Many industry analysts - including the giant brains here at TMR – may have got things wrong on the effect of the withdrawal of GE and GMAC from new car dealer floorplan financing.

Why do we think so? Well, remember the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)? It was a $2 billion pool set up by the Rudd [...]

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For the fourth quarter of 2008, Ford US has reported a net loss of USD$5.9 billion, for a grand total of USD$14.6 billion in losses for the year - the largest annual loss in the company’s history. These losses come on top of a USD$12.6 billion loss in 2006 and a smaller - but still hefty - USD$2.7 billion [...]

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Ford Credit Australia’s ham-fisted strategy behind its announcement that it is to exit consumer retail finance here, is put into clear perspective by news today from the US.

There, the US Treasury has announced that it will loan US Chrysler’s finance arm USD$1.5 billion to finance loans for consumers who want to buy cars from Chrysler [...]

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More bad news concerning the local car industry has hit the headlines today, with the announcement that Ford Credit is pulling out of retail financing (financing cars for private buyers) in Australia, with some in the banking sector expecting its involvement in wholesale finance (financing cars for dealers) to meet a similar fate in the [...]

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The Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has released an Information Guide for Car Dealers on the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) funding facility, designed to fill the $2 billion floorplan financing ‘hole’ left by GE and GMAC’s exit from the dealer financing market.

He also appealed to GE and GMAC to “do the right thing” and continue to [...]

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The bad news is set to worsen for the new car dealer sector. When GE and GMAC announced their intent to withdraw from dealer ‘floorplan’ financing, they set affected dealers a December 31 deadline to find alternative financing arrangements.

That deadline is coming at them like a train.

At least 30 percent, and possibly as many as [...]

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