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’For all the BMWs in China
From BMW’s record earnings statement on Wednesday:
“The BMW Group is well on its way towards achieving new sales volume and earnings records for the full year. We are aiming for a record sales volume of well over 1.5 million vehicles as well as new full-year sales volume records for each of our premium brands BMW,
Europe’s auto-ABS revival
We’re not talking about automatic breaking systems either.
Last week it emerged Ford and BMW would be breathing life back into the European market for asset-backed securities by issuing more than €1bn of debt backed by automobile loans and leases.
That scrappage effect
UK October car registrations recorded their biggest monthly gain this year, rising 31.6 per cent on the month, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers published on Thursday. Here, for interest,
Chart du jour: April car sales
EconomPic Data provides some useful visual perspective on the awful US vehicles sales numbers released on Friday (click for full version):
Related links:
Uncertainty drives down Toyota sales – FT
New car prices undercut used models
In one of the most striking signs yet of the conflicting pressures buffeting the automotive industry, some new cars are now selling more cheaply than used vehicles, the FT said. A shortage of good-quality
A touch of European refinancing
Here’s a relatively disconcerting statistic regarding the European companies tracked by rating agency Standard & Poor’s: €329.9bn of corporate debt is set to fall due in 2009, and another €235.3bn in 2010.
US energy prices fall as fuel efficiency standards revealed
A bit of profit taking, and some new and much stricter rules on fuel efficiency in the United States from President Obama’s administration, as reported by Reuters:
- RTRS-U.S. RAISES STANDARDS FOR AUTO FUEL EFFICIENCY FOR MODEL YEAR
- RTRS-FIRST EVER INCREASE INCREASE FOR PASSENGER CARS REQUIRES 30.2 MILES A GALLON – TRANSPORTATION DEPT
- RTRS-SPORT UTILITIES,
Two tales of a city — and Dubai’s luxury car giveaway
Could this be the city of uber-luxury hotels, the place with a reputation for huge salaries and extravagant living?
As highlighted in a (much-emailed) report in The Times on Friday about abandoned luxury cars in Dubai,
Formula One drop out
Another credit crunch casualty — this one slightly more glamourous than its automotive brethren in the US and UK.
From the FT:
Honda pulled out of Formula One on Friday, dealing a major blow to the sport and ending a dream for Japan’s number two carmaker.
Negative car equity
Yet more pain for the car industry, this time in the UK, where new car registrations were down 36.8 per cent year-on-year in November.
That’s the biggest decline since 1980.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) it could have come about because: