Tag: domestic

Last domestic car dealership in San Francisco shuts its doors

Filed under: Etc., Ford, Earnings/Financials

San Francisco Chrysler closed sign

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, the very last domestic dealership in the greater San Francisco area closed its doors a little over 10 days ago. Previously, San Francisco Ford, Lincoln, Mercury was the only dealership selling new products with an American badge on the grille in all of the 47.6 square miles of the city (the Chrysler-Jeep dealer shown above went bust in 2008). Ford took over operations at that dealer almost three years ago after the original owners walked away. After talks with various other local franchise owners fell through, Ford has finally cut off the lights for good.

But domestic dealers have faced a tough climate in San Francisco for years thanks to a much larger share of import sales compared to the rest of the country. According to one source quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle, import vehicles outsell their domestic counterparts 4:1 in the Bay area.

Those rare San Francisco domestic owners will now have to travel outside of the city for their factory maintenance and repair, which likely won’t do anything to help American manufacturers better their outlook in the near future.

Last domestic car dealership in San Francisco shuts its doors originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 May 2011 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Study: Female buyers not considering many domestic vehicles

Filed under: Car Buying

RL Polk women car preferences

We don’t have a demographic breakdown for Autoblog’s core audience to share, but we can tell you that the overwhelming majority of our readers are men. That said, women tend to be very specific about which vehicles they choose, and according to R.L. Polk, Asian automakers ranging from Toyota to Kia are winning over women on a grand scale.

Take a look at the graphic above, which shows the top five vehicle selections by (non-Caucasian) ethnic group. The Toyota Camry takes the top spot, scoring the number one spot in five ethnic groups. The Corolla, Civic, Accord and CR-V round out the top five, which makes sense due to the fact that those five vehicles are typically among the top-selling passenger vehicles each month. But where are the domestics?

The bottom of the chart shows the top domestic model as chosen by each ethnic group. Ford dominates the list, taking the top spot in seven of the eight ethnic groups, though judging by Polk’s data, it’s apparent that domestics are very low on the priority list. The only ethnic groups to choose a domestic in the top 10 are African-Americans (Malibu) and Hispanics (Ford F-Series).

[Source: R.L. Polk]

Study: Female buyers not considering many domestic vehicles originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: GM to get $14 billion domestic tax break

Filed under: Government/Legal, GM

General Motors Tax BreakIt looks like General Motors will be able to skip out on around $14 billion worth of taxes domestically and another $19 billion in taxes overseas thanks to a deal with the U.S. government. According to Edmunds, 2010 will mark the first year since 2004 that the company has operated in the black, and while most companies are made to pay taxes on their revenue, GM will be able to skip its tax tab due to years of massive losses. Companies are typically forgiven a portion of future taxes due to their past losses, but that benefit is typically stripped after an organization goes through bankruptcy.

That’s not the case with GM, however. For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, The General has managed to hang on to its tax breaks despite shedding around $30 billion in debt during bankruptcy proceedings. According to CNN Money, both GM and the Treasury Department deny that the automaker has received any special deal, though Edmunds reports that GM may have gotten the break to help reduce the perceived cost of the auto industry bailout.

[Sources: Edmunds, CNN Money]

Report: GM to get $14 billion domestic tax break originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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