Didn’t we just bail these motherfuckers out because they couldn’t run their fucking company? If business is so fucking good, like they claim, why the fuck would they be offering 0% financing for 72 fucking months? These assholes never learn. Or is it us who never learn. They don’t give a crap if they destroy the company, because when they fuck it up again, we’ll come to the rescue because we could never go without our Chevy Volts and monster SUVs as gas prices head to $5 a gallon. This shit burns my britches. GM and the rest of the morons running these car companies are clueless schmucks. Over 70% of their sales are SUVs, Pickups and Minivans. They are dead men walking – AGAIN!!!!!
This shit has to stop.
GM Offers Interest-Free Financing to Keep Sales Going
General Motors Co. is offering buyers interest-free financing on some 2011 models after the company increased discounts and incentives to lead all major automakers’ U.S. sales gains last month.
The loans became available yesterday for 72 months on the Chevrolet Impala sedan, as well as for 60 months on the Malibu sedan, HHR wagon, Traverse sport-utility vehicle and Silverado, Colorado and Avalanche pickups, according to AIS Rebates in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The 60-month deal also applies to the Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia SUVs and Sierra pickups.
GM raised discounts 12 percent from a year earlier to an estimated $3,732 per vehicle last month, the most among major automakers and 45 percent more than the average, according to researcher Autodata Corp. The company’s spending on incentives will “moderate” this month, Don Johnson, GM’s vice president for U.S. sales, said earlier this week.
“GM’s rhetoric has been saying one thing — discipline, discipline, discipline — and then their actions have been going completely in another direction,” Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive officer of Santa Monica, California-based Edmunds.com, said in a telephone interview.
GM doesn’t comment on specific incentive programs, Tom Henderson, a spokesman, said today in a telephone interview. GM still has the highest average transaction prices among mainstream automakers according to J.D. Power & Associates and GM data, he said, without giving specifics.
GM fell 7 cents to $32.88 at 2:25 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The Detroit-based company’s shares have dropped 0.4 percent from their $33 initial offering price in November.
Other Offers
Reduced-rate financing also is being offered on other models, such as 2.9 percent, 60-month loans on the Chevy Cruze compact and 3.9 percent, 60-month loans on the Cadillac SRX, according to AIS.
The automaker’s discounts may force rival Ford Motor Co. to increase its sales incentives, Anwyl said. GM’s U.S. sales in February climbed 46 percent, giving it a 20.8 percent share of the market last month, topping Ford’s 15.7 percent and Toyota Motor Corp.’s 14.3 percent, according to in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Autodata.
Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally has emphasized profitability over market share, with Ford boosting prices in February by $700 to $800 a vehicle from January, George Pipas, the automaker’s sales analyst, told reporters on Feb. 28.
Ford’s Share
“Up until three months ago, Ford was the one everybody was talking about,” Anwyl said. “The question is, ‘How long are they going to want to be the disciplined car company and allow GM to pick up their share?’”
Ford reduced average incentive spending 9.7 percent to $2,542 last month. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company’s 10 percent increase in February sales trailed GM and Toyota, which had a 42 percent gain after it raised spending 11 percent to $2,003. Chrysler Group LLC’s average discounts fell 14 percent to $3,052, while sales climbed 13 percent.
GM needs steeper incentives to clear out older models such as the Impala and Malibu, said Maryann Keller, principal of a self-titled consulting firm in Stamford, Connecticut. The automaker also can afford discounted lease deals because vehicles’ resale values are now at high levels, she said.
“You use incentives on stuff that’s old,” Keller said in an interview yesterday. “Leasing can be done today very affordably because interest rates are low and residual values on the cars are high.”
‘Far Stronger’
GM’s sales gains were “far stronger than the magnitude of the incentive spend,” Itay Michaeli, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in New York, wrote today in a research note.
“This may remain a subject of debate until GM demonstrates solid share on lower incentives,” Michaeli said. “The industry did not appear to plunge into a price-war in February as some feared.”
The discounts by GM and Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota may be artificially inflating the U.S. auto market, said Ernst Lieb, chief executive officer of Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz USA.
Light-vehicle sales in February ran at a seasonally adjusted 13.4 million annual rate, according to Autodata. The pace topped the 12.5 million average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and exceeded 13 million for the first time since the U.S. government’s “cash for clunkers” program in August 2009.
“I wonder if you’d see such a strong market, month after month” without the incentives from GM and Toyota, Lieb said in an interview yesterday. “Things are still extremely unpredictable. Look at fuel prices and the uncertainty and unrest in the Middle East.”
Incentive Spending
Auto incentive spending throughout the U.S. industry in February fell 4.6 percent to $2,578 per vehicle, according to Autodata. GM plans to reduce incentives to get back in line with the industry average, Johnson said yesterday on a conference call with reporters and analysts.
“If GM plans to make good on its promise to keep incentives in line with the industry average over the course of the year, it will have to post below-average incentives at some point,” Chris Ceraso, a New York-based analyst with Credit Suisse Group AG, wrote in a research report today. “This may get difficult, as its key competitors are showing a willingness to increase incentive levels in order to stay competitive.”
mikeinaz says:
Wouldn’t take GM’s shit for free. They can kiss my ass!
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2nd March 2011 at 4:20 pm
llpoh says:
I drive this:
GM can kiss my ass. If I am going to by a US made car, it sure as hell isn’t going to be one of Comrade GM’s pieces of crap. All my life I have bought American, no matter what. But the car companies have chapped my ass to the point that I no longer give a shit. My wife drives an American car, but it may be the last one we buy.
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2nd March 2011 at 4:44 pm
Smokey says:
GMES
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2nd March 2011 at 5:00 pm
MuckAbout says:
I have a nice shiny new fire engine red Mustang – supercharged V6 – adjustable everything, comfortable as any Caddy and gets 20 MPG combined, 26-28 on the open road depending on how young I feel. The thing would do two mpg better if they didn’t insist we starve the world and burn methanol.
I know…. what I almost bought last year was a Smart Car but mama balked.
I think it’s nice that an old silver tip can drive around a chickmobile and wave at other Mustangs and Vettes and thumb my nose at Mazdas and Nissan “sports” cars. It’ll probably be the last cool car I own and, damn it, I want to enjoy it.. So there.
MA
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2nd March 2011 at 5:05 pm
llpoh says:
Muck – My wife drives a 300c SRT. Wanna race? I blow the carbon out of the pistons in front of the jap sports cars just because I can.
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2nd March 2011 at 5:14 pm
MuckAbout says:
Ah! A response from a true – what – what’s a 300c SRT? And what do you drive? (or does she let you share? And data please 0-60 in ? gas milage (or is it one of those neat cars where you don’t care?).
Maybe a picture of the Mrs. with her goggles and hair blowing free at 160 mph would do….
MA
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2nd March 2011 at 5:41 pm
Opinionated Bloviator says:
Lloph – Audi, very nice… I aspire to drive a car just like that one day, thus I buy physical silver and avoid the thieves on Wall Street.
Admin – Silence Heretic, The BAILOUTS, the PRINTING and the SPENDING will CONTINUE until total economic collapse occurs and not a second before… regards, Your TBTF Ruling Class Masters.
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2nd March 2011 at 5:56 pm
llpoh says:
I drive the Audi q7. My wife drives the SRT – the hopped up Chrysler 300c. 0-60 in under 5 seconds (4.8 I think.). I do not know about gas milage – it just ejects it on the road when you stomp on it. Woohoo! Boy is it fun when you push the go pedal. Dis is it:
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2nd March 2011 at 6:04 pm
marissa says:
Too bad for them, I ride the bus. I wouldn’t take a vehicle off their hands if they were giving them away for free.
I can’t afford the gas, insurance, tires and maintenance, or registration and various taxes. I have no money.
If people ain’t got no money they ain’t buying no cars.
It’s the economy, stupid.
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2nd March 2011 at 6:54 pm
Administrator says:
marissa
GM is giving you the car for free. No money down, no interest. You drive it for a year without making payments and they repossess it. Don’t get insurance. Use your 99 weeks of UC to pay for the gas. GM records the sale and somehow the loan is still classified as good on Ally Bank’s (GMAC under a new alias) books even after the car is repossesed.
This is called free market capitalism.
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2nd March 2011 at 7:12 pm
Smokey says:
Administrator,
I thought you had another playoff game tonight.
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2nd March 2011 at 7:15 pm
Administrator says:
Smokey
8:40 start time.
I put up the Vince Lombardi quotes to try and inspire Kevin for tonight’s game.
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2nd March 2011 at 7:26 pm
Welshman says:
Admin,
You are absolutely right, here we go again. I won’t buy a car anymore if I can’t get low or no interest. Their business model is broken, and GM still sells big ass cars.
My Yukon resale value has gone up 5000. in the last year, as big SUV are the in thing. LOL, that will be short lived, when gas hits 4.50 gal in a few months.
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2nd March 2011 at 9:42 pm
matt says:
Muck, I have a 2010 GT pony, my 3rd mustang. It gets 19-23mpg which is good enough for me.I have a harley for back up if gas goes much higher. I could drive a honda thimble like jimmy but I am afraid guys like llpoh will run me into the weeds. In all reality, fuck GM
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2nd March 2011 at 11:57 pm
llpoh says:
Matt – I don’t even bother to brake when I come up on one of those little battery powered jobs.
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2nd March 2011 at 12:09 am
ssgconway says:
The GM incentives look like a really bad idea to me, but the cars they make are good. I just traded a Buick with 241,000 miles, running fine, for another with 219,000. (The old one was beginning to rust and the new one looks like new and has every creature comfort one could ask for.) Moral: A bad business decision does not equal a bad product. The 225 Slant Six that Kunstler mentioned last week was Chrysler’s best motor, yet they would’ve closed their doors w/o a loan back in 1980. The 3800 motor my Buicks run is like that. Ask your mechanic.
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2nd March 2011 at 9:22 am
Iowan says:
I guess us shmucks making real payments on vehicles or those that bought used with cash eat shit. I gotta get out of my damn GMC Sonoma fast. That thing is the biggest gas sucking POS ever. 15 MPG combined at best. I think it gets the same gas mileage as my dad’s full size pickup.
My words of advice: Don’t EVER buy a truck in a college town. You’ll be everyone’s best friend when the summer moving season comes around.
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2nd March 2011 at 9:31 am
ecliptix543 says:
Muck & Matt – Mustang drivers, eh? Nice! Mine’s an ’07 GT. I tweaked the shit out of it and manage to get right at 28mpg highway on the back and forth to TN from FL, running around 23 city if I stay out of it. People always look at it and tell me “I can’t believe how much you must spend on gas for that thing…” and I then I tell them it does not much below an Accord V6, plus I have 340hp waiting (and single digit gas mileage) with easy sub 5 sec 0-60 times if I need to get the fuck out of somewhere fast.
I figure that it’s likely to be the last car I get before the (cheap) oil runs out so why not enjoy it and go out with a bang? ‘Least I can say I had one for awhile…
Back on topic.. fuck GM. From age 15 to 32, I had a GMC Sierra, two Tahoe’s, two Camaro’s, two S-10′s, one Sonoma Xcab (nice truck, actually), and one Dodge. The Dodge spent more time in the shop and cost more in repairs than ALL the GM’s put together so fuck them too. Then I picked up a beat-to-shit old 94 Cougar XR7 with the 4.6 V8 in it for shits and giggles one weekend and haven’t looked back. One week’s paycheck for an entire car that I got two years and 60k miles out of with nothing more than regular maintenance. That’s a fucking good value in my opinion. So, a few years later, I bought another one (97 30th Anniversary 4.6) and still have it along with the Mustang. Ford built a fun car, in the US, and didn’t have anything to do with the bailouts, and it gets decent mileage for the power it has so… good car, better-than-the-alternatives company, gets me laid. What’s not to like?
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2nd March 2011 at 11:13 am
acjitsu says:
Hey this company has been so well run, I think the president should make the ex CEO of GM his head economic advisor…Oh wait, Obama is one shrewd guy, he already did that.
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2nd March 2011 at 6:08 pm