TOP 100 RACING SITES
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| Chrysler Chapter 11 Good For Showroom Business So Far All the bankruptcy talk about Chrysler and the actual filing last Friday has been good for business, according to auto shopping website Edmunds.comSince the automaker’s Chapter 11 filing April 1, visitors on Edmunds.com shopping for Chrysler models shot up 15 percent. By comparison, GM's shopping consideration dropped 6 percent since Thursday and Ford's was up 7 percent."I’d call this ‘the Obama bounce,’" remarked Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl, referring to the President’s recent speech that discussed Chrysler’s situation and urged consumers to consider buying an American car.Earl Hesterberg, CEO of Group One Automotive, a company that owns numerous dealerships including Chrysler and GM brands, said it was a relief, with Chrysler, to have a “clear direction on what is going to happen.”“Maybe the Chrysler bankruptcy announcement attracted the bargain shoppers, who may think a bankruptcy is the same as liquidation with price-busting clearance sales,” reported Edmunds’ AutoObserver Editor Michelle Krebs.Last Friday, Chrysler officials, reporting a 39% decline in April sales, said they heard from dealers anecdotally that day that there was a spike in showroom traffic with many customers expressing the thought, “I want to be a part of this.”Dealers also say, though, that customers are coming into the showroom making outrageously low offers for Chrysler vehicles, expecting them to take any price just to sell a car. Edmunds.com’s most recent data indicates that Chryslers sell for an average of 18.1 percent below sticker while the industry average discount is 15.6 percent.Krebs suggests, “Perhaps Chrysler loyalists, though dwindling in ranks, are coming to the aid of their brand -- or seeing this as the last hurrah to buy their favorite brand.” rss.businessweek.com |
Pontiac G8 goes away, and with it a short-lived hit for GM Here’s an example of throwing the baby out with the bath water. As General Motors barrels through bankruptcy and ditches the long-troubled Pontiac brand, along with it goes the G8 sports sedan. What a shame. The car started in price at $28,000 and the sticker price got close to $40,000 if you bought the high-powered GXP model. When is the last time a Pontiac sold for that kind of sticker price? You’d have to sell two G6 coupes to get that kind of money. What’s more is that the cars were selling pretty well, especially considering how dismal this car market is. Sports car fans loved the roomy sedan that could be had with a 256-horsepower 3.6-liter V-6 or the 361-hp 6-liter and 4-2-hp 6.2-liter V-8 engines. It’s far better than the GTO was when it came back in 2004. Motor heads snapped up the G8 models as GM prepared to shut down production. Its Australian Holden unit made the last G8 in June. Sure that last-minute rush pushed sales up. Still, G8 sales rose 150% last month. Pontiac, which everyone knows is dying, sold nearly 16,000 G8s this year. That’s more than Acura sold of its top-selling TL sedan and Infiniti sold of its G37 sedan. In other words, GM had a sporty sedan that was appointed with luxury amenities and sold at top-shelf prices. And out it goes. I asked a few executives if they might bring it back as a Chevy or a Buick. They would sell a lot more of them at Chevy dealers and inject a bit of passion into a Buick showroom. But so far, it seems not to be. The business case for bringing cars from Australia to the U.S. is pretty tough. But for a company that needs every hit car and all the buzz it can muster, it seems that GM might find a way to keep this one. For those looking for a great sports car, there are some left at Pontiac dealers. And those dealers are willing to haggle. rss.businessweek.com |
Hamilton on pole in Monza Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton grabbed the 15th pole position of his career when he produced a stunning last-gasp lap to take the prime starting spot for the Italian Grand Prix. foxsports.com.au |
NASCAR lets its hair down with Champion's Week in Las Vegas Perhaps embracing the adage that what happens in this city stays here, NASCAR threw caution to the wind in dropping the green ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Vote now: Who's your pick for NASCAR champ in 2010? With the NASCAR season a little more than a month away, it's time to get preseason predictions on the track. So we ask you: Who's ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |