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We'll begin with the news probably most pressing to Mustang fans. Yesterday, we ran a story about the limiting of production of the 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang. The enterprising reporters over at AutoBlog got in touch with Ford representatives who have said that the document released onto the web was inaccurate. Ford has not limited the production run to 2,000 units, and they don't release the production figures.
This would imply that, for whatever reason, some individual decided to forge a Ford document and drum up a story about limited GT500 production. At first it would seem like this person was trying to drive up prices on a GT500 (if they were selling their own on eBay or something), but buying a GT500 through a Ford dealer would have proven that false. And anybody in the process of shelling out $50k or more for a car would certainly have checked the market for their best option. So, it seems that this was a hoax that didn't really have a purpose.
Okay, on to the next topic: General Motors. It's official, the company is out of bankruptcy as of 6:30 am Eastern this morning. According to the "New GM" official press release, here's how ownership of the company will break down:
- 60.8% - U.S. Department of the Treasury
- 17.5% - UAW (United Auto Workers union) Retiree Medical Benefits Trust
- 11.7% - Canadian national government, and the Ontario provincial government
- 10% - the Old GM
The 10% for the Old GM will be used, along with assets liquidized during the coming weeks, to pay off the company's old debts and bonds. There will only be four brands in the New GM: Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. Also, the company will be drastically reducing their nationwide network of dealerships, from the approximately 6,000 currently open, down to 3,600 by the end of 2010. And, in a look towards the future of automotive sales, the New GM will be entering into a partnership with online auction site eBay to explore the world of the Internet auto market.
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The streets of Shanghai |
For the last piece of news today, the Chinese auto market has surpassed sales in the United States for the first half of 2009. This marks the first time that in recent history that the U.S. did not represent the largest auto market in the world. Total vehicle sales in China for the first half of the year total 6.1 million, compared to 4.8 million in the U.S. Due to the big gap in population size between China and the U.S. (1.3 billion people compared to 305 million, respectively), it has long been expected that China would eventually become the largest market, but the economic downturn in the U.S. (which has affected the Chinese economy, but not as strongly) made that expectation become reality sooner rather than later.
General Motors has reported that their sales in China for the first half of the year have increased by 38% versus last year, and Ford's sales have increased by 14%.
Comments and Discussion
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