Crisis?

Aside from the US Presidential elections, the one worry that has been hovering over the consumer's daily existence is the financial crisis that has Wall Street reeling. Now what has got to do with the automotive industry? A lot.

The crisis that started with the US sub prime has wound its way to the world's financial markets with some of the strongest financial institutions finding themselves in the brink of bankruptcy. And now we are starting to hear talks of automotive companies laying of hundreds of its workers to cope with the crises. Demand for new SUVs have also plummeted to an all-time low.

In an article by Joe Lorio, he noted "the faltering economy and now the credit crisis have pretty much choked off sales of the remainder of the market."

"While August saw the pain spread to all major brands, save Infiniti, Mini, Nissan, Subaru, and VW, in September, every one of those holdouts found themselves underwater, too. The only nameplates to post gains in September were tiny niche players: Maserati (up 30%), Lotus (up by 3 cars - yes, 3), Lamborghini (by 2), and Rolls-Royce (by 1)," Lorio writes.

Well, we can only hope it gets better. There are so many good SUVs out there waiting to be purchased -- some have even been featured in this blog.

That is just my quick thought on the financial crisis and the automotive industry. Next time, I promise to write about SUVs for real.