Ten Best Selling Cars of 2010

1. Ford F-Series: 27,630
2. Chevy Silverado: 22,772
3. Honda Accord: 20,759 (1,737 Accord Crosstours included)
4. Nissan Altima: 18,636
5. Toyota Corolla: 17,121
6. Chevy Malibu: 16,439
7. Toyota Camry: 15,792
8. Honda Civic: 14,693
9. Chevy Cobalt: 12,962
10. Ford Fusion: 12,179

Toyota significantly dropped in sales last year, yet Ford has reached the top in the current economy after facing 2 years of losses. And GM has finally made a profit since 2008. Congratulations to the American Auto Industry.

Potential deal points leaked concerning Tengzhong's purchase of Hummer

As the Opel transaction takes on Biblical intrigue, the Hummer exchange goes on in another dark corner, laboriously, like the gestation of an elephant. The latest report from a Chinese news website states that General Motors and Tengzhong "might sign an agreement" this week, but that strikes us as exceedingly optimistic seeing that there's been no word on the government approving the deal yet.

Slightly more believable are the supposed deal points that would guide Tengzhong's initial ownership of Hummer: Tengzhong will own all of Hummer's intellectual property rights and sales network, but would not build Hummers in China and would operate the company as an off-shore entity based out of Detroit or Nashville. General Motors would continue to build Hummers until 2012 and provide "technical services," and Tengzhong would continue to fund research and development, while the "off-shore" Hummer team (read: probably the folks doing the job now) would be responsible for launching the new H3 and H4. As for that H4, though, the article lists them as "CUV models." If the H4 is a CUV, we hope they manage to make it look like the 2008 Hummer HX concept shown above.

Tengzhong reps are headed to Detroit to continue discussions. The General's response, according to the CEO of Hummer is that "Negotiations continue to progress and the transaction will be announced upon the signing of the definitive agreement as soon as appropriate." Hat tip to Emilio!

The Detroit Ballout is Not Over

All of Detroit is safe until after the auto show in January, sorta. The government approved $13.4 billion in loans for General Motors and Chrysler for immediate consumption (Ford said “no thanks” for now.) This will take them until February when another $4 billion may be available, but they will also have to show that their operations are able to show "positive net present value" – a tough goal I’ll get to in a moment.

This means at least when the North American International Auto Show hits Detroit in January, at least the Big Three won’t have to ring the Salvation Army bell, and instead they will be able to somewhat focus on products. But this isn’t the end of the fight, the big picture has four elements still to come:

There will be more layoffs

There will be more money needed pumped into the industry

It’s the end of fun new cars

The winner will be the one who returns to big cars first

So for this week, after the just I present a little accounting, a healthy dose of skepticism, and just enough optimism to keep fans of American cars from jumping out the window.