plus 4, Surprise: Program to help truckers actually attracts drug smugglers - Pueblo Chieftain |
- Surprise: Program to help truckers actually attracts drug smugglers - Pueblo Chieftain
- More Crime News - San Francisco Chronicle
- Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Up In 2008 Models - NewsNet 5
- What's Going On With the U.S. Auto Manufacturers? - Briefing.com
- GM sees big truck sales as housing rebounds - AZCentral.com
| Surprise: Program to help truckers actually attracts drug smugglers - Pueblo Chieftain Posted: 23 Nov 2009 07:38 AM PST
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| More Crime News - San Francisco Chronicle Posted: 23 Nov 2009 07:38 AM PST The 32-year-old single mother, one of more than 20 victims of a serial arsonist who has set vehicles ablaze throughout west Contra Costa County, didn't carry car insurance. Suddenly, she had no way to take her children to school or go to class herself at a community college. Miles away in Oakland, day care operator Venita Satterfield, 56, heard about Castellon's plight on the news and was instantly reminded of her own situation more than 20 years ago, when she was a single mother of three, couldn't afford insurance and lost her car to an engine fire. This week, Satterfield opened her wallet. Now, Castellon is making ends meet in a used car, overwhelmed by Satterfield's generosity and the fact that a stranger would help her. "I can't believe that in this world, we still have angels, because she is my angel," said Castellon, who is now tooling around in a Chevrolet Impala, taking her daughters ages 6, 8 and 10 to school, attending culinary arts classes at Contra Costa College in San Pablo and working at catering events. The arsonist destroyed Castellon's car at 5:15 a.m. Nov. 10. It was parked outside her home on the 900 block of Appian Way. In describing her predicament to reporters, Castellon "reminded me so much of myself," Satterfield said. "When I saw her, she just touched me. I thought, 'Here but for the grace of God go I. I'm going to help this lady.' " She added, "Ironically, coincidentally, I had been looking for a new car for myself - I don't need a new car, just wanted one." So Satterfield got used-car dealer Rigo Mendoza involved. Mendoza gave Castellon her pick of six cars at a discounted rate. She chose a white 2004 Chevy Impala for $4,000. "I'm just a person who likes to help the community," said Mendoza, 52, of Hercules, who operates Rigo's Auto Sales in Richmond. "It could happen to my family. It just came to my mind that I should help her." Castellon was so overwhelmed that she promised to give her college diploma to Satterfield. But Satterfield told her just to finish school and help someone else if she gets a chance. "It was what I was born to do," Satterfield said. "I just hope that I start something and it stirs up that little bit of giving in all of us. It's the best thing I've ever done in my life." The serial arsons show no sign of letting up. The latest fire happened at 2 a.m. Friday at an apartment complex on the 2000 block of Vale Road in San Pablo, destroying a pickup truck and damaging another vehicle. Whoever is responsible for the rash of fires since Oct. 31 should "do something positive," Satterfield said, "versus something like this." E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com. This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Up In 2008 Models - NewsNet 5 Posted: 23 Nov 2009 07:16 AM PST Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| What's Going On With the U.S. Auto Manufacturers? - Briefing.com Posted: 23 Nov 2009 06:12 AM PST What's Going On With the U.S. Auto Manufacturers?After Lehman Brothers fell apart, the U.S. auto manufacturers went to Congress and begged for help. Funding had dried up and they were worried about going out of business. Congress provided loans, but it was not necessarily the auto manufacturers that Congress was trying to help, but all of the key small to mid-size suppliers that would have gone bankrupt at the same time. Politically, there was a lot of backlash against the deals. Yet, Congress constantly told the public that a stable auto manufacturing sector was necessary for long-term economic growth. Fast forward to today. The Cash for Clunkers stimulus plan boosted sales well beyond auto dealers' expectations. In addition, many key executives in the industry talked about a continued surge in demand for new vehicles. We expected the increased sales projections would qualify for at least an equal increase in U.S. production that would not only replenish current sales, but also restore inventories to their normal historical levels. In turn, we thought the increase in production would not only drive up incomes for auto workers, but would also be a key component in driving economic growth as the U.S. pulls out of the recession. So far, we have been wrong. Auto Sales Many economists, including this one, believed that the Cash for Clunkers stimulus plan would do a great job of boosting short-term sales at the expense of future potential profits. As the public became aware of the program, auto sales did indeed surge as expected. However, for some unknown reason, the manufacturers were caught off guard. Inventories of high demand vehicles became extremely tight and dealers were left with empty lots. In September, the first month after the stimulus plan, domestic auto sales plummeted from 10.19 million SAAR units to 6.80 million units. While most economists believed that sales would remain at this level for a few months, car manufacturers continued to talk about demand returning extremely quickly. They were right. Sales of cars jumped 16.8% to 7.94 million units in October and sales were at the highest level since September 2008. The increase in auto sales pushed retail sales up 1.4% in October as auto dealer revenues jumped 7.4%. Without the addition of auto sales, retail sales would have only increased a very modest 0.2%. Auto Production We expected that the increase in sales coupled with low inventories and the start of the new model year would have boosted production. Factories did come back on line in July and production rose from a historical low of 4.05 million units SAAR to 5.62 million units. The increase in July was not due to the replenishment of inventories, as sales did not pick up until the end of the month. Instead, the jump in production was simply the end of the retooling process for the new model year. Assemblies increased slightly more in August to 6.33 million units. The big jump occurred in September when the auto manufacturers began repeating claims about how demand was going to continue to pick up in the near term even after the stimulus ended. September assemblies rose 13.0% to 7.15 million units. Given the announcements by the auto manufacturers, we expected production to continue to rise in October, but this was not the case. Assemblies actually fell 4.5% to 6.83 million units. The increase in sales in October, which the manufacturers accurately predicted, did not lead to an actual increase in assemblies. The industrial production index for motor vehicle manufacturers fell 3.7% in October. Production by suppliers of motor vehicle parts, which was one of the big reasons for keeping the auto companies afloat, declined 0.1%. Without a continued increase in production, auto worker incomes will continue to decline. Auto Inventories The inventory data lags the rest of the data by a month and the latest information available is for September. Motor vehicle and parts dealer inventories rose 3.8% in September after declining 8.0% in August. At this time it is difficult to determine whether the increase in inventories was due to the combination of the jump in production and decline in sales in September, foreign manufacturers replenishing their stocks, or domestic manufacturers increasing inventory levels by importing assembled cars from Canada and Mexico. Sales of foreign automobiles fell from 3.9 million units SAAR in August to 2.4 million units in September. At the same time, the value of imported passenger cars and parts from Japan, Germany, and Korea increased by $123 million. The increase in imports does not seem to be large enough to drive inventory levels higher. Almost all of the imported passenger cars and parts from Mexico and Canada are from domestic brands. In September, U.S. auto manufacturers imported $1.2 billion worth of domestic cars and parts. It is very likely that the increase in inventories was due to domestic manufacturers outsourcing the assemblies from the U.S. to Canada and Mexico. Auto Prices At the same time that a higher percentage of assemblies are made outside the U.S., the latest CPI report shows that the auto manufacturers increased their prices for the 2010 models. While prices rose 1.6% in October from September, a better gauge is the price difference between October and July. Prices fell 1.3% in August due to the Cash for Clunkers rebate and did not normalize in September as manufacturers kept prices low to blow out 2009 model year inventories. Still, even when controlling for the Cash for Clunkers price drop, prices for new 2010 model vehicles rose 0.7%. Finished producer prices for passenger cars, a close proxy for dealer costs, fell 0.5% while light truck prices declined 5.2%. The drop in producer prices coupled with the increase in consumer prices will allow U.S. auto manufacturers to obtain a healthy profit if sales stabilize. However, in order to obtain that profit, auto manufacturers squeezed many of their suppliers and forced them to accept lower costs for their parts, thus shrinking suppliers' profits. What It All Means Even though auto sales surprised most economists, auto manufacturers claimed that they had accurately predicted the increase in demand. However, the increase in sales may not lead to an increase in U.S. economic activity. Production in the U.S. slowed in October and, at the same time, imports by domestic firms grew by 21.4%. Auto manufacturers are set to have higher profits as they have been able to put pressure on suppliers to keep costs down while, at the same time, increasing the average sticker price. While auto manufacturers are set to perform admirably if these trends continue, the incomes of U.S. auto workers and suppliers will continue to be depressed. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| GM sees big truck sales as housing rebounds - AZCentral.com Posted: 23 Nov 2009 06:41 AM PST DETROIT — With fears brewing that the U.S. housing market is in for another dive, the automakers remain optimistic that the market – and their pickup sales – will continue to rebound. Pickup sales are closely tied to the housing market, says Mike DiGiovanni, GM's U.S. sales analyst. So as housing rebounds, so will sales of pickups. GM predicts housing starts – the number of homes that builders start constructing – will jump to an annual rate of 650,000 by the end of 2010, up from 450,000 in 2009. Truck sales this year are down 32.5% through October, according to Autodata. Mainstream small and large pickup sales are down about 31%, but luxury trucks, which bring makers the largest profit margins, are down 53% for the year. Traditionally, pickups have been one of the most lucrative product segments for the U.S. automakers. They have loyal buyers, many of whom use their trucks primarily for work, wearing them out and replacing them often. But when housing crashed, so did truck sales. And housing, which had been improving a bit, could slide into a second period of decline. Housing starts slipped a bit in October, and mortgage delinquencies continue at record levels. "Pickup sales are heavily tied to housing sales," DiGiovanni says. Even as housing sales show some weakness, DiGiovanni says he's confident they'll bounce back. Normal demand would be about 1 million housing starts a year, and the housing industry has been cutting back inventory just as the auto industry has. In theory, that could mean more demand for trucks, although Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst at consumer website Edmunds.com, cautions that many people have been hanging on to their old trucks for longer in this economy. "It's one of those vehicles that's not a status symbol in most areas of the country," she says. "You can kick it around, and it doesn't have to be shiny and brand new to get the job done." Still, Will Churchill, owner of Frank Kent Motor in Fort Worth, says he's already seeing a bounce in truck demand. Supplies are low, and Churchill says he's sure sales would be higher if he had more crew-cab trucks on the lot to sell. "It's hard to say exactly what's driving it," he says. More customers are qualifying for credit these days, which helps, and gas prices have been consistently below $3 a gallon. "There was an exodus away from pickups and SUVs when gas prices got high, and we're seeing some people who made that transition realize a car is just not fitting their needs, and they're coming back into pickups," Churchill says. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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