Archive for the ‘Cars & Used Cars Info’ Category

Ally mortgage unit files bankruptcy

May 15th, 2012 davidguide
Diane Alter – Fourth Estate Cooperative Reporter

Midvale, Utah, United States (4E) – Ally Financial ResCap mortgage on Monday filed for prepackaged bankruptcy protection.

The bank, owned by taxpayers, said the filing will allow the bank to take another step to repay the U.S. treasury.

Ally’s ResCap unit operates under the GMAC Mortgage brand. At one time, it was the nation’s leading subprime lender. Problems with those home loans for risker borrowers, and the steep drop in the company’s core auto finance business, forced the Treasury to shell out some $15.8 billion in bailout funds in 2009 in an effort to rescue the ailing auto industry and bubble-bursting housing market.

ResCap began as the finance unit of automaker General Motors under the GMAC name. It changed its name to Ally after the bailout. In addition to its auto finance business, Ally also operates as an online commercial bank.

The struggling bank said it is seeking strategic alternatives for its international businesses, a euphemism that the overseas arm is up for sale.

Ally said it expects GMAC to continue to make and service mortgage loans during the bankruptcy process. Its portfolio of home loans, currently valued at less than half its original value, will be auctioned off as part of the bankruptcy process.

GMAC said it will make a so-called “stalking horse” bid of $1.6 billion for those loans, adding that it anticipates them to attract higher bids from investors.

In a statement, Ally CEO Michael A. Carpenter said, “The action by ResCap will enable Ally to achieve a permanent solution to its legacy mortgage risks and put these issues behind us. This action, along with pursuing alternatives for the international businesses, will allow Ally to focus 100 percent of its energies on further strengthening its already leading U.S. auto finance and direct bank franchises.”

At present, the U.S. Treasury owns about 74 percent of Ally’s outstanding stock. To date, Ally has repaid, through dividends and loan repayments, about $5.5 billion of the bailout funds it received.

The company also said Monday that upon successful completion of the bankruptcy auction and disposal of its international business, it should be able to pay back roughly two-thirds of the government bailout.

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VW, Chrysler see profits jump while Fiat posts losses

May 1st, 2012 davidguide
Linda Young – AHN News Writer

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The global auto market continues to recover with carmaker giants Volkswagen, Chrysler and Fiat all reporting higher profits during the first quarter of the year. VW and Chrysler also reported higher sales, while Fiat said its sales in Europe were no better than last year.

Volkswagen AG (VOW) led the pack on profits. It announced its net profit had nearly doubled to $4.2 billion compared to the same period last year.

Chrysler Group LLC, which is now controlled by Italy’s Fiat, reported its net profits were the best in 13 years at $473 million.

Italian carmaker Fiat SpA (F) credited those strong profits from the Chrysler division with helping to boost the net profits for the entire Fiat group 10-fold to $501 million, compared to a year earlier. Fiat owns a 58.5 percent stake in Chrysler.

VW credited sales in Russia for helping to boost its bottom line. Sales there increased by 77 percent to 66,000 vehicles.

Chrysler reported a 39 percent increase in first quarter sales and credited its growing market share in the U.S. for contributing to that growth. The automaker saw its U.S. market share rise to 11.5 percent from 9.4 percent for the same period last year.

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BMW says sales in China helped it hit new record

April 17th, 2012 davidguide
Linda Young – AHN News Writer

Frankfurt, Germany (AHN) – German luxury automaker BMW AG set sales records for the first three months of the year, reaching the landmark of selling more cars in China than in the United States for the first time.

Sales rose by 11.2 percent for the first quarter, compared to the same period last year. BMW sold 425,528 vehicles. The company said it sold 80,014 cars in China, up by 37 percent from a year ago.

In addition, BMW said that domestic sales were up by 12 percent in March.

Also in March, BMW reported car sales rose by 41 percent in China, while sales only rose by 13 percent in the U.S.

BMW says it expects strong sales for the remainder of the year. It will release its first quarter revenue and net profit reports on May 3.

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Brake light, airbag issues prompt recall of 700,000 Toyota cars

March 20th, 2012 davidguide
Windsor Genova – AHN News News Writer

Chicago, IL, United States (AHN) – Some 700,000 Toyota sedans and pickups in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are being recalled by the Japanese automaker to replace a faulty brake light switch and fix an airbag issue.

In an announcement on Wednesday, Toyota Motor Corp. said the recall covers 495,470 Tacoma pickup trucks made between 2005 and 2009, 70,500 Camry and 116,000 2009-2011 Venza vehicles. The numbers include 16,000 trucks in Canada and 13,000 in Mexico.

For the Tacoma, friction between the spiral cable and the retainer in the steering wheel spiral cable assembly may occur and could damage the electrical connection for the driver’s airbag module preventing it from deploying during a crash.

A flaw in the brake light switch could prevent the Camry and Venza from starting or shifting out of park, so this part will be replaced. Toyota is already obtaining replacement parts.

There were no reports of accidents related to the faulty brake light switch and airbag issue. However, the carmaker received 162 complaints on the Tacoma problem since 2005.

In February 2010, Toyota also recalled 8,000 units of 2010 Tacomas and 7,314 2010 Camrys for safety inspection. The defect in the 4WD trucks was a cracked front drive shaft that may eventually lead to the separation of the drive shaft at the joint portion while the 4-cylinder models of Camry’s left rear brake tube could puncture leading to reduced braking ability.

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Volkswagen announces its annual profits doubled

March 6th, 2012 davidguide
Linda Young – AHN News Writer

Frankfurt, Germany (AHN) – Volkswagen AG saw its profits more than double to $21.2 billion last year compared to $9.7 billion the year before, the company reported Friday.

In addition, the automaker’s operating profit soared by 58 percent to $15.1 billion, while its revenue rose by 26 percent to $213.7 billion.

The carmaker delivered more than 8.2 million vehicles, an increase of nearly 15 percent from the 2010.

Volkswagen says it plans to become the world’s largest carmaker, in terms of both sales and profits, by 2018.

To get there, company officials say they plan to spend $83 billion on building new plants and on conducting research and development to develop new models over the next five years. In addition, it plans to hire 50,000 more workers over the next six years.

Moreover, the company has developed a new platform to serve as the base for its small and large cars to streamline the process.

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Chrysler posts $225 million profit

February 7th, 2012 davidguide
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

Detriot, MI, United States (AHN) – Chrysler reported a $225 million profit on Wednesday. The company capped its first profitable year since its government bailout and bankruptcy in 2009.

The fourth quarter results were fueled by $15.1 billion in revenue, a 41 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.

For the full year, the struggling automaker on the way to a dramatic turnaround, reported net income of $183 million, compared with a $652 million loss in 2010. Annual revenue for 2011 rose 31 percent to $55 billion.

Giving gas to the turnaround was surging sales of its Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles. Worldwide sales of its cars and trucks increased 22 percent to 1.85 million vehicles in 2011.

Even better and more encouraging was that Chrysler guided higher for 2012, a move that suggests its turnaround has wheels.

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GM back on top as world’s biggest automaker

January 24th, 2012 davidguide
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Even if you prefer Ford, BMW, Mercedes or Volkswagen, if you are an American taxpayer, you are cheering the news.

General Motors, one-third of whose shares are owned by U.S. taxpayers, sold 9,025,942 vehicles in 2011, up 7.6 percent from 2010. The number was good enough to place GM on top as the world’s largest automaker.

GM beat out Volkswagen, which sold just over 8 million cars in 2011. Toyota, which took the top spot from GM in 2009, has yet to report figures, but its production was severely hampered by the tsunami in Japan and the massive floods in Thailand.

Even more impressive, and better, is that General Motors is now making money and showing a profit, unlike in years when GM reigned king of automakers, but was an unprofitable leader.

In the first nine months of 2011, GM earned $8.47 billion, compared to the $6.17 billion earned in the same time period in 2010.

Driving the recovery for GM was its Chevrolet brand, helped by its popular Cruze compact car.

GM received a $50 billion bailout from the U.S. government two years ago. Shares of GM have lagged since its IPO, when shares were priced at $33. They are currently trading 26 percent lower, near $25 per share. Shares of GM would have to reach $53 per share before the U.S. government could sell just to break even.

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VW sells record 5.1 million cars in 2011

January 10th, 2012 davidguide
Linda Young – AHN News Writer

Wolfsburg, Germany (AHN) – Volkswagen AG announced it had record sales of 5.1 million cars and sport-utility vehicles worldwide in 2011.

Sales were up worldwide by 13.1 percent in 2011 from 2010, company officials said.

Volkswagen is Europe’s largest carmaker.

Although much of its growth came from gains in China, India, Russia and the United States, its two largest markets were Europe and China. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker sold 1.72 million vehicles in each of those markets.

However, company officials said they expected challenges in the market environment for 2012.

VW officials credited new versions of some models, such as the Passat, Jetta and Beetle for helping to boost sales in “difficult market conditions.”

The only region that didn’t record strong growth was South America, where sales increased by only 2.2 percent.

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Honda widens recall for airbag problem

December 13th, 2011 davidguide
Linda Young – AHN News Writer

Torrence, CA, United States (AHN) – Japanese automaker Honda has expanded its previously announced recall of vehicles with dangerous air bags to include almost 900,000 vehicles.

The recall affects only vehicles sold in the United States and includes model years 2001 to 2003 of the affected cars.

The recalled vehicles now include certain 2001 and 2002 Accord, 2001 to 2003 Civic, 2001 to 2003 Odyssey, 2002 and 2003 CR-V, 2003 Pilot, 2002 and 2003 Acura 3.2 TL and 2003 Acura 3.2 CL models, Honda officials said in a statement.

Honda first said the driver’s airbag inflator needed to be replaced because it had a risk of deploying with too much pressure and could rupture, which might result in injuries or death.

The company will begin sending out official notices to owners. However, owners can find more information online and also take an affected vehicle to their dealer for inspection and repairs.

“When Honda identifies concerns of this nature, nothing is more important to the company than fulfilling our obligation and responsibility to alert our customers,” Honda officials said in a statement posted on the company website. “To this end, in addition to contacting customers by mail, in late December, owners of these vehicles will be able to determine if their vehicles require repair by going on-line or calling. Honda owners can go to www.recalls.honda.com or call (800) 999-1009 and select option 4; Acura owners can go to www.recalls.acura.com or call (800) 382-2238 and select option 4.”

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GM CEO: Earnings good, but not good enough

November 15th, 2011 davidguide
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – General Motors reported better than expected earnings in the third quarter on Wednesday, but CEO Dan Akerson said the quarter “isn’t good enough,” a signal that more cost cutting lies ahead.

GM, the U.S.’s largest automaker, earned $1.7 billion, or $1.03 a share in the third quarter, down from $2 billion earned in the last full period before its initial public offering.

While better than analysts’ estimates of 96 cents a share, Akerson said in the company’s earning statement Wednesday “Solid isn’t good enough, even in a tough global economy.”

The company did not give specific guidance on net income in the fourth quarter or lay out any specific measures to improve margins.

The lack of fourth quarter guidance, and the sinking Dow, helped send shares of GM down almost 8 percent shortly before noon.

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