Speaking from anecdote here, I recall talking to someone I know who was high up in BMW Ireland some three years ago. Apparently even then they had major problems with teaser-rate loans calling in defaults. People used to buy the car on credit and then, after realising that they couldn't possibly afford the payments, would return it a few weeks later with mysteriously broken parts and demand their loan contract be torn up. Apparently this was an extremely common occurrence; you buy it, you break it, you return it. It looks like too many luxury saloons were being built and too many punters thought they could get in on the whole "affluent society" thing.