Infinite Unknown

- Hank Paulson Burned As Another Electric Car Maker Goes Up In Flames (ZeroHedge, Mai 1, 2013):

It would appear that (apart from Tesla, for now) that any thing related to electric cars is going up in flames. From Fisker’s fubar (and blowing all that hard-earned government funding) and Chevy’s Volt dysphoria to A-123 Systems (the Lithium-Ion battery-maker) and now Coda – which Yahoo Finance notes was among an emerging crop of California startups seeking to build emission-free electric cars three years ago. After selling just 100 of its $37,250 five-passenger vehicles, Coda filed Chapter 11 today taking a few well-known investors with it. On the bright side, the government was not involved (from what we can tell), but on the even brighter side, none other than former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was among those burned by the company going up in flames (as was Harbinger’s Phil Falcone).Despite the $300 million the company managed to raise, that quickly went and unable to raise an additional $150 million in new funding (we suspect blaming ‘market conditions’ for its mere $22million raise), Coda had no choice (and Fortress was more than happy to scoop it up and provide the DIP – the cars will make for fancy paperweights in a collateral liquidation). ‘Green’ is the new ‘red’ as it seems when it comes to electric cars, regardless of funding source – private or public – it goes up in flames.

Via Reuters,

Green car startup Coda Holdings Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday after selling just 100 of its all-electric sedans, another example of battery-powered vehicles’ failure to break into the mass market.

… exit the auto sector and refocus on energy storage, a far less capital-intensive business. Continue reading »

Tags: Bankruptcy, Cars, Economy, Electric Car, Global News, Henry Paulson

- Tuesday Humor: GM Announces It Is Losing Money On Every Volt Sold, Will Make Up For It With More Losse (ZeroHedge, April 30, 2013):

In what should not come as a major surprise to anyone, GM just announced that:

• GM SAYS LOSING MONEY ON EVERY VOLT SOLD

There is good news: being implicitly funded by the US taxpayer means never admitting failure. In fact, the faster one fails, the faster one gets bailed out.

• GM SAYS NOT GIVING UP ON VOLT

And when failure is not an option, the only other option is even greater failure. And even bigger losses.

• GM SAYS NEXT GEN VOLT WILL BE $7,000 TO $10,000 CHEAPER

Slowly but surely everyone is figuring out that in the USSA, where making a profit is becoming increasingly impossible, the only credible business model is that of Amazon: lose lots of money but make up for it in volume.

Tags: Cars, Economy, General Motors, Global News, U.S.

Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann with the new Veneno in Geneva.

- Lamborghini Unveils $3.9 Million Supercar To Celebrate Its 50th Birthday (Business Insider, March 5, 2013):

The Geneva Motor Show is in full swing after opening to the press this morning, but things really kicked off last night when Lamborghini unveiled the highly anticipated supercar it created to mark its 50th birthday.

Named for a legendary fighting bull, the Veneno checks off all the supercar must-haves: Carbon fiber body construction, a striking body style made with aerodynamics in mind, and an eye-popping price tag.

At $3.9 million, the Veneno is the most expensive Lamborghini ever built and is among history’s priciest production cars.

Its 6.5-liter, 12-cylinder engine will produce a whopping 750 horsepower, enough to send the car from from 0 to 62 mph in 2.8 seconds, and up to a top speed of 220 mph.

Continue reading »

Tags: Cars, Lamborghini, Veneno

- French Socialist Nightmare: ‘The State Cannot Do Everything’ (Testosterone Pit, Feb 8, 2013):

The preannouncement came Thursday evening: PSA Peugeot Citroën, France’s largest automaker, would have a write-down of €4.7 billion. On top of a hefty operating loss. It would be colossal. An all-time record. Rumors spread immediately that PSA would need a bailout. The second in four months.

PSA passenger car sales in France dropped nearly 17% in 2012 from an already awful 2011. In January they dropped another 16.7%. Sales for all automakers dropped 15%, and PSA’s market share had eroded further. Kia-Hyundai sales jumped 21.2%, the only major automaker with gains. Even Volkswagen Group got clobbered: down 23.9%. PSA isn’t internationally diversified enough. It doesn’t have much in China and nothing in the US, the largest markets in the world, both growing. It’s mired in Europe where auto sales have ground to a halt. It’s bleeding €200 million a month. It’s trying to lay off 8,000 workers and shutter its plant in Aulnay-sous-Bois. And its Banque PSA Finance was bailed out last October with €7 billion in taxpayer money.

The government was so worried that it was actively studying a bailout, sources told the Liberation after the losses were announced. It was just hypothetical. “But if a capital infusion would become inevitable, the state could participate,” the source said. Instantly, a cacophony of discord erupted—within the Socialist government.

Continue reading »

Tags: Bailout, Cars, Collapse, Economy, EU, Europe, France, Francois Hollande, Global News, Government, Politics

- ALL IS WELL!!! (The Burning Platform, Feb 6, 2013)

Tags: Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Cars, Corruption, Economy, Fannie Mae, Fed, Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac, GDP, Global News, Government, Mortgage crisis, Mortgages, Obama administration, Politics, Society, U.S., Unemployment

Hmmh.

Audi, BMW and VW ranked in the bottom 10 of a study into engine reliability

- German cars ‘among worst for engine failures’ (Auto Express, Jan 18, 2013):

German-made cars are not as reliable as many believe, according to new research. Warranty Direct has studied its claims data to compile a list of the manufacturers with the most reliable engines – and Audi, BMW and Volkswagen all finished in the bottom 10 out of a total 36 makers.

In fact, the only firm whose cars had a worse engine failure rate than Audi was MG Rover. MINI wasn’t much better, finishing third from bottom, while its parent company BMW came seventh from bottom. And, despite its reputation for rock-solid reliability, Volkswagen came ninth from bottom.

Continue reading »

Tags: Audi, BMW, Cars, Germany, Global News, Honda, Japan, Mercedes, Rover, Saab, Technology, Toyota, Volvo, VW

YouTube

Tags: Cars, China, Economy, General Motors, Global News, GM

- As Cars Burn In France, The Industry Of Hope Booms (Testosterone Pit, Jan 3, 2013):

New Year’s Eve was the main event. And it didn’t disappoint: 1,193 vehicles were burned in France in the course of a few hours, said Interior Minister Manuel Valls. Up 4% from 2009, when 1,147 vehicles were burned. A tradition no one has the balls to explain. In the days leading up to the annual rite, Valls had promised “complete transparence,” in contrast to the Sarkozy government, which had hushed up the numbers since 2009. But it’s a year-round event: 40,244 vehicles were burned during 2011 and 43,568 the year before. Even Valls was “shocked” by these numbers.

But the massive destruction of functional vehicles (most of them paid for by insurance) wasn’t nearly enough to bail out the automakers. New vehicle sales for the year 2012 dropped 13.9% from the already miserable levels of 2011. Only 1.89 million vehicles were sold, a low not seen since 1997, despite the growth of the population. Particularly alarming: sales by French automakers collapsed, PSA Peugeot Citroen by 17.5%, Renault by 22.1%. All hopes had been riding on their new models—the Peugeot 208 and the Renault Clio 4—which hit the market in the fall, but those hopes have since evaporated.

Other automakers got clobbered as well: Ford was down 19.8%, Fiat, which hardly anyone is buying anymore, fell 23.7%, only to be outdone by GM’s beleaguered Opel, down 23.8%. But there were winners: BMW was up 2.3%, Mercedes 5.3%, and Hyundai-Kia 28.2%! So the French automakers, like other French industries, have a complex problem: uncompetitive products in a morose market with unemployment that has been climbing with incessant brutality, and a tax quagmire of unprecedented proportions [“Trench Warfare” Or “Civil War” Over Confiscatory Taxes In France].

Continue reading »

Tags: Cars, Crime, EU, Europe, France, Global News, Society

The Car Coach Lauren Fix on why ‘E15’ gas could damage drivers’ vehicles older than 2012 models.

Tags: BMW, Cars, Chrysler, EPA, Global News, Government, Honda, Kia, Mercedes, Nissan, Politics, Technology, Toyota, VW

- Chart Of The Day: The Unprecedented Implosion Of European Car Sales (ZeroHedge, Dec 4, 2012):

The graphic below, which presents an unvarnished picture of Europe’s true economic state, needs no explanation:

Source: FT

In the context of the above, no explanation is also needed that quietly, and without much fanfare, French car-maker, Peugeot, and Europe’s second largest after VW, was recently GMed, and received a government bailout.

Carmaker Peugeot gets $9.1B government bailout

The French government has agreed to underwrite up to €7 billion ($9.1 billion) of bonds issued by Banque PSA Finance SA, the financing unit of carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen SA, allowing the French automaker to offer low-cost credit to its dealerships and clients amid a slump in sales.

Continue reading »

Tags: Bailout, BMW, Cars, Collapse, Economy, EU, Europe, Fiat, Ford, France, Global News, GM, Government, Peugeot, Politics, Renault, VW