Rumours are floating around that the two best-known names in
carmaking, Ford and General Motors, have held secret talks
regarding a merger. Of course, this is little more than speculative
(and probably scurrilous) gossip, but with both manufacturers
turning in dismal quarterly results, with their associated finance
arms, Ford Credit and GMAC, similarly affected by a downturn (in
the US, at least – see Car leasing on hold as US residuals
fall), perhaps the once-unthinkable can now be thought.
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Still, at the British International Motor Show, the traditional
rivalry between the General and the Blue Oval was as evident as
ever, with Ford getting pop and TV star Alesha Dixon to launch its
new range of Fiestas, rather upstaging the launch of Vauxhall’s new
Insignia, the Vectra replacement which is bound to make waves in
the fleet market.
Wandering around the vast expanse of the Motor Show, every
manufacturer touted the green credentials of one or more models in
its range – even Lotus, which had an Eco Elise on its stand with
such environmentally-sensitive features as solar panels,
water-based paintwork and hemp body panels. But does green
necessarily mean smaller, and less expensive – and if so, are motor
financiers seeing a downturn in their business linked to smaller
overall balances? Our cover story, Smaller cars, smaller
profits?, examines this question – and comes up with some
surprisingly optimistic answers.
On an unhappier note, once again a national newspaper has
launched a broadside against point-of-sale finance. The Times
headline screams that car buyers are set to “waste £168m”, a figure
arrived at, apparently, by comparing the cheapest loans available
on a comparison site to the average PoS loan rate. This is
comparing apples with oranges and does not take into account any of
the complexities of the situation – like the fact that, for the
Vauxhall model mentioned in the article, for which the Times claims
a rate of 11.4 per cent, a 0% finance deal (with a deposit) is
available through GMAC. While not saying that the media are
responsible for the fall in PoS finance over the past few years –
as discussed by Brian Rogerson in Turning the tables at the
point of sale, as he examines a report on that very topic
issued by Black Horse – they do not help matters.
With best wishes for a profitable – and sunny! – month.
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By GlobalDataJo Tacon
jo.tacon@vrlknowledgebank.com
