Main page | February 8, 2008 »

Web site doesn't mince words on 10 worst vehicles

Check out The Dallas Morning News' Terry Box find re the 10 worst cars as ranked by thetruthaboutcars.com.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 3:17 PM to commentary | Permalink | Comments 0

Back Seat Driver: Bad news from nation's biggest auto retailer

Folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but when AutoNation, the nation's biggest auto retailer, reports its earnings in the fourth quarter were down 31 percent, there is no point in burying our heads in the sand.

According to the Associated Press, the company said its results were pulled down by lower sales in California and Florida which account for a staggering 20 percent of industrywide new vehicle sales. The slowdown in the housing market in those states has rippled down to a slowdown in pickup sales.

AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson said he expects U.S.sales to fall to about 15.5 million vehicles this year. That's down from 16.2 million last year - which was down 2.5 percent from 2006. Goldman Sachs has forecast sales of 15 million units.

At the same time, Jackson said the recent 1.25 percentage point cut in interest rates - the Fed cut the bellwether federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage points on Jan. 22 and and a further 0.50 percentage points on Jan. 30 - to three percent, combined with the proposed economic stimulus package bode well for sales later this year.

Sure hope so. In the meantime, these are tough times for the auto industry - and everyone else.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 12:25 PM to commentary | Permalink | Comments 0

Back Seat Driver: See start of Oscar movie with oil roots

If you are remotely connected to the auto industry or just a gearhead fascinated with all things automotive, I can heartily recommend the Oscar nominated movie "There Will Be Blood" - but only for its start.

The beginning traces the rise of "Oilman" Daniel Plainview, played by Daniel Day Lewis, at the very birth of the oil industry. Plainview is a wildcatter, drilling for oil near the California coast and working out schemes to pipe it to the coast and down to Los Angeles.

The wild landscapes are not only beautiful but are complimented by an extraordinary musical score by British composer Jonny Greenwood that supplies a haunting sense of agitation and impending drama.

As I said, for these scenes alone, I really recommend the movie for an almost breathless sense of what it was like to seek a fortune by digging wells and pulling oil out by the bucket.

Unfortunately, the movie gets bogged down as Plainview and his rising fortunes become intertwined with religion - another great American theme - in the form of a fanatical young fundamentalist minister. Plainview becomes ever more malevolent and the movie ends up as a weird parody of "Citizen Kane" but without Rosebud: in other words, pointless.

PS See "Juno."

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:35 AM to commentary | Permalink | Comments 0