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Top Stories
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Saab hopes flicker as Spyker renews bid
Dutch sportscar maker Spyker NV has extended the deadline of its offer to take over General Motors Co.'s Saab Automoble AB unit until further notice, Dow Jones Newswires reports. "We wanted to give GM more time to assess the proposal," Spyker Chief Executive Victor Muller, told Dow Jones Newswires Monday. On Sunday, Spyker announced a new offer for Saab which was initially valid until 5 p.m. EST Monday, after talks between Spyker and GM collapsed on Friday. Netherlands-based Spyker said Sunday its new offer is an 11-point proposal addressing each of the issues that caused talks with GM to collapse. "We have made every effort to resolve the issues that were preventing the conclusion of this matter, and we have asked GM and all other involved parties to seriously consider this offer," Muller said. Spyker said Sunday its new offer has the full backing of Saab management, and it also eliminated the need for a loan from the European Investment Bank. GM said it had received several new inquiries about its Swedish unit.
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GM hires Microsoft vet as finance chief
General Motors Co. Chairman and CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. reached outside the auto industry to recruit a new chief financial officer from software giant Microsoft Corp.'s senior ranks, The Detroit News reports. Microsoft CFO Christopher Liddell, 51, will become vice chairman and CFO of GM in Whitacre's latest move to speed up a cultural transformation at the struggling U.S. automaker. With Liddell's appointment, announced Monday, GM hopes to improve its financial management, which was criticized by members of President Barack Obama's auto task force as being among the worst they'd seen at a large corporation. Liddell brings impressive experience and qualifications to GM: He holds a degree in engineering, ran a big forest products company in his native New Zealand and, as CFO of Microsoft, helped draft a $3 billion cost-cutting plan.
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Chrysler may challenge dealer legislation
Chrysler might challenge as unconstitutional legislative efforts aimed at restoring some of the 789 dealers it eliminated earlier this year, the carmaker’s chief executive said on Thursday, The New York Times reports. The executive, Sergio Marchionne, said the company had not decided whether to ask the courts to stop Congress from forcing Chrysler and General Motors into arbitration with former dealers. The measure was included in a $446 billion spending bill that passed both houses of Congress this month and signed this week President Obama. Mr. Marchionne said that restoring large numbers of dealerships could “cause havoc within Chrysler.” G.M. and Chrysler proposed their own review processes last week in an effort to keep Congress from getting involved. “The offer that we made had all the elements of equity and fairness. It would have guaranteed a disgruntled dealer the opportunity to air its concern,” Mr. Marchionne said. “Having said this, if Congress wants it, Congress gets it. We’ll live with the consequences.” A G.M. spokesman, Greg Martin, said the automaker had not decided how to proceed.
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Where the cash in ‘cash for clunkers’ went
Since the “cash for clunkers” program whipped through auto dealers this summer, the debate about it has raged. Depending on whom you talk with, it was one of the most successful government stimulus programs in history, or it was a $3 billion boondoggle that ultimately had little impact, The Christian Science Monitor reports. “Success” is a hard thing to judge, but when you look at where the money went , one thing seems clear: The program benefited the wealthy the most and arguably did little for poorer, struggling communities. Using data from the federal government, we looked at where the nearly 700,000 cash-for-clunkers transactions took place and found that three community types in particular cashed in: the largely suburban “Monied ’Burbs,” the growing and diversifying “Boom Towns,” and the collegiate “Campus and Careers” counties. These three types all have higher-than-average median household incomes, and in general, they’ve fared better during the recent economic challenges, according to our Economic Hardship Index.
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2 South Dakota auto dealers drop suit against GM
Two South Dakota car dealers who sued General Motors in May after it sent letters ending franchise agreements have informed the federal court that they are dropping their case against the Detroit automaker, The Associated Press reports. A Sioux Falls law firm representing Springs Auto Inc. of Wessington Springs and Yankton Motor Co. of Yankton on Friday informed the U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls that the action could be dismissed. The court had sent the law firm a letter saying GM had not been served within the required 120-day window. Attorney Steven Johnson, who represents the car dealers, said the suit was filed before GM filed for bankruptcy protection and the federal government stepped in, which left dealers with no legal avenues to pursue. Springs Auto and Yankton Motor filed the complaint based on a South Dakota law that says a company can't end a franchise with a dealer before having a hearing. It asked a judge to declare that GM's May 14 notice to close the dealerships on Oct. 31, 2010, is against the law, void and can't be enforced.
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Kelley Blue Book names 2010 vehicles with best resale values
Kelley Blue Book has named the all-new 2010 model-year vehicle winners of its annual Best Resale Value Awards, which recognize current and forthcoming vehicles for their projected retained value five years from now. Since depreciation (or loss of value) is typically a car-buyer's primary expense during ownership, these awards, like all of kbb.com's new- and used-vehicle information, are designed to help consumers make more informed car-buying decisions.
[FULL STORY]
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Longtime Ford dealer George Gorno Sr. dies
Longtime Detroit-area auto dealer George Gorno Sr. has died, said Brenda Queen, manager at Woodhaven-based Gorno Ford, CrainsDetroit reports. Gorno, who had cancer, died around 2 a.m. Monday, Queen said. In 2003, Crain's reported that Gorno Bros. Inc., founded in 1939, was the metro area's second-oldest family-owned Ford dealership. Survived by wife Heidie, four children and six grandchildren, Gorno was a fixture of the metro area automotive dealers' community. He served as co-chairman of the North American International Auto Show in 1997 and sat on the National Automobile Dealers Association's board of directors. Gorno was a past president of the Detroit Automobile Dealers Association, Ford Credit Committee of the Ford National Dealer Council, according to the Web site, also serving as director of the Metro Detroit Ford Dealers Association and the Michigan Automobile Dealers Association.
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The December Dealer magazine e-zine is here
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Sloan to succeed Cizek at Chicago Dealer Association
The Board of Directors of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association (CATA) has named David Sloan to succeed Jerry Cizek as president of the dealer group following Cizek's retirement from the position he has held since 1988. The change takes place January 1, 2010.
[FULL STORY]
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vAuto names Larry Beasley senior director
Larry Beasley has been named Senior Director of Performance Management at vAuto, a provider of used-car inventory management systems for the nation’s franchised and independent car dealers. Beasley will be responsible for developing and managing best practice workshops for vAuto’s over 2,000 rooftop customers.
[FULL STORY]
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Compliance Corner
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Web site identity theft
by Gil Van Over
The Federales have a multi-pronged, largely unsuccessful approach to stemming the tide of identity theft. Why just .jpg?i=122209113506) last week, one of my associates received a phishing e-mail that looked like it was from a national credit card company. The same day, coincidently, my wife received a replacement credit card by overnight express from the same company because her card had been compromised. While we have been inundated with all of the stats and hyperbole about our individual identities at risk, not many of us who have websites think that our Web site will be compromised. Think again!
[FULL STORY]
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Dave Anderson Quote of the Week
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If you are a micromanager and are successful in your position, I can assure you that you are not successful because you are a micromanager. Rather, you are successful in spite of being a micromanager.
-- Dave Anderson, Learn to Lead, Inc.
Order Dave's new book and get a $99 bonus! Click Here!
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In Dealer magazine
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Lessons from across the pond
by Erin Prinn Kerrigan
.jpg?i=122209113506) I recently had the great fortune of speaking to a group of dealers and auto industry executives in Europe. Representatives from the Dutch auto dealer association (the Netherlands’ NADA equivalent) saw my credit crisis workshop at the New Orleans NADA and thought their dealers would be interested in hearing it. Luckily, the Dutch dealers speak perfect English and everyone understands the importance of credit, so no translations were necessary. In preparing for the speech, I decided to research the European credit and auto markets. Like the U.S., credit availability in Europe contracted significantly in the wake of the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy and has yet to return to pre-crisis levels. Unlike the U.S. however, the European auto retail market was much less reliant on credit at both the consumer and dealer level. As such, reduced credit availability has had less of an impact on European auto sales and dealers. While U.S. auto sales are down 35% since 2007, the European market is down only 8%. European light vehicle sales are tracking slightly higher for 2009 as compared to 2008. At the current pace, the EU will outsell the U.S. by more than 30% in 2009. In fact, the European Union’s auto retail market will be larger than ours for the second year in a row.
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Effective add point presentation
by Greg Gilmore
It’s true, automotive manufacturers are starting to open brand new dealerships at an increased pace. Surprisingly, I have .jpg?i=122209113506) been working on more franchised new dealership add point proposals in the past few months than at any other time over the past 10 years. While most of these projects involve General Motors’ dealerships, there are also an increasing number of import franchises opening up across the country. As with all franchised market representation activities, add point proposals are graded upon on a criteria mix of capital, management and facility. Once you remove the politics, the candidate with the best mix of those three indicators typically earns the point. While I don’t have the space to address all issues in those three categories, I’ll hit a few of the recent hot points.
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