Auto sales show industry beginning to stabilize

By TOM KRISHER and DEE-ANN DURBIN (AP) – nov 4

DETROIT — After months of roller-coaster results, the U.S. auto industry showed signs of
stability in October.

Total sales of cars and light trucks were unchanged at just over 838,000 compared with
October of last year, but rose 12 percent from a dismal September 2009, Autodata Corp.
reported Tuesday. The results signaled that some consumers are starting to spend again and
the sputtering economy is beginning to pull out of trouble.

"It's ... a fairly stable kind of footing that the industry is getting under it," said Gary Dilts, a
former Chrysler sales executive who is now senior vice president of global automotive
operations for J.D. Power and Associates.

Last month's sales, if projected for an entire year, rose to 10.5 million after slumping to 9.2
million in September, the month after the government's Cash for Clunkers rebates ran out.
Analysts said the figures are good for a normally weak October, but they're still far short of
the 17 million annual rates from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

"Clearly we're seeing improvement in the economy and in the industry. It isn't huge, but it's
a good sign given that Cash for Clunkers is over," said Mike DiGiovanni, General Motors
Co.'s executive director of global market and industry analysis.

The biggest winner among major automakers was South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co., which
saw sales skyrocket 49 percent to 31,005 vehicles, boosted by the Elantra small sedan.
Japan's Nissan Motor Co. came next with a 5.6 percent gain, followed by GM at 4.7
percent, aided by strong pickup truck sales, the performance of new models and the highest
incentives in the industry. It was GM's first year-over-year monthly sales increase in 21
months.

Toyota Motor Corp. said its sales edged up less than a percent, while Honda sales were flat.
Less-rosy news came from Chrysler Group LLC, whose sales fell 30 percent, though they
improved from September.

Ford Motor Co.'s sales rose 3 percent and it gained U.S. market share for the 12th time in 13
months as its critically acclaimed vehicles continue to grab buyers from rivals. Ford has
benefited from consumer goodwill because it didn't take government bailout money or go
into bankruptcy protection, as General Motors and Chrysler did.

But there are ominous signs that could continue to drag down auto sales.

The jobless rate hit a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September and is expected to rise to 9.9
percent when the October rate is released Friday. Consumer confidence continued to
deteriorate last month amid pessimism about future earnings and worries the economic
climate would worsen in the next few months.

Emily Kolinski Morris, Ford's top economist, said uncertainty will continue as long as
employment keeps declining, but she said October sales show a real underlying demand for
new vehicles after the distorting effects of the clunkers program during July and August.
Clunkers offered up to $4,500 rebates for people who traded in older models for more fuel
efficient vehicles.

The economy, Kolinski Morris said, is in transition from recession to recovery with
financial markets improving.

And the auto industry still has to see its way through a number of economic challenges, said
Bob Carter, a Toyota vice president.

"We expect the recovery to be very gradual, extending into next year and beyond," he said.

GM was obviously concerned about its incentive spending, with new sales chief Susan
Docherty saying that the company had to bring the numbers down. GM spent $4,100 per
vehicle last month as it paid to phase out the Saturn and Pontiac brands. It also had to
unload a large number of 2009 pickup trucks.

In October, 52 percent of GM's sales were 2009 models, 47 percent were new 2010s and
one percent were from 2008. By contrast, 80 percent of Ford's sales were 2010 models.

GM, Docherty said, plans to reduce incentives as it sells down older models and ships more
newly launched vehicles.

Despite GM's spending, industrywide incentives were down about $100 per vehicle
compared to September, said Jesse Toprak, chief analyst for the car-pricing Web site
TrueCar.com.

He expects incentives will continue to drop in November before rising again at the holidays
in December.

He also said that as GM winds down Pontiac and Saturn, eliminating the need for incentives
on those vehicles, he expects GM and other automakers to start pricing cars closer to what
they'll sell for instead of relying so heavily on incentives.

"Eventually, the product has to sell itself," he said.

,
Economist.com | WASHINGTON
Categories:
Consumption

WHEN last we checked in on the American automobile industry, we were considering the
implications of September vehicle sales figures. After posting a strong, Cash for Clunkers-
induced performance in August, carmakers struggled through a dismal September, in which
the seasonally adjusted annual rate of light vehicle sales returned, more or less, to the
lowest level of the recession. Ford's sales fell 5.1% year-over-year, while Chrysler's
dropped by 42%, and General Motors' sales fell by 45%.

Not all that encouraging, but Stephen Rattner, who shepherded GM and Chrysler through
bankruptcy as head of Barack Obama's auto task force, still feels fairly optimistic. He
describes his work in a Fortune piece today, and he also spoke this afternoon at an event
sponsored by Brookings, which I was able to attend.

His remarks were interesting but not necessarily convincing. Mr Rattner suggested that the
absence of government intervention to support GM and Chrysler would have meant "the
elimination of more than two-thirds of American-owned auto manufacturing capability", a
line which assumes that American ownership is somehow an important factor and that
resources idled by closures at GM and Chrysler wouldn't be put to use by other carmakers.

Mr Rattner expressed confidence in productivity and product improvements, but these

statements were undermined by his observations about the workings of the firm. He noted:

At GM, we faced a bigger management challenge than even its reputation led us to expect.
Take, for example, the lack of financial discipline. We saw no indication of the finance staff
pushing back on the operating divisions to achieve better results, as is customary. Analyses
seemed engineered to support pre-ordained conclusions. Symbolically, we never heard the
words "shareholder value".

Why would you want to preserve this corporate culture? And how confident could you be
that a quasi-house cleaning of upper management would have any effect at all on these
ingrained institutional tendencies?

Mr Rattner said he felt confident that GM's restructuring had produced a carmaker that
could be profitable with US car sales at a 10 million annual rate, where pre-bankruptcy
anything less than 16.5 million meant trouble. (The rate in September was 9.2 million.)
Based on those figures, he had concluded that GM would likely do well in coming years, as
sales are almost certain to return to something like the 15 million level. But this would
seem to assume no serious deterioration in GM market share, despite the fact that
deteriorating market share has been the defining characteristic of the American car market
for some 40 years.

Mr Rattner, and other speakers who later joined him for a panel discussion, made a fairly
decent case that it was very important for the collapse of GM and Chrysler to be delayed.
But few put together compelling arguments to ensure the preservation of the firms beyond
the desperate months of the current recession. One might argue that so long as one is
propping up the companies to avoid serious knock-on effects, one might as well push them
through (and finance) a major restructuring in the hopes that they can later stand on their
own.
Maybe. But if GM and Chrysler fail to turn the corner six months or a year down the road, it
will be very tempting to leaders in Washington to increase support—or protection—for the
firms, having already intervened multiple times, and having obtained a fairly large equity
stake for the American people.

The need to help workers never had to mean a move to help these specific firms, but that is
how it played out. Having acted thusly, the government should use the recovering economy
as cover to extricate itself, and let the chips fall where they may.
4 Predictions About The Future Of The Auto Industry
Augest 31st

What’s likely to happen to the car business over the next year? A great deal, of course. But
don’t take that to mean it will all be bad.

Some will be. But much of the change that is coming is purgatory — and necessary. The
events of the past six months have merely forced the issue. Here’s how I see things breaking
down:

1) GM will survive, but its half-dozen divisions will not.

Did you know that at one time Chevrolet, by itself, had more market share than all six of
GM’s current divisions — Chevy plus Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Saturn, Cadillac, Hummer —
combined do today? It has already been announced that Pontiac is to be retired, Saturn and
Hummer sold off. But arguably, GM should consolidate its remaining brands, too.

GMC, for example, is superfluous. It sells rebadged and slightly higher-trimmed versions of
the same trucks and SUVs sold through Chevrolet. A Yukon Denali is almost a Cadillac
Escalade; the GMC Canyon is a tarted up Chevy Colorado; the Acadia is a slightly different
Buick Enclave.

It’s not sustainable.

2) Chrysler will sleep with the fishes.

The lesions are just too deep (and the market too unforgiving) to have any real hope for
Chrysler’s survival. It is the AMC of 2009.

Remember American Motors? By the late ’70s it was out of money — and its products were
dated as well as plagued by shoddy workmanship. It was a vicious cycle. There was not
enough money to “do it right” so corners were cut in obvious ways, which consumers
quickly found out about. Which of course led to even worse sales. Which led to even less
money to fix the original problems.

That same cycle is bleeding Chrysler white today.

It has models that are obviously out of date (PT Cruiser, Sebring, Pacifica) but it hasn’t got
the money to update them. It has a few others that are nice enough (300, Challenger, big
trucks/SUVs) but which are totally wrong for the times and can’t be given away.
Sprinkle in crushing debt and union/pension obligations and ask yourself, who would want
any part of this mess? Fiat to the rescue? No one — not the Americans, not the Japanese —
can sell the cars they have here already.

Do you suppose that Fiat — a brand with zero presence in the U.S. market — is going to
succeed where even Toyota is having serious trouble getting a leg up?

Sayonara, Mopar.

3) Everyone will scale back.

Just as GM has too many divisions, most car companies have far too many models and sub-
models of those models. Toyota, for example has (brace yourself) no less than 17 separate
models — not counting Lexus and Scion. Mercedes-Benz has doubled its lineup in the
space of a decade and now sells (god help us) minivans. Honda, Nissan and the rest are
similarly afflicted — and suffering, as a result.

Everyone is trying to sell everything and it’s just too much. It is very hard to make a sale
(let alone a profit) when there is such a glut of offerings available.

The herd must be thinned.

Maybe we will see a return to the specialization that used to be such a successful business
model. For instance, VW was much healthier when it focused on value-priced but high-
precision/high-quality cars. It made a big mistake trying to be all things to all people —
which only caused a shedding of its core customer base while failing to attract the higher-
end buyers it wanted.

Maybe trucks and SUVs should not be sold by everyone, either.

And so on.

4) Overdone (and overpriced) cars are out.

For openers, the distinctions that used to be obvious between “economy” cars and “luxury”
cars aren’t so obvious anymore — other than in terms of price. Yes, you can pay $40,000
for a car. But an $18,000 car will have most of the actually useful features and equipment
that used to separate a luxury car from a car for the Masses — things like climate control
AC, power windows, locks, cruise control; a nice stereo, etc.

The car companies have been desperately trying to re-establish the distinction (and justify
the silly MSRPs they’re asking) by incorporating more and more essentially useless
equipment (high-powered engines that won’t get you anywhere faster on today’s traffic-
jammed roads; comically overwrought electronic “aids” such as mouse controllers, etc.)
into their middle and higher-end product.
But people are not buying that anymore. It has dawned on them — via the blunt force
trauma of economic collapse — that they don’t need this stuff and can get by fine without it.

More bluntly, the idea that average people can — or should — be driving around in $40,000
(or even $30,000) cars is headed for the same place that no-doc mortgages went. It was a
Potempkin Parking Lot financed by pyramid debt that has since collapsed and which cannot
be resurrected.Newsflash: The average family income in this country is under $50,000. Cars
— if they are to be sold based on ability to pay off the loan — will have to have their
MSRPs adjusted accordingly.

Either that or the spending power of the average American will need to be brought in line
with the cost of new cars. Which do you suppose is more likely to happen?

In sum, I predict we’ll see several fewer brands of cars — and many fewer cars — by this
time next year. The ones left standing will also be less frilly — and cost a lot less, too.It will
be rough on those who are going to lose their jobs, obviously — but the coming contraction
is both necessary and inevitable.

We should have seen it coming, of course. But that doesn’t mean we can do anything to
stop it from happening.

Not anymore.
Canadian vehicles sales down one per cent in October; smallest decline in
more than a year
Kristine Owram, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Published: 10 11 2009

TORONTO - Vehicle sales in Canada were down only one per cent in October compared to a year earlier, the
smallest decline in more than a year amid growing consumer confidence.

Overall, 121,500 vehicles were sold in Canada in October, according to data compiled by DesRosiers
Automotive Consultants. This compared to 122,711 a year earlier.

"The overall industry is seeing monthly sales return to levels equivalent to what they were in 2008, despite the
fact that year-to-date sales for the industry remain down 13.2 per cent," said David Adams, president of the
Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada.

"There are significant incentives from manufacturers in a highly competitive marketplace right now, providing
great purchasing opportunities for consumers."

Although several of the major brands are still posting year-over-year declines, this was offset by the large gains
of other manufacturers, including Hyundai, Ford and Toyota.

General Motors clung to its top spot with 17.5 per cent of market share, although this was down from 21.8 per
cent at the same point last year.

GM Canada's sales were down 33.1 per cent to 18,818.

Meanwhile, Ford came in a strong second, with sales up 20.3 per cent to 18,187. This marks the company's
fifth consecutive month of sales gains and 12th consecutive month of market share growth, boosted by the fact
that Ford was the only North American automaker to survive the downturn without government assistance.

"We are making steady progress and remain fully focused on our plan to build a strong and sustainable Ford,"
stated Ford Canada president and CEO David Mondragon.

"Consumers are seeing the signs of recovery and are gaining confidence in the quality, fuel efficiency, safety
and smart technology incorporated in our new product lineup. In fact, 90 per cent of our sales come from our
new models" including the Taurus and the Fusion, he added.

Toyota was in third place in terms of market share, with sales up 19.4 per cent to 17,354. This set a record for
the month of October and followed months of year-over-year sales declines.

Toyota's Lexus luxury brand sold 1,459 vehicles, up 11.9 per cent from October 2008.

In fourth place was Chrysler, down 9.1 per cent to 14,215 vehicles. Honda was in fifth place, down 10.4 per
cent to 9,224, while Honda's Acura division sold 2,079 units, up 78.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, South Korean automaker Hyundai came in sixth place, with sales up a remarkable 43 per cent to
8,415.

October was Hyundai's 10th straight month of double-digit sales increases and its ninth straight record-
breaking month.

"We said our strong sales results weren't just a fad, and ten consecutive months of significant sales increases
certainly prove that," stated Hyundai Canada president and CEO Steve Kelleher.

Meanwhile, Nissan reported sales of 5,912, down 2.5 per cent year over year. Its Infiniti luxury brand sold 743
vehicles, down 3.5 per cent.

Among other luxury brands, Mercedes-Benz reported Canadian sales of 2,199, up 27.8 per cent, while BMW's
sales gained 5.5 per cent to 2,310. This compared to an impressive 50.1 per cent gain in September.

Among other brands, Volkswagen sold 3,545 vehicles in September, down 3.2 per cent, while Audi's sales
were up 2.3 per cent to 1,100.

Kia sold 3,603 vehicles, up 23.2 per cent, while Mazda sales were down 8.1 per cent to 5,612, Mitsubishi sales
were up 8.5 per cent to 1,452 and Subaru sold 2,486 vehicles, up 39.3 per cent.
 GM sees October sales bounce, Chrysler
plunges
General Motors GM.UL posted its first monthly sales increase in nearly two years
on Tuesday as a rebound in industrywide U.S. auto sales in October pointed toward a
gradual recovery for the battered sector.

Chrysler was the weakest of the large automakers. Its sales plunged 30 percent in
October, the day before Fiat SpA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne releases a five-
year turnaround plan for Chrysler.

U.S. auto sales hit an annualized rate of 10.46 million units in October, according to
industry tracking firm Autodata. That is a level not seen in a year, except for July and
August when the U.S. government's "cash for clunkers" incentives program sparked a
surge in sales.

"In a nutshell, we can tell with confidence that we've seen the worst already past and
we are seeing relative improvements in the market place and consumer demand," said
Jesse Toprak, analyst with Truecar.com.

However, high unemployment and weak consumer confidence will slow the recovery,
he said. "The improvement in the automotive market for the rest of the year as well as
next year will not be as fast or robust as we thought earlier this year."

The October sales are a key indicator because they are the first month of U.S. sales not
affected by the clunkers boom, which provided incentives of up to $4,500, or the
backlash that followed in September.

The annualized rate of 10.46 million units was a jump from the 9.22 million rate in
September after the incentives program had ended and inventories were decimated. It
also marked a slight decline from October 2008, the first month after the financial
markets collapsed.
Automakers said they were cautiously optimistic. GM said the U.S. economy and auto
industry were starting to show signs of recovery and the results suggested the sector
may be stabilizing after four years of declines.

GM posted a 4 percent sales gain, Ford Motor Co. a 3 percent increase and Toyota
Motor Corp a fractional gain. All three results were better than analysts had expected.

Korea's Hyundai Motor Co posted a 49 percent sales rise that blew past expectations
and allowed the automaker to take more market share from rivals.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd reported a gain of nearly 6 percent, while Honda Motor Co Ltd
reported a sales decline of less than 1 percent.

"We're seeing the industry get some legs under it," GM sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni
said on a conference call.

While the sales results were viewed as positive, industry executives continued to
question the speed and strength of any recovery given the high U.S. unemployment
rate.

"We expect consumers to remain cautious as the recovery gains traction," said Ford
economist Emily Kolinski Morris.

Toyota U.S. sales chief Bob Carter said the automaker expects a "very gradual" U.S.
economic recovery.
Chinese September car sales top 1 million mark again!
14 October 2009

Chinese automotive sales soared by 78% in September 2009 when compared with the same
period a year ago. Overall vehicle sales in September sat at a healthy 1.33 million vehicles,
with passenger vehicles (SUV, MPV, sedans etc) sales coming in at to 1.02 million units, a
year on year rise of 83.6%.

The central government is largely responsible for saving automotive sales which flat lined
in February 2009, a large shock to the chest in the form of massive sales tax cuts on sub
1.6L cars turbocharged sales, which resulted in car sales topping one million units for the
seventh month running in September 2009.

The sales tax policies are expected to stay until the years end, and maybe extended into
2010 to further the sales goal, it has been rumoured in the Chinese media that the
government may relax tax on 1.6l to 2.5l displacement compact sedans to give that segment
a boost, much like what was given to the sub 1.6l segment.

Overall yearly sales are expected to hit 12 million by the end of the year and cross the 10
million mark by the middle of October 2009, sales from January to September rose by
34.2% to 9.66 million units.

2008 sales were at 9.4 million vehicles which was 8% higher than 2007, but lacking the
21% growth in the car market that 2007 saw.
 Article summary 1

This first article is one that is quite recent and puts forward the
thought that the auto industry is finally beginning to stabilize after the
recession. It describes the numbers and monthly sales of some of the
larger automotive dealers such as GM and Hyundai and how there has
been an increase of cars being sold that is suggesting buyers are
coming more out of their shells and starting to purchase once again. Also
they bring in Fords lead economist which seems to think that as long as
the employment rate is dwindling then there will continue to be
uncertainty. She also goes on to discuss certain programs dealers a
running which offers money for a used car, and even discusses how the
recession to recovery time will take a longer amount of time. Quite
possibly up to a year or beyond.
 Analysis: This article does bring valid information to the table although
the time span in which the numbers are spaced are quite low. It seems
to me that you cannot gauge the end of an economic crisis with numbers
that span a time of one month as most of the time they are taking
October’s car sales and comparing them to September. Although there
was quite a large change I don’t think it’s enough of one to be able to
say that the automotive industry is beginning to stabilize as November’s
sales could turn out to lack in numbers, causing them to be right back to
square one. There also seems to be talk from fords top ecologist that
suggests the automotive industry will be a long road, which I agree with,
but I don’t agree with the thought that it’s starting to recover just yet.

Article summary 2

In this article, they focus more on general motors and how they have
been in trouble of bankruptcy due to the recession. This article shows
scepticism in claims brought forth by GM that if the government had not
intervened with their bankruptcy, than two thirds of American owned
auto manufacturing capability would have been eliminated. The writer of
this article suggests that instead of the government bailing out GM, they
should have let the chips fall where they may and if the automotive
tycoon was to be able to ride through, than more power to them. He also
talks about the recovering economy and how the government should use
it for cover to “extricate” itself. There is also talk of a plan that seems to
be talking of the company finally regaining some leverage and being
able to get back on its feet over time.

Analysis: The writer of this article seems to know a great deal about
this topic. His ideas and thoughts brought forward are seemingly thought
out and well executed. Although I do agree that if such a large company
such as GM was to disappear, than the economic backlash would be
more than incredible. The recession may be entering its recovering
period but this article suggests that GM will be okay in terms of sales and
product improvement, and that it will just take time for the mass
company to build up to what they used to be, which I agree with, but I’m
not sure if it will be that easy of a road for them, considering the
circumstances. They are not in as big of a problem as Chrysler, which is
plummeting fast and may hit the wall soon. At least GM seems to be
getting back on its feet, although it seems like its going to be a long and
painful process considering.

Article Summary 3
 This article is from august of 2009 and I used it because it is about
predictions of the future of the auto industry, and so far it has been quite
correct. It describes how GM will indeed survive although many of its
divisions such as Pontiac will not. It also talks about how Chrysler is
obviously the most doomed of the major automotive companies, how
overdone and overpriced cars are a thing of the past, at least for now,
and how all of the major car companies will scale back on everything to
hopefully cut their costs by a more reasonable amount.

Analysis: it surprised me when I found this article how correct it was.

This article is a few months old and yet, it still seems to hold credible
information as all of the predictions presented have came true. Also the
articles writer seems to have a firm grasp of the automotive industry,
and most likely has been keeping an eye on the declining market for
some time to create such educated guesses. Chrysler is already in a
very large predicament as it is and GM has discontinued and sold a lot of
its divisions. And all of the major car and auto companies have started to
cut back on all of their costs and scaling back. Overall it’s a rather eye
opening article that really captures the essence of how much these
companies are suffering ,even when the recession has just hit the
recovery period.

Article summary 4
 For this article i decided to veer away from the U.S and focus on
Canada. They have only seen a decrease in the amounts of cars sold by
one percent, which is barely anything. The article tells of how there has
been little change in car sales and the Canadian numbers are much like
they were this year as they were last year even though the year to date
sales seem to still be down 13.8 percent. Canadians even seem to be
buying a large amount of rather expensive cars such as Mercedez-Benz
and BMW’s monthly. Japanese based companies also seem to be going
strong in Canada as well and there seems to be no decline in the car
industry as opposed to the U.S.

Analysis: the information presented in this article is quite good,

showing very clearly that the automotive sales for big name brand
companies like Toyota, Ford, Mercedez etc, are doing exponentially good
given the circumstances they are presented with in the U.S. This article
also shows how expensive cars in North America such as Audi, BMW, and
others all were gaining percentage, BMW being the leader last month
with a staggering increase of 50.1 percent. It is quite an amazing thing to
see how one invisible line (the border) can have such a changing effect
on an industry as big as this. Hopefully Canada’s positive sales can be a
point in which these companies can get back on their feet in America
and finally end the economic bashing some of them have had to endure
more than others ( general motors, I’m looking at you). 
 Article Summary 5

Yet another article that seems to think that Chrysler is in a

slump(which it is) and the GM is coming out of its slump more and
more( which it kind of is). The article focuses on the fact that these
companies are remaining cautiously optimistic of a faster recovery due
to the high unemployment rate right now in America. They also show
that the numbers of most of the higher up companies are starting to
climb. Low consumer confidence is also said to be a factor in a slow
recovery for the economy, but insist that the worst is now definatly
behind, and that there will be slow improvement of the marketplace, and
as the unemployment rate starts to drop, consumer demand

Analysis: they seems to be pointing in the right direction with this

one, there seems to be a lot of hesitation on the consumers part due to
the unemployment rate, and they also suggest that for there to be a
significant increase in the sales of cars and the stability of the
marketplace, it’s going to take a rather large period of time, which I one
hundred percent agree with. I’m also starting to agree with the fact that
GM will, in the long run, be okay, and that Chrysler seems to be in a
situation where it’s going to be hard to get out of unless they have a
decent plan that will almost definatly require a very hefty government
loan.
 Article Summary 6

Chinese car market has been soaring lately and has topped the
million mark again as of mid October. In September it topped increases
of 78 percent when compared to last year and it doesn’t have any signs
of slowing down. Even passenger vehicles are seeing large rises in year
to year comparisons. Compared to the American market, the Chinese
market is soaring. The government is also thinking of upping the
displacement in some of the sedans from a 1.6L engines to a 2.5L to give
the specific segment a boost in sale since everything else has been
selling so well. American car market, watch out.

Analysis: This is quite amazing. The numbers of sales compared to

last year are up staggering amounts and I have to say that it’s rather
amazing how well this industry has been doing in other parts of the world
excluding America. Sales are supposed to actually pass 12 million at the
end of the year, which seems very good when you think about how in
America, GM only hit 9.2 last year, which is a large failure for such a big
company. There is only one problem though. They used a very large sale
tax to boost sales, and are even thinking about keeping it a bit longer to
keep sales high, although once the tax is gone I’m assuming the market
will start to low on that particular sector once again and there won’t be
as much activity. Despite this though, it’s rather impressive that the little
guy can beat out companies like GM in situations like this, it’s a nice
change of pace.