AIADA Chairman Russ Darrow reports this morning that the House of Representative is preparing to vote this week on whether or not to make the Death Tax permanent. Congress is scrambling to prevent that from happening. On Thursday, the House will vote on HR 4154, the Pomeroy Estate Tax bill, which preserves the tax's current 2009 parameters. Unfortunately, those rates are not indexed for inflation, meaning that every year more businesses and families would fall victim to the tax. It's not a sustainable plan. While AIADA views full repeal of the Death Tax as the only satisfactory resolution to this decade-long battle, we recognize that it is unlikely to occur at this time. For that reason, our association has joined the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition (FBETC) in pushing for a permanent extension of the estate tax at a reduced rate. AIADA and the FBETC support the House's Berkley-Brady-Davis-Nunes estate tax bill which was introduced earlier this year. And as the legislation moves into the Senate AIADA would support the Senate's Lincoln-Kyl estate tax legislation. AIADA will continue to keep dealers updated as Death tax legislation moves forward in Congress. Click here to read Darrow's full message on what pending legislation concerning the Death Tax means to international auto dealers.
As 2009 draws to an end, dealers were heartened by news that November 2009 sales figures showed signs of further stability in the U.S. auto market. Overall sales, including domestic brands and unadjusted for business days, were unchanged from November 2008, but down 23.9 percent for the year. Click here to view AIADA's entire Market Watch auto sales report for the month of November. "This holiday season, Americans are looking for real values - reliability and style at a good price," said AIADA Chairman and Wisconsin dealer Russ Darrow. "These numbers show that they continue to find it at international nameplate dealerships. After the year we've had, November's results are very heartening. This could be a signal that buyers are coming back into the market." Overall sales, including domestic brands and unadjusted for business days, were unchanged from November 2008 but down 23.9 percent for the year. The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) for light vehicles now stands at 10.93 million units, a slight improvement over October's 10.46 million rate. Hyundai reported a 45.9 percent sales improvement over November 2008, while Kia was up 18.3 percent, and Subaru was up 23.9 percent. Hyundai, Kia, and Subaru are the only brands to see a year over year improvement from 2008. Click here to read more about November 2009 U.S. auto sales figures.
General Motors Co. CEO Frederick "Fritz" Henderson stepped down Tuesday after the board determined that the company wasn't changing quickly enough. Chairman Ed Whitacre Jr. said at a hastily called news conference that he will serve as interim CEO, and an international search for a new CEO and president is planned. According to MSNBC, the resignation comes just eight months after Henderson, 51, replaced former chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, who was ousted March 29 by the Obama administration's government's auto task force. Whitacre and the board have become increasingly active in the company's decisions, at times challenging some of Henderson's decisions. In November, the board voted to abandon plans to sell GM's European Opel unit. That reversed an earlier option favored by Henderson to sell it to a consortium led by Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International Inc. An Obama administration official said in a statement that "this decision was made by the Board of Directors alone. The Administration was not involved in the decision." Henderson was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Wednesday. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz will now deliver the address. Click here for more on the resignation of GM CEO Fritz Henderson.
German car maker Daimler AG said Wednesday it will shift production of its best-selling Mercedes-Benz C-Class model from its core plant in Sindelfingen, Germany, to its Bremen and U.S. facilities, as part of a wider move to bring production closer to main sales regions and reduce exposure to currency fluctuation. According to the Wall Street Journal, the move underscores a trend among auto makers to ramp up local production to reduce exposure to currency fluctuations and benefit from lower costs. A relatively strong euro against the dollar and pound has been a concern for German luxury car makers Mercedes-Benz and BMW AG, which produce the vast majority of their vehicles in Germany but export many of these cars to the U.S., U.K., and China. Production of the C-Class sedan for markets in Europe and of the other C-Class model versions will in the future be concentrated in Bremen, making that location the main plant for the series. Overall, Daimler plans future C-Class production to be 60 percent in Bremen, 20 percent in Tuscaloosa, Ala., 10 percent in China, and 10 percent in South Africa. Click here for more on Daimler's plans to shift its C-Class production to the U.S.
According to USA Today, European auto maker Volkswagen is pursuing its quest to be the world's top auto maker. It's all here - the 170-miles-per-gallon diesel hybrid and the pure electric car that Volkswagen calls a 21st-century Beetle, for example. A variety of models with small gasoline engines that promise good power and mileage. And, of course, the diesels that are a VW forte and that the automaker is sure will have a major role in meeting the market's fuel-economy demands for a while. More than gee-whiz, VW showed off its visions for the future in a technical briefing recently for one reason: to demonstrate how it can meet its ambitious goals in an atmosphere of auto-industry crisis and ever-stricter emissions and mileage regulations. Click here for photos of VW's lineup. VW has a 2018 plan to get there - "not just to survive but to thrive," Klingler says - that's also supposed to make VW ubiquitous, top-of-mind, the very definition of "automobile," as it provocatively suggests in its advertising tagline Das Auto (German for "The Car"). Click here for more on VW's quest to be the world's top auto maker.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Monday that it would probably increase the amount of ethanol that gasoline retailers could blend into ordinary fuel, to 15 percent, if tests established that the blend would not damage cars. The maximum ethanol blend is now 10 percent, except for cars specially equipped to handle higher blends. According to the New York Times, the agency said it was likely to approve the increase to 15 percent next summer, perhaps for use only in cars of the 2001 model year and later. This raises the possibility that gasoline retailers might need to carry different ethanol blends in different pumps, and that drivers with older cars might have to be careful about which blend they buy. The EPA was responding to a petition from ethanol manufacturers, who have complained that unless a higher blending level is approved, within two years they will not have a big enough market to absorb their production. A coalition of environmentalists, oil refiners, grocery industry representatives, and the makers of power equipment has vowed to fight the change, and the auto industry has also expressed concern. Click here for more on EPA plans to raise the allowed ethanol fuel blend to 15 percent.
Get Your Speeding Ticket Paid for You [AOL Autos]
His and Her Review: 2010 Kia Forte [Women-Drivers.com]
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2011 Audi A8: Go-Go Gadget Sedan [Jalopnik]
Car and Driver's 2010 10Best Cars [Car and Driver]
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