GM to cut leasing?
The structural bloodletting at GM seems to be continuing with the Cerberus-controlled leasing arm that is GMAC said to be cutting lease offerings. Chrysler cut its leasing program last week and stories are starting to circulate that GM will be next:
Chrysler told its Canadian dealers of the change three weeks ago, according to an industry source familiar with the situation. GM dealers in Canada were to be told about the change affecting its GMAC financing unit on Friday. GM’s U.S. dealers are also expected to be affected. A GMAC spokesman would not confirm the change, saying there is no public announcement at this time.
The Truth About Cars is saying that GM dealers are to be told via a conference call today (may have already happened as I write this). We’ll have to wait and see if and when that happens, but it seems the global credit crunch is starting to bite in ways that you probably didn’t think of when it first came to light.
Leases depend on an estimated residual value at the expiration of the lease, and those residuals have been tumbling. The consequent loss of value means that inevitably, the manufacturers have to take an accounting charge on their bottom line, reducing their profitability even more. As their access to credit can depend a lot on the state of their books, it’s going to make money even harder to get during what are already hard times.
It’s estimated that over 40% of vehicle sales in Canada involve leases. The figure is estimated at around 20% in the US. With leasing out of the picture, prospective customers will have to look towards obtaining a loan to purchase the vehicle and dealers will have to look towards doing more attractive deals to make this happen.
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GM seems to have created this leasing situation because of it’s preponderance with trucks an SUVs and their declining residuals, but this will hurt Saab. In the past weeks it’s lost some of it’s (tiny) advertising budget, warranties are shrinking and now this. It’s just a downward spiral and this will definitely show up in the already depressed sales.
What does “cutting leases” mean? Does it mean eliminating the option of leasing a vehicle rather than an outright purchase? So you wouldn’t be able to lease a Saab anymore, only buy one? (I believe that would be the case, yes - SW.) I sure hope that’s not what this means. The news seems to get worse and worse.
And on a less tragic note, but still disappointing, it appears that the Saab 9-3 ‘vert that appears on the television show Burn Notice is now to be used by the female sidekick character, not the male “hero” of the show. On the episode the Saab is first mentioned a client gives it to the main character, Michael Westen. However, the few times it’s been shown on the two episodes of season two it’s been utilized by the character Fiona (portrayed by English actress Gabrielle Anwar playing an Irish woman faking an American accent) and the press release from Saab (the infamous one which first makes mention of the downgraded warranty) mentions that it’s Fiona’s car. The reason this is disappointing to me is that I thought the car being driven by the male hero of the show would make the car more attractive to heterosexual male buyers in the U.S. At least in the area I live in (Los Angeles) the Saab convertible is almost exclusively driven by women and gay men. While I have no problem with who drives Saabs, it would be nice to expand the demographic the car appeals to to increase sales.
So Michael Westen continues to drive his classic Dodge Charger (think The Dukes of Hazzard’s “General Lee”) while his friend Sam (portrayed by cult hero B-movie actor Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead/Army of Darkness fame) gets the Cadillac CTS and Fi gets the Saab convertible. The bad guys are almost always driving GM SUVs or HUMMERs.
When I win the Saab convertible from the Burn Notice Covert Ops contest I’ll be sure to be a proud hetero male Saab ‘vert driver!
1985 Gripen: Gabrielle did a pretty good Irish accent I think, but it seems Americans had trouble with it and she had to resort to a (fake) American one. I thought there were a lot of Irish in the US?
I think in the last episode Michael says “but I gave you the car” (the Saab). Probably means we won’t get to see him driving it?
BTW that episode won’t be screened in Oz for a few more weeks but I downloaded it (oops!) because
of all the Saab references it had been attracting.
Does GM really want to sell Saabs in North America?
Markac: I thought Gabrielle Anwar’s Irish accent (as heard in the pilot episode) was much better than her American one. There are a lot of Irish-Americans in the U.S. (I’m one) but except for in the Boston area I don’t think that the accent is commonly heard. I didn’t know however that Americans had a problem with her Irish accent and that was the reason for the change. I read an interview with her and she admitted that she’s much better with an Irish accent, having recently come off filming a show where she played Irish when she was cast as Fiona in Burn Notice. She’s self-conscious about her American accent, especially since she’s playing to Americans. I have to admit her American accent in imperfect but I give her points for trying. It’s just hard to listen to. Luckily she’s easy on the eyes.
I remember Michael saying, “but I gave you the car” and that made me groan. I was hoping it was going to be his as it was given to HIM and at the time his Charger was “broken”. Later-on in the episode they did imply that Michael drove the Saab though. Just before the scene when the con artist lets him into his house they show the Saab pull-up up front of the guy’s mansion. They never show who’s driving it but it’s assumed it’s Michael. I’m still under the impression that the GM deal was done with the Burn Notice production AFTER these episodes were filmed and the Saab has been tactically edited-into the episodes. They never really show the characters when they’re IN the Saab, they just do a close-up of the car and then imply that a character drove it.
1985 Gripen: I’m half Irish and I thought Gabrielle’s accent was good. Her American accent is slightly better than some Aussies seem to manage, but I agree it’s not great. A friend who’s a big fan of the show told me that the producers had decided to make Gabrielle less ‘Irish’ possibly because some people were having problems with the accent. You’re right the Saab convertible does appear to be edited in. As someone who works in television, I should have noticed that earlier!
Markac: Now that the show is to play internationally (at least in Australia) I’m wondering if distancing Fiona from the Irish thing was a conscious effort. Will Burn Notice air in England? In the pilot episode it was hinted (or it might have even been flat-out stated, I don’t remember) that Fiona was a bomb-maker for the IRA. I don’t think her character would get much sympathy if the show airs in England.
It’s even stated in her bio here.
I have also started watching Burn Notice as a result of the postings on this site, and even bought Season 1 on DVD so that I could “be up to date.” I agree with the Michael driving the Saab vs. Fiona thing - maybe they should have given Michael a TurboX!
I leased my TurboX early in July and have to say that without the lease - I wouldn’t have been able to afford it. If the car holds up as I intend (at least I’ll have the 5/100) then I’ll probably buy it after the lease is up.
I do have to say that I did find it a bit funny that the second episode of the new season featured BMW as the “sponsor of Burn Notice”
1985 Gripen: I think the show will air on Fox’s FXUK satellite channel, but you’re right a former IRA bomber will probably not go down well in the UK even if she looks great and drives a Saab!
Mike Becker: I agree give Michael a Turbo X, at least for a few episodes.
Swade: You should get a commission for promoting “Burn Notice”!
I’ve only ever leased vehicles since college, so not being able to lease a Saab would suck. When my current 9-3 ‘vert lease is over, I will not do a buy. I like swapping out cars on a two-year cycle, so leasing is really the way to go. It seems that GM can only screw things up! My lease ends in March 2009, so I was really looking forward to get a Lynx Yellow with (FINALLY) Bluetooth. Argh… Sometimes I think it would be better for Saab to close its doors quickly rather than die the slow death that GM is giving it. At least, I could lovingly remember my 3 Saab covertibles. Still, I would prefer for Saab to be independent or, at least, owned by a European company like BMW, Mercedes, or even VW.
1985 Gripen - When I saw the last episode, I was a little disappointed that the male Burn Notice star (Michael) had given the 9-3 ‘vert to the female lead, Fi. I would have liked to see a male spy kicking ass, shooting first, and asking questions later all in a 9-3 ‘vert. Still, Fi, while female, is about as kick-ass as you can get. Actually, she is much more bad-ass than Michael since in the first season we learned that violence turned her on while it did nothing for Michael.
In my area (north of Los Angeles), 9-3 SportCombis are pretty much all male and the 9-3 SportSedans are mixed equally. The other 9-3 ‘verts I see are about 60% female-driven and 40% male. When I see another guy driving a 9-3 ‘vert, I guess I don’t quiz him on his sexuality. So, getting a break-down of gays v. straights would be difficult. Also, you would have to figure what to do with bisexuals.
You should still be able to lease a Saab or any other GM vehicle. GMAC is not the only group that GM dealers can use to cover leases. Just like they’re not the only group that a dealer can use to finance a purchase. My current Saab was not leased through GMAC as my previous GM leases have been (Olds, Suzuki, Pontiac). It is with Saab Financial Services Corp, which ironically enough stopped doing Saab leases 25 days after I got mine. HA!
As a matter of fact, SOME dealers won’t use GMAC as they can get more money out of the deal with other leasing companies. I ran into this in 2003 when a Pontiac dealer refused to use GMAC. The GM TV ads were showing a 36 month $199 month, $0 down lease. The dealer said nope. He even showed me the web page HE was using to put the lease together and said “See, you can’t lease this car for $199/month.”
THEY DID NOT KILL THE LEASE PROGRAM THEY JUST ENDED THE 5YR 100K AND THEY WILL DROP THE SAAB PULL AHEAD TO MAKE THE LEASE PROGRAM BETTER ALSO THE 94 WILL BE MADE HERE IN THE STATES
just got off the conference call earlier today plus bmw and other high end companys will adjust their lease rates have similar leases close to the high price of the gmac “saab” because of wall street. i cause lets face it try to lease a 9 3 convrt the lease sucks they start in the $800.00 with nothing out of pocket this company is only getting worse plus 2009 price is going way up thanks to dollar to euro
all most forgot they just got some extra cash for ads you will see alot more tv saab ads in the next five months
News is official for Canada, U.S. likel to follow.