…um…yeah.  The phrases “vested interest” and “wanted to keep his job” scream at me like thieves in the night, but apparently, Mike DiGiovanni, top GM sales analyst, says that GM’s market share will likely increase for the third straight month.

Oh, great…GM sales, up from squat to squat and a half!

Seriously, isn’t this report just the teensiest bit biased?  Especially with GM probably going to do a stock reissue in the very near future as its current per-share value is actually worth next to nothing?  So some putz from GM announces BIG BIG SALES A-COMIN’ and anyone’s supposed to take this seriously?

And okay, maybe GM market share will go up next month.  Does this really mean anything to any serious investor in the face of the bloodbath they’ve seen?  And how much of that hike is due to the now-over Cash for Clunkers program?  I look forward to seeing how this prediction plays out, but I have my doubts it’ll look anything like reality.

Continue reading...

Fresh out of the pages of “Duh Magazine: The Magazine for Dullards” (this month’s cover story: Interrupting Award Shows with Kanye West), comes a shocking story from the Los Angeles Times that, after Cash For Clunkers stopped, sales of new cars fell through the floor.

Duh.

They act as though it’s news that, in a bad economy, without massive rebate incentives, people are no longer buying new cars at the rate they were when there WERE massive rebate incentives. Of course, they couch this by including percentage level changes, and some quotes that basically say, yeah, we sorta saw this one coming, but yet this still passes for news to the Los Angeles Times.

Of course, it’s doubly weird that I’m writing about it in turn–after all, if it’s not news for them, then how on EARTH could it be news for me?  Well, the up shot there is I get double irony points because I’m talking about the lack of news that lead them to talk about this non-news item.  That and it’s funny when I do it.  See?  It works!

Continue reading...

Well, folks, apparently it’s continuing on.  The problem we reported on earlier with Cash For Clunkers having the unintended consequence of drying up the used car market is getting worse.

Used cars in general are getting more scarce, and those that remain are going up in price despite the overall weakness of the economy.  But, in a bit of good news, this also means that your used car is worth more in trade if you’re looking to trade your car in for a newer model.

Car dealers express it best this way:

“Most of our sales, maybe 90 percent of it, is in the 5-year-old and older cars,” he said. “You ask me how many of those we didn’t sell – every one of those in a Cash for Clunkers deal, whatever that number is.”

Supply and demand comes back to haunt us all.

Continue reading...

It’s not a surprise that dealers would say this, at least those in Colorado Springs, but according to them used cars are about to get a whole lot tougher to find and cost a whole lot more.

Basically, it’s Cash For Clunkers that did the used car in, say dealers, who further elaborate that the wholesale market for used cars has seen price hikes of two to three thousand dollars.  Most of the cars that would have gone onto used car lots are now instead languishing and waiting their inevitable destruction after they’d been traded for better, more fuel efficient rides.

Clever, really–with fewer used cars on the market, more people in need of a new car will have little choice but to buy new.  Of course, this is all sort of a joke anyway, because in about two to three years, all the new cars today will probably wind up as used cars when people go to trade them in on new cars once again.  Sure, consumer spending is down, but it’s not out, and a new car will always be high on some folks’ lists.

Continue reading...

Is it just me, or does the upcoming word out of the Frankfurt Auto Show look like a bad soap opera?  Seriously–this is nuts.  One of the biggest such tidbits is how Opel is revamping the Astra line to pit it against Volkswagen.

No, seriously–considering that Opel is in the tank anyway because of its GM connections, and the further fact that it’s surviving on a massive loan from the German government, it’s probably not a good idea for it to go after the iconic German automobile that is Volkswagen.

It’s especially worse given the rest of the hurdles that Opel will be operating under.  They can only sell their cars in certain countries, their connection to GM is hampering their local operations, there’s that whole “surviving on a giant loan” thing, the boost from the European version of cash for clunkers is SHOT…frankly, this is just bad for Opel all the way around.

Continue reading...

The British car scrappage scheme, which offered drivers up to two thousand pounds (roughly four thousand dollars US) to turn in a car ten years old or older for a new car is on track to run out of money fairly soon.

By most accounts, this British equivalent of Cash for Clunkers was a success, generating a six percent rise in car sales across Great Britain.  But half the money the program was allotted has been spent, and there are no signs that the British government intends to add any more to it, despite a fairly vocal outcry suggesting that they should.

Sometimes you’ve just got to know when to cut a deal short, folks, and in this case, now’s the time.  Hopefully it’ll help get the British economy back on its feet.

Continue reading...

As if you needed any more proof that the Cash for Clunkers program was a success — It was recently made known that dealers across the United States have reached their lowest inventory levels since 1975. And, while this may seem like a bad thing, this is great considering the slow auto sales caused by the recession.

However, this isn’t all peaches, considering demand is expected to shrink a hefty amount considering there are no more Cash for Clunkers incentives. Luckily though, due to the low inventory, automakers will now be able to supply dealers with an appropriate amount of vehicles to keep up with demand. So, in turn, there won’t be a ridiculous amount of cars sitting on the lots which got us into this mess in the first place.

via kickingtires

Continue reading...

Now here’s something I bet the government didn’t think of before they gave the go ahead for the Cash for Clunkers program — Recent reports have surfaced that suggest due to cars being sentenced to death (via sodium solicate) instead of heading to the junk yard, it has become increasingly difficult for destruction derby goers to find project cars.

In fact, head of the Demolition Derby Drivers Association Tory Schutte has gone so far to target the president directly:

“Obama is an anti-demo-derby guy. He’s targeting the cars we’ve been using.”

So folks, what is your take on the matter? Do you think President Obama actually wanted to cripple demolition derby drivers? Or was he just trying to stimulate the economy? Conspiracy theorists need not apply.

via autoblog

Continue reading...

Just as we had told you last week, the Cash for Clunkers program is officially coming to an end tonight at 8PM EST. For those of you who aren’t familiar with EST time, that’s in about an hour and a half.

Anyways, if you’re looking to cash in on this program, stop reading, get in your clunker and head to your local dealership because you don’t have much time. In fact, Autoblog reports that as of 7:47 AM this morning, over $2.65 billion of the $3 billion allocated has been used up.

So, I’ll say it once more, if you’re still looking to trade in your vehicle and get up to $4,500 from the government you have to do it now as there is less than an hour and a half remaining until the Cash for Clunkers doors close for good.

Continue reading...

The US Government has just come forth to let us know that the Cash for Clunkers program is officially coming to an end on Monday, August 31s. The feds haven’t said much about why the program will be getting killed off sooner than thought but a logical guess could point to the fact that the entire $3 billion budget has been exhausted.

This comes to us after the Government had told us yesterday that they would announce their plans to bring the program to a close. We’ll keep you posted as more news is made available.

Read (AP)

Continue reading...

As we told you yesterday, a large number of New York dealerships are withdrawing from the Cash for Clunkers program because the government has been to slow with their payments. However, to remedy this, GM has announced that they will begin advancing Cash for Clunkers payments to their dealerships.

This advance could be short lived, however, considering the US Government’s recent announcement about bringing the Cash for Clunkers program to a close. We’ll have to wait and see how this one pans out.

Read (Detroid Free Press)

Continue reading...

Just a quick update on the Cash for Clunkers program — It seems that over 200 New York car dealers who have previously participated in the Cash for Clunkers program have announced that they will no longer be participating. Despite the program spurring sales, these dealers claim that the government is too slow at reimbursing the trade-in credit. In fact, they say that they have been paid for less that 2% of the credit they gave for these trade ins.

So does this mean there are thousands if not millions of dollars of money sitting in the Cash for Clunkers budget that should have been paid to dealers already? Perhaps Congress is going to have to approve another budget increase or we may see this program go to the dogs as faster than it came to success.

Read (Associated Press) via jalopnik

Continue reading...

Despite the government recently announcing that their plans to bring the Cash for Clunkers program to end are in the works, reports are coming out that additional automakers are increasing production to meet demands brought about by the program.

Last week it was just Ford that was said to be increasing production of the Ford Focus but now reports suggest that the company is boosting production of just about every one of their fuel efficient cars on the market. Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen are also boosting production of cars like the Pilot, Element, Corolla and diesel Jettas.

via autoblog

Continue reading...

Cash for Clunkers has been nothing short of a huge success in fact, after Congress allocated an additional $2 billion for the program, over half of the $3 billion total has been used up. So, to ultimately bring the program to a close the Government has announced that they will announce their plans within the next two days. Exactly what the plans are, we aren’t sure but can only guess something along the lines of the government won’t be giving out rebates any more.

If you’re still waited to cash in on Cash for Clunkers, do it fast because the end of the program grows nearer every day.

Read (WSJ)

Continue reading...

Recent reports have emerged that say some dealerships participating in the Cash for Clunkers program are requiring those who trade in a clunker to sign a contract. That may seem like normal practice but this isn’t any normal contract, it’s one that requires the buyers to reimburse the dealer if their clunker isn’t accepted by the US Government.

One such example we have is of a woman in South Carolina who was forced to sign one of these contracts after trading in her clunker and when it was refused by the government, the dealership had her pay $2,500.

We’ll keep you posted as this story unfolds.

Read (LA Times)

Continue reading...