AutoObserver Readers Closely Follow Tumult of 2009 Auto Industry
December 22, 2009
In what will go down in history as the auto industry's most tumultuous year in recent 
memory, AutoObserver readers couldn't get enough information about what was happening in the industry and how automakers and the government reacted.
Edmunds.com's forecasts for sales and analysis of sales and trends rated high among AutoObserver's 25 best-read posts for 2009.
High on that list were posts about how automakers reacted in terms of closing plants, shuttering brands, particularly General Motors' Saturn and Pontiac, terminating dealers and setting vehicle prices and incentives.
"Zero-percent financing" became one of the most searched phrases on AutoObserver in 2009. So too was the trend of some new models costing less than their equivalent used ones, thanks go generous new-car incentives.
Similarly, AutoObserver readers closely monitored how Washington reacted to the automotive crisis, particularly the lead up to and the enactment of the car sales tax write-off and so-called Cash for Clunkers program in summer.
Not surprisingly, General Motors was the most watched company by AutoObserver readers. Once the world's largest automaker, GM was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and emerged by the grace of government loans.
Curiously, despite all of the new models introduced this year, it was a tiny car launched only in India that captured the highest interest from AutoObserver readers. They seemingly couldn't get enough of the Tata Nano. AutoObserver's test drive of the Tata Nano at its Mumbai introduction in spring was wildly popular. The Nano is billed as the world's cheapest car.
And while alternative fuel vehicles didn't move the sales needle much in 2009, they did capture the imagination of AutoObserver readers, with posts about diesels in particular, popping up repeatedly on the Top 25 list. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:42 AM under Analysis , Companies , GM | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
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