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BMW ups sales forecasts

admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:15:20 +0000

Toyota’s Lexus brand has held the title of America’s best-selling luxury brand for the last nine years, but BMW is looking to dethrone the Japanese automaker by year’s end. Through the first eight months of the year, BMW trails Lexus by just 2,293 sales.

BMW actually lead Lexus in sales through June, but gave up the lead in July. However, BMW is expecting a big fourth quarter, which could just be enough to push the German automaker past Lexus for the title of the best-selling luxury brand in America.

“We were slightly ahead of Lexus (in sales) until July,” Jim O’Donnell, CEO of BMW Group’s North American sales operation, told The Detroit News. “But we expect business to pick up and have a strong fourth quarter. We could catch them.”

Through August, Lexus posted 131,469 sales compared to BMW’s tally of 129,176 sales.

The downtrodden economy has forced many shoppers to postpone their next new car purchase, which could be causing a reservoir of pent-up demand. If that theory proves true, BMW expects luxury car sales to increase by 15 percent next year.

Economy stops Suzuki from lending to dealers

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:41:33 +0000

The ever-tightening credit market is one of the leading causes of crumbling new car sales, but the lack of available credit is also affecting the nation’s dealerships. Many dealerships are struggling to obtain floorplanning funds – the money used to buy inventory – and it looks as though Suzuki dealers might have a particularly tough go of it in 2009.

At a dealer meeting earlier this year, Suzuki vowed to help its dealers lineup necessary floorplanning funds, but is unable to deliver on that promise due to the state of the automotive business.

“The economic crisis has deepened, credit has grown tighter than ever, and our own financial performance has deteriorated both within the U.S. and globally,” Kevin Saito, president of American Suzuki Motor Corp., said in a letter obtained by Automotive News.

Suzuki’s finance arm, American Suzuki Financial Services, does not provide Suzuki dealers with floorplanning financing. However, some Suzuki dealers are currently receiving floorplanning financing from GMAC and Ford Motor Credit.

If dealers are unable to find the financing they need in 2009, it could spell disaster for the Japanese automaker. Suzuki’s sales fell more than 46 percent last month.

Slow times at SEMA

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:37:05 +0000

Seems that the general downturn in the economy has affected SEMA and it’s members as well.

Looking at the front spread, there seems to be less and less cars being displayed in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Some companies have decreased the size of their booth, some have even pulled out altogether. It is affecting the general feel around Las Vegas altogether.

SEMA has always provided the locals with a good amount of cashflow. After a brief visit to the local restaurants, casinos and other general hangout places that are frequented by SEMA members, it is clear that there is a large number of people that have decided to stay home this year.

Let’s take P.F. Chang’s for example. A decent quality restaurant, in which previous years we’ve ran into the team from SkyJacker and Hondata. The wait times for tables last year were 40-45 minutes. The year before about an hour to an hour twenty. This year, we were seated in 10 minutes or so.

The casino’s are offering deals 50-70% off in terms of nightly room rates in order to lure in customers. There is vacancy in just about every hotel, whereas last year several hotels were sold out.

Some rumors have been circulating that the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association) show might be re-scheduled to be held every two years.

Who knows. Maybe the new president will change the way the industry is headed and improve things, such as consumer confidence and the economy. We can only hope for the best and cope with the current issues, which are appearing.

Winnebago quarterly sales down 73% from last year

thetruth — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:48:17 +0000

Winnebago, the not so popular anymore maker of large, luxurious RV’s has reported it’s quarterly sales are down a staggering 73% from last years numbers.

Based in Iowa, net profits have stumbled to around $3 million down from $11 million a year ago.

They blame the reduction of discretionary spending, reduction of consumer confidence and record high gasoline prices as the cause. The tightening credit market was also partially blamed.

Overall sales have dropped to just over $139 million from $231 million. The RV industry seems to be in it’s 4^th straight year of slumping sales.

Winnebago is fighting the situation with reducing it’s overhead by the announcement to let go 30% of it’s workforce at it’s plant in Charles City, Iowa. Hopefully this move will revive the once extremely profitable company to it’s former glory.