Audi sets U.S. annual sales record with a month to spare

Filed under: Car Buying, Audi, Earnings/Financials

Audi may not have the market share of its German rivals here in the States, but that dynamic appears to be changing. Audi announced that 2011 is already a record-setting year here in the U.S., besting its 2010 record by Thanksgiving weekend.

Audi has already sold 104,906 vehicles through November 30, better than the 101,629 units sold in all of of 2010. December is traditionally a strong sales month (who wouldn't want an R8 for Christmas?), which should only add more distance between the old sales record and the new mark. Audi Certified pre-owned sales also had a banner year, moving 33,102 used vehicles so far in 2011, beating the previous high of 32,108 units in 2008.

Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen sounds pleased with the brand's progress in the U.S., attributing the success to "the steady arrival of exciting new models that have captured the imagination of the American premium car customer." Hit the jump to read the brag-tastic Audi press release.

Continue reading Audi sets U.S. annual sales record with a month to spare

Read More

Ford reinstates dividend, first one in half-decade

Filed under: Ford, Earnings/Financials

In another sign of its success, Ford has announced that it will be paying out a quarterly dividend, the first time it will do so in over five years. The five-cents-a-share dividend will begin on March 1, 2012.

According to The Detroit Free Press, the move will cost Ford about $200 million per quarter. Ford is the first Detroit carmaker to pay a dividend on common stock since General Motors suspended its dividend in 2008. GM has been paying dividends on preferred stock this year.

Ford's stock remains just below investment grade, but Ford officials think resuming paying a dividend should help signal the company's financial strength.

Continue reading Ford reinstates dividend, first one in half-decade

Ford reinstates dividend, first one in half-decade originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:29:00 EST.

Read More

Bank of China to become Saab investor [UPDATE]

Filed under: China, Government/Legal, Saab, Earnings/Financials

Saab is showing its tenacious spirit more now than ever before, with word of another reworked proposal sliding across the desk. This latest plan, reports Automotive News, has the Bank of China assuming part ownership of Saab. The bank takes the place of Pang Da in a partnership with Youngman, and the hope is General Motors will find this latest arrangement suitable to approve where it had nixed previous proposals.

The previous deal, which had Youngman and Pang Da assuming complete control of Saab caused GM concern enough about its technology winding up with companies that compete directly with GM and SAIC, its partner in China. The Bank of China has a market value that makes it the fourth-largest such institution in the country, and together with Youngman, the pair would own slightly less than 50 percent of Saab. The plan is reportedly in the General's hands, but at this point, the news will be surprising if it passes muster, especially as any deal will still need to be okayed by the Chinese government. Given the string of unsuccesful similar deals that have preceded this one, Saab's prognosis will remain as gloomy as a Bergman film until we hear otherwise.

UPDATE: TheTruthAboutCars.com reports that there's been some confusion about the bank in question - the institution isn't necessarily The Bank of China, it is a bank in China (still unnamed).

Read More

Chrysler agrees to pay nearly $1M to settle LA dealer issue

Filed under: Car Buying, Government/Legal, Chrysler, Earnings/Financials

Back in January, Chrysler opened Motor Village in downtown Los Angeles. The hope was that the automaker could create a modern dealership with a customer-focused mission that would help increase market share in LA. Instead, the dealership is costing Chrysler nearly a million dollars.

Automotive News reports that Chrysler has settled with the California Department of Motor Vehicles to the tune of $955,000. Chrysler's ownership of Motor Village went against a California law that stipulates that an automaker cannot own a dealership within 10 miles of a privately owned dealership of the same brand. Chrysler was reportedly fined $750,000 and it also paid $160,000 for legal fees and $45,000 for post-settlement audits.

While Chrysler's ownership of the facility cost the company $955,000, its stake in the dealership was only temporary. Team Pentastar sold the facility in October to Dennis Lin, who owns New Century Automotive Group of Los Angeles. The dealership was split into two retail stores; one with Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep models and the other with Fiat models.

Read More

Baltimore Grand Prix collapsing under weight of debt?

Filed under: Motorsports, Government/Legal, Earnings/Financials

Maybe racing would stand on its own merits in an ideal utopia, but in the real world it has to make a business case for itself. So while the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix may have been a success in the purest sense of the term - bringing IndyCar, ALMS and several other series to the city's harbor front - financial woes could relegate it to history even faster than it came about... or the race cars that made it the spectacle it was.

The trouble, it seems, is between Baltimore Racing Development, which organized the event this past Labor Day, and the city in which it was held. Apparently BRD failed to pay all that was required by the municipality, and now city officials are demanding it pay up or get out of town.

According to reports, organizers owe city coffers some $1.5 million for services rendered, taxes and other expenses. Combined with the estimated $1.8 million it owes third parties, the Baltimore Grand Prix is looking at a huge debt that could take years to pay off, but if it doesn't get the chance to hold the remaining four races for which it's contracted, that debt could prove insurmountable.

Read More

Even with thin inventories and growing demand, Hyundai not looking for second U.S. plant

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Hyundai, Earnings/Financials

Why is this man smiling? Well, it could be because hotcakes only wish they were selling as well as Hyundais. Or perhaps that grin says he knows something we don't - like when and where his company plans to build a second North American assembly plant.

Yet Hyundai CEO John Krafcik told reporters last week that the Korean-based automaker has no plans to expand its U.S. production, which is currently running at literally 110 percent. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama has the capacity to build 300,000 Elantra and Sonata models, a number that's been boosted by another 30,000 units this year by way of increased efficiencies. (Hyundai is also getting Sante Fe crossovers from corporate cousin Kia, which operates a plant in Georgia).

Despite the boost in production, Hyundai inventory levels dipped to an extremely low 21 days supply this summer, even as sales continued to grow. Hyundai has already blown past its 2010 numbers, and year-to-date sales are up 21 percent.

This leads Edmunds AutoObserver.com to conclude that it isn't necessarily buying Krafcik's no-new-factories line. "It seems inevitable Hyundai must address its stretched-to-the-max production," says the report, which predicts that Hyundai will announce a plan for U.S. expansion early next year.Even with thin inventories and growing demand, Hyundai not looking for second U.S. plant originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:31:00 EST.

Read More

Despite expiring deadline, Saab talks with Chinese investors continue

Filed under: China, Europe, GM, Saab, Earnings/Financials

Time is running out on the Memorandum Of Understanding between Saab parent Swedish Automobile and the automaker's two Chinese suitors. The MOU technically runs out today, though Automotive News reports that the three companies will continue talks even outside of a formal setting.

Under the proposed agreement, Pang Da and Youngman will buy Saab for around $142 million. The two Chinese companies then plan to invest more than $678 million Saab to help get the company back on track to profitability. That sounds like the company's best hope yet of surviving into the future. Unfortunately, former Saab owner General Motors has said that it is reluctant to allow the deal to proceed as-written because of technology sharing concerns, leaving Swedish Automobile officials to try to work out an amended agreement. Additionally, the Chinese government must also sign off on the deal, though they have allowed

Saab, meanwhile, says that all parties involved continue to work toward a workable solution to the tangle, but the company has just a week left to come up with a proposal to pay its creditors. The company has been under creditor protection while it works to restructure itself, but that protection dries up on November 22 and there's no indication that an extension would be handed out by the courts.Despite expiring deadline, Saab talks with Chinese investors continue originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:31:00 EST.

Read More

Germany in court again over "VW Law," could face fines of nearly $375,000/day

Filed under: Etc., Europe, Government/Legal, Volkswagen, Earnings/Financials

We haven't heard about the Volkswagen Law in a while, but that doesn't mean the EU Commission has forgotten about it. The law gives the state of Lower Saxony, with a 20.1-percent stake in VW, veto rights on a takeover deal, which means no one's ever going to take over VW because its home state won't allow it. The law came in handy when Porsche was working to gobble up Volkswagen. The law was struck down by the EU Court of Justice in 2007. Germany then scrapped the old VW Law but rewrote another one that gave Lower Saxony the same rights with different legalese circumventing the spirit of the court's decision.

The EU competition oversight body is taking Germany back to court over the law, but wants to put some pain into the judgment: it wants Germany fined €31,000 ($41,000 USD) per day for every day since the original 2007 judgment. It also wants the court to issue a second ruling, and if Germany doesn't bring the law into line with the ruling, the EU Commission wants Germany fined €282,725 per day (nearly $375,000) until the Germans comply.

No federal German authorities have responded to the latest EU thrust, but the premier of Lower Saxony offered this: "Doesn't Europe have better things to do?"Germany in court again over "VW Law," could face fines of nearly $375,000/day originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:04:00 EST.

Read More

GM rejects latest Saab proposal, Swedish Automobile to pursue alternatives

Filed under: China, Etc., Europe, GM, Saab, Earnings/Financials

Saab is inching ever closer to liquidation. Reuters reports General Motors will not support a proposed deal that would see the Swedish brand rescued with cash from a Chinese bank. GM has repeatedly cited concerns that any deal with a Chinese partner could conceivably hurt the American automaker's competitiveness in one of the world's quickest growing markets. The fear is that Saab would share technology pioneered by GM with its competitors. Saab could conceivably still move ahead with the deal, but losing GM's technology licenses and production contract would likely kill the brand just as swiftly as liquidation. It isn't immediately clear if Saab's parent company, Swedish Automobile, will try to revise the latest Chinese ownership proposal to GM's liking or attempt to go another way altogether.

Why is GM's approval a necessity? Despite having sold Saab, The General still holds preferential shares in the company. So, with the plan off of the table, what will Saab do to continue operations? The company isn't saying, but Reuters reports that Chief Executive Victor Muller said, "There's always Plan B." It seems like there's always a Plan B when it comes to Saab (and a Plan C, Plan D, Plan E, ad nauseam), but the company's factory has been idle since April, its employees have not been paid yet for November, and the brand's dealers are withering away.GM rejects latest Saab proposal, Swedish Automobile to pursue alternatives originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:31:00 EST.

Read More