting on there books in recent years at an alarming rate.

With the auto industry not set to recover any time soon , even with gas at less than $70.00 a barrel today, some additional stimulus is needed to assist those who will be bailing these large banking institutions out. I read a commentary recently on a another auto industry news site and a regular citizen stated why not restore the IRS auto loan interest deduction to ease some pain for consumers. Or look into tax relief for those purchasing a new vehicle over the next year, there are probably many more ideas that have a legitimate shot at stimulating things but nothing will move until the financial markets loan to Mr. and Mrs. Business Owner and Mr. and Mrs. Customer who have paid there bills on time and are now cut out of the financial marketplace.

Hears a thought why not take action with our money by taking a hard look at Wall Street and its practices of shorting stocks (manipulating) and outlandish cash incentives paid to executives and staff who are playing with other peoples money. Particularly now when we know that those incentives were paid with a padded balance sheet and negative profitability.

Now understand that I am all for people making money and lot's of it, I have no problem with healthy profits and folks earning high wages, I have a problem with the inflated, fraudulent practice of paying and rewarding businesses, financial institutions and individuals on a fictitious financial statement.

Until small business owners and the citizens of this great country demand accountability from our regulatory agencies, our elected officials and of themselves (greed is alive and well) we will be forced to relive this painful episode again, WAKE UP AMERICA! GET INVOLVED!

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That Car Guy

Check out this link from Newsweek:
Hirsh: Make Big Banks Pay for Financial Crash Newsweek Voices - Michael Hirsh Newsweek.com

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How lenders are responding to delinquent auto loans... The repo man is giving you a little more time...

Banks and Finance companies are rethinking their repossession strategy, the current financial crisis and lower wholesale values have prompted them to wait a little longer to pick up your ride.

As reported by MSNBC.com

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That Car Guy

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GMAC will not make loans to customers who's credit score is below a 700 beacon score...

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!

GMAC Financial Services has just announced that it will no longer lend money to prime credit customers who's credit score falls below a 700 beacon score.

In a move that will cast a large cloud over the already shaky footing of car dealers across the nation, this move will surely leave most dealers scrambling for alternative sources to assist in financing their customers. This latest move by GMAC is designed because of a lack of access to funds from the global capitol and credit markets.

GMAC has also suspended some sales bonuses to dealers for its highest volume "Platinum" dealers. While only a small percentage of dealer's business, these moves represent the latest curtailment of the fallout from the global financial crisis gripping the U.S. economy.

With these current changes in policy, those GM dealers already facing difficulty with selling cars are getting another death blow by GMAC and General Motors. This move will effect about 1 in 4 customers walking in a typical dealership seeking financing according to recent reports. What that means another 25% of customers who would have probably been provided financing by GMAC will not get financing in an already troubled retail marketplace for car dealers.

What troubles me even more for the retail auto industry particularly for the captive finance arms of GM, Ford and Chrysler is that these finance sources for dealers are their life blood.

In turbulent times the captive has been their for auto dealerships for years when banks or other lenders turned their backs and concentrated on other areas of the banking business. Captive finance companies sole customer were auto dealers, however the writing on the wall is becoming clearer, everyman (or dealership) has to be for themselves.

Dealers wake up for the sake of your businesses and employees, and let your manufacturer know that it is in their best interest to continue to support your efforts in retailing vehicles, to many livelihoods are at stake in this matter. If you don't do it no one will do it for you, in order for you to sell vehicles you have to have access to financing and this current financial crisis is hitting you harder than ever in your checkbook. You cannot survive on customers with 700 beacon scores or higher, don't wait act now by contacting your manufacturer, your captive finance company (GMAC, etc.), your congressman and other elected officials.

If you wait, it may be to late, you have to have a stimulus to get the credit market moving for the auto industry. The focus has been on residential mortgages when the focus should be wider to focus on other sectors, like the retail auto industry, commercial real estate and others. When these sectors become crippled we will be in a recession for a long, long time, as I always say, don't wait, don't hesitate or it may be to late!

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That Car Guy

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Auto Dealerships are getting hit hard by the economy...

Tough times for Chevy dealer

Check out the video from MSNBC above...

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Chevrolet Volt may get a 100mpg rating if the EPA approves of proposed testing formula...

The Chevrolet Volt may get a 100 mpg. rating, which would be a first in the world of mass produced vehicles. General Motors is requesting from the EPA, for regulatory purposes, to declare the Volt an electric vehicle. The California Air Resources Board has given the Volt preliminary certification as an electric vehicle, according to Rob Peterson, a GM spokesperson.

If given the 100 mpg rating, it would provide a strong and valuable marketing benefit for GM and be a boost for compliance and fuel economy standards.

Typically, a vehicle would be tested on a EPA test loop, that would consist of city and highway driving, to measure tailpipe emissions and pollutants and provide necessary data for calculating fuel economy. However for electric vehicles that have not emissions, the government uses a Department of Energy mathematical formula to translate energy use into an equivalent of miles per gallon of gasoline.

Using the above described formula, the all-electric Tesla Roadster, as an example gets a 244 mpg rating for the government's corporate average fuel economy program.

The Chevrolet Volt is a plug in electric hybrid, which GM describes as a "range-extended" electric. The vehicle due out in 2010 is designed to go 40 miles on all-electric power. Then a small internal combustion engine would engage to extend the range. It does not appear as reported that the test loop would provide an accurate measure of the Volt emissions and fuel economy.

A government official who wanted anonymity said that declaring the Volt an electric would not paint a true picture of the vehicle.

Rob Peterson, a GM spokesperson said that if the Volt would be certified as an electric, the GM engineers could fully utilize the powertrain's calibration for testing against that classification.

The Society of Automotive Engineers would not classify the Volt as a electric vehicle. The Society of Automotive Engineers classifies and defines a hybrid as having two sources of of energy, like gasoline and electric, of which the Volt has.

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That Car Guy

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Smart car gets even Smarter... Daimler is testing 100 battery powered Smart ED's...

Daimler is testing 100 Smart ED in and around Berlin, Germany just in time for the Paris Motor Show. The Smart ED (ED stands for electric drive) has a range of 90 miles on a charge, Berlin has several charging stations positioned around Berlin, Germany to accommodate the testing. Utility company RWE has or will be installing 500 electric charging stations throughout the city.

Daimler had been doing some real world testing in London, England since 2007 as the project has been in development for some time. In addition a diesel version of the Smart vehicle has been available for some time now and boast the lowest carbon dioxide emissions of any available production vehicle worldwide, according to Daimler.

The production schedule for the Smart ED is planned for the end of 2009 as the vehicle continues certain internal testing and fine tuning of other components to meet production version standards. The initial roll out will be limited at first and then go into full production, the company has not disclosed it's sales forecast for the model.

The company did disclose that it will begin selling a Smart two-seater in China starting in mid 2009 and expand as the market dictates and supplies increase.

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That Car Guy

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Expect to see more Retail Auto Dealerships closing in the coming months...

With tightening credit markets and poor consumer confidence, the retail auto industry will forever be changed. In a market in which a perfect storm as some have described of recession aided influence, your local Chevy, Ford and Chrysler store will be hurt the hardest.

It is currently been reported that 1 in 5 car dealerships will be closing over the next 2 - 3 months, that is nearly 4,000 dealerships across the nation. A staggering number considering the number of employees those dealerships employ and the Real Estate involved with these closings.

It has long been known that sales per outlet for GM, Ford and Chrysler stores have performed way under same store sales as compared with import stores, especially Toyota and Honda. Industry consolidation has been put on the back burner because of product issues and cash flow for the manufacturer, so natural financial attrition has reared it's head and the stores in poor performing markets will soon be gone forever.

The financial bailout that is helping Wall Street will not help this situation and I believe most people want to keep people employed and this bailout does nothing for that. What this bailout does is keep the financiers in business while working class individuals will be on the unemployment line. This crisis is only the beginning of a slow down that has been in the making for quite some time, going back over 2 years. I want to say with clarity that the bailout will not loosen access to capitol to small business, the requirements will be fundamentally tougher as we move forward period. As a result of a continued decline in real estate values and low consumer spending for an extended period of time which will take a while to recover, I predict that a turnaround will take quite some time. We should start to see some stress reduced sometime in the third quarter of 2009 with the economy breaking loose in 2010. Primarily what will be the distress in the commercial real estate markets, which no one is talking about, since the emphasis on the current crisis is with residential markets, is the catalyst for the extended recession.

When you look at the amount of dealership real estate that will be on the market, some of the most one dimensional facilities in the market place in which there will not be another auto brand to take it's place, the real estate in those market places will be hurt considerably.

The silver lining will be that as always markets will return eventually and the consolidation that has been needed for the last several years will move forward, even if it is not voluntary.

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That Car Guy

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Toyota sales fall 32% for the month of September 2008... It's worst decline since June 1987... Is this the beginning of a steep sales decline?

Toyota Motor Sales USA posted it's largest sales decline since June 1987 one of it's worst monthly sales output's in it's history of selling vehicles in the U.S., for the month Toyota sold 144,260 vehicles, significantly down from the same period last year when it it sold 213,042 vehicles. That is a whopping 32% for a car company that has been long revered as the model for all other manufacturers, now and for the future. I have long cautioned the optimism with Toyota sales success recently and I believe that this is the start of a decline that will have enormous ramifications across the board for the manufacturer. However the sky will not fall quite as hard as it will for GM, Ford and Chrysler dealers as the distribution network for these manufacturers has long been to big to accommodate lackluster sales volume to support it. Sales per unit for these manufacturers continues to erode dramatically and unfortunately a whole lot of these dealerships will soon close there doors.

The Big 6 (GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda and Nissan) all saw sales decline for the month, but Toyota's sales decline is more troubling as I have written before, the quest to become the largest is perilous at best, plus with it's emphasis to mirror what GM and Ford have done with it's reliance on Truck and SUV's sales is more ammunition to be worried about how Toyota can turn it around.

To be optimistic, Toyota executives are making the rounds saying that Toyota and Lexus customers are concerned just like the rest of the nation about the downturn in consumer confidence, it goes without saying that overall consumers are looking to purchase energy and fuel efficient vehicles that Toyota's line up doesn't measure up outside of the Prius and Corolla and a small output of Scion's. Top to bottom Toyota's line up is heavy on Trucks and SUV's, just like the domestics.

For the record Nissan sales were down 37%, Ford 33.8%, Chrysler 32.8%, Honda 24% and GM 15.6%.

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That Car Guy

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