Word: detroit
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...himself; he already owns 17, including collectors' dreams like a 1934 LaSalle and a 1952 Aston Martin. No, GM's new vice chairman for product development was demanding a sexy "concept car" in just four months--in time for this week's annual Detroit Auto Show. Urged on by the man who recruited him, GM CEO Richard Wagoner, Lutz wanted to show industry leaders and critics that the world's largest automaker is moving to get its mojo back after years of being bogged down in bureaucratic compromises. "The last thing we need is another crossover vehicle with a navigation...
...surprise, the company's designers and engineers delivered the car in record time. A flood of sketches and round-the-clock construction yielded the Pontiac Solstice, a two-door, gunmetal gray roadster with a supercharged engine and a Corvette transmission, which was to make its debut at the Detroit show on Sunday. The car is exactly what Lutz had in mind--simple, sultry, evocative--and although it is for now the only one of its kind, its off-the-shelf components suggest that if the critics like it, it could make it into production in a few years and sell...
...gains in market share against its troubled crosstown rivals Ford and Chrysler, GM still lumbers under the burdens borne by all the Big Three: in a stagnant economy, overcapacity and intractable labor costs have obliterated profit margins. Meanwhile, the soaring value of the dollar against the yen is giving Detroit's Japanese competitors an even bigger advantage than they already have through more efficient operations. Says Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Girsky: "When foreign manufacturers have 38% of the market, being the best of the Big Three isn't saying much anymore...
...these details, it's time to shop--and shop hard. A discouraging result of the recent big incentives is that consumers have been haggling less. According to research by CNW, only 42% of car buyers even attempt to negotiate, a figure that varies widely by city, from 61% in Detroit to 31% in Seattle. The lesson: if you don't ask, you don't get. Shoppers in Detroit are saving an average of 22% off the sticker price. Shoppers in Seattle save only...
...Queasy stuff. But the carmakers, possibly looking to be rewarded with their own cabinet position (Secretary of Detroit?) when all this is over, are patriotically soldiering on from phase to phase like a good economic actor should. First, by personally delivering the Fed's cheap money to the people with take-my-car-please financing offers, Big Auto made October's retail sales numbers comforting enough to get to sleep at night...