January 2009 Blog Posts (25)

New Iteration of Bailout Reportedly on Its Way

In what could be a major development for the future of the financial services sector, the incoming Obama administration is expected to overhaul the government's financial bailout and Troubled Asset Relief Program.

A Page One report in the Washington Post today says Timothy F. Geithner has been holed up for eight weeks working on a new strategy for TARP. The new plan could… Continue

Added by JJ Hornblass on January 9, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

George Will on GMAC

George wrote a piece on GMAC for today's Washington Post entitled "End Run On the Treasury." He seems to be upset that GMAC sponsored a college football bowl game with taxpayer money. Furthermore, he is piqued because GMAC won't divulge what they spent for the sponsorship.

Some excerpts are as follows:

"There are 34 bowl games, which is why you might not have noticed Tuesday's Bailout Bowl (Ball State vs. Tulsa, by the way), in which you could have seen your tax dollars at… Continue

Added by David Ruggles on January 8, 2009 at 1:00pm — No Comments

EXCLUSIVE: GMAC Shuts Down Nuvell, National

As GMAC keeps to its prime-lending knitting, the latest casualties of its cost-cutting measures are Nuvell and National Auto Finance, which shut down today, AutoFinanceNews.net has learned.

Nuvell handled GMAC’s nonprime and private-label business; National financed non-GM vehicles for prime and nonprime customers.

In all, 212 employees lost their jobs. Another 136 took positions at GMAC, including those who handle Nuvell’s private-label business for Suzuki, spokesman Mike… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on January 7, 2009 at 12:30pm — 6 Comments

On the Demise of Saturn

I recently read an industry analysis written by Mark Scheiner on the demise of Saturn, now a brand in a huge state of flux within GM. In short he stated that it was a GM opportunity gone wrong. He stated, “The lesson here is that brands whether, they’re products or branding, need time to seed themselves. These are long-term investments in both capital and marketing with branding efforts surrounding them. Most importantly, the messaging needs to remain consistent across all channels, and… Continue

Added by Greg Goebel on January 5, 2009 at 3:24pm — 6 Comments

The Glass Is Half Full

Vehicle sales reports for December are starting to trickle in, and the results are generally in line with expectations. The majority of manufacturers will record double-digit declines for the month — and year.

Already, Ford announced a 32% decline for December and 21% for the full year.

Sure, the news will get worse before it gets better, but there is a silver lining in all this. You see, throughout 2008, industry executives revised and re-revised their sales targets… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on January 5, 2009 at 1:28pm — No Comments