Car News Articles

Toyota Financial Services recently leaped over GMAC Financial services to take the lead as the biggest U.S. auto lender in terms of loan and lease contract volume. The study by AutoCount (a unit of the Experian Automotive company) estimates that Toyota captured 6.35% of the market from January through June, while GMAC had 6.2% for a close second place. Rounding out the top five were Chase Auto Finance, American Honda Finance, and Ford Credit (in that order).

As GMAC has made major cutbacks in leasing over the summer, many industry experts expect Toyota to hold its lead through the end of the year. A spokesperson from GMAC was quick to point out that the study did not include two wholly owned subsidiaries: Nuvel Credit and National Auto Finance. When those two companies are included, GMAC’s share increases to 6.72 percent — effectively placing them at the top again. While the automakers battle for the title position, the independent banks are the ones to watch. They’ve been steadily increasing their lending share as the Detroit 3 struggle with the rising costs of funds and declining credit ratings.

[Source: Automotive News, subs. req’d]

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It’s tough in Motown. Stare-at-the-sun, crawl-across-the-burning-sand tough. But the Detroit Three — raggedy, gasping, wobbling — can see salvation shimmering on the horizon — retooled factories building smaller, more fuel efficient cars; the UAW taking care of the benefits bills; and beyond that, new powertrain technologies that’ll help wean us off foreign oil.

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TOKYO – Toyota is raising its prices for the Prius and Harrier hybrids in Japan in response to the soaring cost of steel and other raw materials — the first hike here without a model makeover in three decades.

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During his 31 years with General Motors, Jamal Naim El-Hout’s career has taken plenty of interesting twists and turns. He joined General Motors in 1977 and held positions in engineering, quality and vehicle development and planning.

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So Mercedes took the old C-class Sport Coupe and grafted on the nose from the new C-class. Who are they trying to kid? The resulting CLC is the newest car on the Mercedes stand at the 2008 London motor show and CAR’s assistant editor Ben Barry ponders its provenance in our new motor show video report.

Click on our video player below to watch our film.

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Is Porsche developing yet more Boxster spin-offs? Our spies have caught this Boxster on test in Germany as it leaves the grounds of a component supplier, suggesting more tweaks are in the pipeline.

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Helio Castroneves finally broke through for a victory Sunday at Infineon Raceway, winning for the first time in 30 races. More important, the Team Penske star, frustrated until now with seven runner-up finishes this season, kept alive his hopes for an IndyCar Series championship as points leader Scott Dixon had one of his worst days of the season, finishing 12th.
Dixon saw his lead shrink from a seemingly comfortable 78 points to 43 heading into next week’s race at Detroit’s Belle Isle, the penultimate race of the season.
Castroneves, left, and teammate Ryan Briscoe started 1-2 and finished the same way, completing an amazing weekend after losing their primary cars in a transporter fire on Wednesday and racing in the Grand Prix of Sonoma (Calif.) in hastily prepared backup cars. Tony Kanaan finished third, Dan Wheldon was fourth and Danica Patrick was fifth. Full results can be found here.

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When I read the news, my first reaction was, “Cool! When can I get one?” It turns out that I can’t. Honda is delivering about 200 of these babies to folks in Japan and California who were specially selected. Honda’s criteria included more than just a credit score: Customers had to live near an existing or planned hydrogen fueling station, have certain driving patterns and storage capabilities, and pass an interview with the folks at Honda. Sheesh! I’ve seen Ph.D.s that were easier to get! And Honda’s not selling the Clarity, either. It’s available only with a lease. Honda wants to make sure that these cars are well taken care of and not chopped up by some hack mechanic. I guess that makes sense, but it sure seems like a lot of work to drive this wonder of environmental friendliness.

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I know I [once again] risk the wrath of those who view me as GM’s bête noir (I prefer to think of myself as an enfant terrible, but I’m way too old for that action). Even so, the news [via Reuters] that The General is upping the warranty on its Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicles– from 3 months/3k miles miles to 12 months/12k miles– should be seen in context. It comes on the same day that GM announced it’s pulling back on Buick, Pontiac and GMC leasing. Pulling back as in no longer offering leasing on any of the brands’ models save the Pontiac G6 (go figure, fleet fans). With more brands to follow (suffer the little Cadillacs). Folks, it’s all about the residuals– and I don’t mean the customer’s residual values. I’m talking about the multi-billion dollar hammering GM’s taking on lease returns. And so is GM spokesman John McDonald, to The Detroit Free Press. “Leases, for a long time, have been supported at below-market rates. We’re not able to financially support leases at below-market rates when the residuals have eroded as much as they have.” So the CPO deal and the leasing no deal are designed to put a tourniquet on GM’s self-inflicted wounds of lousy products, weak brands, the wrong products, chronic over-production, fleet sales and, I think that’s it. Who can remember any more?

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My wife doesn’t believe me, but I’m taking a week off, my first in more than two-and-a-half years. This is my last opportunity to take a breather before Frank exits stage right and Justin gets up to speed. Rest assured this won’t be one of those “paved paradise” deals; the website will be in Frank’s capable hands, aided by our expert team of bloggers, reviewers and editorialists. While you’re exploring the autoblogosphere, I’ll be changing light bulbs (with help of course), taking my driving test (really), playing with my pre-schooler and generally decompressing. I trust you will, as always, keep us honest. Thanks for being there, even when I’m not. Oh, and we crested 700k uniques for the first time ever this month. I look forward to chasing the million. Later.

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