It is truly amazing what a difference the span of a year makes when it comes to the automotive industry and car industries

Only one  year back – this time in 2009 – times were insecure and indeed threatening for GM , for hundreds indeed of GM dealers and dealerships, more than scores of G.M. employees as well as millions and millions of GM customers and potential customers. No picnic indeed.

What was once the monolith of the car industry- some say a behemoth of bureaucracies , rules and more layers of management to plod through to get anything done , the “be glad the creator has given you the privilege of dealing with General Motors and its people” mentality was certainly brought to its knees – or was it ?

The springtime of 2009 and the months that followed  had in its workings the biggest restructuring plans of any business , corporation or enterprise ever.  Yet GM , like the banks made “too big to fail” , was seen by government as an underpinning of America and American industry that could not allowed to fail or default.

Some saw it as a means of a socialist leaning US administration to nationalize a major industry – to tell it what to do – by the mouths of ecologists and green people. Other saw it as a means of control to a command based economy – some say not unlike Eastern Germany in its prime , or Cuba.  Yet others felt that GM should of been allowed to default on its payments – even though smaller parts suppliers may of been hurt in its wake.

This way the company could of restructured , been without debt, and been able to reduce its massive health care , and benefit package obligations.

After all it can be said that  there is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone after all – the US consumer has to pay for all of this.

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An interesting yet forgotten tidbit in the “local news”

Again and again insurance companies ( auto insurance)  and their technical experts – locksmiths , head of theft deterrence departments  ( deterrence is the key word here as nothing as absolute) will state – even in court when it comes to theft of autos and trucks that have factory theft deterrent devices and factory installed immobilizer harnesses that “theft of such a vehicle is impossible”  – “complex” , “electronics”  , “algorithms”  etc etc etc

Yet here is a case of a vehicle , or vehicles being stolen directly from an auto dealer themselves via copied eletronic keys.

How is this possible or is the industry – be it auto , auto insurance or auto insurance theft “deterrent departments” misinformed ?

From “The Whitehorse Star” newspaper March 19,2010  the headline reads:

“Man Copied Keys , Then Stole Trucks”

Fairbanks Alaska:  Police say a Fairbanks man took trucks from local dealerships (plural it is not a one shot deal) for test drives , made copies of the keys and later stole the vehicles.

The trucks were taken from JCS Auto sales and Affordable Used Cars.

Eighteen year old Jared A. Jensen  has been charged with two counts of first degree vehicle theft.

Police say he admitted test driving a 2007 Toyota Tacoma, despite  the company’s recent recall scares,  and a 20o2 Chevrolet making copies of the keys and then returning to steal both.  Both vehicles were recovered.

Jensen’s bail was set at the time at $ 1500 US.

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During the great economic upheaval / depression of the 1930′s “The Great Depression”  alternatively called in farm belt western Canada the “Dirty Thirties”  due to the drought of the Canadian prairie dust bowls along with resulting dust storms, that the US President at the time Franklin D. Roosevelt stated that “America is the first country in history to be driven to the poorhouse in an automobile”.

If that is true , and valid ,  then America and Canada are the first countries in history to be driven to their “poorhouses”  in imported autos.

Who else would allow a dominant industry in their relevant economies – one of the most major industries as well as underpinnings of their finance and way of lives to be taken over and overturned by foreign manufacturers ? Who else is the driving force of the world – the dumping ground for excess export goods indeed a or the major export market but America ?

Would Japan , Europe , Asia or even China allow such an event to occur ?  Highly unlikely.  At least with the Japanese auto makers there is an apparent image to present themselves as American product manufacturers – that is minor screwdriver plants have been created in the American cord fields where  younger workers , with few and less health care costs , assemble vehicles with primarily offshore made components and parts.

However this is not the case , what so ever , with newer entries – for example South Korean , and in the future perhaps Chinese made autos.  There is not even the inkling of presentation that any of the goods are made anywhere but off shore.

Yet these same auto makers portray themselves to the North American – that is US and Canadian tax authorities as being of 3rd world status and thus deserving and allocated lower tariff rates.

Imagine that.

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It can be asked which came first ?
The chicken or the egg ?
Auto financing from banks and financial institutions or government bank bailouts ?
It is almost near to impossible to get bank auto financing for car and vehicle purchasers

As an extreme example recently the owner of a string of auto dealerships applied for a simple visa charge card from a airline that he flies – to charge discount flights that he makes – a frugal individual of means and records and a good long term customer of the airline

Never mind an auto finance loan , or a loan to finance a wrath of vehicles for the dealership

It was a minor charge card , on top of many already – all with terms paid off never mind collateral or even co-signers

Why was the loans request rejected ?
It seems that with some investigation that a mistake had been made by a large company over a small bill – that was in no way warranted as it related to a property that the applicant had sold some time ago

A collection company had been involved to collect this small non-bill

This was supposed to been “cleared up” and rectified some time ago as the charge card applicant had not even legally owned the property for some time when this bill was sent out

Done or so thought.  Apparently the right hand did not know what the left hand was “doing”  even when informed

Yet in the end this served as one “excuse” not to fund credit for business and sales growth for the airline tranport company

The banks were given “bail out money” to save the finance system from collapse as well as prime the whole business and financial cycle

Keynesian economics at its extreme

Yet the banks are shepherding the funds, misers at it may be described.  What of their purpose in this whole cycle ?  It may well be fear of the commercial real estate “crash ” to come , it may be just the conservative nature of banks and bankers. Yet does not this group which is intrinsic in the financial and business system have a role to play in the economy and in the auto finance industry and industries of North America ?

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An interesting take from this auto industry article whose focus is apparently about Ford Motor Companies rise in the auto industry sales ratings and rankings.

It has been “noted” and reported among senior, and even junior auto industry analysts and participants that domestic auto industry sales seem to be on the rebound – especially against the “imports” , especially Asian brand model lines – be they Japanese nameplates – such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda & Nissan.  Ditto that for all offshore produced Hyundai & fellow South Korean automaker Kia.

Sure there is an explanation at least in terms of the market leader Toyota , in terms of safety issues – runaway vehicles and Toyota execs apparent coverup & coverups.

Still many in the automobile trade have come to the apparent conclusion that with our current economic malaise , that many North American auto consumers have come to the conclusion that by buying foreign vehicles that it is not good for the local domestic economies – be it the USA, Canada or North America overall.

The best & highest paying jobs – design & management are back home at “head office land – be it Tokyo Japan or Seoul South Korea.

At the best ut seems even if that Toyota Corolla / Matrix is “made” in Cornwall Ontario Canada or a Nissan “made”  in the US South – its simply a matter of an assembly line & Canadian or American assembly line workers working on a “screwdriver” auto assembly plant putting together cars with mainly foreign made automotive components.

The real value added jobs it seems, with imports are “back home”

Local North American auto buyers may have well woken up and developed a new brand loyalty to locally made vehicles at the expense and auto market share of those foreign vehicles.

GM still is king of the hill among Detroit’s Big Three automakers, but Ford drew closer to threatening its crown in April, as the No. 2 U.S. carmaker’s sales rose nearly 25 percent from a year ago.
Year-to-date auto sales through April for all brands were up 16.7 percent so far, a pace that – if it continues – would create the biggest annual gain since 1984, according to Autodata Corp., a research firm based in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
Meanwhile, dealers continue to offer incentives to pull customers through the doors even as lenders show signs of accelerating the flow of credit to car buyers.
“It’s really been a good past several months,” said Jack Bartko, director of operations for Tri Star Auto Group in Blairsville.
The numbers coming out of research firm Autodata showed broad-based gains throughout the industry.
Ford, the only one of the Big Three not to receive government assistance during the depths of the recession, sold 167,283 cars and light trucks in April, up 24.9 percent from last year’s 133,979.
GM posted only a 7.2 percent increase, rising from 171,258 sold last April to 183,614 this year.
Chrysler nearly matched Ford in the degree of its increase in sales, if not in actual numbers. The perennial third finisher boasted a 24.8 percent increase, with 95,703 cars and light trucks sold compared to 76,682 in April.
But the breakdown of Chrysler’s sales revealed the most dramatic change of all: while its sales of light trucks increased a mere 6.6 percent, its car sales nearly doubled to 30,527 from 15,558.
Ford is advancing on GM in year-to-date sales as well, with 608,991 cars and light trucks sold vs. GM’s 658,867.
Despite the gains for Ford, the automaker announced Wednesday that it would cease production of its 72-year-old Mercury brand by the end of 2010 after years of declining sales.
Mercury’s death, while expected, was latest in a string of casualties as Detroit carmakers try to cut costs and invest more heavily in fewer offerings.
Locally, Tri Star’s Ford dealership in McKeesport reported even better results than national figures suggested. Mr. Bartko said sales were up about 35 percent over last year.
“The Fusion has been a fantastic seller for us,” he said. “We can’t keep them on the lot.”
That’s the regular Fusion, not the hybrid that caused a stir in January at the North American International Auto Show.
“That’s nice technology but, quite frankly, with gas at the mid-$2 range, [buyers are] leaning more toward the Fusion gas engine,” Mr. Bartko said.
None of the Big Three showed as great an improvement as Subaru, which posted at 48.2 percent gain in April vs. a year ago. Other non-domestics followed, with Volkswagen seeing a 42 percent increase, Hyundai gaining 29.7 percent.Longtime favorite Toyota saw a 24.4 percent gain in sales, while Honda posted a 12.5 percent increase.
At #1 Cochran of Robinson, which sells Buick, GMC and Kia vehicles, sales consultant Justin Taylor said sales were picking up.
“GM is on the right track,” he said, “coming out with more product, newer product, nicer product.”
Dealers continue to offer incentives to entice shoppers to buy. On Memorial Day weekend, one dealer published a coupon that entitled buyers to $500 bonus cash on any new or preowned vehicle, and another coupon that promised $1,000 above the Kelley Blue Book value on trade-ins.
Several dealers offered 0 percent financing for periods as long as 60 months. Even without low financing, some buyers are finding it easier to borrow money for auto purchases these days.
Subprime lenders, who extend credit to buyers who might not qualify for a conventional loan, are ramping up activity, as investors express a renewed appetite for bonds secured by auto loans.
At Fort Worth, Texas-based AmeriCredit, the company is approving about 35 percent of car loan applications, up from as low as 20 percent a year ago.
Prestige Financial, of Salt Lake City, plans to double its loan originations this year to increase its dollar volume to between $15 million and $20 million a month.
Closer to home, Chase Auto Finance, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co., just opened a new office in Penn Center East in Wilkins to serve Western Pennsylvania, a market previously covered by the firm’s Philadelphia office. Bill Jensen, senior vice president, said the firm anticipates future growth as the economy recovers further.

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It reminds one of the worst of British post WW2 government labor union run business

In the  end most of the best and the brighest of Britain left and the country was left in permanent economic malaise – that was until Margaret Thatcher and North Sea oil

Read the following New York Times headline

“G.M.’s Gift of a Luxury Car Stuns a Few”

It’s “our”  – that is the government owns GM  ( our bailout money)…..  ” “Until G.M. has repaid the taxpayers in full for the money they have borrowed, every action that G.M. takes should advance them in that direction,” said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican of California who is a visible G.M. second-guesser.”  – this from a Republican people / vote pleaser – ( at least pandering to an old business model of vote getting). You would think that it was Pelosi speaking. Oh well wait until November mid term elections when many of these rat race politicians from both sides will get a rude awakening.

It reminds one of a regular caller to Winnipeg Manitoba radio call in shows  who no matter what the topic is David calls to inform listeners that “they sold Our phone company”,  the stockbrokers driving those big cars sold “Our Phone Company”

David – what were you paying in phone bills, and long distance charges , then and now ?  Did supporting and paying those abusive highly paid, and pampered MTS unionized phone company employees give you a better or worse deal over all ?

Its as economist ML Labovitch notes – “Tales from the North End Winnipeg Labour Temple”  .  What a viewpoint !

It is no longer American politics as it was , two drug stores in a country town

Its called promotion and marketing

Sports celebrities carry a tremendous amount of marketing power – note the money paid by companies for Olympic promotions

Imagine if Nike was not allowed to give its wares to sports stars and athletes for promotions

Bunch of bumpkins

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