Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. said November U.S. sales tumbled more than 30 percent as the recession and Detroit automakers' aid pleas kept buyers away from showrooms. GM, the largest U.S. automaker, said sales dropped 41 percent, while No. 2 Ford was down by 31 percent. Toyota, Asia's biggest automaker, posted a 34 percent decline and Honda Motor Co. slid 32 percent. Their results showed the strain of the deepening economic slowdown and GM's announcement last month that it might not have enough cash to last through the year. GM, Ford and Chrysler LLC were presenting their survival plans to Congress today.
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. said November U.S. sales tumbled more than 30 percent as the recession and Detroit automakers' aid pleas kept buyers away from showrooms.
GM, the largest U.S. automaker, said sales dropped 41 percent, while No. 2 Ford was down by 31 percent. Toyota, Asia's biggest automaker, posted a 34 percent decline and Honda Motor Co. slid 32 percent.
Their results showed the strain of the deepening economic slowdown and GM's announcement last month that it might not have enough cash to last through the year. GM, Ford and Chrysler LLC were presenting their survival plans to Congress today.
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. asked Congress for a credit line of as much as $9 billion, saying it expects to break even or be profitable before taxes in 2011. The automaker said it hopes to avoid tapping the financing and doesn't anticipate a "liquidity crisis" in 2009, barring a competitor's bankruptcy or more severe economic slump. Ford plans to sell five corporate jets and would pay Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally a $1 annual salary if the loan is used. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC were to submit plans later today. "We hope that we can work something out" with the automakers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told reporters. "We don't want to throw them a lifeline if the lifeline doesn't get them to the shore." Lawmakers set hearings for Dec. 4 and 5 and may vote on an aid proposal next week. Ford, GM and Chrysler must convince a divided Congress that their plans to shrink are severe enough to ensure repayment of $25 billion in proposed loans. Lawmakers are split on whether any aid should come from a $700 billion bank-rescue fund or Energy Department loans approved in September.
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. asked Congress for a credit line of as much as $9 billion, saying it expects to break even or be profitable before taxes in 2011.
The automaker said it hopes to avoid tapping the financing and doesn't anticipate a "liquidity crisis" in 2009, barring a competitor's bankruptcy or more severe economic slump. Ford plans to sell five corporate jets and would pay Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally a $1 annual salary if the loan is used. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC were to submit plans later today.
"We hope that we can work something out" with the automakers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told reporters. "We don't want to throw them a lifeline if the lifeline doesn't get them to the shore." Lawmakers set hearings for Dec. 4 and 5 and may vote on an aid proposal next week.
Ford, GM and Chrysler must convince a divided Congress that their plans to shrink are severe enough to ensure repayment of $25 billion in proposed loans. Lawmakers are split on whether any aid should come from a $700 billion bank-rescue fund or Energy Department loans approved in September.
Why did GM so completely destroy the EV-1 ? Even if it wasn't a success in itself, why destroy all of the work ? What were they afraid of ? keep to the Fen Causeway
(1) Get loans from the feds. (2) ????? (3) Profit!@
And the Volt -- the Duke Nukem Forever/Chinese Democracy of the automotive industry -- is going to magically save the day. And nobody could've predicted that gas prices would go up and people would buy small cars.
It's the consumer's fault, when you really think about it, not Detroit's fault. (Yes, that argument is made quite a lot on dKos by the Detroit apologists.)
At least Ford made the right noises. GM just went up and did a Giant Talking Penis. "Give us $Xbn, or we all die."
And we still can't simply let them fail. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Probably something having to do with the immense difficulty they would have in bringing quality standards up to the Japanese level, something critical in a range of cars that in which efficiency and reliability are judged more closely than in the giant status/insecurity boats from which Detroit gets its profits.
Marketing, style, and design are comparatively easy. Engineering quality and manufacturing consistency are apparently so at odds with the corporate culture that it's not even an option.
Not sure if you are looking for a serious answer to these questions, but if so:
They do SELL small cars, mostly imports from Korea. They're perfectly good cars with Chevy, Ford, etc. labels on them, but the profit margin on an economy car--even if imported--is much, much smaller than on a big pickup truck. I know someone who paid $50,000 for a huge pickup a couple of years ago, of which the profit for GM was probably about $30,000. Today you can walk into a dealer and get $12,000 off list price on a truck or SUV without even asking.
And the EV-1 was a great car, except for two problems:
And they looked like little plastic spaceships, which probably didn't help. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
(Reuters) - The U.S. credit-card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said. The credit card is the second key source of consumer liquidity, the first being jobs, the Oppenheimer & Co analyst noted. "In other words, we expect available consumer liquidity in the form of credit-card lines to decline by 45 percent." Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) represent over half of the estimated U.S. card outstandings as of September 30, and each company has discussed reducing card exposure or slowing growth, Whitney said.
(Reuters) - The U.S. credit-card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said.
The credit card is the second key source of consumer liquidity, the first being jobs, the Oppenheimer & Co analyst noted.
"In other words, we expect available consumer liquidity in the form of credit-card lines to decline by 45 percent."
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) represent over half of the estimated U.S. card outstandings as of September 30, and each company has discussed reducing card exposure or slowing growth, Whitney said.
What this really means is that the 'liquidity' is going to bankrupt a good proportion of the population when it suddenly has to be repaid on demand.
"Yes, Mr. Jones. We can see that you are financing your start-up with our card. But you are paying too much for programming services. Perhaps if you spoke to my college Mr. Smith, he could arrange for the php cake sections to be written by a much larger, more competent, yet much less expensive team. In fact, you can see some of the results on your page right now.
"And this monthly bandwidth and edge-hosting charge!?!? You agreed to that? Perhaps you don't have the skills for this after all. Mr. Washington has already negotiated services at a 10th of the price, and it includes an arrangement for 20 of the finest Bollywood films injected every month, with a residual income flow to you from the company as well as from the banner ads.
"You don't like banner ads? Oh, Mr. Jones, I think you will like banner ads a lot. Which do you like better? Horizontal? Vertical?
"Now, about this monthly donation to your church's "Pakistani Children's Fund." Do you think that it is a little on the high side?" Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
China's top economic planning agency Monday removed price controls on grain and other food products that were imposed early this year when inflation was a bigger concern. Caps on the prices of grain, edible oil, meat, dairy products and eggs were lifted with immediate effect, the National Development and Reform Commission said on its website. Requirements on enterprises to submit price-raising schemes for government approval were also eliminated to "allow business operators to set the prices on their own," according to the statement. Beijing imposed strict price controls on a range of energy products, foods and other key commodities in January amid concern about inflation that at the time seemed dangerously close to spiralling out of control. China's inflation rate hit a near 12-year high of 8.7 percent in February, but has been weakening since then.
Caps on the prices of grain, edible oil, meat, dairy products and eggs were lifted with immediate effect, the National Development and Reform Commission said on its website.
Requirements on enterprises to submit price-raising schemes for government approval were also eliminated to "allow business operators to set the prices on their own," according to the statement.
Beijing imposed strict price controls on a range of energy products, foods and other key commodities in January amid concern about inflation that at the time seemed dangerously close to spiralling out of control.
China's inflation rate hit a near 12-year high of 8.7 percent in February, but has been weakening since then.
