The News Review:
- An Auto Show for Congress
- France gears up for auto industry summit
- Freed-up credit might blossom into more auto sales
- Energy “Moon Shot” Coming as bama Calls for Sacrifice in Auto …
- 2009 Detroit Auto Show: Ford
- Local dentist’s car featured at auto show
An Auto Show for Congress
Wall Street Journal
In any event GREAT GRAB or whatever they call the new auto-rescue law will come fast on the heels of the annual Detroit Auto Show which opens to the public on Sunday. I attended the press preview this week and came away with the feeling that this year’s show is somehow surreal sad and exciting all at the same time. It’s surreal because the show occurs at a time when the industry’s crisis threatens the viability of several car companies especially General Motors and Chrysler which have become the first two to accept government financial aid (aka welfare). The sense touring the show floor attending the press conferences and talking to industry executives is that everyone had one eye on the cars and the other on Washington — which is where the real auto show is taking place. That’s another way of saying that unfortunately the events that will shape the industry’s immediate future are occurring in the nation’s capital instead of in Detroit’s factories the design studios or on the showroom floors.
France gears up for auto industry summit
The Associated Press
Industry Minister Luc Chatel told journalists the government is considering helping auto makers ride out the credit crunch by covering up to 50 percent of their financing needs. Any help will be dependent on guarantees against factory closures he said. “We have made a political choice which is to say we want to keep our automobile industry” he told reporters from his office at the Finance Ministry. The government is hosting a meeting on Tuesday with French car makers suppliers and labor unions to discuss how to cushion the fallout from the economic crisis and credit restrictions.
Freed-up credit might blossom into more auto sales
Detroit Free Press United States
So as the Detroit auto show highlights a new world of hybrids and high-tech battery-powered cars the major concern for most consumers continues to be last year’s pitiful model for auto financing. Can they get a car loan? And if so how many hoops will they have to jump through to get it?Credit while still an issue appears to loosening up from the extremely tight standards that hit in late ’08. Thanks to federal bailout money GMAC LLC in late December lifted some strict roadblocks that stopped some consumers from qualifying for car loans. Going forward the Feds have more credit-crunch tricks that could grease the skids for car loans too. Still will credit be more accessible this spring as consumers hit showrooms?”Logic should suggest that it should be a bit better because it was so bad” said Mark Zandi lead economist at Moody’s Economy.
Related from Sales-monster: Freed-up credit might blossom into more auto sales
Energy “Moon Shot” Coming as bama Calls for Sacrifice in Auto …
Edmunds.com/Inside Line CA
jsp –>WASHINGTN — Recalling President John F. Kennedy’s ambitious plans to send a man to the moon one potential member of Barack bama’s cabinet hints that the new administration is crafting an “energy moon shot. ” At the same time the president-elect says that the restructuring of the auto industry means sacrifice on the part of all involved. In his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday Senator Ken Salazar bama’s pick for interior secretary said he’ll play a major part in developing the new administration’s energy policy. “I will play a keystone role in helping to craft the energy agenda” Salazar told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee according to Politico. “I would not have taken this job if I was not given the assignment to help craft the energy moon shot that we will take.
2009 Detroit Auto Show: Ford
Examiner.com
The company claims it would only need “bailout” money if one of the other Big Three falters or if the market continues to worsen. Still Ford wasn’t resting on its laurels at the. The company introduced its new “EcoBoost” powertrain which will be available in the 2010 Ford.
Local dentist’s car featured at auto show
Traverse City Record Eagle MI
comTRAVERSE CITY — It’s a car with a cause. That’s what Traverse City dentist Gary Kaberle says about his BAT 11dk the first privately-owned vehicle to be shown at the North American Auto Show in Detroit. The annual auto show runs Jan. 11-25 at Cobo Center in Detroit. The concept car is on display on the main floor right across from VW. It was awarded Best Concept Car of 2008 by Sky Motoring a British magazine. This is the BAT 11 of course not to be confused with the BAT 9 Kaberle’s original car.