Pre-sale estimates exceed $1,000,000 for this Tucker 48, formerly owned by Star Wars creator George Lucas, at the RM Auctions Amelia Island sale on March 9. Read this car biz news and more in today’s Executive Briefing.
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+ General Motors reported net income of $4.86 Billion in 2012, a third consecutive profitable year but lower than forecast. More here at The Detroit News.
+ Tesla CEO Elon Musk is locked in battle with The New York Times, charging that the newspaper bushwacked the Tesla Model S in a recent review. More here at the Detroit Bureau.
+ Chrysler will offer a V6 diesel version of the Ram 1500 pickup in 3Q 2013. More here at USA Today.
+ RM Auctions will offer a Tucker 48 formerly owned by filmmaker George Lucas at its Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance sale on March 9. More here at the Los Angeles Times.
+ IndyCar driver Katherine Legge has threatened legal action against Dragon Racing after the team replaced her with Sebastian Saavedra. More here at the Denver Post.
+ GM has “no intention” of providing funding to European partner Peugeot, says CFO Dan Amman. More here at Reuters.
+ Per-dealer new car sales are expected to reach a record 839 per store in 2013, up from 812 last year. More here at Bloomberg.com.
+ The introduction of the next-generation Firestone Indy Lights car will be delayed until after the 2014 season, say series officials. More here at National Speed Sport News.
For the previous Executive Briefing from Feb. 11, click here.
We were fortunate enough to have a whole Gaggle of original Tuckers at the Glenmoor Gathering last year, plus one of the original movie prop cars and modern interpretation of a Tucker hot rod. That class had a crowd of people all day.
It’s surprising that no new American auto companies have been successful since the early part of the 20th century. I guess the newest is Chrysler from 1925, and the parent company goes back at least ten years earlier with Dodge. To the turn of the century if you include the American Motors bloodline.
I’m not even sure if the US has any boutique companies left like Panoz. Sure there’s Tesla, but electric cars are so technology driven that I see no chance they can surpass Toyota, Ford, GM et al. and go on to become a viable company
Volkswagen (1937) was able to establish a foothold despite the fact that Mercedes-Benz, Auto-Union and Opel had built a strong base and BMW had a ten year old fledgling auto business developed from their cycle business. Lamborghini (1963) sprung out of a tractor company established in 1948.
The Asians started producing their own cars much later, but they were able to get new brands established against longstanding competition. That market is confusing to me, but indigenous automobiles were being built in Japan and Korea in the Fifties, and there were many companies making motorbikes. Yet new companies like Subaru and Hyundai sprouted in the Sixties against those well-established companies and against whatever the Americans and Europeans were throwing at them.
Historically, auto manufacturing is an extremely capital-intensive business. Nothing burns cash faster than an automaker once it’s losing money.