Auto industry still struggling
Soon GM might not be so big anymore.
General Motors has begun dismantling; car prices are being driven so low in Canada that buyers probably won’t need payday loans to cover their down payments.
Cheap Cars in Canada
Auto prices in Canada fell in 2008 for the second year in a row. If a Canadian car salesman tries to convince people they must rush out and get payday loans to take advantage of a good price right now, buyer beware. Competition, the economy and a growing preference for smaller vehicles is driving auto prices down, down, down.
GM backing out of Europe?
GM-owned Swedish auto brand Saab began “reorganization” today, meaning it is going to separate from GM and become its own company. It has been granted protection from all of its creditors during the reorganization time. This move has protected the company from going bankrupt.
Germany being shepherded out?
Business Week says “GM is exploring options” regarding Opel, the U.S. auto giant’s German unit. One of these options includes selling the operation, but so far it’s hard to tell how likely that is.
Auto “giant” downgraded to “tall”
GM sold more vehicles than any other automaker for 77 years straight. This year, for the first time, GM lost the title of World’s Largest Automaker to Toyota. But that was just the beginning.
GM is unloading Saab, exploring Opel options and meanwhile downsizing its operations within the U.S.
“Without Europe, GM almost becomes a second-tier player,” says Joe Phillippi, head of AutoTrends in Short Hills, N.J.
Saab story continued
Now that Saab has been booted from GM, the Swedish courts have three months to turn Saab into a stand-alone car maker. The courts must find investors and creditors and can use money from various government programs. If this cannot be achieved in three months, Saab will liquidate.
Rough road ahead
Saab only sold 93,000 vehicles worldwide last year. Based on these numbers, if Saab employees need extra cash for necessities involved in looking for a job, they might want to start thinking about getting payday loans now.
GM is in trouble, and Saab will be lucky if they can manage to come out of this unscathed. They are supposedly very safe cars, but who knows about how safe of a business they are at this point, since every car maker in the world is bleeding money.
couldnt agree more