Dealer Reinstatement: Clogging the System?

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Automotive News is reporting on the latest snafu with the retail auto industry: an arbitration process for dealers to be reinstated. On the surface it sounds like a great idea – after all, there were hundreds of car dealerships forced to close as the automakers that supplied them declared bankruptcy.
The problem is that – [...]

GM Announces New Facility to Build Hybrid Motors

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

HybridCars.com, one of the leading authorities on trends in hybrid technology, is reporting that on Tuesday General Motors announced plans to open a $246 million facility dedicated to the construction of electric motors destined to power future hybrids. The first of these will likely appear in 2013 in two-mode, rear-wheel drive vehicles.
Tom Stephens, GM vice [...]

Fiat Posts 4th Quarter Results, Profit Greater than Expected

Monday, January 25th, 2010

As reported in Automotive News Fiat S.p.A. is the first of the major European automakers to post their Q4 results for 2009.
Apparently, December was a great month for car sales, because Fiat, which owns 20% of Chrysler Group had a trading profit of 488 million euros ($690 million) in the last quarter of 2009. [...]

Are the Car Bargains Gone? Not Necessarily.

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

With many major automakers declaring bankruptcy, thousands of car dealers closing their doors, and some brands ceasing production entirely, it can safely be said that, from the auto industry’s perspective, 2009 was a horrible year to sell cars. In fact, by the end of the year only about 10.4 million new cars had been sold [...]

Shopping for a Car? Get Your Loan Approved First

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

It has long been the case in the housing market that buyers who want their offers accepted should get pre-qualified first, and include a pre-qual letter in their offer package. These days the same is also true when it comes to car shopping.
According to an article recently posted at Philadelphia’s news portal Philly.com, even [...]