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The Current State of the US Auto Market
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Geez, we agree on something!
Got a free ticket to the Cleveland Auto Show. Really have too much to do so am just going up, basically, to see the Impala, the SS, and the Cadillacs, as well as the classic cars they always have on display too.
We won't be able help much with with your other unsolicited mail and junk when you get this going though:
This is just another monthly bill to pay.
I put AT&T and GM on the same odorous excrement list as Circuit City, Best Buy, Rite Aid, and Chrysler.
I'd avoid the technology simply because AT&T's name is on it. I don't do business with AT&T; not in this lifetime.
This is just another monthly bill to pay.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Gee, I just want to pay $20-$90/month MORE to drive my car around and be distracted! No thanks.
...and right above the lowest excrement of the bailed out banks.
And right you are to do so!
Gross Profit
While revenue increased by the aforementioned 1.3% COGS increased by 7.8%. This had the effect of cutting gross profit nearly in half, from $19.1 billion in 2011 to $10.8 billion in 2012.
In 2012 GM sold 9.288 million vehicles, up from 9.024 million in 2011, an increase of 2.9%. This leads to the conclusion that GM made far less profit per vehicle compared to 2011. This is not a good trend. Sacrificing margin for volume is very rarely a good idea.
Operating Expenses
Total operating expenses for 2012 total $41.2 billion, but this includes a large goodwill write-off of $27 billion. Excluding this charge OPEX sits at just about $14 billion. This leads to an EBIT of $-3.2 billion. So how did this loss of over $3 billion become a gain of $6 billion?
Deferred tax valuation allowance
GM claimed a reversal of deferred tax valuation allowances of $36.3 billion in the fourth quarter. What does that mean?
As the old GM was heading toward bankruptcy the company wrote off $39 billion of deferred tax assets. These had accumulated from all of the losses that had built up in prior years. But these assets only have value if the company reasonably expects to turn a profit in the future and therefore be able to claim these tax benefits. Since GM was in an unending death spiral, the assets were written off.
Now that GM expects to be profitable it has reversed that write-off and reinstated most of those assets. This increased the book value of the company above the market capitalization, requiring GM to write off the excess goodwill.
This leads to two conclusions:
GM will not be paying taxes in the US for quite some time.
Excluding the effects of the goodwill write-off and the tax benefit GM actually lost money in 2012.
The bottom line
It looks like GM actually had quite a rough 2012, with Europe taking a serious toll on the company. There are some big warning signs here, like the dramatic drop in gross profit, that are effectively hidden by the tax benefit and goodwill write-off. All of this makes GM's financial performance extremely fuzzy. I don't think I'll be buying GM stock anytime soon.
and again...no GM's.
So I looked at the current mobile hotspots, and the minimum plan is $50/month, and even that one is not unlimited.
A Malibu leases for $189 around here, that bumps your monthly cost to around $249. Pretty significant bump.
Add a hotspot plan to your phone for $10/month if you don't already have one.
I bet GM gets a cut of whatever profits AT&T would make.
And $50/month for in-car hotspot when all smartphones can do it anyway, and said hotspot will be dependent on the same signal? No thanks.
They're still the only major carrier without the iPhone.
I think Tmo is supposed to get the iphone this spring - never understood the hype, I like a device I can modify/root to my own standards. The build quality is nice, but the rest is controlled and cultish. And my Note II makes it look like a baby's toy :shades:
Z10/Q10 BlackBerry is probably too little too late.
Oddly enough the Note II would be my pick as well if all options were on the table. The screen is simply amazing - like holding a small tablet that still fits in your dress shirt pocket.
most Chinese sedans of the recent era have been reverse engineered copies of the Toyota Corolla
The consensus seems to be that SAIC is miles ahead of everyone else – thanks mostly to their collaboration with GM
When I had an older Motorolla Razor and a Sony Ericsson pre smart phones with memory capabilities I liked the fact that you could simply drag and drop files you want in your phone as easily as moving papers from one drawer to another in your desk.
End of my rant.....
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Some still insist the Chinese aren't copying, just influenced. Right.
I once had an excellent flip phone, a Motorola V600. Huge build quality (metal case!) and it was one of the first bluetooth phones. I felt like I was from the future moving files from it via bluetooth. 9 years later, it is an antique.
I've got an iPhone 4S and I've chosen NOT to upgrade to the latest version of iOS.
That's not exactly correct.
You can easily disable the auto-sync function, and you can select what you want to sync by device.
I do exactly that with the multiple Apple devices I have on my computer (iPad 2, iPhone 4), both with the latest iOS.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Consumer Reports has unveiled its list of top automotive picks for 2013, and the news isn’t great for Detroit. American brands were shut out of all 10 categories rated by the magazine.
Honda was the big winner, its Accord, CR-V and Odyssey taking the top spot in the Midsize, Small SUV and Minivan categories, even as the Civic was beaten by the Hyundai Elantra for the Budget Car crown and Subaru Impreza in the Compact sedan class.
The Toyota Prius stretched its streak as best Green Car to 10 years, while the Highlander was named best Midsize SUV and the FR-S from its Scion division tied for the best Sports Car win with its near twin, the Subaru BRZ.
The Audi A6 and BMW 328i took the Luxury Car and Sports sedan segments, respectively, both cited for a combination of performance, comfort and fuel economy.
Consumer Reports compiles its Top Picks list based on a combination of their results in the magazine’s road tests, reliability reports from its subscribers and government crash test ratings.
Pickup trucks were left off this year’s list because the latest vehicles in the category were not yet available for testing.
They're people and are subjective, of course...just as the people there who rated the Malibu LT above several of the foreign competition, much to the chagrin of some here.
What do they say now about Juke reliability?
The problem is the US does not have the best cars on the market. Cost cutting devours good product and that is the case at the moment with the Small 3. Like it or not.
Regards,
OW
They've tested both the new Civic and the new Accord, both have more insulation and are quieter.
Honda's ratings improved, and then the Accord moved up, so I'm sure the quieter ride helped.
The comments above were from the previous Accord and do not apply to the current offerings/rankings.
Depends on the model.
The Accord got DI and a backup camera is now standard, what's the opposite of cost cutting? Re-contenting, maybe? Civic is better now, also.
Toyota is refreshing the Camry after one model year to update the tech and add some nicer materials. Not unlike the refresh for the 'bu.
Consumers have noticed and complain loudly, so they add stuff back. It's a cycle. The accountants say we can save 3 cents per unit here or there, then they see if anyone notices.
This applies to both imports like the Fusion and domestically made cars like the Camry.
(And it was terrible, absolutely no doubt.)
Hey, like it or not, it's a global economy. If the Camry is 90% American, it's still 10% from some place else. All it takes is a single part that isn't sourced from any other location.
Remember they could not get a certain black paint?
Juke reliability should be documented by now but I have not read anything bad on the Juke forums. Most people just don't like the looks (Including myself) :shades:
In my lifetime, when there was a tire strike, new cars were shipped without spare tires (to be added later). Near the beginning of the U.S.'s involvement in WWII, cars were shipped with 'blackout' trim since chromium was needed early on in the war effort. Some of that 10% must be pretty major parts that cars couldn't be shipped without them.
Make no mistake, I think imports built here is a humongous improvement over the way it used to be, but there are still a ton of Japanese millionaires because of Toyotas built here. I know a lot will say 'who cares?', but it has to be.
http://youtu.be/u-7mLNyirBk
As do other reviews I've seen and read.
Juke is the current ugly champ but the Jeep Cherokee is certainly a challenger for that title.
Funny!
Keep in mind Toyota has a just-in-time inventory system, so they don't exactly stock pile tons of spare parts. Dealers also have less than ideal supply, then and now.
Once supply is cut off, production ceases.
Camry was still the best selling car that year, so it didn't hurt them nearly as bad as it being implied.
I recall there was a certain type of computer chip that was only made there, even VW was affected. They deleted some standard equipment on some models temporarily (backup cam? something like that).
Beats a wooden plank for a bumper!
I've heard of that and in fact have seen photos of new cars so-equipped then.
I would call that a nitpick. If one random part or ingredient is not available, then it can halt production. In Ford's case it was luck that it was paint, and there were a lot of other colors, so only halted production for one color. If it is some other part that is critical to the entire line, then the line stops.
Ultimately it's about US-content vs. others. And the "NA Sourced" measure is imperfect because it includes Canada (does it include Mexico as well?).
What is the relative US sourced content of the two vehicles in question? Or are you just against Japanese parts, but not concerned about other non-US parts?
At least the Cherokee will be somewhat practical. The Juke is a bit useless, similiar to the old Suzuki X90 of the 90s.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
The Japanese pay far better wages, Mexicans at auto plants work for peanuts.
Well, not exactly, since the Juke has a back seat and more storage space than the X90.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX