Autoblog

As with this year's American football season, weekly surprises in the car industry are now standard fare. VW recently overtook Ford for the number three spot in global sales, and now the home of the Beetle and the Veyron has overtaken Toyota as the industry's most valuable company based on dollar-converted market capitalization. Just as eyebrow raising is the reason for it: Toyota's stock has dropped 5% to its lowest point in four years due to the usual suspects, while VW's stock has climbed a stratospheric 87% due to the fact that Porsche is busy gobbling up the company. As far as we're concerned, that makes Porsche the real story: one of the industry's smallest players – it sold less than 100,000 cars around the world last year and still set a personal best – is about to be the world's third largest car maker and, for a while at least, its most valuable. What a difference a day a Cayenne makes. Thanks for the tip, bazzz!

[Source: Bloomberg]

On Wednesday, Chrysler told its dealerships that it will be increasing the sticker price of its 2009 models by an average of $500. Shipping costs are also being raised by about $50 per vehicle, which could very well have something to do with the price of fuel. While this may seem like odd timing for a price increase considering the well-covered sales slump from which all auto manufacturers (yes, we truly do mean all auto manufacturers) are suffering, some dealership owners are commending Chrysler for holding the line on pricing for as long as it has. Cross-town rivals General Motors and Ford have already increased their prices, and both of their increases were for higher amounts. Thus, it was only a matter of time before Chrysler followed suit. Still, with the sagging economy and current credit crunch, the news isn't likely to help sales any.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

We're not waiting for Suzuki to reveal its September 2008 sales results any longer, as it is highly unlikely that the little Japanese brand will arise as the only brand/automaker to post positive numbers this month. Take a good look below, as it's the first time since we started publishing sales data back in mid-2006 that every single brand and automaker is in the red. It doesn't matter how you slice it, whether you look at the change in volume from Sept. 2007 to Sept. 2008 or if you consider the change in the Daily Sales Rate. Everyone is down.

For the record, we suppose Audi is this month's Biggest Winner with a sales drop of just 5.4%, while HUMMER is again our Biggest Loser with a 54.8% fall in sales. You can peruse the rest of the carnage below for yourself.

BY THE NUMBERS - September 2008
Brand	Vol. % Change	Total Sales 9/08	Total Sales 9/07	DSR % Change	Daily Avg. 9/08	Daily Avg. 9/07
Acura	-30.4%	9,997	14,369	-27.5%	417	515
Audi	-5.4%	7,584	8,020	-1.5%	316	321
BMW	-29.5%	14,744	20,901	-26.5%	614	836
Buick	-20.5%	14,121	17,754	-17.1%	588	710
Cadillac	-39.1%	12,432	20,398	-36.5	518	816
Chevrolet	-11.2%	172,803	194,637	-7.5%	7,200	7,785
Chrysler	-39.6%	23,346	38,668	-37.1%	973	1,547
Dodge	-25.2%	62,572	83,671	-22.1%	2,607	3,347
Ford	-33.8%	102,685	155,037	-31%	4,279	6,201
GMC	-12.8%	39,029	44,754	-9.2%	1,626	1,790
Honda	-23.2%	86,629	112,831	-20%	3,610	4,513
HUMMER	-54.8%	2,298	5,080	-52.9%	96	203
Hyundai	-25.4%	24,765	33,214	-22.3%	1,032	1,329
Infiniti	-24.1%	7,779	10,250	-20.9%	324	410
Jeep	-42.8%	21,431	37,460	-40.4%	893	1,498
Kia	-27.8%	17,383	24,087	-24.8%	724	963
Lexus	-36.1%	16,045	25,113	-33.4	669	1,005
Lincoln	-22.5%	7,571	9,764	-19.2%	315	391
Mazda	-35.6%	16,169	25,098	-32.9%	674	1,004
Mercedes-Benz	-16.4%	18,779	22,459	-12.9%	782	898
Mercury	-43.2%	6,478	11,403	-40.1%	270	456
MINI	-6.7%	3,762	4,031	-2.8%	157	161
Mitsubishi	-39%	7,378	12,102	-36.5%	307	484
Nissan	-38.4%	51,786	84,019	-35.8%	2,158	3,361
Pontiac	-26.7%	23,324	31,817	-23.6%	972	1,273
Porsche	-44.8%	1,458	2,641	-42.5%	61	106
Saab	-27.2%	1,765	2,424	-24.2%	74	97
Saturn	-10.8%	18,528	20,776	-7.1%	772	831
Subaru	-11.9%	14,491	16,457	-8.3%	604	658
Suzuki	N/A
Toyota	-31.8%	128,215	187,929	-28.9%	5,342	7,517
Volkswagen	-9.4%	17,109	18,891	-5.7%	713	756
Volvo	-51.8%	4,054	8,408	-49.8%	169	336
COMPANIES
BMW Group	-25.8%	18,506	24,932	-22.7%	771	997
Chrysler LLC	-32.8%	107,349	159,799	-30%	4,473	6,392
FoMoCo	-34.6%	120,788	184,612	-31.8%	5,033	7,384
General Motors	-15.8%	284,300	337,640	-12.3%	11,846	13,506
Honda America	-24%	96,626	127,200	-20.9%	4,026	5,088
Nissan NA	-36.8%	59,565	94,269	-34.2%	2,482	3,771
Toyota Mo Co	-32.3%	144,260	213,042	-29.5%	6,011	8,522

September 2008 had 24 selling days versus 25 selling days for September 2007

While the U.S. banking industry is still waiting for Congress to give it a $700 billion hand, President Bush signed into law last night the spending bill that gives U.S. automakers $25 billion in loans to get their collective act together.

But unlike when a bank deems you worthy of their money, the Big Three won't be getting any cash for some time. Despite the companys' CEOs saying repeatedly how they were desperate for help and how automotive life as they know it would end if they didn't get financial help, there's at least a 60-day delay until they can cash this check.

Written into the bill is a clause requiring the Energy Department to come up with regulations that will determine who gets what and when. The agency has 60 days to do this, but could take much longer, as much as 18 months according to a department spokesperson.

Desperate or not, looks like GM, Ford and Chrysler are now at the mercy of the Energy Department.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Writing about cars for a living is a beautiful thing. Aside from doing what we love, we're able to keep ourselves somewhat insulated from the bigger issues ailing our world, content to avoid those unsavory subjects like a Klingon-filled elevator at a Star Trek convention. But we can't elude reporting on the current economic crisis any more than we can keep our lunch down while watching our meager savings fall through the floor.

The Dow fell 777.68 points today – almost 7% -- to 10,365.34 after the House voted against the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry. The world's biggest automakers were far from immune. General Motors' stock dropped by 12.81%, going for $8.51 a share, while Honda lost almost 10 percent, Ford and Toyota lost over 8% and Tata dropped some 13%. And that's just the tip of this chilly iceberg. Shares of both auto suppliers and massive retailers dropped accordingly, while oil futures tanked by 10%, selling for $96.37 a barrel.

While it's certain that all the government's men and women are going to put this humpty-dumpty bill back together again and attempt to vote on revised terms by the end of the week, the automakers and those of us playing the home game of "Rebuild Your Failing Economy" are forced to wait idly by while our futures shuffle off this mortally-wounded coil. And what are the chances of Detroit's Big 3 getting their $25 billion? Stay tuned sports fans, the best worst is yet to come.

[Sources: NYT, Google, Automotive News | Image: Nicholas Roberts/Getty]

Matthias Wissmann, current head of the Verband Deutscher Automobilhersteller (VDA, or Association of the German Automotive Industry for us non-German speaking folks), is none too pleased with the passing of a $25 billion financing package for the Detroit automakers. Under the terms of the legislation, which has been approved by the House and is expected to pass through the Senate as well, the Detroit 3 will receive low-interest loans in order to finance the cost of bringing more fuel-efficient cars to America.

Of course, it's not entirely unexpected that Detroit's competitors aren't happy about the federal loans, but at least one piece of Wissmann's argument certainly makes a lot of sense. "If the U.S. car industry does not resolve its structural problems, then all the subsidies in the world won't help." Ain't that the truth. The hope, of course, is that this financial aid is just what the automakers need to fix said problems. Looks like we'll find out soon enough.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

While most of us would be more than happy to own just one Viper, some lucky company will soon take the entire operation off the hands of Chrysler, LLC. We hear there are multiple interested parties, and according to Vice Chairman Tom Lasorda, Chrysler is looking to begin real negotiations within the next few weeks. It's hard to imagine a Viper coming from a manufacturer other than Dodge, but there has been talk that the iconic American sportscar could be gobbled up by a well-known tuning firm, or even a group of investors. Whatever happens, we just hope that the Viper -- as a car or as a brand -- continues showing its formidable fangs and doesn't end up a mere shed skin of its former self. You can check out our First Drive of the Viper ACR or our In the Autoblog Garage review of the Viper SRT-10 to see just what we think about Dodge's supercar.



[Source: Just-Auto - sub req'd]

Both Cerberus and Daimler have announced plans for the German automaker to sell the remaining 19.9-percent stake in Chrysler to the private equity firm. According to reports coming out of Germany, that relatively small stake in the American automaker is still weighing down Daimler's stock price. Perhaps the Germans aren't so sure that Chrysler's new electric vehicles will ever see the light of day? In any case, both sides suggest that all the rest of the two company's relationships would continue, so technology sharing and diesel engines could still be made available to Chrysler from its former German parents.

Note that the first 80-percent of Chrysler was sold to Cerberus for $7.4 billion. We wonder what the other 20-percent is worth.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

Ford and GM claimed losses of over $20 billion in the second quarter of 2008, which is more than the GDP of some developing countries. Chrysler has seen larger sales decreases than its fellow Detroit automakers, but in terms of cash losses, team Pentastar is way ahead of the domestic pack. Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli gave dealers the financial lowdown Tuesday, but declined to provide details to reporters. Even though Chrysler's losses of $400 million are far less daunting than its U.S. counterparts, the Auburn Hills, MI automaker is far from overjoyed. Nardelli told dealers that the losses came in spite of large-scale cost cutting, and he mentioned that 2008 sales were down 24% year over year.

The privately owned automaker still has $11 billion on hand, but Nardelli warned that if Congress doesn't approve a $25 billion loan, more job cuts and other cost cutting measures would be necessary. Chrysler also needs the federal loan to reach its goal of bringing just one of its three recently introduced EVs to market by the end of 2010.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

While we knew Formula 1 racing was an expensive venture, leave it to the 2008/2009 edition of Formula Money to spell-out the jaw-dropping finances for us. According to their latest guide, the supporting cast will shell out over $3 billion this year in team resources -- with Toyota dropping more than $445 million of it alone. McLaren is a close second at $433 million, while Ferrari rounds out the top three with $414 million coming out of pocket. If you take a look at team resources divided by points scored, each point cost Ferrari $1.9 million in 2007 (while each point cost Honda a staggering $57.2 million during the same period!). With the financial markets around the world roiled in turmoil, many are wondering when the F1 budgets are going to feel the pinch... Thanks for the tip, Keith!

[Source: F1 Fanatic]