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Planes, Trains & Automobiles

25 Nov 2009

About 38 million Americans are expected to go somewhere this holiday season, and AAA says that's up about 1.4 percent from last year. NBC's Tom Costello has the details.

Maria's Market Message 24 Nov 2009
CNBC's Sue Herera sits in for Maria Bartiromo to discuss the day's top business and financial stories, and look ahead to tomorrow's Closing Bell.

GM's Saab Story

24 Nov 2009

It's back to the drawing board for GM after a Swedish company pulled out at the last minute of a deal to buy the Saab unit. Insight with Erich Merkle, independent automotive consultant and CNBC's Phil LeBeau.

GM's Saab Deal Is Off 24 Nov 2009
General Motors' Saab deal is off, reports CNBC's Phil LeBeau.

BMW Signed as Olympic Partner

20 Nov 2009

BMW has been chosen as the official automotive partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics games. Ian Robertson, board member of BMW Group, spoke to CNBC about the sponsorship.

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CNBC ON DIGG

October Shows Auto Rebound Will Be Slow

Published: Tuesday, 3 Nov 2009 | 3:48 PM ET

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By: Phil LeBeau
CNBC Correspondent

If you want to get a sense of just how unclear the auto industry is about how much sales will rebound, ask the different sales chiefs at the automakers.

The folks in charge of determining where the market is headed and how to spur greater sales all think the 2010 sales pace will be close to 11 million vehicles.

But almost all of them admit there are so many variables that it's hard to say for sure.

One thing is clear from October sales. Base demand for new vehicles is slowly building.

Here's how the automakers did last month:

GM (up) 4 %
Ford (down) 0.6%
Toyota (down) 3.5%
Honda (down) 4%
Chrysler (down) 32.3 %
Nissan (up) 5.6%

Ford sales chief George Pipas expects the fourth quarter pace of auto sales to come in at 10.4 or 10.5 million - a healthy one million vehicle increase from the second quarter pace of 9.5 million.

Because of Cash for Clunkers you have to throw out the third quarter rate. It's not indicative of the base demand in the market.