70 Weeks | Car Economics » Chevrolet http://www.70weeks.us Financial car news Mon, 16 May 2011 21:41:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Auto industry looks to be on the road to revival http://www.70weeks.us/2011/03/29/auto-industry-looks-to-be-on-the-road-to-revival/ http://www.70weeks.us/2011/03/29/auto-industry-looks-to-be-on-the-road-to-revival/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:14:20 +0000 admin http://www.70weeks.us/?p=69 Not even the deep chilly January could dumb the swelling auto industry.
In what is naturally a frosty, inhospitable month for car manufacturers, retail sales of new cars and trucks in the U.S. developed a remarkable 25% — including a 33% leap for General Motors Co. and a 58 % growth by Chrysler Group LLC.
Ray Huffines who is the CEO of Plano-based Huffines Auto Dealerships, said “If we can have this kind of business in January, I can hardly wait for March.” Plano-based Huffines, Auto Dealerships deal in Chevrolet, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Hyundai, Kia and Subaru stores branded cars.
The rise last month comes after 11% increase in December, which forecasters say predicts well for sales the rest of the year.
George Hoffer, a business professor at the University of Richmond who follows the industry stated thus “Housing is down and showing no signs of coming back. In reality, the auto industry in recent years has moved to its own drumbeat.”
Lee Chapman, president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan New Car Dealers Association said “Dealers, like most businesses, are looking for consistency in the economy. Each month seems to pick up a little more steam. Six months ago, we could be up one month, down the next.”

]]> http://www.70weeks.us/2011/03/29/auto-industry-looks-to-be-on-the-road-to-revival/feed/ 0 ‘Cash for Guzzlers’ Is Gaining a lot of Attention! http://www.70weeks.us/2009/09/13/%e2%80%98cash-for-guzzlers%e2%80%99-is-gaining-a-lot-of-attention/ http://www.70weeks.us/2009/09/13/%e2%80%98cash-for-guzzlers%e2%80%99-is-gaining-a-lot-of-attention/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:21:14 +0000 admin http://www.70weeks.us/?p=14 If you have been driving around a gas guzzler for years and have not been able to give it up for the simple reason that you would not get any return on it, those days are over now.  The $1 billion federal ‘Cash for Guzzlers’ program is in full swing and it is a program that is helping people trade in their gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.  The program will pay upwards of $4,500 in credit to swap out the aging and gas guzzling car from under you and replace it with a better car or truck all around.

The program itself was signed into law by the President himself in June and the outline of it is: if you own a car that was built after 1984 with the miles per gallon of about 18, you can apply for this credit and trade-in bonus to be added on whenever you are shopping for a new car.  This law applies to SUVs, vans and pickup trucks.

When you go to a dealership with your gas guzzler, participating dealerships will assess your vehicle and apply the discount to a new vehicle and then the dealership will obtain a reimbursement from the government.  If you are looking for more details on this particular program, they are posted all over the internet.  Just a quick search and you should be able to find them.

This program was designed to help people get themselves into new cars/trucks and hopefully to help people buy cars and trucks again.  There is some hope out there that we will top our goal of selling about two hundred and fifty thousand vehicles this year and this particular program is something that should help it along.

People nowadays are constantly looking for a new way to help the environment, as many eco-friendly and hybrid cars are being designed and this is a great way to ensure that everyone is able to get one of these fantastic eco-friendly cars.  Hybrids are some of the most popular cars on the market and while they are affordable for the most part, some people would prefer to trade in their car and get a decent chunk of money off of the car – that is possible now via this program.

“It’s a wonderful program. It helps out the environment, it helps out the customer, and it gives a jump to the automobile industry when it needs it the most,” said Scott Gruwell, sales director of Courtesy Chevrolet, the Phoenix-based GM dealership that sold Metzler his Equinox.

Cliff Johnson, president of Texas Motors Ford, agreed “Are we excited about it? Absolutely! We think it is a great opportunity for people to get rid of their clunkers,” said Johnson, whose dealership in Fort Worth has about 250 vehicles on its parking lot.

Dealerships all over the world are welcoming this particular program in with open arms and it is one closing tool and selling tool that they have been using since it first went into law in June.  While of course, there are still some dealerships that are in limbo about this particular program, overall – the program has went over extremely well with people and constantly, dealers are selling up the perks of the program to any consumer looking to trade in their car for a more fuel-efficient car.

One of the major complaints that dealerships are having is the fact that their reimbursements are taking too long.  People are waiting months for their reimbursements and while every good program has some kinks, this is one thing that is holding some dealerships back from offering up and taking the program.  While most dealerships do not have a problem, it is only the select few that seem to be having issues.

]]> http://www.70weeks.us/2009/09/13/%e2%80%98cash-for-guzzlers%e2%80%99-is-gaining-a-lot-of-attention/feed/ 0